[Sca-cooks] Funges Follies-

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Elaine Koogler:
>Sorry about that guys!  I really overstated what I meant to say.  What I
>meant to say here is that we are told that if we substitute or omit an
>ingredient, we no longer have a period dish.

And this, of course, is why "period" is a bad term. It seems to
denote some minimum standard of authenticity, at least for some
people. I believe we ought to worry less about goal-orientation and
be more process-oriented. There probably should not be alarm bells
going off at the exact point at which we diverge from a period
recipe. Whoop-whoop, non-period alert! Man the battle stations and
check for tomatoes!

On the other hand, the simple fact of knowing when, and why, we
diverge from what we know to be a period process because it is
documented very specifically, and when, and why, we are speculating,
is a good teaching and reasoning device. I really don't think anybody
ever really suggested more than that. (All right, I'll be blunt; I
don't think Cariadoc, or I, or various other people who've been
involved in this ongoing debate, ever suggested an approach more
conservative than that. If I'm wrong those people can correct me.)

An example: a week or so ago I was involved in a small feast
consisting largely of Eastern European foods, mostly those recipes in
Marx Rumpolt which he specifically identifies as Hungarian. Among
them was a dried plum tart filling which we put in pastry cases
(commercial, phooey!) and baked. _Talk_ about an aroma filling an
entire site with perfume! Anyway, a few minutes before service, I
noted that we had a lot of sour cream left over from the dayboard. We
decided to beat it a bit, and put a healthy dollop in the middle of
each tart as a garnish. The recipe doesn't call for it. We just
decided to use it because we thought it would be good. Technically, I
know I should be on the lam with the authenticity police in hot
pursuit. On the other hand, I'm still in a position to state, quite
truthfully, that Rumpolt's comments on Hungarian plum tart filling
remain unchanged by the decision to put some sour cream on the
finished tarts, even though Rumpolt doesn't mention it. The filling
was as close to Rumpolt's instructions as I could make it, and its
consistency, with or without sour cream dolloped on top, to modern
Eastern European fruit tart traditions also remains unchanged. Has
that somehow transformed my modern creation based on a period recipe
into something less "period" than it would otherwise have been?
Probably not really.  Does it show that there is an ongoing link
between late medieval/early modern and current traditions regarding
fruit tarts in that part of the world? Sure it does. The only way in
which the educational process suffered (and in this it was probably
made up for by people's enjoyment factor) was in that people might
assume that the sour cream dollop is called for in Rumpolt's recipe.
And if anyone asks, I can easily point out that that was a snap
decision.

>   I have always had a problem
>with that concept...sorry about that, fellow Laurels!  I really don't see
>how we can create dishes that we know for a fact are absolutely "spot on"
>(to quote our British friends) period...there are just too many things that
>are different.  Most recipes don't give quantities, so we redact according
>to our own, modern, tastes.  Even the ingredients we use are not
>period...the beef we have today (or chicken, pork, whatever) are raised
>differently and therefore, probably taste different.  We do our best to
>create something that is as close to period as we can possibly make it...and
>that's what I am still doing if I choose to still make Shellbread, omitting
>the musk, which is not only unobtainable in its natural form, but is, as I
>understand it, poisonous in its chemical form.

And there's the rub. We do our best, even though we know we cannot
attain perfection. The trick is to not allow the fact that we cannot
attain perfection to prevent us from doing our best. (Not letting the
best be the enemy of the good, etc., etc.)

>Sorry about that Adamantius...and thanks for pulling me up short on that
one.

Well, as I said, I was addressing more a widespread attitude, rather
than you or your remarks, which make more sense than a lot of what is
said on this subject. Even though you are in danger of falling into
the Classic Trap connected with this reasoning ;-)...

Adamantius, who thinks Kiri is _worth_ the effort of being a pain in
the arse to