SC - poached figs in spiced honey syrup

[CBlackwill at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/00 7:09:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time, LrdRas at aol.com 
writes:

> 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.

Actually, Le Menagier was not written for the production of Royal Feasts, but 
rather for a French bourgoisie's wife of rather limited talent.  The dishes 
in it were intended for consumption in the home (although it is certain that 
lots of entertaining went on).  While this is, surely, far and away from the 
medieval peasant cooking, it is perhaps the closest we have available (at 
least as far as I have seen...).  The evidence in this manual does support 
the notion that, even in the high household kitchens of medieval France, a 
good deal of alterations and substitutions were being made.  Admittedly, 
"Royal Feasts" (those intended for the mouths of Kings and High Dignitaries) 
may have had much less molestation of the recipes.  But that does not 
preclude such changes from being dubbed "period", as they were obviously done 
in medieval times.  I'm almost ready to post my second edition to the 
research (a little more digging, colating, and cross referencing).  

Balthazar of Blackmoor
Such a strange fascination, as I wallow in waste
That such a trivial victory could put a smile on your face.
                                        - Mark Burgess