[Sca-cooks] large birds for feasts

otsisto otsisto at socket.net
Thu Mar 3 21:04:50 PST 2011


I agree with listing what is being served and saying "item in the style of".
I will note that those who have renaissance persona's would not have found
turkey futuristic. It can be found in at least two paintings from the late
1500s, one of which is a fowl seller prepping a dead turkey and yes it is a
turkey and not a bustard. Still, to my knowledge there haven't been found a
pre-1600s recipe for turkey so one can only do the "turkey in the style of"
or "so&such made with turkey"

De

-----Original Message-----
Recently we've been talking about large birds such as turkeys and bustards
for feasts.  Here is a message from Johnnae about this subject from a few
years ago. It isn't in the Florilegium because I never got enough other
material for a file on large birds, so it will probably eventually end up in
the fowls-a-birds-msg file in the ANIMALS section. But for now, I thought
some of you might wish to see it again.

She recommends not using chicken or turkey to substitute for other hard to
get birds. While I recommended serving turkey as if it was bustard. To me,
and others, turkey reeks of modern food and I was trying to avoid pulling
people away from the medieval atmosphere, while allowing a way to cook a
large bird in the style of the times without using hard-to-get, much less
endangered birds. Yes, it is period if you mean by that term used in Europe
before 1600, but even knowing that, and many people don't, it still risks
ripping the medieval atmosphere we try to create.

I agree that we shouldn't serve one thing saying it is another. Perhaps a
good compromise is to list it on the menu as  "xxx turkey, cooked in the
style of bustard" or "xxx bustard (using turkey)". Or maybe you can get away
with listing the turkey ingredient just in the ingredients list but not in
the menu.

Stefan












More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list