[Sca-cooks] Leftovers, questions and discussion [long]

Pixel, Goddess and Queen pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com
Wed Sep 8 07:40:19 PDT 2010


On Wed, 8 Sep 2010, Johnna Holloway wrote:

> One thing we've not mentioned is that the main meal of the day was often 
> eaten at midday
> and not at night. So food left from the midday meal could have been eaten at 
> supper time or in the evening. (Or like I suggested previously by the 
> servants.) That would reduce the amount of time for a dish to be left sitting 
> on a sideboard or simmering in a pot.

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the practice Woolgar (and 
possibly Dyer may say something about it as well) of the distribution of 
any prepared food that was not consumed to the poor waiting at the 
gate. Granted, this is mostly larger households, but it does reduce the 
amount of already-prepared food hanging around after the meal.

One of the two of Dyer and Woolgar mentions leftover roast meat 
from the night before showing up for the king's breakfast. One of the 
Edwards, but I don't remember which one. And then there's the famous bit 
from Hamlet about the wedding feast using the baked meats left from the 
funeral.

Margaret FitzWilliam



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