Stefan's Florilegium

Docu-Cookery-art

Docu-Cookery-art - 8/4/97

Article by Dame Alys Katharine of Ashthorne Glen (Elise Fleming) on how
to document food items for SCA feasts or Ars and Sciences contests.

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NOTICE -

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set
of files, called Stefanšs Florilegium.

These files are available on the Internet at:
http://www.florilegium.org

Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author.

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be
reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first
or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,
Mark S. Harris
AKA: Stefan li Rous
stefan@florilegium.org
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PREPARING DOCUMENTATION

DOCUMENTING COOKERY, A How-To and Why for Cooks
by Dame Alys Katharine of Ashthorne Glen (Elise Fleming)

Cooking is a transitory art. Once the food has been cooked, it is eaten and the
leftovers are disposed of...in a tummy on a later day or into the trashbin.
Nothing really remains to tell us how it tasted, what variations were made in
the recipe, or what changes are recommended for the next time. There are a
number of reasons why one may wish to document what was cooked. Entering
competitions, proving that one can cook historical recipes, improving SCA
feasts, helping new cooks, and "leaving a trail" are several of those. One of
the joyous aspects of the SCA is when the individual recognizes that it is fun
to learn, discover, and re-create what people did in the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. It is to that end that documentation serves its purpose.

Documentation is the ladder to increasing knowledge for both the neophyte and
the experienced cook. It is the means by which we can share what we have
learned with others, helping this lesser-known aspect of the Society stretch and
grow as have more visible areas such as armoring, costuming, calligraphy and
illumination.

Competitions

Each kingdom has its own way to run competitions. Some require extensive
documentation of each ingredient and process used. Others ask for much less
proof that what is being cooked is from a valid historical source. Other
"competitions" are more of a "share and taste." Even if the competitions you
enter require little in the way of proof that your work is as historically
accurate as you are currently capable of being, you will gain personally by
developing your own forms of documentation.

First, you should start with a historical recipe. It is therefore important to
list the source of the recipe, the author (if any) of the cookery book, when it
was originally printed, and any modern book that it was taken from. In other
words, one is providing a cooking footnote so that others can go to the same (or
similar) source and find the recipe. It is much more difficult (and rather
argumentative) to "back document" a particular dish. "I know they used beef,
and I know they had onions and some places had noodles so this fried onion,
noodle and beef dish could have been done. Besides, this is 'creative
anachronism'!"

If you are entering a competition, you should provide a copy of the original
recipe either photocopied, re-typed, or carefully written out. This allows
those judging the food to determine how closely the adapted recipe follows the
original. For a competition, you should include the actual recipe that you
used. If this is your own adaptation (interpretation/redaction) you should
state that. If it is an adaptation done by someone else (a modern cookbook
author, for example) then say that. If you use someone else's recipe and do not
say so it is the same as plagarism. There is nothing wrong with a neophyte
cook following modern version of a period recipe. However, be aware that if the
book you took it from did not provide the original version you have no way to
know how accurate, if at all, the modern version is. For competition purposes
it is better to use recipes where you can check the original version. Look to
see what changes the modern author made. Did the author list why? Are the
changes logical based on your experience? What would happen if you re-did the
modern version to more closely conform to the period one?

It is important to note what changes you made from the original recipe and why
the changes were made. For example, you might note, "I omitted the nuts because
I am allergic to them," or "I didn't use alkanet because I had no source for it
so I used food coloring instead." Other changes such as "I added twice the rice
flour because it wouldn't thicken," may be useful in determining why the end
result is the way it is.

In competitions I have found that judiciously honest comments can inform the
judges what you learned while preparing the dish. "While this dish is tasty,
next time I will try...." is an example. Or, you may have tried a "period" way
and decided that doing something different will make the dish taste better. You
could submit both ways to the judges with comments on what you learned during
the cooking process. Point out the pros and cons, why you decided to do
something different, and what you learned.

While you should expect that your judges are fellow cooks, they will probably
appreciate a step-by-step account of what you did. For example, "I then cooked
the meat" doesn't say as much as "I gently boiled the meat in salted broth over
a low fire for two hours. I used commercially-prepared broth because of time
constraints." Write as if you were talking to people who had no idea of how to
prepare the dish. It is especially important to note if you prepared something
(such as the broth above) from scratch otherwise the judges will assume you used
a commercially-prepared product.

