[Sca-cooks] Potatoes (was Ratio)

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> *heh* Phlip, I'm well aware they're OOP (Potatoes).  Which is why I didn't
> ask about period servings.

You said "feast" which to most of us here on this List means period, for
fellow SCAdians. Had you said "for a modern dinner", I wouldn't have
responded that way, but when "feasts" are involved most of us here are going
to do our best to convince you to go period rather than modern ;-)

For a modern dinner, as a rule of thumb, one medium to large potato per
person.

> *hmms*
>
> Ok, knowing the common ways that potatoes are served mundanely.  (Roasted,
> Buttered, Mashed, etc)
>
> Is there a vegetable that was commonly treated the same way in period?

Not really. One of the big questions we get from newer cooks is "what did
they use instead of potatoes" and the answer is- Nothing. They didn't have a
need for potatoes the way we modern Americans do. Instead, their starches
were primarily grain based- bread, frumenty, that sort of thing.

There are, however, various vegetables prepared in quite a number of ways.
I'm not familiar with any that are mashed, but they were often served boiled
and buttered. If you WANT to substitute something that is period, but has a
similar plate feel to a modern starch, Armored Turnips fill the same sort of
niche that scalloped potatoes do.

Keep in mind, the 3-plop on a plate is a modern Americanism- starch, meat,
vegetable. Other cultures arrange things differently, depending on their
cultures and their necessities.

A rich traditional Chinese feast, for example, would have any number of
wondrous dishes. Rice would be served at the end- and if you partake of that
rice, you have insulted your host, saying that he was unable to feed you
enough of the more exotic foods. OTOH, a poor Chinese might be thrilled to
get that bowl of rice, with perhaps a dab of fish sauce or something for
flavor. (And never mind other Chinese cultures may consider barley as a
staple food.)

People's foodways can be fascinating, whether as conspicuous consumption, as
with the rich diner and the rice, or how and what they make, when they're
broke and hungry. You need to remember that Medieval cookery is a different
ethnic cuisine, with many variants, and that they don't proceed from the
same assumptions we do.

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....