Period Greek Foods was Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP GREEK SPICING

[Terri Spencer]

While we're on this topic, it seems like a good time to ask about
period Greek cooking.  I'm cooking a feast in June for an event with an
ancient Greek theme.  I've already decided against an ancient Greek
feast because it limits the ingredients, it would start with a
sacrifice, and it's not western European middle ages anyway.  So I'm
thinking of an SCA recreation of a medieval recreation of an ancient
Greek feast - capture the Greek flavor using ingredients and cooking
techniques of our time.

Are there any medieval Greek cooking sources?  Traveler's tales?
Ancient Greek literature available in our period, or European versions
of Greek legends, that mention food or feast?  Does anyone recall
dishes dubbed "Greek" in period sources (like the "Saracen" dishes)?

On a related note, does anyone have a recommendation of a "great"
modern Greek cookbook.  Somehow my cookbook collection is lacking one,
time to take care of that.

Many thanks,

Tara


Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com> wrote:

I don't think there's any single "formula" for greek seasoning, anymore
than there'd be one for "medieval seasoning," or "chinese seasoning,"
or
french, or whatever.  Some of the recipes I saw had mint in them, and
I've put mint in things like tsaziki sauce (yummers <g>).  Also, my two
greek cookbooks are fairly small, so they might not be very
representative. Oh, I just went and checked my coypy of _The Frugal
Gourmet Cooks 3 Ancient Cuisines_ (forgot I had it), and he lists mint
as a common herb/spice in Greek food, along with allspice, caraway,
cinnamon, cloves, dillweed, garlic, "mahleb" [some sort of small seed
that is used, ground fresh, in Greek breads], oregano, parsley, and
black pepper.  So there's another list <g>
--Maire



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