SC - Re: Substitution - Response Phlip

[Stefan li Rous]

Huette advised: 
> Balthazar,
> 
> I think that you need to find a copy of "A Medievel
> Health Handbook" or "The Four Seasons in the House of
> Cerutti."
> 
> I am not at home at the moment, so I don't have access
> to my copies.  However, in these, certain foods are
> listed by their humors and their uses.  These are
> actually more of a medical text than a cookbook, but
> they still give us a look into the thinking of that
> time.  
> 
> What I am trying to say is if you looked up chickens
> and ducks in these books, you might find that chickens
> are hot and dry and that ducks are cold and moist.  I
> am just guessing at this.  If they don't have the same
> humors, then they are not likely to be used
> interchangably by a medieval cook.  And just because
> both are fowl, does mean that they were perceived as
> being the same thing.  If they were both considered
> hot and dry or cold and moist, then, and only then,
> they might have been used interchangably.  

You might also want to look at this file in the FOOD section of
the Florilegium to get an overview while you are trying to get a hold
of these other referances:
The-Saucebook-art (33K)  9/ 2/99    "The Saucebook" by L. Allison
Poinvillars de 
                                       Tours. Sauces and the humours in
the MA.

Some of the comments in this file might also prove useful:
humorl-theory-msg (22K)  9/ 9/99    Concepts of medieval Humoral Theory.

Medieval Humoral Theory has only been discussed here a little. Many
folks are only now beginning to coordinate their menus by time or
region or by seasonal availablity (in period) and even fewer are
considering humoral theory. But if you are going to do reliable
research on what substitutions were actually done in period or likely
to be done, you probably should become familar with these theories.
- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****