[Sca-cooks] what are your thoughts on period-style food?

[Kirrily Robert]

Rosine wrote:
>
> For documentational purposes, I think recipes are very necessary - but I
> also keep in mind that medieval people ran out of supplies (at times), had
> too many of something going bad (at times), had personal tastes that
> determined the amounts of ingredients... and found that they preferred their
> version.

I've found heaps of substitutions recommended in the texts I've been
working with.  Common types are:

"Take a capon, or if you have no capon a chicken or some other fowl of
like size..."

"Take beef or mutton or any other meat..."

"Spinach and violet leaves or any other sweet herbs..."

"Or if it be Lent..." (substitute oil for butter, almonds/almond milk
for dairy/eggs, pea broth for meat broth, etc)

"... according to your master's taste" (usually used for spices, sugar,
and sharpness; sometimes you see "and make it sweet or sharp according
to your taste.")

"take marrow if you have it..."

I try to get a feel for what are usually acceptable substitutions or
modifications within the same cookbook, or similar cookbooks (eg, I'd
consider two late-16th century English cookbooks interchangeable in
this case), and use those in preference to totally made-up ones.

Yours,

Katherine


--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net  http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
"The rose is red, the leaves are grene, God save Elizabeth our Queene"