SC - Re: following faithfully

[Karen O]

    Balthazar made the statement:

<<  I, on the other hand, will not blindly follow ANY written  recipe if I
know that the end result is going to taste like swill.  >>

    and Lord Ras commented:
>I have never produced a period recipe that has tasted like 'swill' when the
recipe was followed faithfully  . . . . I rarely deviate
>from the written recipe and, when I do, I clearly indicate that the dish is
period-like and not to be construed as an accurate example of the recipe. <

    Something has been gnawing at the back of my brain about this.   Now
that  *MY* (first)  feast is over,  I realize that I have a question about
*how*  any of us can  "follow a period recipe faithfully."    There isn't  a
sameness about any of the recipes I own  -- unless I follow my *own*
redactions faithfully.    Take a recipe out of   /Curye on Inglysch/  like
"to make a syrosye"  (page 90)  what is to say that your  ratios of
cherries, butter, breadcrumbs, wine,  sugar,  and cooking time is more
faithful to the original recipe than my interpetation?  and what kind of
wine?  red, white, sweet, or dry?


> My experience certainly does not suggest that  following any period recipe
accurately will produce 'swill.'


    From learning  what I have on this List,  it  *is* probably  "your
experience"  that doesn't produce  swill.    The good Lord Ras know how to
cook  & make us swoon from envy with his skills.    but,  is your rendition
of a period recipe  (without  ratios/ numbers/ cooking methods)  more
"correct" than mine?   Just wondering if I am missing something . . . . .

    Still learning  and asking questions
    Caointiarn