[Sca-cooks] Drachma Weight

[Terry Decker]

>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?

Considering that the spices would have been measured for dispensing to the
Kitchen, why would the cook need to further measure them rather than cook by
taste?

>
>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.

Since the general weight of a standard volume of any product would be
general knowledge, there might not be any need to weigh foodstuffs for
cooking while there would be advantage in weighing it for purchase.

Also other measuring techniques might be used.  As an example, wine dealers
would measure the quantity of wine in a barrel with a dipstick (an
observation made and studied by Johannes Kepler which later became
differential calculus).

>
>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?
>

How much do you actually weigh or measure when you are cooking?  I do it
when baking or when a dish calls for  specific ratios, but most of the time
I just ignore it.  I suspect that for the period kitchen, most of the
weighing was done outside of the kitchen for cost control.  However, you've
asked an interesting question that does deserve some serious consideration.

>
>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

The ratios between the different quantities is probably more critical than
the  actual measuring tools.  As long as you stay inside a given standard,
you should be fine.  Just don't try to mix them.

Bear