SC - vellum/parchment (OT)

[Lesley Tyler]

Lady Jana Aoibeall said:
> I just got on the list. My name is Lady Jana Aoibeall, I am from CAID,
> Calafia.(Southern California)  I belong to the Household of the Blackened
> Pot.  We are a cooking household. Most of our members are not that
> interested in period food as good food.  I am the exception.  I really want
> to learn about period food.

Well, I think most folks on list list believe there is no reason that
period food can also be good food. It can also be bad food, depending
upon the cook.

> My question is to Norse cooking, around the time of the Vikings.  I have
> been asked to cook a winter feast for a Viking war band I belong to 'Drafn'
> and would like to make it as period as possible.  

It will be difficult to make it documentably period because there are no
surviving cookbooks from that time and culture. However, you can make some
guesses. You might want to check this file in the FOOD-BY-REGION section
in my Florilegium files:
fd-Norse-msg      (36K)  9/17/99    Norse and Viking food. 
 
> I have some wonderful Swiss cook book, but other than eliminating recipe's
> that have modern stuff in them I really do not know what is or is not
> period.  I really hope the lemon beer is, as it is yummy stuff.

It is much better to start with period recipes, even someone else's
interpretation if needed, and work from that rather than starting with
a modern cookbook and work back from there. Eliminating the modern
ingredients does not necessarily create anything near a period recipe.
For some suggestions on period cookbooks check some of the files in
the FOOD-BOOKS section for some reviews:
books-food-msg    (69K)  5/25/00    Books about food. Not cookbooks.
cb-novices-msg    (13K) 10/14/98    Cookbooks for those new to medieval cooking.
cookbooks-bib     (32K)  4/21/97    Cookbook bibliography by Jaelle of Armida.
cookbooks-SCA-msg (20K)  1/ 7/00    Cookbooks written by people in the SCA.
  This last one in particular mentions some books that are inexpensive and
easy to obtain.

It's hard to say on this  lemon-beer recipe without seeing it. If you can
give us some ideas of the kinds of beverages you are interested in, perhaps
some folks here might be able to help. Or take a look at some of the files
in my BEVERAGES section.
 
> A little more about just me.  I am a wife, mother of two, my interest are
> cooking, illumination, and costuming, I also dabble in brewing, needle work
> and weaving.  So many cool things to learn, so little time.

There are also sections in the Florilegium on illumination (SCRIBAL ARTS),
costuming (CLOTHING), brewing (BEVERAGES) and needlework and weaving
(TEXTILE ARTS) that you might be interested in. Hmm, perhaps some of the
files in the CHILDREN section might also be of interest to you, also.

- -- 
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 ****