Ice Houses and Thanks was: Re: [Sca-cooks] Kitchens

[Volker Bach]

Stefan li Rous schrieb:
>
> Alban said:
> > >Hrm.  *sigh*  I don't *want* to break my medieval mood every few days
> > >and get changed into modern clothes and get in a car and drive to a
> > >supermarket.  I *really* don't want to have to do that.
> > Can't do much about the car, obviously - but downtown New Castle
> > is sufficiently accustomed to us that they won't even blink at people
> > wearing garb.
>
> Yep. Often the folks in garb outnumber the folks in mundane clothes at
> the stores surrounding major events such as Pennsic and Gulf Wars.
>
> > >The point, for me, isn't that it's not possible to get food offsite and
> > >keep it in coolers.  The point is that getting food offsite and keeping
> > >it in coolers doesn't feel "right" for me when I'm deep in medieval
> > >mode.
> > Coolers? Why not dig a pit, line it with a couple of tarps, put the food in,
> > and put ice on top? I've seen it done often enough at Pennsic; the Coopers
> > don't mind, as long as you remember to remove the tarps and replace
> > the dirt just before you leave. Think medieval ice box, in the original
> > sense: a box, food, and lots of ice.
>
> Well, late Renaissance perhaps. I've still not seen any evidence of
> European ice houses prior to 1500 AD.

I've been shown a late-14th/early-15th century
underground room in Nuremberg that the museum
guide claimed to have been a purpose-built ice
cellar. It certainly answered the purpose
creditably until about 1760. The method that was
explained to me: harvest ice blocks in winter,
pack them in straw and/or sawdust and stack them
on the floor, over raised brick ridges. Allegedly,
ice could be kept there until late summer though
there was considerable loss. In early modern
times, adjacent rooms were used to store dairy
products, though this is unlikely to be period.

Giano

(Yes, I'm back to the grindstone and thanks you
all for the helpful pointers on books. I got about
a quarter of what I was looking for - for which my
bank account is grateful - and am looking forward
to trying out all those new recipes)