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

[johnna holloway]

The total picture of food though requires that
one pay attention to more than just the recipes.
If the recipes call for spice A and the household
accounts, written letters, and other accounts indicate
that they did not have that spice that year because
supplies were lacking, it indicates that the recipe
was made with another spice, made without the spice A, or
perhaps another version of the recipe not recorded
was used. And if the household accounts record that
the dish under consideration was eaten, then it gives
us an indication of what was eaten when and what supplies
were used. Joop Witteveen does a good job of discussing
this approach and these sources in the article
 "On Swans" in PPC 24. 1986.
Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway

Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:>
> This is not to say that sources such as inventories, health
> manuals, tales, and guild regulations don't have their uses, but I
> believe that they are most helpful when used as a supplement to
> the recipes.>
> Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann