[Sca-cooks] medieval Japanese [food] for the total novice..

[Elaine Koogler]

Check with Devra...it's published by those same idiots that published 'Soup
for the Qan' and it's almost as expensive...$115 I think.  Though I just may
treat myself to a copy, seeing as how I've waited so long for it, as a prize
for finally landing a real job.

I think I told you guys about a month or so ago that I had landed a job with
a consulting firm and would be working with the school system in Baltimore.
Well it turns out that the company didn't actually have the contract and
they had gotten me to sign on so they'd have qualified people to present!
This is what I found out last Friday afternoon, after waiting around for
them to give me a start date!!  I really felt like I had been suckered!  But
I had interviewed for another job last Tuesday...call it a feeling that
something was wrong with the other one....and they called this morning and
made me an offer.  So, as it's a better job, better commute...lower pay by a
bit and the bennies aren't as great...I grabbed it.  I'll be doing training,
courseware development and technical writing for an internet training
company in DC.  They seem to be a great bunch of people and I'm really
looking forward to working with them.  And I actually have a start
date...this coming Friday!!  And...ta dah...they're letting me come to
Pennsic!

Kiri
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Fox-Davis" <selene at earthlink.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] medieval Japanese [food] for the total novice..


> Kiri reports:
>
> > There is a new book out that I can't afford at the moment that has all
of
> > what you're asking about...Devra has it...it's a history of Japanese
foods.
>
> I need this book!  Title, author... or should we just check the Poison Pen
> website?
>
> > I think you are pretty much good to go with things like various veggies
> >  cucumber, onion, spinach, snow peas, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrots,
> > etc., but not demonstrably new world things like bell pepper, etc.).
They
> > also had things like various type of noodles, rice, millet, tofu, soy
sauce,
> > rice vinegar.  So far as meat/fish/poultry is concerned, you're always
> > pretty safe with fish.  I usually tend to shy away from beef and pork,
and
> > I'm not sure about chicken.  Sushi is defnitely not period, at least the
way
> > we know about it, but, oddly enough, tempura is.  I have recently
discovered
> > that yakitori is probably a period dish as well.
>
> Meat and poultry didn't catch on in Japan until relatively late in the
game.
> Remember in "Shogun," the grossed-out reactions when the English pilot
hunted a
> game bird and hung it out to age properly?  Our baron is a longtime lunch
> provider but we can't break him of serving chicken teriyaki at tourneys,
no
> matter how many times we make him watch that scene.  Well, as long as the
people
> will eat it, he says.  *sigh*
>
> Noodles go 'way back.  I read in a book about soba [buckwheat] noodles
that a
> noodle house restaurant figures in the tale of the 47 Ronin, as the spot
where
> they met to plan their vendetta.  The story took place in 1701-2, during
the
> Tokugawa shogunate, still a rather feudal period in that region, yesno?
>
> The anecdotal information that I recall about Tempura is as follows:  some
> Portuguese priests were frying fish [or maybe prawns] for their Friday
dinner.
> A Japanese, wondering why they were ruining perfectly good seafood that
way,
> asked why they were doing that?  The priests tried to explain that Friday
was
> the time for fish.  Latin for "time" is "tempora".  This tale may be
> Snopes-worthy, but it's a good one.  Don't forget to leave the batter a
little
> lumpy and keep it ice-ice-cold.
>
> > We are presently in the process of translating an almost-period Japanese
> > cook book, the "Ryori Monogotari"...I believe that our translator has
almost
> > completed one chapter.  We will be sharing these as they are completed.
>
> Huzzah!  I await this breathlessly.
>
> Selene, Caid
>
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