[Sca-cooks] originals and redactions, was "All the King's Cooks"

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Ranald de Balinhard wrote:
>     As a historian I must immediately wonder, without the original
>sources what makes you think the redactions ARE accurate?  Personally I
>don't use redactions at all.  I don't use printed ones, nor do I create
>my own, I just follow the receipt.

Unfortunately, most "period" recipes don't include quantities, yet to 
"just follow the receipt" you have to use some amounts of the 
ingredients called for, so when cooking from said recipe you must 
make decisions about how much to use, which another cook might make 
differently.

Additionally, many either have some vague steps, or leave out steps. 
So when "just following the receipt" you have to interpret the 
recipe, whereas another cook might interpret the diretions 
differently.

Therefore, when following one of these recipes, you are forced create 
what we call a "redaction", even if you don't write it down.

Anahita