[Sca-cooks] Query about a book...

[Elaine Koogler]

Thanks!  I thought we had but didn't have it on hand.

Kiri

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:

> We've discussed it before:
>
> from August 25, 2007
>
>  Food and Drink in Medieval Poland.
>>
>
> Yes, I have it. *rummages around on my website for the review* Ah, here
> it is in the Florilegium
>
>  The long-awaited book _Food and Drink in Medieval Poland:
>>
> Rediscovering a
>
>> Cuisine of the Past_, which is an adaptation by William Woys Weaver of
>>
> a
>
>> 1963 volume by Maria Dembinska, is finally available. I know, because
>>
> our
>
>> university bookstore just delivered my copy into my little hot hands
>> today.
>>
>
>
>>
>  First, the bad news. It's an adaptation of a translation, so a lot of
>>
> the extensive annotations that Weaver says were in the main text were
> omitted.
>
>  It includes a section of recipes, but all of them are RECREATIONS, not
>>
> redactions or original recipes. The first cookbook in Polish was not
> published until 1532, thus putting it outside the scope of the academic
> definition of medievalism. (But wouldn't I love to get my hands on a
> translation of that!) As a result, the author(s) derive their data
> from
>
>> archaelogy/ethnography, economic history, household accounts, and
>>
> period
>
>> cookbooks that might/would have been available to the Polish nobility,
>> among other sources.
>>
>
>  That's the bad news. The good news: this is by far the most
>>
> comprehensive book on the subject, and the most historical, I have come
> across in my
> reading. The original author was a recognized academic expert, and the
> adaptor is a food historian. Not only is the book excellently written,
> but it is jammed with not only food history, but food historiography,
> ethnography, archaelogy, and domestic and political history. The
> recipes are excellent, though some of them will require ingredients only
> available to the diligent gardener. The cook wishing to present a
> period table will find the comments on cooking and serving in the period
> manner invaluable. The illustrations-- drool, drool-- include not only a
> few of the usual woodcut reproductions and coats of arms, but 21 drawings
> of
> actual medieval cooking utensils, and illustrations of various
> vegetables. The author(s) in analysis are careful to note where assumptions
> are
> being made or theories advanced, and to point out holes in the
> documentation
>
>> and/or history.
>>
>
>  Chapter 1, "Toward a definition of Polish National Cookery", is
>>
> actually a essay on cookbooks, food history, and general comments on
> 'Polish' cuisine as a style. In a way, it is also a review of the records
> available for researching Medieval Polish cooking.
>
>  Chapter 2, "Poland in the Middle Ages" is meant to be a backdrop, a
>>
> review of the history of Poland as it affects food and food history, for
> those not familiar with the history. But it is also about domestic
> history.
>
>> Pages 42 and 43 show two excellent illustrations of medieval forks and
>> information about the few records of forks outside the Byzantine
>>
> empire in
>
>> the middle ages. Of special interest is the section on the Cracow
>>
> congress
>
>> of 1364.
>>
>
>  Chapter 3, "The Dramatis Personae of the Old Polish Table", not only
>>
> gives
>
>> a exhaustive list of staff associated with the Royal court and
>>
> associated
>
>> with food -- with descriptions of their duties and their Latin and
>>
> Polish
>
>> titles-- but also describes the style of serving and approximate
>> quantities. It also gives a descriptive list of the furnishings of the
>>
>
>  medieval Polish kitchen and units of measure.
>>
>
>  Chapter 4, "Food and Drink in Medieval Poland", covers drink (types
>>
>
>  of wine, beer, mead, and even a nod to vodka), meat (beef, pork
>>
> [including
>
>  sausages], organ meats and veal, poultry, game and fish), grains,
>>
> breads
>
>  and baked goods, kitchen produce, and fruits and nuts.
>>
>
>
>>
>  The second section of the book, "Medieval Recipes in the Polish
>>
> style",
>
>  includes recipes for:
>>
>
>  - Gruel of Mixed Grains
>>
>
>  - Courtier's Pottage
>>
>
>  - Compositium of Cabbage, Chard, Dill and Mushrooms
>>
>
>  - Stew of Parsnips, Leeks and Alexanders
>>
>
>  - Cheese Dumplings
>>
>
>  - Pears stewed with cucumbers and figs
>>
>
>  - Chicken Baked with Prunes
>>
>
>  - Green Mustard Sauce
>>
>
>  - Lentils and Skirrets with Bacon
>>
>
>  - Beer Soup with Cheese and Eggs
>>
>
>  - Millet Flour Soup
>>
>
>  - Oat Flour Soup
>>
>
>  - Polish Hydromel
>>
>
>  - Fermented Barley Soup
>>
>
>  - Fish Aspic
>>
>
>  - Prepared Fish stock
>>
>
>  - Lavender Vinegar
>>
>
>  - Game Stewed with Sauerkraut
>>
>
>  - Hashmeat in the Cypriot Style
>>
>
>  - Saffron Wafers
>>
>
>  - Pike in Polish Sauce
>>
>
>  - Fast Day Pancakes
>>
>
>  - Ham stewed with cucumbers
>>
>
>  - Wroclaw Trencher Bread
>>
>
>  - Thick Beer or Sourdough Starter
>>
>
>  - Turnip Kugel
>>
>
>  - Tripe in Sauerkraut
>>
>
>  - Polish Sauce for Fast days and Tripe
>>
>
>  - Court Dish of Baked Fruit
>>
>
>  - Skirrets Stewed with Fish
>>
>
>  - Stewed Pig Tails with Buckwheat Gruel
>>
>
>  - Pomeranian Trojniak
>>
>
>  - Hungarian Style Spit-Roasted Shoulder of Venison
>>
>
>  - Cubeb Vinegar
>>
>
>  - Turnip Gruel
>>
>
>
>>
>  Of special interest will be the comments on Trenchers, their creation
>>
> and
>
>  use in the Trencher Bread recipe, and the comments on spit-roasting in
>>
> the
>
>  venison recipe.
>>
>
>
>>
>  The book includes an extensive bibliography and a very nice index.
>>
> (Just
>
>  reading the notes is an education).
>>
>
>
>>
>  Full citation in case I've convinced you you need this book (You do,
>>
> trust
>
>  me, you do!):
>>
>
>
>>
>  Food and Drink in Medieval Poland : Rediscovering a Cuisine of the
>>
> Past
>
>  by Maria Dembinska, Magdalena Thomas (Translator), William Woys Weaver
>>
>
>  (Editor) (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999); ISBN:
>>
>
>  0812232240. List price is $29.95.
>>
>
>
>>
> --
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika
>
> -------
> I gathered from listening to Weaver talk one time that
> as regards Food and Drink in Medieval Poland
> it was again the matter that the publishers felt that in order to
> encourage sales
> the book had to have modernized general recipes that would appeal to
> people that
> buy cookbooks. It had to appeal to a general public and not this
> historical niche
> market that we dwell in. Sales on the order of thousands and not just a
> few hundred.
>
> Johnna
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 3, 2010, at 9:50 AM, Elaine Koogler wrote:
>
>  I just got a message on Facebook...a friend wanting to know how good "Food
>> and Drink in Medieval Poland" is.  Anyone know of this book and have an
>> opinion?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Kiri
>>
>> --
>> "It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is
>> invisible to the eye."
>> --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
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>
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-- 
"It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is
invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince