[Sca-cooks] researching recipes

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
In a message dated 10/17/2002 2:03:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
kerrimart at mindspring.com writes:


> 1) I have a recipe that I love, know how to make and want to use.  I am
> fairly
> certain that it is period, but I can't prove it.  Suggestions on how to
> "work
> backwards" with the documentation?  I can give more specifics as needed.
>
>

There's never much luck with that approach, really.  Most times, if we find a
recipe that's similar to something modern, it's by accident.  If you go
looking for a recipe for, say, refried beans, you will probably not find it -
but I found a very similar recipe, called Makke, in preparation for a feast I
was planning.
And, from my point of view, spending a lot of time trying to document a
modern recipe to serve it at an SCA event, or even more so to enter it in a
competition, is a less-than-optimum way to use your time.  The point of an
SCA cooking competition is not  to show your cooking skills, as it would be
in a county fair pie contest; the point is to show your ability to interpret
and use medieval techniques, materials, and recipes.
Your best bet is to find a medieal or Renaissance recipe that interests you
and make that for the competition, explaining at each step why you handled it
that way you did.

At least that's my feeling; I don't do competitions anyway, but it's my
understanding of what the purpose would be if I did.

Brangwayna Morgan