[Bryn-gwlad] trenchers and plateware

[Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace]

Salut cozyns,

In a manner of speaking, Dora, yes, plates went out of style. More 
precisely, the practice of eating directly from plates went out of style. 
The plates were often still there under the trenchers.

Consider the conditions: stewed and sauced dishes were a popular way to make 
efficient use of spices. Fish in many parts of Europe was rarely fresh, 
which meant it was bound to be pungent. Some dishes specifically called for 
high meats (jugged hare, pheasant, and so forth), which also tended to leave 
a distinct aroma in porous dishes.

Plates made of wood or ceramic were difficult or impossible to clean due to 
their porosity (ceramic glazes tended to be lower temperature 
affairs--something like raku). Metal dishes tend add unpleasant flavor notes 
to delicate acidic sauces.

Bread trenchers were an elegant solution. They soaked up the smelly bits and 
made the plates or chargers easier to clean for re-use.

The same is true today. Try using a bread trencher at your next feast. 
You'll find the clean up afterwards is much easier.

lo vostre per vos servir
Meser Lyonel
_________________________________
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
		--AElfric of York





>From: "Dora Smith" <villandra at austin.rr.com>
>Reply-To: Barony of Bryn Gwlad <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
>To: "Barony of Bryn Gwlad" <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
>Subject: Re: [Bryn-gwlad] trenchers and plateware
>Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 07:23:26 -0500
>
>DISHES went out of style?!!
>
>Yours,
>Dora Smith
>Austin, TX
>tiggernut24 at yahoo.com
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tim McDaniel" <tmcd at panix.com>
>To: "Barony of Bryn Gwlad" <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 1:26 AM
>Subject: Re: [Bryn-gwlad] trenchers and plateware
>
>
> > On Mon, 4 Sep 2006, Dora Smith <villandra at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> >> Since the Romans ate from plates and bowls, why would not the European
> >> nobility have done so in medieval times?
> >
> > The early Imperial Romans also ate while reclining on couches, wore
> > togas, and based their armies on infantry, all of which went out of
> > style (though infantry as mainstays of the army eventually came back
> > for a time).  That a group of people did something at a given time
> > doesn't mean that their successors did.  In the field of names, which
> > I know something about, I could probably find dozens of Irish names
> > known only early, but that just lost popularity -- or the 12th Century
> > explosion of odd names that just went away in the 13th.
> >
> > It's not even true that if a people did something at time A and time
> > B, that they did it at all times in between.  The easiest example is
> > concrete: used extensively in the Roman Empire, lost, rediscovered in
> > the 19th Century.
> >
> > DdL
> > --
> > Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com
> > _______________________________________________
>
>
>
>--
>Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
>Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.3/395 - Release Date: 7/21/2006
>
>_______________________________________________
>Bryn-gwlad mailing list
>Bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org
>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bryn-gwlad-ansteorra.org