The big one is that he repeated the Victorian era myth that medieval cooks used lots of spice to cover the taste of spoiled meat. It’s simply not true. Just from an economic point, such a practice doesn’t make any sense.

Why would they use the equivalent of $100 worth of spice on a $2 chicken?

Why would they slaughter animals and then let them sit and spoil instead of waiting to slaughter them until they were needed?

I can give you lots of other examples, but in short they didn’t.

Further, given that almost none of the recipes in surviving cookbooks note the amounts of the ingredients to be used – so anyone saying that medieval cooks used a lot of spice has no basis in fact for their assertion.

Medieval cooks did use a wide range of spices in their cooking, but no more so than any other cuisine in the modern world (with the possible exception to modern, stereotypically bland, English cooking).

Take a look at my website – I’ve got heaps of research and recipes there.

But she made it, so that’s good. I’m happy that they actually have a top five with mostly everyone who has really stood out. Early on, she and Kevin and the brothers established themselves. Don’t know about Eli, but he’s had some good dishes. Top Chef always likes to have surprises, so I figured someone good would go too early and someone everyone hated (like, oh, Robin?) would make it far, but this is a very strong group. Maybe their best top 5 ever?