[Sca-cooks] French table Service - the whole xlation all together!!!!

[vicki shaw]

Here it is all together!!!
In the next to last installment there was a little paragraph that I had
xlated but forgotten to type.  So I have included it and since I was afraid
attachments might not be accepted, I am just giving it all here.
It was fun!  I will do it anytime!!!

Stefan, you wanted it for the Flori-thingy, here it is!!!  If you want the
original in French, then go to Kiri cause I deleted after I printed.  But
the url at the bottom of the printed page is:
http://expositions.bnf.fr/gastro/recettes/vin.htm

Angharad

The Wine Service according to.....

In the framework of the grand courts of time - and specifically to the Court
of Bourgogne - there developed a literature whose goal to meticulously
regulate the organization of feasts, the succession of courses, and the
services (probably here it means the dishes, the cutlery, the glassware,
etc).  The most famous treatise was written Olivier de la Marche:  it is the
state of the House of the duke Charles de Bourgogne said the Daring and also
The Foolhardy.
As Maitre D, de la Marche is not only responsible for advising the kitchens
of the dishes his master desires to have at his table, but also to organise
the meals to his satisfaction.
The wine service is ensured by the Echanson (could not find a xlation for
this word; probably the person responsible for the wine cellars or something
like that) who mainly sees to the mixing of wine to water according to the
preference (or taste) of the prince.
The seating is choreographed by the Maitre D like a ballet, where each
[guest], according to his rank, his place and his function is placed.




"When the table is set and the baker has done his job [part], the hall
bailiff goes to fetch the echanson appointed to wait that day, in his
echansonnerie [wine office?].  There the garde-linge hands the covered
goblet which the echanson takes by its foot [base] in his right hand, and in
his left hand he holds a cup; [at the same time as he hands the goblet and
the cup, the garde-linge gives] basins, pots and ewers for the prince, to
the sommelier who washes and dries [them].  The sommelier gives the goblet
to the echanson who stands behind the hall bailiff who carries the basins in
his left hand.  Behind the echanson follows the sommelier of the
echansonnerie who must carry in his right hand two silver pots, one
containing the wine for the prince, and the other water.  The prince's pot
is recognized by a the figure of a unicorn [carved?  metal?] dangling from a
chain.  The sommelier must carry in his left hand a cup and nothing more,
and in this cup must rest [lying, not standing] the ewer for serving water.
This cup which the sommelier carries serves to do the trial [test] which the
echanson performs.  After the sommelier comes the aide who must then carry
the pots and cups to the prince's buffet [feast]"



Each object therefore follows a very precise path, each gesture is defined.
We are dealing with an actual ritual, one whose prime reason for being, we
will see in the remainder of the text, was the fear of poisoning.



"[Once] The prince [has] arrived, and the plate proffered, the Maitre D
calls upon the
cup bearer (echanson), and so the cup bearer leaves the table, goes to the
buffet and locates the covered basins which the sommelier had prepared; he
takes them and performs [presents?] the water trial to the sommelier, kneels
before the prince, raises the basin which he proceeds to open with his left
hand, and pours water from the other basin over the edge of this one and
does proof and trial, and gives to wash from one of the basins and receives
water in the other.  Without covering the basins, he hands them to the
sommelier.  This done, the cupbearer places himself before [in front of] the
goblet and looks upon the prince, and he should be so attentive that with
the subtlest sign [look], the prince can let it be known he desires wine"



This does not mean that the prince is instantly served since the cup bearer,
once he has received the signal, takes the goblet in his hand and the cup
and must hold the goblet raised high so his breath does not come in contact
with it [pollute].  The hall bailiff opens the way for him and when the
sommelier sees him coming, he fills his ewer with fresh water and refreshes
the goblet in the hand of the cup bearer, both inside and out, then takes a
cup in the left hand and the mouth pot [?] in the right hand, and first
pours into the cup he is holding, and then into the goblet, and then takes
the ewer and pours into the cup he is holding, and then into the goblet and
then takes the ewer and pours into the cup and then dilutes [??] the wine
into the goblet, according to his knowledge of the prince's taste
[preference] and his tolerance.


The wine watered, the cup bearer pours from his goblet into the cup he is
holding, covers the goblet once again - and he must hold the lid between the
two small fingers of the hand with which he holds the cup until he has
covered the goblet again, and given what he has poured in his cup to the
sommelier; and places in his own, and then the sommelier must perform the
trial [tasting] in front of him.  Thus the cup bearer brings the goblet to
the prince, uncovers the goblet and puts wine in his cup and then covers the
goblet again, and does his test [tastes the wine].  When the prince extends
his hand, the cup bearer hands him the uncovered goblet and places the cup
under the goblet until the prince has drunk."