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

[ekoogler1 at comcast.net]

Thanks for all of your hard work.  I can't wait to get back to the part I've already written and rework it with what you've given me.

If you want, when it's done, I'll send you a copy.

Kiri
> 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."
> 
> 
> 
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