[Sca-cooks] Period Knife Techniques (consensus??)

[Terri Spencer]

Balthazar of Blackmoor wrote:

> I was taking a peek through a few recipe sources this
> morning, and started to wonder if we had any
> reference/consensus as to how the various "hew, chop,
> and cut" indications might translate into modern
> culinary terminology.  Meaning, have we been able to
> determine if "hew it into pieces" refers to a
> particular size of cut (small dice, julienne,
> concasse), or if it is a particularly generalized
> terminology. Or, is this a non-issue?.....Anyway, I was
> just pondering this...

While pondering from a modern perspective, consider the medieval cook's
goal of preparing healthy meals according to the humoural medical
theory of the time.  Ingredients of various humoural qualities (hot,
dry, cold, moist) would be mixed using cooking techniques to adjust the
qualities of the dish to suit or change the diner's condition.

Scully wrote in a magazine article of chopping, hewing, and grinding to
blend the ingredients as much as possible,  mingling their qualities
evenly.  He related these techniques to the word "temper", found so
often in the recipes.  Small bits would also be easier to digest, a
major concern of the humoural diet.

Dish after dish of chopped up glop would not please today's SCA
feaster, but it does explain why there wasn't a pressing need for table
forks.

Tara

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