[Sca-cooks] Corn Bread

[Elizabeth A Heckert]

On Thu, 5 Jul 2001 11:07:20 -0700 lilinah at earthlink.net writes:
>Someone on our Kingdom list is arguing that old line: if they had
>ingredient X in period, they must have had cooked dish Y. In this
>case, the discussion is centering around...
>
>Cornbread

   I can still remember Terry Nutter, Lady Angharad, arguing this point
back in Black Diamond:  her arguement was: you find a turkey, bring it
back to the cook & cook says:  "it's a bird!  It's a BIG bird!  Let's
treat it like a (swan, peacock, other large fowl).  You hand the same
cook a potatoe--or more convincingly, an ear of corn,  and poor cook says
"Prithee, thou cross-gartered Varlet, what manner of object is this?"
(Add appropriate nose wrinkle as necessary)  Maize looks nothing like any
old world vegetable, and without the Native Americans about to show you
how to use it, it's useless.  Now my understanding is that Squanto did
not make it to Europe until post 1600.

   If the Spaniards brought back South American recipes, where are they?
I think you have to be in contact with a group of people on their turf,
as it were, before you incorporate their food into your life.

   As far as white potatoes go, there was an Englishman who started
growing them in 1619, somewhere in the British Isles as a form of
welfare, both to provide them with work as well as food.  This scheme,
I'm sure, is related to other schemes at the time involving straw hat
plaiting and knitting, to help poor people.

   Elizabeth



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