[Sca-cooks] "Fabulous Feasts"

[Nick Sasso]

-----Original Message-----
Lord Vitaliano commented:
<<< Well, this is all great stuff, I now know what NOT to read, of
course,
Fab Feasts was never on my reading lists, and this Frugal Gourmet stuff
never really interested me either. >>>

Actually the first half of "Fabulous Feasts", the section which talks
about the history of various medieval foods and cooking isn't that
bad. The problem is with the recipes in the second half, since many
aren't that good, and no original recipes or attributions are given.
So, it isn't a bad read, just don't use the second half of the book
as good examples of medieval recipes.  > > > > > > >


BOTH books have value in and of themselves, from my side of the proverbial
tracks.  Fab Feasts is the early incarnation of the desire for more
historically anchored meals in the SCA hobby.  The research and recipe
construction lacks the sophistication of the current corpus, some 30 years
later, but needs a tip of the hat as being part of the development of what
we do today.

Frugal Gourmet has many really good recipes in his body of work.  His
editorial and production staff did a little background research to give some
color to his ethnic and domestic recipes sets, and I don't think they ever
claimed to be a research resource.  They were entertaining and I daresay a
significant part of the "normalization" and popularization of cookery and
food on television.  All of the unsavory ajudicated behaviors aside, his
cookbook collection is a very decent source for beginning to intermediate
home cooks to enter some unusual cusines they might not otherwise try.


niccolo difrancesco
(learned: hot wok . . . cold oil . . . food won't stick)