[Sca-cooks] things to put on bread?

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Liz Courts <lizcourts at bendcable.com> wrote:
> I can't imagine why not - I know I like a
> healthy chunk of bread with 
> balsamic, olive oil and a generous smear of
> minced garlic on some bread. 
> The "bread-dipping" craze of recent years can't
> be new.
> 
> Ignia il Nomade

It probably isn't new, but that doesn't say 
anything as to whether it was done in period.  
The person asked if there was any documentation 
as to whether oil and vinegar were used on bread 
during SCA period.  Do you have any documentation
for this?  If yes, you should tell us where to
find it.  It doesn't have to be a recipe.  It
could be found as a mention in a letter or diary.
It could be an illusion in a poem where the poet
compares his lovers kiss to the taste of bread
soaked in oil and vinegar.  Something like that. 

If no, then you are being as helpful as
a modern recipe that has the notation that it is
a "traditional" recipe, or that it is "centuries
old".  Neither can be used as documentation
because neither says anything about how old the
"tradition" is.  Fifty years?  One hundred years?
Two hundred years?  That would certainly tell us
that it was old, even centuries old, but 
certainly not old enough to fit the definition of
medieval or renaissance.

But to say that is had to be period because you
like it that way is really incredible and very
unhelpful.

There was a big shift in how people cooked during
the mid-seventeenth century.  Recipes changed and
new ones were created.  One example is
blancmange.
During period, blancmange was a dish of chicken,
rice, almonds and other ingredients.  You can
find blancmange in modern cookbooks, but it isn't
the same recipe anymore.  Today's blancmange is a
gelatin dessert flavored with milk or almond milk
and other ingredients, but the chicken and rice
are no longer in evidence.  To make a modern
blancmange and serve it as a period dish would be
wrong bacause the name may be the same, but the
dish isn't.

So please don't just say, "It had to be period
because I like it that way" or "It is such a
simple concept, it had to be period."  Say
instead, "I would like to know that too.  I will
research this and let everyone know what I find 
or don't find." Or "While reading [fill in the
blank], I found a mention of someone eating bread
with oil and vinegar.  You can find this
reference here [fill in the blank]."  That would
be helpful.

Huette





=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they 
shall never cease to be amused.

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