[Sca-cooks] Bread for 'trenchers'
Stefan li Rous
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Sat Dec 31 18:24:58 PST 2005
Hrothny asked:
> Greetings, smart and resourceful cooks (note the sucking up?),
Huh? "Sucking up"? Okay, check this file in the fooD-UTENSILS section
of the Florilegium:
drinkng-strws-msg (6K) 11/29/01 Period and ancient drinking straws.
> I'm cooking for a tavern event at the end of the month and am
> reviving
> the old custom of serving the supper on a large trencher.
> I thought I'd send out a cry for comments
> since I'm uncommitted to a particular recipe or culture/time period
> (this is
> a truly anachronistic, actually pretty much fantasy, tavern, so to
> cut down
> on my frustration, I'm going with 'poorman's authenticity' rather
> than beat
> my head against a wall for no purpose).
> basically throw-away
> plating, yet I do want to encourage the diners to dig in to the top
> layer
> and enjoy the 'sops'.
Trenchers appear to have been made with a lessor refined wheat or
other grains. They also appear to have been intentionally several
days old. They also weren't meant to be eaten by the guests, but
rather saved and given as alms to the poorer folks. Sops appear to be
none of these things. I do understand what you are trying to do,
though. There is a tiny amount of info on sops in this file in the
FOOD-NREADS section of the Florilegium:
sops-msg (12K) 2/13/04 Slices of bread soaked in a sauce.
> So what I need is a heavy bread that can hold, say,
> sausages & onions or chicken with a good sauce, some baked or stewed
> veggies, and something savoury for tang - all without cracking
> apart. I'm
> assuming that a heavy crust would help, too.
> I haven't baked in *years* so am totally
> unfamiliar with rye, nuts, peas, or beans as stretchers but was
> thinking
> that it seemed logical they'd be used at a scurvy dock-side tavern
> (rather
> than fine white flour and such). Or maybe that was just wishful
> thinking
> about bread density?
No, you are correct about the bread density. However, the directions
we have for cutting trenchers do seem to cut off the crusts and not
use them. But this may have not been universal, because I seem to
remember different directions which cut the trenchers in different
ways. However, I doubt a "dock-side tavern" would have used trenchers
at all. Trenchers appear to have been a show of wealth.
> Comments? Warnings? Experience on price differences?
Folks have done trenchers for SCA feasts before. So you can see what
did and did not work out for them as well as a bunch of info about
period trenchers in this file, also in the FOOD-BREADS section:
trenchers-msg (84K) 2/13/04 Wooden and bread trenchers. Plates.
Bear, in doing research on medieval trenchers, has found that there
doesn't really to be much on them in the modern literature. One of
his projects was going to be some more comprehensive research,
although I'm not sure what he has done since he last mentioned this.
Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at: http://www.florilegium.org ****
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