[Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 21, Issue 126

[she not]

Nancy Kiel
wrote:
My understanding was that the crust 
for coffins or raised pies, which I interpret as free-standing pies, was not 
meant to be eaten, just because it wouldn't be very tasty.  

 (It's not bad in small amounts-tends to soak up the flavor of the filling- it's just very rich and stodgy. Not a bad thing if you're hungry, or  suffering from a fat poor diet. I don't like it at all boiled as a pudding though) 

As for serving food "hot", do we 
have any idea as to how quickly food cools off?

a lot of kitchens were set at some distance from the service area. Passage across snowy yards or through chilly stone corridors and stairs resulted in complaints in period letters and such about cold food from the kitchens where great houses suffered by comparison to poorer, cozier ones. The thought that the great didn't have it as good as the lesser inspired various attempts to provide some sort of warming  in the feast hall, or en route to it. I recall some reports of burns/fires sustained from carrying dishes set in pans of coals or hot ashes and something resembling a chafing dish-check coroners reports-there's at least one good English social history based on them out there. Castle and manor plans occasionally included some architectural innovations specifically providing quicker access to the hall from the kitchen in theRen and  later MA, when great houses began to be built with more attention to comfort than defense-and like chimneys, these alterations were often specifically
 attributed to the guy that commissioned them "John Doe made me" on an inscription, etc, which gives you a date.  

 Maybe some experiments 
with refrigeration are in order. And hey, if the food is room temperature, 
doesn't more of the flavour come through?

Generally, cold food tastes underseasoned compared to when it was hot-and congealing grease is just plain nasty!

Something to look for (hint, hint, researchers): period 
descriptions/instructions for serving pies
Kitchen inventories for pans

Several cookbooks have lists of whats needed for the recipes-I think Taillevent did, though I might be confusing him with somebody else.

gisele



"all men are intrinsical rascals, and I am only sorry that not being a dog I can't bite them."   Lord Byron
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