[Sca-cooks] Tips on Redactions

[A F Murphy]

Now, I don't know what a fine brunoise is, let alone how to cut it, so
modern cookbooks alone don't help there. That's probably training. I
have lots of books, but no formal training at all. (For all I know, I
might know perfectly well how to do it, just not the name...)

I have a collection of cookbooks, starting from about 1890 and going on,
which belonged to my grandmother. It is interesting to see the way
recipe writing changed. The really fascinating part is her own recipes,
written in the margins and on every blank page.  They actually became
more specific over the years! I have a pie recipe written in three
places, that progresses from measuring by eye, judging ovens as hot and
very hot, and putting it in a big enough plate, to tablespoons and
temperatures. Obviously, as measurements became more precise, she
figured them out, and made notes, to make it easier on herself. Which
means that she thought setting an oven temperature was easier than
figuring how hot she wanted an oven for a custard pie. And I know these
were her own books, not cards written out for a daughter in law or
anything like that...  so she sort of redacted her own recipes!

Anne

Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

>
> Situation B) involves a person exposed only to period cookbooks, limited
> more or less to the technology and terminology represented in those
> books, and if called upon to produce a modern dish according to a
> specific recipe, could have quite a lot of trouble. If told, right off
> the bat, to cut a fine brunoise, not only would they probably have
> trouble with the vocabulary, but wouldn't, I suspect, be very good at
> the technique, either, without some practice.
>
>