[Sca-cooks] Re: Coffyns

[Zelina Silverfox]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 16:29:22 -0600, Stefan li Rous
<StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> 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
> --------

Um..question...may sound odd but here goes.
How thick should the pastry be to free stand 8 inches on the sides
without collapsing on itself? I am assuming ( I know... bad word) that
the top would have been done seperately and put on towards the end of
the final baking stage.

~Zelina~