[Sca-cooks] The can's already open...the worms are EVERYWHERE...

[El Hermoso Dormido]

On Thursday 09 May 2002 10:45 am, Philippa Alderton wrote:
> Really. Any chance we could organize and set up an
> answer to this question? Every time we get an active
> new member of the List, they seem to want to improvise
> Mediecal cuisines before they have really learned how
> to cook them. Maybe a well set-up generic, "Why we
> don't improvise until we do it their way" post might
> save some of our fingers.....

Sheesh, my sloppily-phrased questions opened a big metaphorical
can of worms, I guess.  (I apologize in advance if this reply
sounds "cranky" - it's not SUPPOSED to, but I find myself getting
rather verbose in my convoluted attempts to explain what it is that
I'm trying to ask....)

At least this explains why I'm having so much trouble
properly articulating my question.  Evidently it sounded too
much like I was leading up to a question like "Since they had noodles, cream,
and cheeses in mid-1500's Spain, I can just make Fettucini Alfredo for the
upcoming Medieval Spanish Feast, right?" (or "they had eggs and oil and
verjuice, and they made emulsion sauces [oil and vinegar], so why CAN'T I
serve it with mayonnaise?")...(which sort of thinking irks me as much as it
probably does the truly experienced among SCA cooks...)  It seems I've
accidentally invoked the "Oh, God, here comes ANOTHER one" reflex...

Amid the admonishments that the reams of recipes are The Key To
Learning "Authentic" Cooking(tm), I do think I've gotten the answers that
I was looking for, i.e. that medieval recipes were nearly always "guidelines"
(that is, DESCRIPTIONS of dishes more than "instructions"), and that medieval
cooks likely did not refer to recipes while cooking (though they likely often
browsed other's recipes for new ideas.), and by extension, that cooks were
expected to know by "feel" or experience how much, say, cinnamon should be
added to a dish before serving (rather than being expected to remember "1 tsp
per dish").  The fundamental point of this that is important to me is that
it indicates that it will not be a waste of my time to approach ingredients
and techniques of a time and place before looking at lists of the final "food
products" for the time and place in question.  If it had turned out, on
the other hand, that cooks were likely to be flogged if this week's Pottage of
Noodles turned out differently than last week's, THEN my intended approach
would have been completely innappropriate.

That written recipes are the best indicator of the types of dishes eaten in
particular places are particular times was never in dispute with me.  However,
I have access already to quite a few period recipes, which I am looking
through (as has been pointed out repeatedly, recipes ARE an obvious primary
source for the type of information I'm looking for) so this is not something
I need pointers to at this time (with some regional exceptions - anybody
know a good source for medieval scandinavian cookery?  Beyond the fact
that there was evidently a lot of Herring in it, I don't seem to be finding
much about medieval food in the region so far...).

Because of the way that, over decades of knowing myself, I have found that
I learn things best, I would much prefer to go through the mental exercise
of examining what ingredients and techniques (including prevailing
ways of combining the ingredients) and attempting to predict some dishes
that would have been served...THEN looking through the recipes (which I am
not at present having trouble finding, for the most part) to see where, how,
and if my interpretation was "off" among the recipes (if any) that are
similar to what I had expected.  The eventual result that I am hoping for
is that if I get a challenge to create a dish for, say, a 1400's French
feast, that I can draw upon a recollection of what ingredients they
liked to use, what they liked to do with them, and what sorts of dishes
were described (not recipes, but perhaps in a recounting of a feast
which might say something like "a sweet cheese custard tart in a crispy
pastry" [I'm making this up off-the-cuff, obviously]) and still be able
to put together an authentic dish, despite the fact that I may not remember
the exact instructions for the "sweet cheese custard tart" in "LeHoser's Boke
of 1453 French Dysshes" that I had left at home.

Before anyone points it out - "Yes, I KNOW this will be a lot of work" (or
rather, it WON'T - it'll be FUN, which means it's not really WORK at all...
:-) )

> > I can understand not wanting to be tied to recipe
> > books.  Of the primary
> > sources in Catalan and Castilian, de Nola has over
> > 200 recipes, Granado has
> > over 700, the Llibre de Sent Sovi has around 150,
> > and I have no idea how
> > many are in Hernandez de Maceras.

In my case, I'm not actually AVOIDING period recipes (though I
will admit to avoiding pre-digested redactions unless I run into
a period dish that I just can't comprehend on my own.  I can say I haven't run
into any yet, but only if I also admit that I've not been trying for
very long, either...), but rather that I'm SEEKING OUT additional,
non-recipe cookery-related information to supplement the more specific
processes described in the wide variety of recipes that are available.
And, more specifically to my original questions, to confirm that
a dish made with authentic ingredients and techniques which still
fits "period" descriptions of what they type of dish was supposed to
be will still be "authentic" whether it deviates from a specific
recipe or not.

(I DO, I reiterate, consult period recipes for guidance - I made a
variation of de Nola's "Pottage of Noodles" for dinner last night.  I also
made pasta from scratch for the first time ever last night as well.  I'm
pleased to say it turned out quite edible, though the noodles were a
bit firmer than I was aiming for.  I was surprised at how well cinnamon
and sugar went with noodles boiled in broth...

I haven't gone back through other sources to find out whether my substitution
of beef broth and cow's milk were within the parameters of what would have
been done then and there yet, though.)

I got the text of the translation of de Nola's "Libre del Coch" from
the florilegium, incidentally.

Yikes.  Sorry about the verbosity.  Just trying to dispel any notion
that I'm about to show up and try to serve vanilla pudding custard at
a feast or something...