[Sca-cooks] Re: food myths (Turkey)

[Decker, Terry D.]

All good points.

Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo, the particular variant being the Rio Grande
turkey) came from Mexico to Spain in 1528 with the return of Hernando
Cortez.  Within 20 years (IIRC), they were being raised by at least one
member of the House of Valois.

The turkey, due to its superior taste, began replacing peacocks, bustards,
swans, etc.  At first it was rare but by the end of the century it appears
to have become a commodity available through the poultry sellers.

A woodcut and recipe appear in Rumpolt, so the bird was known and eaten from
England to Germany.

Bear

> > We're also back to the "within our period of study" thing. Yes, that
> > book is... by 4 years... say, a decade or so for the food to be
> > familiar, the recipe to be developed, and the book to be written and
> > printed. A decade or so out of the  centuries we study.
>
> Depends. If Dawson and Markham both give a recipe, it was familiar in
> England (which, let's face it, was a bit of a backwater) by the 1590s.
>
> Brighid, I believe, can give us earlier Spanish recipes.
>
> If something is a Hot New Thing in Britain in period, there's
> generally
> some other place where it was done first. :)
>
> >  From what I've seen, if someone was doing a real themed feast, the
> > issue wouldn't even come up.
>
> Why not? Depends on the theme. If the theme was 16th century
> English or
> Spanish, it might well come up.
>
> If the theme was 'foods you didn't know were period' or 'New
> World Foods
> we have recipes for', that could be another theme...
>
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa