New World Foods- was Re: [Sca-cooks] Earthapples eyc

[Bill Fisher]

On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 22:13:21 -0500, Elaine Koogler
<ekoogler1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> I don't think that there is a problem with what you described...taking
> period techniques and ingredients and coming up with something that
> "might have been."  However, I think what most folks don't like is when
> such creations are presented as being period dishes.  If it is something
> that is of this nature, it should be presented as such...even if a
> period recipe has been used and substitutions have been made, those
> substitutions should be pointed out in the documentation.
> 
> Kiri

As I feel responsible for this thread beginnings, I need to comment on this.

What I specifically had in mind was taking new world ingredients that we 
know were introduced into the Old World towards the end of period and 
substituting them into recipes where a similar Old World ingredient
would have been used, such as:

Platina's "A fry of whatever meat you like" using turkey, or Armored
turnips made with sunchokes instead of turnips.

Yeah, I would clearly mark said substitutions on the feast menu as
"peroid redaction with new world substitutions."

To do so put us in this position.  We need to clear our mind of how
we use these ingredients now, and look at them as if we had just 
laid hands on them.  

I have had some foods come out suspiciously similar to modern 
foods from the same region (or in some cases downright the same).
And you can draw some more information about how the recipes
we see now evolved into being.  It wasn't as if someone threw
a switch and we started to cook differently.  It evolved over time
and I think re-producing some of that evolution could be fun as 
well.

Would I try to pass off a hamburger or mayonaisse as a period
food?  Hell no.  Would I eat them for my lunch while I am cooking
a feast and feed my crew the same, hell yes.

This is not about wildly combining ingredients and calling it period
food.  All I really wanted was to make people think about the connection
between our cupboards now, and the pantries then and try to draw
the line back to our ancestors.

What would you do if someone plopped down 20 pounds of ostrich meat
and said "here, you need to make something of this that is good."?

Cadoc
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