SC - poached figs in spiced honey syrup

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/00 12:59:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
CBlackwill at aol.com writes:

<< It is my understanding, now, that the majority of 
 this List requires "documentation" before they will entertain such a "far 
 fetched" idea, >>

Frankly, I don;t see your idea as farfetched. The major difficulty I have 
with it is that the recipes we have which were destined for service in noble 
feasts seem to be pretty much standard across the centuries. That is until 
after 1450 CE when cookery took a decided turn toward what has been referred 
to as early modern.

The cooks that would have prepared the feasts from the manuscripts were guild 
members and as such they would have had to show their expertise by 
reproducing known dishes as closely as they could to their 'Masters'. While 
it is a given that modern cooking students must learn basic techniques, their 
ultimate success is 'creating' their own style of cooking.  If there is 
evidence that this modern phenomenon existed prior to 1450 CE, I have not 
seen it. That does not mean that it does not exist though. :-)

I think any of the cooks, either experienced in medieval cookery or new would 
be happy to see evidence that cooks for noble households were encouraged to 
'experiment' when it came to presenting 'official' feasts. 

It is a given that everyday cookery was far different. In that we have little 
disagreement. But then again we have no recipes either. :-)

Ras