[Sca-cooks] Historical Food Like Modern Food

Karen Lyons-McGann karenthechef at gmail.com
Sat Feb 19 01:03:00 PST 2011


What part of the country are you in?  Years ago, when I was new at this, I
made a short handout relating to things I'd just read about, which were
still eaten in the South.  Things like 'instruction in Apicius to soak ham
in milk--still done with country ham'. This was several computers ago, one
of which unceremoniously died so the document may be backed up somewhere,
but typing it in might be the simpler way to get it to you. send me a
private message if you think this sounds useful, I do not always get to read
this folder in my inbox I might never see a request here.

If I had to cook for a crowd that was sure they didn't like medieval food,
I'd start with roast meats, meat filled pies, egg pies/quiche, french toast,
and simple grain dishes, simple dishes with greens and root vegetables,
simple soups like lentil soup.

I suspect they are saying they like boring food, that food with interesting
seasonings is outside their normal range and they have the idea that
medieval food had lots of weird seasonings and, ick, rosewater.   Add to it
that when they have tried it, someone inexperienced with group cooking made
it, and over/under seasoned or cooked it.  Or someone who shouldn't be
cooking anyway!

Tell us what they like modernly, I bet you we can find you something near
enough like it medievally they'd have to admit a willingness to try.

Lady Bonne





On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:12 AM, <lilinah at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I do not want to rehash discussions we have had myriad times. But...
>
> ...someone on another SCA cooking list wanted to know how much other SCA
> cooks adjust what they serve to modern tastes. After some discussion, she
> revealed that people in her kingdom won't eat period food if they know it's
> period and she wanted ideas for dishes that suit American tastes (whatever
> THAT may be).
>
> Since i don't try to do that sort of thing (and people in my kingdom WILL
> gladly eat period dishes), i don't have a file in which i have saved recipes
> like that.
>
> I have multiple years of SCA-Cooks digests, and i have been searching for
> any of our discussions in which listees have recommended period recipes that
> are similar to modern dishes. So far my own searches have not turned them
> up... clearly i am using the wrong search parameters.
>
> So if someone can direct me to a relative date, i am sure i can find the
> relevant messages myself. I don't want to restart the discussion, i just
> want to look over recipes previously suggested.
>
> Thanks for any hints on where to find those old threads,
> --
> Someone sometimes called Urtatim
> _______________________________________________
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> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org
>



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