I understand your angst. I have the same feelings also. I sometimes complain about people not even attempting period cookery, when there are times when I have cut corners, so to speak, in order to save time or effort when I am coming down to the wire/serving time. I too have served vanilla pizzelles instead of the more period wafers because I didn't have time to experiment with the period recipe and I wanted to serve something edible even if it wasn't period. However, when asked, I always tell the truth. I make no false claims to periodicity. I suppose there is the perception that because I am a cooking Laurel that everything that I make is period. That is what I try to do as a matter of course. But when I don't or can't, it bothers me. Like the last Royal luncheon that I did. The autocrat wanted a theme of following the silk road. I spent too much time researching and not enough time experimenting. The night before the event I tried making recipes that I should have experimented with weeks before. I was just too pressed for time and I started making mistakes and having disasters. But I adapted as best I could. When I couldn't get the samosa dough correct, but the filling was great, I went out and bought a lot of pita bread, and stuffed the filling in that instead. Not really period, but it saved my ass and everyone liked it. The same with the Chinese dish. I made most of it at home and was supposed to finish it up on site, but discovered when I got there that I had left at home half the ingredients I was supposed to use, and there was no time or convenient market to replace that which I had forgotten, so I improvised and turned it into a stir-fry dish. It tasted great, but it wasn't the period dish I was going to make. I think that questions like yours are only natural for concientious Laurels who are trying their best, but, at the same time, are human beings.