[Sca-cooks] Service and Kraut questions from Gwen Cat
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Fri Feb 8 19:56:32 PST 2013
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.
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