[Sca-cooks] needs some help getting started cooking period foods

[Stefan li Rous]

Wulfgang Dracke asked:

(uh oh, Another 'Drake' :-) )

> I have only been in the sca little over a year.

Welcome to the SCA and to the SCA-Cooks list.

> I am trying to get started with cooking period foods and have some Ideas but I really don't know what spices were used.
>
> If any one has Names of some period cook books I would get greatfull for some.

For cookbooks you might want to look through the comments in the
FOOD-BOOKS section of the Florilegium. I particularly would
recommend these files:
cookbooks-bib     (40K)  6/ 9/01    Cookbook bib. by Mistress Jaelle of Armida.
cookbooks-SCA-msg (27K)  9/29/00    Cookbooks written by people in the SCA.
cb-novices-msg    (13K) 10/14/98    Cookbooks for those new to medieval cooking.

For info on which spices were used, I would recommend looking through
some of the original period recipes or good redactions. Also, some
spice books can give you a good overview.

You might also want to look through some of the files in the PLANTS,
HERBS AND SPICES section such as:
spices-msg       (126K)  3/23/01    Info. on spices, sources for spices.
spice-mixes-msg   (42K)  3/22/02    Period spice mixtures. Poudre Forte, Douce.

When you find out which spices you are interested in, you might take
a look at some of the other files in this section which have detailed
information on specific spices such as cinnamon or saffron.

Some spices may be difficult to find in your local grocery or they
may not be fresh because they don't have a high turnover. You might
be interested in buying some of them by mail:
merch-spices-msg  (31K)  1/18/01    Spice merchants. Reviews and recommendations

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****