[Sca-cooks] Re: Coffyns

[Terry Decker]

Was raising a coffin practiced outside of the kitchens of the great 
households?  I've seen nothing to suggest that it was a common practice 
other than for feasts.  Since inns, taverns and commercial bakers are trying 
to turn a profit, why would they use a labor intensive technique that would 
increase their costs?   I don't rule out special orders, but that would 
require clients willing to spend the extra money (not likely except for 
major events).  BTW, general references to raised coffins are more common 
after period.  It might be interesting to see if there are any later 
descriptions  of how they were prepared.

The idea that manor wouldn't have that size of staff is humorous.  A manor 
has the size of staff it needs to maintain the estate.  The household of the 
owner of the manor is a different matter.  Households normally had cooks and 
bakers in their employ, who travelled with the household.  When the 
household was in residence at the manor, the manor staff was attached to the 
household, returning to their caretaker status when the household departed.

Professional bakers had molds and used molds and baked the product in molds. 
The raised coffin is a different critter.  It's like the decorative loaf of 
bread that is carved prior to baking to present an image in the final 
product.  The work on such loaves is done freehand with a sharp knife.  I 
suspect that the tools for producing a raised coffin were wooden blocks (to 
set a curve or an edge) and a sharp knife to carve the decorations.

Bear

> Well guess that idea has mixed reviews . I handle each by its own merit.
>  Hampton court no doubt did as you say all by hand pride of craft and all.
> But not every manor, inn, or tavern had that size staff now did they.
> Soot on the pots bailiff drag that filthy no good lazy scully away. Not a
> very solid reason for saying no to a ponderance.
> Thick enough to stand on its own, well just cause it comes from a shaping
> device means it  thin. Lost the logic here. Maybe valid maybe not.
> Like the press idea though it would be a massive space consumption.  Ease
> of use would be the question.
> Nope I am sorry I believe IF such a device ever existed it would have to
> have been really simple. A wooden shape a pot bottom or a piece of
> pottery. So simple it could be looked at as something else without raising
> a question. Cause this many people looking would have seen it already.
> Indeed it would most likely fall into a method and some body might have
> written it down some where. Now either we have not found it yet or it just
> didn`t happen. We have not uncovered everything within the middle ages now
> have we? Another one of those hmm I wonder quests.
> Da