There is a mistaken idea that medieval food didn't taste good. Modern world
authors such as Terence Scully, and SCA cooks such as Duke Sir Cariadoc of the
Bow, have put the lie to that idea. People did not eat rotten meat and disguise
it with spices. Most foods were not heavily spiced, although there were
exceptions even as there are heavily-spiced foods today. If your recipe does
not taste good you may want to consider how your interpretation of the recipe
may have colored the results. Talk with local medieval cooks, correspond via
the Internet or through cooking newsletters. Look through more cookery books
for similar dishes. Perhaps there will be a hint for a different heating
technique, variations or even measurements for spices or other ingredients.
Record what you have found out. If the dish still doesn't taste good, leave it
alone and try something else!

Proving Yourself

If you cook feasts, you may want to let the feasters know something about the
meal. A simple way to do this is to prepare a list of the dishes and place it
on each table (First Course: Basque Chicken, Spaghetti with Moorish Sauce;
Spinach with Raisins and Pinenuts). The next step up is to let the diners know
that the recipes are from period sources. You could add similar information to
what was listed for competition documentation, above. For example, "Moules
(Mussels), The Viandier of Taillevent, French, 1370," or "Sugar Paste Dishes,
The Second Part of the Good Hus-wives Jewell, Thomas Dawson, 1597." Most diners
will appreciate an English translation of a food such as "Syseros (mashed
chickpeas with garlic)."

If you have been planning far enough ahead you could prepare a number of feast
recipe booklets. This should include the list of foods served and the recipe
you used along with any changes you made. Ideally, it should include the
original recipe (for those diehards who want to check what you did with the
original!). A final nice touch in the booklet would be a complete bibliography
of all your sources with title, author, publisher, year, etc. I have seen
spiral-bound feast booklets with heavy-stock covers that contain historical
information about the country, the period author, or about some of the
foodstuffs used in the recipes. Others contain just the recipes photocopied on
regular paper and folded in half. Your fee for the book will depend on how
many pages, your printing costs, and so forth.

SCA feasts rarely resemble period feasts. Only by letting the feasters know
when you are attempting to re-create the dishes, the method of serving the food,
or the ambience of the feast hall will the general public begin to distinguish
between an valid, documentable attempt at re-creation or a fantasy-inspired,
modern-world banquet. Please note that there is nothing inherently wrong with
providing a modern world dining experience while wearing medieval clothes. What
is unfair is implying that the feast is medieval when it is merely
"medievaloid."

Leaving a Trail

This is for your personal record or for the assistance of your advocate or
teacher. It is like an artist's portfolio. Ideally, you are well organized and
have lots of time to record what you are doing! Your portfolio would include
the recipes you tried, the dates you tried them, the feasts (if any) at which
you served them, your particular adaptations, the results, and what you would do
the next time. A "simple" way might be to photocopy the original recipe and
write down your changes in the margins or below it. If you are using this to
help your teacher or advocate help you, then comments about the dish's
reception, what you learned, and what you will do differently are needed.
People can see your progress through the repertoire of medieval cookery and gain
an insight about how you might have grown and improved.

Photos are another helpful asset to your portfolio. Just photographing a
chicken isn't very informative, but if you have gilded the chicken, arranged it
artistically and perhaps placed decorative foods around it, that is more useful.
Those interested in your advancement can see that you have begun to think about
the presentation of the food and that it is visually appealing as well as (we
assume) tasty.

Do you have to have a portfolio to be recognized? No. If, however, you would
like people to recognize that you are learning, maturing, and have begun to
master this particular craft, then your portfolio can give a type of permanence
to this impermanent art.

Sharing With Others

Now that you have begun to leave some documentation about what you have done and
what you have learned you can share it with others. Your own versions of
medieval recipes with your personal comments about what to be careful of, or how
to achieve a desired result, can help a new cook learn how to prepare that dish.
Many new cooks would rather start with an already-proven recipe rather than dive
into a period cookery book with its lack of specific measurements. Computers
provide a handy way to store the information but notebooks or file cards in a
box will work as well. How can one share information? Teach a class at an
event; hold informal "cook and taste" sessions; provide samples at shire
meetings; submit recipes to newsletters - local, principality, cooking, or A&S
editions, even Tournaments Illuminated. Hold regional, kingdom or inter-kingdom
cooking seminars. Share with others via electronic groups. Encourage local
cooks to put on more period feasts using documented recipes and serving methods.

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Copyright 1997 by Elise Fleming, 3950 Walter Road, North Olmsted, OH 44070-2111.
<alysk@ix.netcom.com>. Permission granted for republication in SCA-related
publications, provided author is credited and receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in
the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also
appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being
reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.

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