[Sca-cooks] How meals are served in period

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 23, 2005, at 4:00 PM, Maggie MacDonald wrote:

> I've been curious about how meals are served in period. I"ve always  
> been told that it was served in courses/removes, with each being a  
> miniature meal in itself.
>
> Was this always done?

I doubt it. I think the multi-course, each-course-a-meal-in-itself  
menus are for feast days, even in those places where this was  
practiced. I believe there's enough documentation, both textual and  
pictorial, for simpler meals, even for the wealthiest.
>
> Recently I noticed a feast that was served apparently an item at a  
> time, not in "courses/removes" and was done really really well.

Have you seen Ermolao Barbaro's late 15th-century letter describing a  
Milanese wedding feast, served in the style you describe above? I  
believe Thomas Gloning has it on his website, translated into French  
by Nostradamus in 1552. It gives some pretty fine detail on the  
dishes served, but unfortunately, no recipes. Unfortunately, I don't  
have a complete English translation. Anybody else?

>
> Is there a document somewhere that describes a _simple_ meal? (I  
> tend to doubt that because why would anyone write about a meal that  
> wasn't unusual in some sense?)

Well, even the English royal cookbooks like the Forme of Cury include  
dishes described as being "for supper", and sources like le Menagier  
also describe supper-type situations, as I recall. So clearly, they  
did think these occasions worth writing about. They just didn't write  
about them as much, probably because such occasions required less  
planning, and were probably both less varied and more spur-of-the- 
moment.

> I'm trying to plan a meal that the event steward has asked be  
> themed in late period Italian, so that will play a part in it too.  
> (I've been reading "The Stars Dispose" and "The Stars Compel" and  
> getting lots of inspiration from their interpretations of Apicius).

Can you tell us a little more about these interpretations of Apicius?

Adamantius



"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04