[Sca-cooks] Medieval Food Presentation

[Elise Fleming]

Odriana wrote:

 >I have been looking around and didn't see much on how a medieval cook
 >would have presented/plated the food that they made.  Does anyone know
 >anything about this?

Many of the recipes end with comments like "garnish with seeds of 
pomegranate", "sprinkle sugar about", "and lay on slices of lemons". 
This gives an idea of certain ways to present foods.  Years ago I 
started to develop a list of which foods typically used which type of 
garnishes.  If you look carefully at recipes, you will find a number of 
different garnishes.

For the types of plates used, you get some idea from drawings and 
paintings.  They were a bit different from what I'm used to seeing at 
feasts.  Bowls seemed to be smaller than we use because, at least in 
England, for most of the SCA time period the food was served in 
"messes".  A mess would serve four, usually.  We plop food on the table 
intending to feed 8-12 and we pass the food family-style.

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for.  Can you be more specific?

Alys Katharine
-- 
Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/