[Sca-cooks] Flandrin: the medieval order of meal

[Elise Fleming]

Jim Chevallier wrote:

 >Maybe you can give your own summary of his look at medieval dining 
 >order?  Mine was based on a quick read.

 >Probably the main thing for most medieval food recreationists to note 
 >is that the more formal order (soup, roast, etc) that ended up being 
 >the norm for  centuries was reserved (in the Menagier at least) for 
 >major events like weddings. Otherwise, the order seems to have been 
 >very fluid. Any trace of the  old Roman order (which can be faintly 
 >detected in early medieval accounts) seems  to have disappeared.

I did a little bit more than a quick read, but I will admit that it 
still is somewhat confusing to me. In the chapter on 14th-15th centuries 
he asked, rhetorically, if the French meals followed a prescribed order. 
He thinks they do, but Henisch and others don't.

Flandrin then goes into a discussion of "mets" (dishes) and "assiettes" 
(platters) to talk about if they are different. (Yes, sometimes.) He 
next discusses identifying courses and the number of dishes in each 
course. (One reason for my incomplete understanding is that the book 
refers to certain charts but they aren't near the discussion. Flipping 
pages to find what he was referring to frustrated me, so I didn't flip 
pages.)

He says about "opening dishes" that some are systematically presented. 
For example, beef pasties and salt-cured foods are at the start of a 
meal. The first course includes soups. There is discussion of various 
types of dishes as well as roasts. He says that 82% of the 236 dishes 
mentioned in this section were served _before_ the roast and he thinks 
this is not by chance.

Flandrin speaks of the "send-off" (always wine and spices) which is 
explicitly mentioned in 4 menus, and the "finish" which is in 11. The 
contents of the "finish" can vary.

The book goes into roasts, garnishes, and the dishes served between the 
roast and the finish.

The next chapter is an overview of the 16th century where the names of 
the stages changed from "assiettes" to "services" (courses) and this 
term was kept through the 19th century. The _number_ of the courses in a 
meal still was as variable as during the Middle Ages. Courses now are 
generally named (entrée, soups, roast, second roast, third roast...to 
"finish") rather than numbered as they used to be.

If your interest is in French food and dining habits during the SCA 
period, this would probably be a useful book to have.

Alys K.
-- 
Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
alyskatharine at gmail.com
http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8311418@N08/sets/