[Sca-cooks] statistical studies

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach jenne at fiedlerfamily.net:
>I've heard a lot of people make a lot of claims that working with the
>recipes blind will teach you more than reading secondary sources.

I like the idea that followed, but I'm not sure who said anything
about following the recipes blind. If, by blind, you mean following
them only with no attention paid to other sources. I don't think
anybody advised that, only that the secondary sources alone would not
provide as much useful information as working with both, and that
condensed "rules" for cookery, mostly in the form of secondary
sources, shouldn't be your main source of information if you want to
have a reasonable chance at accuracy.

Does anybody have the original "Siege Cookery" thread saved from way
back? I think it gave a pretty good example of what I was talking
about. As I recall, Baron Tibor made up the ingredients list, and
various people, including myself and Lady Katerine Rountre (for
newbies to this list, that was the late, beloved Dr. Terry Nutter,
once of this list and a sometime collaboratir with Constance Hieatt),
plus several others, actually participated. Mostly we came up with
foods that resembled dishes mentioned in period sources. Maybe it was
just a matter of carefully chosen ingredients leading the witness. I
don't know...

Adamantius