First feasts was Re: SC - Diet Blues

[Bonne of Traquair]

> > Can you give me an example of the kind of thing you're talking about?

>
>the pudding
>tasted like there was rubbing alchohol in it, and the dates in candied 
>sauce
>looked like cockroaches in maple syrop, and didn't move on the plate, even
>when turned upside down. Things like that.

While unfortunate, these sorts of problems crop up with modern food as well. 
  The problem was some sort of mis-interpretation of the recipe - anything 
from a poor substitution of ingredients to a wrong technique.  This sort of 
problem is why most feast cooks pre-test the recipes.   Cooking from 
unfamiliar and vague recipes is difficult at best for an amatuer cook, even 
if not under the pressure and in quantities needed for feast.  The second 
sounds like  personal opinion, nothing the cooks can do about that.  I can 
name any number of modern foods that appear completely unappatizing to me, 
but others like them well enough.  Some of them I even eat despite their 
appearance.


>No, I think I meant more along the lines of "for my first feast I wanted to
>make things I was comfortable with, instead of trying new things of which I
>have no idea what they SHOULD taste like..."

Acceptable reasoning, my first feast had roast chicken and roast beef for 
the same reason.  The period recipes I used were extremely simple vegetable 
dishes and fruit tarts.  All of which I'd started practicing on in the 
months before my feast.  My kids and husband were happy to help serve and 
man the dish sink as they'd already had PLENTY of what was being served!

>As I said, period feasting is something I'll be working toward, with the
>help of this list.
>Looking forward to the next one, which I believe is going to be in 
>November.
>
>Gyric

So, your starting to test new recipes when?

I'm hoping all the commentary so far and still to come doesn't  reduce the 
fun you had, and expect to have in November.  You have pinched a very 
sensitive nerve by saying that documentable food is not good.    Most people 
that hang around here in the long term either never thought that, or, 
through practice cooking and eating, have become defenders of the idea that 
medieval food is no better nor worse than any other cuisine.  Yes, there are 
icky, weird recipes in the corpus.  But then again, there is Tuna Helper.

Bonne

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