[Sca-cooks] Another question on peas

[wheezul at canby.com]

> It's not only a question of books or library research resources,
> but one of local supplies at what cost. You may be able to buy heirloom
> beans for a dish serving 6-8, but can you buy those same peas or beans
> months for now at an affordable price for a feast. You can rave that
> Stokes' old fashioned grey beans are the best, but if they only grow
> in a corner
> of England and are not marketed outside that 20 miles area, it's
> doesn't do
> the rest of the Known World much good.

My focus is to prepare to give a class on a 16th century German cookbook
and what may have been the common form of ingredients.  I am trying to
wrap my mind around what I might have specifically known as a reader of
this cookbook, and what I might best use to simulate the period nature of
the dish for experimental rather than feast-type purposes.  Although
preparing a top-notch potluck dish would give me great pleasure, I don't
see the job of feast cook in my future.  I am more of a helper personality
and really am more about obscure word geekery than anything else.

>
> We have all sorts of books. Which century or which country best suits
> your persona?   You might start with C. Anne Wilson and Peter
> Brears. Those into Middle Eastern go with Charles Perry. You may want
> Banham's Food in Anglo-Saxon England.
> Food encyclopedia wise
> there's Alan Davidson and for scientific
> views, see Harold McGee. Regional foods, including plants and animals,
> in England have been covered by
> Laura Mason and Catherine Brown. You can interlibrary loan or borrow
> these.
> I urge people to use their libraries as well as their pocketbook.

I ILL about 10 books a month and rarely buy unless a book is full of
wonderment and part of my specific focus.  So for 16th century Germany
generally, do you have a suggestion?

>> And there are general works on plants and gardening too.
> The Neat House Gardens: Early Market Gardening around London might help.
> Or maybe the agricultural histories are what you want
>
> Or check out the papers here:
>
> British Agricultural History Society
>
> www.bahs.org.uk

Thank you for the info - I will check it out.

> The point about foods to remember is that for as long as man has been
> growing
> and eating foods, he has been improving them. It's not a 20th century
> thing.

I'm starting to see this reflected even in Ryff as he discusses both wild
and domesticated strains of grains and legumes.

Thanks for the leads,

Katrine