SC - Icky Period Food and attitudes

[Michael F. Gunter]

> Every time I have a "super period" feast, it turns out to be so
esoteric
> that nobody seems to be able to eat it. It has indeed prejudiced me to
that
> fact and I apologize.

Don't feel bad.  A few years ago there were very few people in Ansteorra

who cooked period food. And many of those who tried often produced
nearly
inedible meals. There were exceptions, Mistress Meadhbh, Baroness
Clarissa,
and Master Bjorn would produce good researched dishes but ofttimes they
were fairly small or produced rarely.
The majority of period food I'd tried, well, sucked.
When I cooked feasts I tried to give them a Medieval flair and be
slightly
unusual but really didn't know a period recipe if someone smacked me
upside
the head with a cuskynole.
I created this list not to for it to be a font of period food
information but
for
an opportunity for cooks to tell horror stories, critiques, suggestions
and
recipes to those interested.  Imagine my surprise when suddenly I get
all of these people who talk about period food as if it was actually
edible.

> I hazard to partially disagree with you on that one.
> I agree good cooks can make good food, but I know some very good cooks
who
> have made recipies that were just horrible.  All in the name of
period.
> However, you are correct for the most part.

Everybody screws up. Especially with a cuisine that they are unfamiliar
with.
I'm a pretty good cook but last weekend made a cassoulet that was a bit
too
salty. Why? I didn't realize the smoked meats would have imparted so
much
taste to the final product. Next time I'll correct that.  (It was a
cassoulet
using
smoked turkey and also had smoked pork chops. Not the classic version of

duck in comfit and lamb.)
Does that mean that cassoulet is bad? No. It means I need to learn more
about it. I would bet the first time you tried to cook Mexican with
nothing
to base it on it wouldn't come out to your liking either. Period food is
a
type of cuisine and needs to be played with a bit. That's actually part
of the
fun.

> Ok, I also concede I'm letting my prejudice run away with me.  I
hacked on
> the period thing, because I'm not a good enough cook yet to be able to
pull
> off the stuff I'm not intimately familiar with, ie redacted recipies,
but I
> was asked from any number of people if my feast was documentable, and
it was
> really starting to get irritating.  I apologize to the list members if
I
> offended anyone.

Well that happens on here. I'm sorry. But there are now a ton of great
cookbooks,
many written by members of this list, with totally redacted recipes they
have
tried out with friends and decided that at least this version doesn't
suck. The

members of this list will be more than happy to give you listings and
ordering
information or even websites where you can look them up for free.

Another thing is that most of us hate "period nazis". That's not the way
to
win people over. I'm in Anstorra, that's Texas and Oklahoma. People here

tend to like Steak, BBQ, Mexican Food and nothing else. Or at least
that's
the perception. But once the good folk on this list brought me to the
light
I and several others here, began a campaign to bring the kingdom around.

We didn't do this by being rude to non-period cooks. We did it by
finding
period recipes that actually (gasp!) tasted good and feeding folks. We
also would excitedly explain that this was stuff that REAL knights and
ladies
ate. We would go into kitchens and help with the chopping and cooking
and
then talk to the head cook about how if we did this to that roast beef
or
added this sauce to that vegetable then it would be cool period food
too.
We let our excitement infect those other cooks. And we showed the
general
populace that period food wasn't icky.  I remember sitting at a luncheon
for
Peers and Nobles a while ago. The cook said that she wasn't interested
in
serving period food and we didn't have a problem with that. But during
the
luncheon, out of the cook's hearing so as not to embarass her, I started

pointing
out the stuff on the table that was actually period in one form or the
other.
The Peers and Nobles began to realize that even some "real" food is
period too.

Now here in Ansteorra a majority of feasts are now at least trying to
get
some period dishes involved and the populace is even looking for them.
If
a feast has no relation to period dishes some of the non-fanatic diners
are
a little disappointed.

I hope that the negative feedback you recieved doesn't scare you off but

that you'll see the cool stuff that we have discovered and start
planting them
appleseeds up North too.

> Gyric

Yers,

Gunthar