[Sca-cooks] Question remove vs course

[Elise Fleming]

Re the OED quote: 1625 S. PURCHAS Pilgrimes IV. 345
The dishes so placed..that they did reach a yard high as we sate, and 
yet each dish fit to bee dealt upon without remoove.

The word "remove" didn't itself just come into existence in 1700. 
People could remove things just as we use "remove" today.  The example 
above, while referring to food, isn't (in my opinion) referring to 
anything other than the physical act of removing something.  That isn't 
the same meaning as calling a dish of ham or chicken a "remove".

The word took on a secondary meaning around 1700 when someone labeled a 
dish that was lifted off of the table and another put in its place.  In 
the world of dining, food was put on the table.  At some point, all 
dishes from the first course were taken away (removed) and a second 
course was placed on the table.  The "new way" was that, in the first 
course, one dish was "removed" before any of the others, and was 
replaced by a second dish.  All the others, shown in the diagram of the 
table setting, stayed put until the end of the course.  This particular 
dish got tagged with the name of "a remove".  The diagram for the second 
course does not have a "remove" in it.

A new message just popped into my inbox in which Joel wrote:
 >I am in no way arguing that your explanation of the difference between 
 >a course and a remove is incorrect or unclear.  My apologies if I have 
 >been unclear on that.

 >What I saw as missing was the first use of the terms in a culinary 
 >sense.  Since the first use of "remove" is clearly post-SCA period, 
the >1625 date from the OED provides iron-clad evidence that anyone who 
 >argues "remove" to be a period term of any culinary sort is incorrect.

I understand you now.  I don't think, however, that the OED quote is 
referring to the same thing.  I think the OED quote is using "remoove" 
as a verb.  The term that I'm fussing about is a noun.  While the 1625 
quote is definitely post-period, I don't think it shows the use of 
"remove" as a noun and as a part of a course.

Hmmm...I see some placards held by cooks and a line of protesters 
marching up and down in front of the event site saying "Of Course It's 
'Course'!  Remove 'Remove'!"

Alys K., getting far behind in messages
-- 
Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
alyskatharine at gmail.com
http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/
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