SC - Fw: [Mid] Feasts: Serving and Carving

[Alderton, Philippa]

Alys Katherine,

This was so well thought out, and in line with a recent discussion, that
I've forwarded it over to Cooks.

phlip at morganco.net

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider that cain't be throwed.

: 
: Greetings!  After several days of reading comments about
: feasts, I’d like to toss in this for consideration.  While some
: SCA cooks (feastocrats) will try using period recipes most
: of them don’t seem to research what period serving methods 
: might have been like in the years/country the recipes are
: taken from.  Whole chickens (or any whole cut of meat) are 
: one example.
: 
: Even through the late 1400s and the “bokes of courtesy” it 
: is noted that there are special rules for cutting and disjointing
: meats.  The feasters were not expected to “hack” up their
: own chickens as we in the SCA are expected.  One reference
: clearly states that a whole chicken is for the lord and that the
: lesser folk get only parts.  (Those at the “head table” were
: expected to send choice pieces of their larger dishes to people
: seated at lower tables, as a mark of favor from the lord.)  While
: general statements are rarely accurate, one might be safe saying
: that in the SCA time periods, no whole chickens should _ever_
: be served to any table other than the high table.  And, at high 
: table, the carver should perform his magic.  It shouldn’t be the
: high table guests’ job to cut up their own chicken.
: 
: While serving styles did change, for much of our (English) time
: frame foods were put in front of each two, or possibly four, diners
: who were then expected to eat from those dishes.  Our “family-
: style” meals, where one bowl is passed down the table, was 
: probably not the norm.  Several people noted in recent posts that
: there were problems with the first feasters taking a lot of one 
: dish, leaving little for the eighth or tenth person down the line. 
: If one adapted medieval serving habits (as we are supposed to be
: doing) this would be minimized.
: 
: We SCAers are doing a pretty good job of exploring the re-creation
: of all sorts of medieval arts, crafts, and combat.  Why is it that in
: cooking and serving we are content to present and serve food in
: a twentieth-century style?  There are primary sources available as
: well as good secondary sources.  It’s really nice to go to a feast
: where the presentation, serving, carving have all been done with an
: eye to re-creating that aspect of dining!
: 
: Is there any interest in discussing how to make this part of a feast
: (carving and serving) more “medieval”?
: 
: Alys Katharine
: 
: 
: From:  alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
: +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+    to unsubscribe, send a message to
: `~-,  ,-~`~-,  ,-~`~-,  ,-~`~-,  ,-~`    sca-middle-request at dnaco.net with
: .  |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |          'unsubscribe' as its body.


============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================