DOCUMENTING COOKERY, A
How-To and Why for Cooks
by
Dame Alys Katharine (Elise Fleming; [email protected])
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
possible reasons.
One
of the joyous aspects of the SCA is the discovery by the individual 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 to 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’!” Too many people
start with a modern dish (or an “old” dish from the family) and then try to
prove its existence in the Middle Ages or Renaissance. While the dish may be delicious,
that isn’t what we are trying to do.
And, it is just as poor “scholarship” to simply remove modern world
ingredients and serve the result at an SCA feast. Go back to the historical material. That is what we are trying to re-create.
There are hundreds of period recipes from several divergent cultures that you
can cook. Making these dishes come
“alive” again is a better use of your cooking skills!
If
you are entering a competition, you should provide a copy of the original recipe
either as a photocopy, 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 plagiarism. 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.
I
have found that judiciously honest comments can inform the judges what I 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. Sometimes
multiple spices were used to provide a wide range of flavors in one dish. Sometimes one spice in a small amount
complemented a larger amount of another spice. Sometimes a number of spices were used
to show off the wealth of the host who was able to afford such exotic additions
to so many dishes. And, sometimes
the medieval cook liked a spicy dish just as we do. 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?
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.
Documentation, the details
of the period recipes you have tried and its results, thus becomes a ladder to
increased knowledge within the Society.
The fun comes from the learning and the sharing. As you learn more about what your fellow
cooks did hundreds of years ago you will, I hope, become increasingly more
curious about other aspects of their cooking life. In this way cookery in the Society will
begin to match the strides made in other areas such as more historical armor;
clothing that resembles what people actually wore, rather than being
fantasy-inspired; or scrolls that can be shown in museums.