This is an older class handout, but one of my favorite classes I ever taught. I fully plan on rebuilding this class and making this more informative and more interactive, I just need to have SCA events with kitchen access haha! The goal of the class was to introduce folks into the world of recipe redactions, and at the end of the part 1 class the students would then actually COOK the recipe they had translated! I'm posting this class here for posterity, and I can't wait to link to this post when I retool the class and reintroduce it at another event.
Redacting 101: Translating and Preparing Your Period Recipes
By Honorable Lord Christopher Köch
Goals for the class
. To detail why we redact period recipes
. Common redaction myths
. To learn how to redact period recipes, and redact one to make today!
What is redacting?
. To put in writing; to select or adapt for publication or release
. Redaction is a form of editing in which multiple source texts are combined (redacted) and altered slightly to make a single document. Often this is a method of collecting a series of writings on a similar theme and creating a definitive and coherent work.
Why do we redact a period recipe?
. Period recipes were not written as modern cookbook recipes, they were not meant as exact guides.
. Most surviving cookbooks come from royal libraries.
. Modern cookbooks have trained us to cook a certain way, most modern non-professionals need a codified recipe
. Planning feasts means organizing a shopping list, exact measurements are needed to know what to order.
. To mass produce a period recipe, to make it large enough for non-trained assistance, we need to organize it into a modern formula.
Period Recipe Myths
. It is impossible to 100% recreate a recipe, because of how the recipes are written and the ingredients used.
. Period recipes are good and tasty, and mostly similar to modern dishes
. Period dishes can be cooked on a Feast budget, and made mass appealing!
How do you redact a period recipe?
. Start at the beginning, pick a dish you want to eat!
. There are a number of pre-translated dishes on several good websites or in books, you may feel free to translate your own from the original text or use a pre-translated recipe. If you’re new to redactions, I recommend a pre-translated recipe.
. Here is a simple pre-translated recipe for the class, one I’ve cooked plenty of times:
Mylates of Pork (Forme of Cury)
Cut pork all to pieces and mix it with eggs and grated cheese. Mix in powder forte, saffron, and pine nuts with salt, make a crust in a trap, bake it well therein, and serve it forth.
. To make this more modern, step one is to find the missing ingredients.
. Research word definitions for unfamiliar terms, learn your powders as well as crust types. Research what the food was described as, what was important to the culture food wise.
. Trust yourself, you know what tastes good.
. Modern cookbooks are valid sources, pork has not changed how it needs to be cooked in several thousand years.
. Begin to practice! Invite your friends over, test various amounts of each item.
. Be satisfied with your result, cook it in as period of a manner with period ingredients.
. Write, write, write! Document every step for every test, every ounce and every tablespoon.
Helpful Links, Books
. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html - Sabrina is a GREAT starter into period cooking, most of the dishes are very familiar to modern palettes and its all pre-translated!
. http://medievalcookery.com/ - A wonderful site with plenty of beginner recipes. These are also redacted, so if you want to compare your own personal redactions to ones that have been pre-tested give these a try!
. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8102 - Forme of Cury is available for free in the ebook format. If you want to start translating, but lack French/Italian/German/etc language skills then this is a good start. Once you begin to read them, it becomes easier and easier.
. Alton Brown's’ “Good Eats” - Any cookbook can work just fine, I have an old Betty Crocker book I cherish, but the Good Eats series is a FANTASTIC addition to anyone who enjoys cooking food. The meat temp cooking guide alone is phenomenal, and the range of useful topics makes this a must have.
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