[Sca-cooks] (Yet) another translation question: cooking hard versus cooking well

[James Prescott]

Always a tricky decision.  If there are several different meanings, I 
mentally class each situation.  If there is a certainty, or near 
certainty, that a particular English word is appropriate in a particular 
context, I will translate it with that word.  If there is uncertainty 
(degree of uncertainty is the translator's call) but still a definite 
likelihood of it being a particular English word, I will use that word 
but add a footnote about there being a chance it could mean one or more 
of the other meanings.  If it is too unclear to call, then I will either 
leave the original word, with footnote; or give a multiple translation 
(a/b/c) with footnote.

In all these cases, comparing with other old or modern recipes or with 
cook's intuition may help decide.

In this particular context, I'd go with "well done" or equivalent.


James / Thorvald


On 2017-09-30, 08:14, Julia Szent-Gyorgyi wrote:
> Greetings, helpful cooks!
>
> Revisiting the 1601 cookbook, I find I'm still somewhat stumped by
> what to do with Szentbenedeki's use of the word _kemény_ 'hard'.
> Sometimes he applies it within the range of its modern meaning -- hard
> boil, hard (stiff) dough -- but he most often uses it for 'thoroughly,
> well', which in the case of something like rice porridge means exactly
> the opposite of 'hard'.
>
> Should I just use "well" and "thoroughly" (and "crisp" and "stiff"),
> as context dictates, or is that too much interpretation? Am I
> overthinking things? (When a word has multiple senses in its modern
> use, I have no qualms about choosing the one that I judge to fit the
> context best. Should archaic senses be treated any differently?)
>
> Here's one of the affected recipes:
> ---
> Riskását gyümölcsös lével. Főzd meg először az riskását tejben, sózd
> meg, hogy kemény legyen : azután egy kevéssé tedd ki hülni, és igy
> csinálj levet reá : végy bort tengeri malosa szőlőt, mandulát is tégy
> belé : almát metélj hosszattában bele, mézet is tégy bele és együtt
> keményen főzd, s az után borsold meg; bors, sáfrán, fahéj kell belé,
> hogy fel akarod adni, rakd az kását egy széles vasfazékban, töltsd rá
> az levét és egy kevéssé ha együtt forralod, add fel.
>
> Rice porridge with fruit sauce. Cook first the rice in milk, salt it,
> until done [so it is hard], then put it out to cool a little, and make
> a sauce for it thus: take wine currants raisins, also add almonds:
> slice apples lengthwise into it, also add honey, and cook it together
> well [hard], and then season it; it needs pepper, saffron, cinnamon,
> when you want to serve it, put the rice in a wide iron pot, pour the
> sauce on it and after boiling it together a little, serve it.
> ---
>
> (The recipe also has one of my other decision points: his use of the
> word _borsold_ 'pepper it' in a broader sense of 'season it', which
> makes it look like he's constantly repeating himself about black
> pepper. My current decision is to use "pepper" and "season" according
> to context/use.)
>
> Julia
> /\ /\
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