[Sca-cooks] How meals are served in period

[Terry Decker]

The item at time service is commonly associated with German feasts, but I 
suspect it may have had wider use, especially in earlier times.  Serving a 
single dish or a small group of related dishes would work better with a 
feast of long duration than the large courses.

The three course multi-dish meal served over a realtively short period is a 
practice that appears to have been made popular by the dinners held by 
Catherine de Medici.

Bear

> 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?
>
> Recently I noticed a feast that was served apparently an item at a time, 
> not in "courses/removes" and was done really really well.
>
> 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?)
>
> 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).
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Maggie MacD.