[Sca-cooks] Source information for the make-up of removes?

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Hi Everyone
>
> So sorry for being silent lately - I'm 93 digests behind on the list and
not
> finding much time to get any cooking research done due to work and health
> pressures
>
> What I actually need help here with is trying to explain to a friend (a
> member of a Viking/dark ages group that does very little food research)
why
> the idea of separate "soup/appertiser"; "main" and "dessert" courses is a
> modern invention.
>
> I'm trying to explain that a standard medieval remove would consist of a
> variety of dishes meant to bolster the eaters "humours"
>
> Am I totally off the beam on this?  Can anyone flip me a well worded
> explantion (including source) that I can pass one?
>
> Thanks!
>
> And Huggles
>
> Marion

Well, for starters, "It's course, of course- remove removes" as Alys K says-
please read her article on the topic. In short, "remove" is a Victorianism,
referring specificly to a section _within_ a course.

http://dialup.pcisys.net/~mem/course.html

Second, while you're fairly correct, in that there was a specific order of
foods presented in period, depending on their humoral properties, it rather
depends on your when/where. The Mongols, for example, have absolutely no
word for "course". Other cultures differ, according to their cultural
imperatives. Trying to use one set of rules for the entire span and area we
cover would be rather like saying "All Americans eat hamburgers for lunch".
Chances are, almost everyone in America has had a hamburger at lunchtime,
but that doesn't mean that at the crack of noon, everyone in the US runs out
to McDucks, or fries up a ground beef patty.

If you can get your hands on a copy of Milham's Platina, he describes in
reasonable detail what should be served in which course for later period
Italy.

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

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