[Sca-cooks] Traveling Dysshes

[Stefan li Rous]

   Anahita replied to me with:
> > As others have mentioned, this is more of an SCA book than one
> > specifically on period travel foods. I guess I'm going to have to go
> > re-look at my copy with what others have said in mind.
>
> Caution, Stefan, caution. Because this book has gone through many
> editions, its contents vary from one edition to another and the most
> recent will be quite different from the first. So what you will find
> will depend on which edition you have.
Okay. I'm not quite sure which edition my copy is. It wasn't until the 
comments earlier in this thread that I realized there were multiple 
editions of this book. My copy says "copyright 1995, 1996" and 
"Revision date - 24 May 1996".
> For example, my recipe contributions are only in the most recent
> edition (and there's no reason for anyone to buy it for that - i
> think i have that recipe on my website)
>
> > But I thought it
> > was a fairly good book for those in the SCA interested in some easy 
> to
> > fix medieval foods for SCA pot lucks and such, yet not into studying
> > period foods.  And I seem to remember it does have a section on 
> various
> > "buy and use" foods which beat what many folks are otherwise going to
> > bring to an event.
>
> This is, in a nut shell, the purpose of the book.
>
> And it has, in fact, improved over the years, so that the most
> egregiously modern recipes are gone or shunted off into their own
> clearly marked chapter, and the recipes that remain are a bit more
> historically accurate.
My copy probably is one of the earlier editions. However, even in 
looking through it again, I will stand by my earlier comments. There 
probably are a number of things which could be disagreed with in this 
book. They don't immediately stand out to me, though. Among other 
things, the original recipes are given, unlike a number of purportedly 
more historic books. And the author does make clear the purpose of the 
book and that she is not trying for extreme historical accuracy. "With 
respect to the estimable Cariadoc and his lady Elisabeth, this pamphlet 
is intended for cookery beginners or for those who do not camp or go to 
tourneys in totally period manner"
> I am not stating that the recipes are, in fact, historically
> accurate. They may or may not be.
I assume the recipe are, since they are quotes from the originals or 
translations. The redactions, though...
I'm not sure which recipes might be "egregiously modern recipes", 
although I do now see a few recipes which only reference a period 
recipe but don't give the actual recipe.
> This book is rather an SCA equivalent of one of those church lady
> cookbooks. Many different cooks donated recipes, so the historicity
> and quality vary greatly.
Maybe. But then much the same can be said about the redactions that can 
be found in the Florilegium and from this list. The book is not meant 
to fill the same niche as the Miscellany. But then neither does the 
Florilegium try to keep to the same standards as Master Cariadoc's 
website.
Many of the redactions come from folks that I remember having a good 
reputation early in the 90s for their redactions such as Katherine (J. 
Terry Nutter).
> It is useful in the way that Stefan remarks, but is of no particular
> use to a serious historical cook.
Yes, I think this is correct. But I think it is an good book for those 
new to the SCA or those new to period cooking. It is fairly 
inexpensive, is easy to read and with its laminated cover and fold-flat 
binding is easy to handle in the kitchen. In one fairly small packet it 
has a number of topics which we have wrestled with here from time to 
time and puts them in one place for the beginning period cook. It has 
sections on:
What foods are acceptable for SCA cooking? Including a short table on 
what foods are New World and which are old.
Handling vegetarian and vegan constraints.
No cook foods for pot lucks and such, for the panicky newcomer or 
non-cook.
A list of suggested period foods which are easy to make.
Handling period meals at SCA camping events.
Where to find those "unusual" period spices and herbs, including some 
mail-order sources.
Substitutions for various food items such as rabbit, goose or Dolphin.
Well annotated bibliographies for both recipe books with modern recipes 
as well as one for those with just the original period recipes.

All in all, I think it is a good book for beginners and one that 
provides them a stepping stone and a guided pathway to more scholarly 
works.

Stefan
--------
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 ****