[Sca-cooks] originals and redactions,

[johnna holloway]

> Nancy Kiel wrote:> 
>> In regards to an author's redactions without the original receipt, yes 
>> it is
>> possible to locate the original using the footnotes etc.  But who has the
>> time?  I'll take an original over a redaction anytime, no matter how
>> competent the redactor is.

But if one already has the originals (and I do have all of the 16th 
texts that are available at hand and within reach) what one wants for 
classes and for reference purposes are lots of examples of redactions to 
show people. I have taught classes on historical culinary sources for 
audiences for over 25 years. What I want to be able to present to an 
audience is the full range of sources that are out there today. As to 
why one ought to spend the time to back to the originals, well that's 
part of research aspect to this field. It's much easier today to find 
these recipes. For someone just getting started, findind a recipe they 
like first in a modern version may lead them back to the original text 
and into more recipes that are of the same type. {By the way Brears' 
recipes in All the King's Cooks are drawn largely from his earlier works 
which do have the original recipes presented. If you own all his works, 
you will actually already own the majority of the originals that he 
uses. And if you don't own them, then the footnotes present a shopping 
list of things to look out for in terms of acquisitions.]


> In regards to judging documentation/redactions, why does the entrant need
>> to include his/her process?  Isn't the receipt itself the process?  

Actually one often encounters entries for dishes that are labeled very 
clearly as something like "Stewed Pears". The entry itself then states 
that it was baked and seemed to be comprised of cored, peeled, and 
quartered pears (canned comes to mind).
A judge in that case has to question why the baking and where in the 
process did the entrant peel, core and quarter the pears. What's left 
unsaid in these recipe entries raises all sorts of questions that need 
to be addressed. According to the criteria that one is required to judge 
by, the judge has to question why the original recipe was changed and 
why didn't the entrant talk about those changes in their write-up.

Johnnae llyn Lewis