[Sca-cooks] Drachma Weight

[James Prescott]

At 08:19 -0600 2004-03-08, Terry Decker wrote:
> I'm
> fairly certain they were purchased by apothecary weight and were dispensed
> to the Kitchen by apothecary weight.

To the Kitchen, certainly, I agree entirely.

But what did the Kitchen then do, especially when they were issued
with spices by the pound (or more) for a banquet?  What scales did 
they use to re-measure for the individual powders or dishes?

We can speculate, but do we have any documentary proof?  I've been 
looking, and haven't so far found it.  On the other hand, I've not 
found any proof that they used avoirdupois either.

As noted in an earlier post, there is some evidence that they might
have had two sets of weights in the same kitchen.

Further, I'm fairly certain that by very late period most or all 
weighing in the kitchen would have been by non-Troy weight.  But is
there any documentary proof of that?

And if so, when and where did the transitions happen?


Note that it generally only matters when the measures differ
significantly.  Most commonly used ounces are "close enough" that 
it doesn't really matter much which you use.  But drachms, which
are what triggered this discussion, differ a lot.


Thorvald