SC - Aha! Sundry bits from the resources

[Glenda Robinson]

>Do you, by any chance, have a source for period Russian recipes?  We are
looking
>to do a Russian event in November, and the cook would love to get his hands on
>some.  Please understand that none of us read Russian.

So far, little has been found in the way of recipes for Russia.  The
_Domostroi_ is the best source (and pretty much only) available and it has
been translated into English, luckily.  It is a fairly reliable translation
and while it does not give many actual recipes, you can see what foodstuffs
were available.  The author is Carolyn Pouncy and the book is still in
print.  Disregard the chapters after number 64, those are likely out of our
period, even if they give the most food information.

As for recipes, the only one that I know of is "Cabbage or Greens."  It was
redacted by Cariadoc.  You can find it on the "Food and Drink" section of
the Russian Knowledge Page at
<http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~jdmiller2/knowledge/food.html>.  It is under
"recipes."

I have made it and my only advice is to leave out the salt until after it
is cooked, and then add it to taste.  My batch was *way* too salty.

>Any help you can provide would be appreciated.  We already have the book on
>Medieval Polish recipes and plan to use some of those as we know that
there was
>some crossover...Russia conquered Poland, Poland won their freedom back and
>invaded Russia...and on and on, or so I have read.

Yes, there was some cross-over, and the _Domostroi_ mentions some possible
Polish influences. However, most of these influences likely occurred
outside of our period (found in the latter part of the book).  If I were
you, I would be sure to mark the dishes that were Polish and the dishes
that were Russian, just to be sure.  The two cuisines are definitely
different from each other and should recognized as such.

One of my summer projects is to add to the Knowledge Page some
recommendations for SCA feasts consisting of Russian foods that would at
least be possible and not glaringly OOP.  Don't hold your breath, but I am
working on it.

- --Yana