[Sca-cooks] The fruits of my boredom (Not tomatoes)

[Terry Decker]

I'm sure the recipes are tasty, but from a quick read of some of the 
ingredients, several of them could not have been prepared prior to the 17th 
Century, which makes the entire group suspect.  BTW, most are traditional 
recipes, and not provably pre-17th Century.   If I were preparing an 
"authentic" period feast, I would not accept any of these recipes, because 
there is no historical provenance associated with them.

"For the sake of authenticity one must needs take the recipe giver at their 
word."  Why?  These recipes have authentically been copied from other web 
sites which contain obviously modern recipes and provide no provenance on 
the sources which are most likely modern cookbooks.  If the goal is 
"authenticity," which I usually refer to as historical accuracy, why accept 
the scholarly inaccuracies of such sources, when superior scholarship is 
available?  Truly good sources for historical cooking will tell you where to 
find the original of the dish and help provide a historical context.

Bear


From: "Vladimir Armbruster" <vladimir_armbruster at hotmail.com>


> http://www.dregate.org/gatheringrecipes.html
>
> It would seem that spending some time browsing other
> Shires/Baronies/Principalities websites is, indeed, worth while.  Some of
> these I'm sure are undocumentable, and for sake of authenticity one must
> needs take the recipe giver at their word.  But they certainly sound 
> tasty!