SC - Lenten feasts (Selene's fish feast)

[Stefan li Rous]

Alys Katharine said:
> Stefan wrote:
> >Why spend the time and resources
> >to make a coffin crust each time you make a pie when a clay container
> >would ease that or even eliminate the crust?
> 
> One reason might be that the completed coffin served as a storage "vessel".
> Food that wasn't finished was just saved and served again in the same
> dough coffin.  At least one art work shows a pie stored on a shelf with mice
> eating from it, indicating that the unfinished pie wasn't tossed out or given
> to someone else.  IIRC, there are some notations about minor meals (a supper,
> breakfast) being made up from the leftovers.  If one didn't have a crust, or
> served in the clay container, one would have to have more clay containers.
> Pure speculation, but possible??

Interesting. Certainly sounds plausible. I'd like to find out what the
painting is that you are mentioning if you find it again.

This is also good evidence that food was kept as a left-over and not
always given to the beggars.

Compared to iron, clay utensils were cheaper. They seem to be much
more common in most periods but I guess they could be expensive
enough that there might not be multiple ones for food storage. But
repeated use of crust that you throw out after each use could add
up in cost, too.

But then, the rich at least, did use trenchers instead of plates. So
maybe they used dough coffins the same way, as a bit of conspicious
consumption.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
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