[Sca-cooks] garlic allergy

[Ruth Tannahill]

>
> well, i am trying to figure out how to manage a period feast, with no
garlic
> (or very little)

As a sister in suffering, I can identify with that.

You can always just leave garlic out. If you think people will miss the
earthy contribution garlic makes, you could try adding a little cumin
instead, but I'd do a test run first.

When planning a feast, I make a spreadsheet with the names of the dishes, in
which course they appear, the ingredients, and the quantities. I then sort
by ingredient. If something shows up too much, especially in the main
dishes, I rethink the menu.

IMHO, feasts in general are loaded with garlic for several reasons:
1  The craving for "something different" is taking a lot of cooks away from
north-west European cuisine. Garlic doesn't show up much in the cuisine of
period England, France, etc. but it does show up elsewhere.
2  A lot of cooks round out their menus with dishes made from period
ingredients without documentation. I am not saying there is anything wrong
with this. I do it myself, when I want something specific but can't find a
recipe. But a lot of the time, people turn to garlic because they want to
have something savory and earthy to balance sweet or spiced dishes.
3  Garlic is not a common trigger. People just don't think of it. Shellfish,
nuts, wheat, dairy products, fruit, even spices--we've all been trained to
avoid repetition of these ingredients, even though a lot of period recipes
call for almonds and cinnamon. I did this myself with onions early in my
career. I had some poor soul come up to the kitchen asking if there was
anything in the first course that didn't have onions in it. I was rather
embarrassed.
4  A lot of people believe that everything is better with garlic. They're
right, of course, but some of us can't handle it.

Berelinde