SC - Period Ingredients Master List

[Michael Macchione]

On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Jeff Gedney wrote:

> I would be worried that this might be taken incorrectly...
> "if you make a recipe with only these ingredients, it is automatically period" 
> We have seen how this is not always true, and that this is a faily common 
> mistake of cooks new to period cooking. 

> What would be the purpose of compiling such a list?
> If you use a period recipe, then using the ingredients in the recipe 
> automatically makes your ingredients period....

I had proposed this idea soon after the list got started and got many 
responses similar to yours.   I still think it would be a good idea for 
the following reasons:

1) Determining minor substitutions in a recipe.  For example, if a recipe 
calls for a particular type of berry, but for some reason that berry is 
unavailable (out of season perhaps) and you would like to replace it with 
a similar berry.  (I would doubt that medieval cooks were that anal about 
recipes that they didn't make such substitutions).

2) Determining whether there are recipes for a certain food.  It would be 
nice to be able to check to see if a particular food was eaten in period, 
before I go searching for a recipe.

3) Prevent new cooks from making glaring errors in their first feast that 
they are trying to make perioid (rather than make it period on their 
first time).  I know period ingredients do not make for a period feast, 
but for me I would prefer it to a feast made with non period foods. (I 
admit I am of the school that knows not every recipe for every dish was 
written down).





> 
> I do not see the utility of this list, except as a strictly academic excercise.
> If however, they could be put into a time line, where the regions and dates 
> of earliest usages are listed, then this could be a valuable teaching tool, 
> to show the movement and evolution of ingredients. 
> I do not believe such a survey of ingredients has been done.


To me the more information on the list the better.  Giving regions and 
times to foods would be excellent.  Listing recipes that can be placed in 
those times and places along with the ingredients would be even better.  
Of course I think a project like this would take a lifetime to complete.


Kael