Lili Krakowski on tue 10 jun 08
Steve: The joy of your posts is the surprise element.
But it's like this.
The early cookbooks to which you refer were addressed not to Corporate
Lawyers with Cuisinart Fixations, but to cooks.
"Originally" rich people had cooks and gardeners, and swine herders and so
on, and recipes could be vague because the recipient KNEW ALL THE
TECHNIQUES. When I exchange recipes with friends I do not need to explain
how to correct a sauce (you beat it while yelling at it in the proper
language!) When you are writing for novices you need to explain. "See the
big bubbles? They show the water is boiling!"
That is why "the custom of providing a comprehensive list as part of a
recipe is a rather
recent innovation." It came from social changes!
"Cook until done" is ambiguous. I never did understand it. Does it mean
till the stew, or jam is done, or till I am so tired I do not care?
"Caelius Apicius book begins "Take
a wheelbarrow of rose leaves and pound
in a mortar. Add to it the brains of two
pigs and two thrushes boiled and mixed with
the chopped-up yolk of egg, oil, vinegar,
pepper, and wine. Mix and pour these
together and stew them steadily until
the perfume is developed."
My guess is rose petals as rose leaves have little smell. I expect the pig
brains and eggs were used to thicken the mix, as were the thrushes. Vinegar
and wine for acidity (and preservation) . But what are you supposed to do
with this mess--I am sure an "aroma" was developed--especially after it
stood a few days!--when it has cooked till done?
I mention this because I am an experienced cook, as well as potter. And
yes, just as Mrs Slatin knows by smell and feel when a "production" is
perfect, the Richard Aernis among us know "intuitively" when a glaze is just
right...and the application just right, and the firing just right.
So I defend my original statement that to ask for a recipe is to ask for
very little. Next to nothing. To you or anyone else who knows glaze I
might say: "Oh, this is a calcium borate glaze with enough magnesium in it
to stun an ox" and you would say: "What kind of body is it on?" and that
would be that. Within two minutes you would have gotten six recipes with
proportions out of your files or the Sankey data base...And you still would
have to rely on your knowledge of glaze and firing to know what to do next!
I am not knocking books and lists of glaze recipes. The Cooper one is an
invaluable reference. But too many new potters cling to these "givens" as
though they were life rafts--when actually they will support you for very
little time.
Kim Hohlmayer on wed 11 jun 08
Hi Lili,
I love your posts. I agree with you on the idea that a recipe without the experience to back it up is merely a frame upon which to build part of a potter's glaze education. I disagree, however, with the idea that rose petals have no odor of their own once plucked from the flower as a whole. I know nothing about mixing them with pig brains but I do know about the Victorian practice of taking the petals from roses and "mushing" them up into a nice fragrant pulp and rolling bits of pulp into nice rounds and piercing them to form beads.
They retained their scent which was made stronger by the body heat of the wearer.
I got to experience something similar a while back when my hubby and I took a dream vacation to Spain. We stopped to see the art found in a particular monestary and in the gift shop were Rosaries made ith rose petal beads. The monks make the beads and from them the Rosaries as the fundraiser for their monastic order. I am not Catholic but with proper respect for their use as an aid to prayer I bought one. I can guaruntee that even today quite a few years later it still smells heavenly. The fact I know this relatively obscure
info can somewhat be explained by my email adress title of beadiepotter. Those of us who
express a lot of our potting creativity in the creation of beads are a small but growing group.
And now that I have told you way more than you probably ever wanted to know and could truthfully be accused of wandering off topic I'll end this long and rambling post --Kim H.
--- On Tue, 6/10/08, Lili Krakowski <mlkrakowski@CITLINK.NET> wrote:
From: Lili Krakowski <mlkrakowski@CITLINK.NET>
Subject: Recipes and Mr Slatin's rose petals!
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 9:42 AM
Steve: The joy of your posts is the surprise element.
But it's like this.
The early cookbooks to which you refer were addressed not to Corporate
Lawyers with Cuisinart Fixations, but to cooks.
"Originally" rich people had cooks and gardeners, and swine herders
and so
on, and recipes could be vague because the recipient KNEW ALL THE
TECHNIQUES. When I exchange recipes with friends I do not need to explain
how to correct a sauce (you beat it while yelling at it in the proper
language!) When you are writing for novices you need to explain. "See the
big bubbles? They show the water is boiling!"
That is why "the custom of providing a comprehensive list as part of a
recipe is a rather
recent innovation." It came from social changes!
"Cook until done" is ambiguous. I never did understand it. Does it
mean
till the stew, or jam is done, or till I am so tired I do not care?
"Caelius Apicius book begins "Take
a wheelbarrow of rose leaves and pound
in a mortar. Add to it the brains of two
pigs and two thrushes boiled and mixed with
the chopped-up yolk of egg, oil, vinegar,
pepper, and wine. Mix and pour these
together and stew them steadily until
the perfume is developed."
My guess is rose petals as rose leaves have little smell. I expect the pig
brains and eggs were used to thicken the mix, as were the thrushes. Vinegar
and wine for acidity (and preservation) . But what are you supposed to do
with this mess--I am sure an "aroma" was developed--especially after
it
stood a few days!--when it has cooked till done?
I mention this because I am an experienced cook, as well as potter. And
yes, just as Mrs Slatin knows by smell and feel when a "production"
is
perfect, the Richard Aernis among us know "intuitively" when a glaze
is just
right...and the application just right, and the firing just right.
So I defend my original statement that to ask for a recipe is to ask for
very little. Next to nothing. To you or anyone else who knows glaze I
might say: "Oh, this is a calcium borate glaze with enough magnesium in it
to stun an ox" and you would say: "What kind of body is it on?"
and that
would be that. Within two minutes you would have gotten six recipes with
proportions out of your files or the Sankey data base...And you still would
have to rely on your knowledge of glaze and firing to know what to do next!
I am not knocking books and lists of glaze recipes. The Cooper one is an
invaluable reference. But too many new potters cling to these
"givens" as
though they were life rafts--when actually they will support you for very
little time.
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