SC - Feast for a King

[KallipygosRed at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/18/00 2:57:16 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
jenne at tulgey.browser.net writes:

> '"Our goal with the dinner is to offer our guests a real taste of what the
>  funerary feast guests at Gordion enjoyed," explained Pam Horowitz, "and
>  then more. Well be providing them with a rich sampling of the regional
>  variety of foods and spices available to King Midas and the people of his
>  kingdom 2700 years ago. Of course, by adding the additional foods, we are
>  balancing authenticity of the central entre as we now understand it, with
>  some creative culinary treats based on regional foods. It promises to be
>  an educational and delectable meal, fit for an ancient king or an
>  adventurous 21st century American diner."'
>  
>  *twitch*
>  
>  In other words, they are using the term "re-creating" in the same way that
>  the SCA as a whole uses "medieval re-creation" -- very loosely.

I disagree. I read through the whole website, as well as the Musuem Culinary 
Catering website, and the various releases. I believe what Ms. Horowitz was 
trying to say, although not very clearly, in my own humble opinon was that 
the had created the receipes and redactions of the receipes based on the 
ingredients that they could identify and not from ones already in existence. 
In that way they were able to let the cooks at the musuem use their 
creativity regarding combinations and presentations. In one of the reports 
regarding the finds in the stew bowls, for instance, they say that they have 
the chemical component breakdown of the ingredients  of triglcerides and 
oscilic acid (may have spelling wrong there). So, they know that the fatty 
part of sheep and perhaps olive butter were used in the ingredients. Later 
they make the comment that there is an ingredient which closely resembles 
black pepper in make up, but since there is no absolute proof that black 
pepper was used in that time period they are going to go with a cousin plant 
(which could also chemically break down the same) that did grow during the 
time period, is regional, and the same taste charachteristics. They base the 
evidence of this being a stew on the fact that no bones, no pits, no seeds, 
etc. were found in any of eight or ten bowls; which wouldn't have been the 
case if it had been separately prepared dishes lumped into one bowl. 

So, they've done their research and they are going to a lot of trouble to 
recreate as closely as possible the ingredients in receipes that are edible 
and referenced in other works, where no receipes existed. For instance, we 
know that in Midas time--per the report--that barbecued/roasted lamb was 
served; but not what it was seasoned with. Now they have chemical breakdown 
of the ingredients which gives them an idea to seasoning; but still not 
quantity or how used. So, that part of it is up to the creativity of the 
cooks in attendance. Geeze, I wish I was involved with this! It sounds like 
fun, and wonderfully yummy.

Okay, so I don't know about the chocolate. We have discussed that before on 
this list and the concesus puts chocolate being used much later than this 
particular recreation. But maybe they know something we don't.  I mean, I 
didn't know that mollusk's gave out the dye that created "royal purple" of 
historical hue until I read in the report that the Mr. McGovern who is 
heading this meal proved/published those finds a year or so ago. To that end 
I forwarded an email to the website asking specifically if the truffle with 
gold is considered chemically present in the find, or was it just a creative 
end to the dinner. I'll let you know if I get a response. 

Lars