[Sca-cooks] More ...thoughts...

[Bethra Spicewell]

Hello

 I see this one's re-surfaced again.  Let's see if I can shed some more
candlepower on it this time <g>.

<<No.  That's not what I said. I said that I would give MY OWN CREATION
a "period-style" designation and a "period-style name" IF I  entered it
in a competition. This is what I did in the case I was describing.>>

<<If they assume an unlabled, un-named potluck dish is period, I am
sorry, but it's not my fault. >>

>No, it wouldn't be your fault, but you may hear yourself quoted as a
source -"I know potato soup is period, because so-and-so brought it to
a potluck and she knows lots about medieval food!">

*More likely, something like her own creation will show up somewhere
later with someone claiming it is period.  *

If it does, and I know about it, I will try to defuse the
misinformation. Only one copy of the recipe was available, and it went
to a highly respected cook, whose knowledge of period cookery far
surpasses mine.

*They know it is because it was in a competition with a '"period-style"
designation and a "period-style name" '
and submitted by a lady with a reputation for knowing about period
cookery.*

I don't got no reputation. ;-)  I'm trying to develop one, that's why
I'm signed up with this happy band of culinary commandos

 *Something from a competition is even better 'proof' than something
eaten at potluck for those without enough interest to actually research
the matter themselves.*

 That's why I said (above) that if I brought an -un-named, unlabeled-
dish to a potluck, and it's claimed (by others) as period, it's not my
fault - my problem, perhaps, and again, I will try to correct it. If
anybody bothers to ask me, I will tell them that it's -not- period, and
where it does come from, if I know. If they don't ask, I can't help.

*I don't understand what parameter of competition this entry would
satisfy anyway.  In a competition for period cookery, your own creation
isn't appropriate.*

It was a general A&S competition, with a category for cooking.  The
winner was a lady who roasted a haunch of venison in the fully restored
fireplace of her 17th century house.
I don't normally compete, but this was an event sponsored by my own
Barony, and less than 20 minutes from home.  I sort of felt obliged to
enter something, and cooking is what I do best.  It was also an open
discussion forum style, where the competitor stayed with their entry
and discussed it with judges and the general populace.

  *Unless, by 'my own creation' you mean that you worked with several
similar recipes (due to the usual lack of detail in each) and from all
that information redacted one useful recipe in modern language and
technique.  In that case, identify one recipe as your basis, and use
it's name.  *

I did select several recipes to work with.  My problem was lack of time
and money to go shopping for the mystery ingredient (the one I didn't
have)
 So what I did, was to combine the ingredients I DID have, in a manner
as close to the other originals as possible. (Ex.  One called for veal
and currants, one called for capon, one called for currants and marrow,
etc).  I chose to combine chicken and currants, since bird bits and
veal often seemed interchangable in pottages, and it was what I had
without having to go shopping.
Also, in honor of our Queen, the rules stated that the entry had to be
dairy and wheat free.  I used rice flour and almond milk.

*The other recipes are research for your documentation.  If the
competition was not for period cookery, why bother with giving it a
period name?*

Because it deserved a name. I thought it would be nice to do a little
more for it than call it 'chicken and current stuff'
It wasn't made directly from a source, so it wasn't a previously named
dish, AFAIK,  although I've since found a very similar dish (no, don't
remember where, offhand). It wasn't strictly a period dish, at least
not one from the sources I own, but was a peri-oid dish.
I called it Tachetée, which my French dictionary tells me means
'spotted', which I thought was an accurate description, since the
currants made dark spots in the light colored chicken mixture, and
seemed to fit in with the way that some recipes were named.

Bethra




=====
Christina Elisabeth de la Griffon Riant
   Barony of Stonemarche        EK

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