[Sca-cooks] Re: (Period cookery questions)

[El Hermoso Dormido]

On Wednesday 08 May 2002 08:01 pm, Philippa Alderton wrote:
> --- El Hermoso Dormido
>
> <ElHermosoDormido at dogphilosophy.net> wrote:
> > I AM quite interested in references to books on
> > medieval cookery (though
> > less interested in "cookbooks" [i.e. books of
> > recipes] than I am in
> > books about cooking styles, habits, and equipment),
> > though, so I
> > certainly wouldn't turn down a reading list...
>
> Well, what you're asking for, essentially, is a list
> of secondary sources- Medieval folk, as a general
> rule, didn't have our habit of analyzing the analyses
> ;-0
[...]

Sounds like I need to re-phrase....

I actually would prefer to stick as much as possible to
"primary" sources - it's just that I'm not as interested in
"Sir JoeSchmoe's Boke of ye Period Recipe's" (primary or not)
as I am in references to how cooking was done, how "improvisational"
it was, how cooks decided what to make and how to make it, and so
on.  (This is ALSO not to say that original recipes from "period"
aren't of interest to me as indicators of what ingredients tended
to be used in what ways - it's just that I'm not having any trouble
finding THESE....)

I'm assuming there aren't really many (if any) "period" references that
discuss this directly, so what I need to look for, I think, are
references with a lot of "incidental" descriptions of kitchens, cooks,
feasts, etc., which presumably will show up mostly in things like
lists of kitchen inventories (for ingredients and cooking implements),
implication from scenes that appear in illuminations, stories, and so on.

What I'm really looking for in this thread is validation (or invalidation,
as the case may be) of the likely authenticity of my "cooking reenactment"
style that will result from my desire to approach the study of medieval
cookery and food from the side OPPOSITE that of "recipes".  In other words,
if I want to create a Spanish dish from the mid-1500's, say, rather than
reaching for a copy of a medieval spanish recipe book, that I'd instead
be thinking in terms of what ingredients were available, and how cooks
in that time and place tended to combine and prepare them, and letting
the dishes "flow" from that.  For me, I think this will result in a much
more complete understanding of "medieval cooking" (and cooking in general),
just because of the way I learn things.  Of course, if it is the case that
'period' cooks generally DID refer to recipes as they made their dishes, then
the point is pretty moot...

My eventual goal isn't just to be able to make authentic medieval dishes,
but to achieve a "mastery" of medieval cooking as a whole.  It also doesn't
hurt that in July, we're having an "Iron Chef"-style competition, by
which time I hope to have added enough skill and knowledge to whatever
talent I may have to be able to show off a little with the rest of
our team...

(I don't want to have to go leafing through recipes when the Mystery
Ingredient is announced - I want to KNOW( and/or FEEL) when, where, and
how that ingredient was used, and, in what I contend is "authentic medieval
style" (though I may be completely wrong, which is why I ask here), create
an appropriate dish in an improvisational (but authentic) manner.

Egad, have you ever seen so many run-on sentences before? :-)