[Sca-cooks] Am I at least minimally clueful? (Period cookery questions)

[El Hermoso Dormido]

Lest anyone get the idea from my recent posts that I just joined
the mailing list to discuss offtopic matters... :-)

A brief introduction - Food is the one form of artistic expression in
which I think I've got any noteworthy "talent".  At least, even since
childhood I've found it relatively easy to predict whether or
not something was going to be palatable, and with very few exceptions,
any bit of "improvisational cuisine" that I've come up with in the past
has been edible.

I've recently become interested in "serious" development of some skill
to go with this "talent", and have become interested in Medieval cookery
because A)it represents rather unique flavors that don't often get
represented in modern cooking (a dish of noodle stew...sprinkled
with cinnamon and sugar???) and B)I find that what I've come to think of
as the "Medieval Style of Cookery" (by which I mean the act of food
preparation, not specifically the food itself) appeals to my style
in the kitchen.

In my recent bit of studying, I've developed some impressions regarding
medieval cooks and cooking, and figured this would be the appropriate place
to ask whether or not my impressions are accurate or not, so here goes:

1)It appears that there really is no analogue for MODERN-style recipes in
"period".  I get the impression that where a modern-style recipe is
generally step-by-step "scientific" instructions intended for people
who may know little about cooking but has SOME experience, Medieval versions
of what we'd call "recipes" were usually "cliff notes" for experienced cooks
, with a few exceptions intended as tutorials for people with NO experience
with cookery (such as the manuscript, whose name escapes me for the moment,
written by the wealthy merchant for his wife, who, having come from a noble
family, had never learned cookery before...).  Have I interpreted this
correctly?

2)The implication I get from this is that most medieval cooks wouldn't be
cooking from a recipe as most modern cooks seem to, but rather by "intuition"
and experience, examining what's available for ingredients and what sorts of
cooking techniques the cook's been exposed to that are appropriate, and going
from there by "feel".  Am I correct in that assumption?

3)I get the impression that unlike (thankfully!) SCA cooks, in "period",
cooks (for noble folk) were simple servants, and
not-particularly-well-thought-of ones in most cases.  (They seem to be
stereotyped as smelly, irritable people, presumably due to working in a hot
kitchen all day while being harassed by children sneaking in to steal food and
so on). This is also correct, I assume?  Would that also imply that most cooks
were semi-literate or illiterate for most of "period"?

Well, that's probably a good start, anyway...

Signed,
El Hermoso Dormido, eagerly seeking culinary education...