[Sca-cooks] Service and Kraut questions from Gwen Cat

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

There is of course 
Arranging the Meal: A History of Table Service in  France
By Jean Louis Flandrin  

_http://books.google.com/books?id=oDqNbd_b3oQC&pg=PA203&dq=%22Table+service+
%22+medieval&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fb8VUc37Ici6iwLTm4HYDg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&
q=%22Table%20service%20%22%20medieval&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=oDqNbd_b3oQC&pg=PA203&dq="Table+service+"+medieval&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fb8VUc
37Ici6iwLTm4HYDg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q="Table%20service%20"%20medieval
&f=false) 
 
 
Otherwise, there are numerous images of meals from the later medieval  
period. Typically one sees round breads, rectangular trenchers (probably of  
silver even if many were made of bread), goblets, a more or less fancy salt  
cellar. And a cupbearer bringing drink around (though I've never been sure if  
he  - usually a good-looking young boy (make of that what you will) -  
brought the goblet or actually brought it to the lord's lips).
 
Knives, spoons and hands; no forks. Though as the Liber de Coquina shows us 
 pointed sticks might have been used for something like pasta. The meat was 
 apparently cut small before being laid on the trencher. For a long time, 
two  people shared a bowl ("companion" is supposedly from "com pain"; that 
is,  the one one shared one's bread, and the rest of the meal, with).
 
In terms of sequence, the 14th c Menagier de Paris includes a number of  
menus, which are available here (thanks to Janet Hinson via David Friedman)  
in English:
_http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html_ 
(http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html) 
 
 (search for "Meat-day dinner.")
 
Here are some 15th c menus from a later version of the Viandier:
 
"Banquet Of My Lord Of La Marche  
And  Firstly 
Vinaigrette,  cretonnée of lard, brewet of cinnamon, venison with clove. 

SECOND  COURSE 
Peacocks,  swans, herons, young rabbits with spiced sauce, partridges with 
sugar. 

THIRD  COURSE 
Capons  stuffed with cream, pigeon pastie, kids. 
FOURTH  COURSE 
Eagles,  pears with hypocras, gilded thin slices [of bread or  meat?], 
jelly, watercress. 

FIFTH  COURSE 
White cream,  almonds, nuts, hazelnuts, pears,jonchées.

Banquet Of My Lord Of Estampes
FOR  THE FIRST DISH 
Capons  with brewet of cinnamon, chickens with herbs, pickle, navews with 
venison. 
SECOND  COURSE 
The  best roast, peacocks with celery, capon pastie, small hares with 
bramble  vinegar, capons with Jean’s most, 

THIRD  COURSE 
Partridges  with trimolette. Steamed pigeons. Venison pasties. Jelly and 
slices. 
FOURTH  COURSE 
Four [“oven” – meaning a  pastry?], fried cream. Pear pastie. Sugared 
almonds, nuts and raw  pears."
 
In France early on the sequence (for very upscale meals) would still have  
been some variant of the Roman:
_http://books.google.com/books?id=9JJdqJ8YGH8C&pg=PA343&dq=%22secunda+mensa%
22+%22prima+mensa%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AsUVUdXRHYHwiwL4xIFY&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=on
epage&q=%22secunda%20mensa%22%20%22prima%20mensa%22&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=9JJdqJ8YGH8C&pg=PA343&dq="secunda+mensa"+"prima+mensa"&hl
=en&sa=X&ei=AsUVUdXRHYHwiwL4xIFY&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q="secunda%20mens
a"%20"prima%20mensa"&f=false) 
 
No one really knows what the sequence was later, other than that  
Charlemagne was said to eat four courses and a roast. And fruit (apparently on  his 
own) later. He was also served by his highest lords, who were then served by  
lesser lights, who were then served by (etc), down to the household  
personnel.
 
For simpler meals, period images show a single pot - somewhat like a squat  
goblet, with a bowl set on a short stem - with a handle (probably for a 
ladle)  coming out of it. And sometimes some bread. Probably people simply 
ladled out  the meat and broth into bowls, eating it with bread.
 
The Romans had napkins, as did the early French (Merovingians) but by later 
 centuries this seems to have been replaced by a runner (a band along the 
edge of  the table cloth used to wipe one's hands). (The eighteenth century 
English, by  one account, were still wiping their hands on the tablecloth.)
 
Jim  Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste  Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France  

 
In a message dated 2/8/2013 8:14:56 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
tgrcat2001 at yahoo.com writes:

2) At a  recent gathering I was asked for sources that included or focused 
on the  period (no preference on location or time) table settings.  Now I 
have  lots of recipe books, but this gentle is not interested in cooking the 
food,  but wants to learn about re-creating the service portion of a feast or 
 banquet.