[Sca-cooks] ...thoughts on period-style food?

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Bethra Spicewell <christina_elisabeth at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Anahita asked:  OK, what is your interpretation of
> spiced to suit
> modern tastes?

and

> >I am not baiting you.
> No offense offered, none taken.  I'm willing to
> listen to input from
> all sources, and the best way to find out is to ask.
>  Maybe someone out
> there has a better answer, or at least a different
> take on the subject.
> Anybody else want to jump in here ?
>
> Bethra

OK, Bethra, I'm one who gets very irritated when
people start in on "for Modern tastes" because it
frequently is a phrase used by the ignorant which
implies that the poor benighted Medieval folk suffered
with rotten meats, rancid gease, wilted vegetables,
and generally poor food, poorly spiced, and that
somehow, what we eat today is infinitely superior.

In my opinion, much modern food sucks. As a general
rule, it tends to be highly over sugared and salted,
with chemical stews added for flavor enhancement,
coloring, preservation, and Heavens know what else,
because we tend to grow things for ease of
transportation and picking, in a mass market economy,
rather than for their full flavor potential.

In fact, if you look at much Medieval food, it tends
to be far fresher and more carefully cultivated than
much of what we get now- in general, of a higher
quality, simply because they tended to pick things
when they were ripe, where we pick things while
they're still unripe, so they'll travel better.

If you're reluctant to believe me, look at all the
foods that are being marketted now, whether "free
range" chicken, eggs, and meats, or "homegrown" fresh
produce- no sprays, no chemicals, etc.

That said, the Medieval folks did have a slightly
different take on spicing and cooking than we do.
Herbs were handy, so they used them, and spices were
expensive, so while they might use them as a
demonstration of conspicuous consumption, they were
still used with reasonable restraint. Cooking itself
had to be a bit different- they basicly used fire in
its many forms and stages- they didn't have the luxury
of electric or gas ranges and ovens as we do- and they
couldn't put a roast in at 350 degrees for X hours and
leave it- they had to watch it and move it closer to
or away from the heat, and "cook it until it be done".
Frying had to be very carefully used- the chance of
hot oil catching the entire kitchen on fire was very
high, considering how much open flame there was about.

Where they were very different is that they used
spices and herbs we tend to catagorize as "sweet" in
savory dishes, and "savory" in sweet dishes. Much of
this had to do with humoral theory, but I have no
doubt much had to do with simple availability as well.
Considering the cost of such items we use without
thinking about, such as salt, sugar, and basic black
pepper, they would use generally less of these things
than we would. When we throw a feast, and advertise
seats as "below the salt" or "above the salt" we are
reflecting the fact that folk above the salt were
grand enough to be given the luxury of extra salt if
they wanted it- it was too expensive to be given out
to mere servants, other than what might be already in
their food.

Now, I'll tell you what I did, to learn about these
spicings. Very simply, I started making modern dishes
with which I was quite familiar, but instead of using
my usual blends, I used ingredients as described in
some of my Medieval cookbooks. That way, being very
familiar with the original dishes, I could determine
what the effect was on the foods, and what I might get
if I cooked period dishes using similar ingredients.
But, I didn't fool with calling things "perioid" or
"period- like", I just called them "stew with
cinnamon" or "cornbread with almond milk" and left it
at that.

The only dish I can recall that I made that was
perioid, was when I'd been in SCA less than a month,
and went to a Cooking Collegium run by Alys K. I was
so new, that I didn't realize garb was needed (and no
one had told me) so I used loaner garb, and I brought
a veal and venison terrine from "Joy of Cooking", that
being the only thing that I, in my ignorance of
matters medieval, could think of, which might trace
its roots back to the Middle Ages- and as it was, Alys
K had to send me a small vial of juniper berries ;-)

Shortly thereafter, I discovered Pennsic and Cook's
List, and I've been driving folks crazy at or on
both.....

Phlip, currently discombobulating and smooshing pears
(his word!!!) for Massa Adamantius for 12th Night)

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