[Sca-cooks] originals and redactions

[Stefan li Rous]

Ron Carnegie commented:
> I have cooked for our camp at Pennsic with my wife
> (period food but a mixture of modern and period equipment) and I have
> cooked a dayboard for an event.
So, what kinds of things did you have for your dayboard? We have 
discussed dayboards here a bit, but they generally appear to be an East 
Kingdom or east US thing.
> Outside of the SCA period I have cooked
> an 18th century wedding feast in a down hearth kitchen with a brick
> oven and
Was this a single chamber oven? Again we discussed these some and a few 
people have actually detailed their experiences cooking in them. It 
would be nice to hear yours.
It might also be nice to hear how your experiences differed or were the 
same with those in this article in the FEASTS section of the 
Florilegium:
Kentwell-Hall-art (25K)  6/25/98    A period kitchen at a Living 
History site.
> a number of 19th century officer meals for the staff and once the
> complete complement of the Army of the Pacific's officers over a
> campfire.
What is/was the "Army of the Pacific"?
>
> I did tend to cheat with some spices
> using pre-ground for ease and preground sugar for expense, budget could
> only afford so many cones a year and 18th century receipts use heaps of
> sugar.  Our cones were mostly used, like most of our spices for hands
> on activity
> sake.  This does cause you to rely a lot on judgement and experience.
So, when you chose pre-ground sugar, what type of sugar did you use? 
And for what uses? For use inside foods where it would be disolved? Or 
sprinkled on the food where it might not be? We have discussed which of 
the modern sugar types might be closest to period sugar and it would be 
nice to hear your opinions.
Some of the comments on period sugar can be found in these files in the 
FOOD-SWEET section of the Florilegium:
sugar-msg        (107K)  6/13/01    Sugar and other medieval sweeteners.
sugar-sources-msg (16K)  6/13/01    Modern sugar sources. Sugar types.
> 	I have since learned that my definition of redaction was
> incorrect.  Figures!  I had never heard the word before it came up in a
> SCA context.  Never heard it in my non-SCA foodways experience.  I
> checked the OED the other day and the word's current use is
> specifically a
> text reproduction of process.  Important lesson here, learn the meaning
> of a new word before you use it? :)
As Bear mentioned, the way the SCA and/or similar groups use the term 
may be bit different than how it is used in the dictionaries or 
elsewhere. You can find more on the previous discussions on this, as 
well as various opinions on how to proceed when redacting a period 
recipe in these files in the FOOD section of the Florilegium.
Redacting-art     (10K)  7/ 3/00    "The Kitchen Wench Way: Redacting 
Recipes"
                                        by Caointiarn.
redacting-msg     (25K)  9/23/01    Changing period recipes into modern 
format.
>       This is a big part of what I am referring to.  I remember a 
> thread
> her some time back regarding using the candied peel of one orange and
> there was a number of rather scientific methods presented on how to
> determine the amount of peel.  I would a grabbed a bunch until it
> looked good and tossed them in.  I might lean on the large side as I
> like candied peel (though I don't like candying it).  Heck was size
> orange anyway?
I think the comments were that modern oranges are likely a little 
bigger than the period ones. However, the biggest differance is likely 
to be in the thickness of the peel. The sweet orange is also a rather 
latecomer to Europe. Of course I seem to remember that most period 
candied peel recipes direct you to remove the white pith. And when you 
do that, there may not be a big difference between period and modern 
orange peels.
For more info, see these files in the FOOD-FRUITS section:
fruits-msg       (104K)  5/21/02    Medieval fruits and fruit dishes. 
Recipes.
fruit-citrus-msg  (48K) 12/14/02    Period citrus fruits. Recipes.
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****