On Wed, 17 Nov 2004, Howard Brazee wrote: > Philip Hart wrote: > > On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 FRIEDA2133 at aol.com wrote: > > > >> "the pastries are venison [...]" > > > > This strikes me as an odd ingredient for a street vendor to have > > easy access to, based on a vague feeling that historically kings > > or nobility have enforced a monopoly on the hunting of deer. > > Historically in England? > > Historically, those in power do what they can to own all resources, > including game, land, and water. But there's nothing special about > venison, other than in small countries, game preserves are owned by the > crown. Dragaera seems to have plenty of land. The question might be, is there free forested land not overrun by nasty Dragaeran wildlife near enough to make transport of venison easy enough to make it economical for street merchants, even those catering to a wealthy clientele, to serve it instead of domesticated meat? Also note that Dragaeran hunters use neither bows/arrows (is this true?) or firearms. Other forms of deer hunting which I'm vaguely familiar with are extremely uneconomical. > > Also, is this evidence of strong Dragaeran teeth? > > Why? The recipe didn't say anything about "ground venison"... Even if the meat is marinated, I'd think a venison medallion pastry would be tough going. Certainly ground venison with mushrooms compensating for the leanness would make a tasty pastry - whether one loses (any of? too much of?) the venison distinctiveness in so doing is beyond my meagre game expertise.