[Sca-cooks] Fruit and Meat, was Pennsic Camp Cooking

[Gretchen Beck]

--On Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:35 PM -0400 "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus 
Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:

>> Yes, and apples and saurkraut, but by and large, fruit and meat
>> together are not the norm in mainstream (non-gourmet, using the term
>> as it was used in the 1950s/60s) American cooking.
>
> No, they're not the norm, but not unprecedented, even in the 50's and
> 60's, which is a cuisine many would argue much of it should be allowed to
> die of natural causes anyway. Treating it as if deviation from that norm
> is some sort of threat to the good ol' U.S. of A. seems pretty silly.
>
>>  Even some of the above, the fruit is a side, not part of the main
>> spicing/cooking of the dish (turkey and cranberry sauce, Pork with
>> applesauce, lamb with mint jelly).
>
> If it's a sauce, or if it's served touching the meat, or if you eat it in
> the same mouthful as the meat, it's not a side.
>
>> And while tomatos are botanically a fruit, most americans (and most
>> american cookbooks) treat them as a vegetable.
>
>
> I'm sure. But acknowledging that a viewpoint exists is not a defense, or
> an effective prosecution of another viewpoint. Americans believe all
> sorts of interesting things.
>

And I don't disagree with anything you say. But the point I was trying to 
make is that many of our core audience in the SCA do regard the mixture as 
exotic or rare, because it is not part of their everyday cuisine.  And 
pointing out the few dishes that are eaten rarely or on very special 
occasions [heck, the I despise cranberry sauce and mint jelly, don't bother 
with glazes for ham, and have never eaten duck with orange sauce (mostly 
because there are other things on such menus that I prefer and I've never 
attempted it at home)]  does not make the experience any more everyday to 
the general audience who would no more think of putting apples in a 
potroast, than they would think of adding raw horsemeat to ice cream.

toodles, margaret