SCA A&S question

[Halbrust]

I know several of you are experinced judges for A&S competitions and I have a question for you.

One of the categories I plan on entering is non-alcoholic brewing. I will be entering a sekanjabin, and I assume 80% of the other entries will be sekanjabins/oxymels as well. I'm considering replacing the mint with basil. Both were readily available, and used both for flavor and medicinal purpose during the time.

I can not document a recipe like this, but can document the thought process and plausibility. This would obviously set me apart from similar entries. Do you believe this could/would be judged favorably? Or am I making a change that can only hurt me?

[Derian le Breton]

Since it's a brewing contest, why not enter both?

Which contest are you thinking of? I believe the one at potrero is a "no documentation required" one; docs are not totaled towards points except for guild advancement purposes.

-Derian.

[Halbrust]

Festival of the Rose Summer Arts. Says it will be judged along the same lines as Pentathlon.

I plan (or hope) to enter all four categories: metal arts, non-alcoholic brewing, woodworking, and fiber arts.

[Derian le Breton]

Ah. I haven't done pentathalon, but in other A&S competitions I've done (including kingdom level ones) having the "final" version of the entry supported by several "trial runs" is a pretty normal thing. Something like this would be perfectly suitable. Just be sure to clearly state your reasoning to the judges during the presentation.

-Derian.

[brewer]

Document your deviation as well as if not better than the norm.

In other words, the original recipe could be your only source (though I'm more impressed my multiple sources) if you were going strictly by that recipe. If you're going to deviate from the original recipe, you have to document that recipe plus that basil was used in other foodways plus support the logic that it might have been used in the manner in which you used it. If you can't document the ingredient's use in exactly the way you intend, the more citations of the ingredient's use in ways close to your intended use the better.

For example:

The entry was based on [insert recipe here], which dates to [date] and comes from [region].[citation] As an alternative to mint, basil was used as the flavoring herb. Basil was used in medicinal infusions,[citation] and according to [author] it was a common herb in cooking.[citation]

Something like that, anyway. That's what I like to see.

Simply: If you're going to deviate, tell me why, and back it up with citations.

Cheers! (And good luck!)

Bob

Edited to add: As to judging the entry favorably, it depends. I think I would, especially if your documentation is solid. I don't consider a copy of the recipe documentation. I want to know your procedure, why you use that procedure, etc. I want to know every way in which you deviated from the "period" method of manufacture and why you chose to deviate.

More documentation = more esteem in this judge's eyes. It shows you thought more about the historicity of your entry, where an entry that merely is accompanied by a copy of the recipe smacks of back-documentation.

[Karen Larsdatter]

Explain it in your documentation.

I'd also recommend seeing http://larsdatter.com/documentation.htm for my collected thoughts on how to write effective documentation.

(Big news: that article is one of two of mine that'll be in the next edition of the Known World Handbook. They're also using Ten Simple Things You Can Do To Impress the Judges at an Arts and Sciences Competition.)

[losthelm]

If your entering 4 catagories would not that be a quadathalon?
triathalong being 3
pentathalon being 5

[Karen Larsdatter]

A quadrathon or quadrathlon, I think.