[Sca-cooks] Re: Coffyns

[Stefan li Rous]

UlfR commented:
> Micheal <dmreid at hfx.eastlink.ca> [2005.02.17] wrote:
> > I working away in my kitchen one day when a thought hit me.  It hurt 
> (
> > before anyone else gets it)You know they had pots and pans made by
> > hand.
> > Why wouldn`t they have used such for a shaping mold.  Flip the pot
> > bottom
> > side up. Take the pastry throw it on top of your cleanest pot of
> > appropiate
>
> Because said pot -- unless you specially cleaned it -- would have an
> outer covering of soot and various resins from the wood used to cook.
> This is a job that takes time (I would not be surprised if the local
> carpenter could make a wooden form in less time), and also lowers the
> efficency of the pot (because the bright metal has a poorer black body
> behaviour).
Yes, i think the wooden form makes more sense, rather than the pot. 
Another point against using the outside of the pot is the shape of the 
pot. Most pots are round, since that is a shape easily "thrown" on a 
potter's wheel. While I understand that a coffyn is rectangular in 
shape, hence the transference of the word to the box we bury people in.

So, if a mold is used, I suspect it would have been a simple wooden 
one. But I'm still not convinced that they would have gone to the 
expense of a mold. Simply flatten out the dough into a sheet, cut slits 
or a wedge at the corners, fold up the sides and meld the corners 
together. What's the advantage of a mold over doing that?

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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