[Sca-cooks] The upper crust

[Terry Decker]

The are as accurate as far as they go.  In medieval baking the fire was 
commonly raked from the oven and the floor swabbed to remove the remaining 
ash.  A layer of meal was cast on the floor of the oven to keep the bread 
from scorching.  No guarantee, but it helped.  What you think of as "burnt" 
was probably just over baked or scorched from an overly hot oven floor or 
possibly burned by embers from a poorly cleared oven..

A trencher loaf was between 2 and 3 inches thick, so I suspect it would have 
been split into two slices rather than into three slices.

The earliest written reference to bread trenchers with which I am acquainted 
is from 1354.  There is a 12th Century illustrated manuscript of Gregory's 
Moralia which show what is believed to be round trenchers being used at 
table.  The date suggest that bread trenchers came into use in the late 11th 
or early 12th Centuries.  Der Schatzbehalter (1451) shows bread trenchers, 
trimmed and squared, being presented to the high table.  The other people at 
the feast appear to have either round trenchers or bowls before them.

Household records suggest that there was a decline in bread expenditures 
between the 13th and 16th Centuries and it appears to me that use of bread 
trenchers peaked between the 13th and 14th Centuries (limited personal 
analysis) with use extending into the 17th Century (Dupaigne).  While 
Menagier shows limited use for special occasions, general use of bread 
trenchers would likely be limit to great households.  From English baking, 
based on the lowest value (12 d.) for a quarter of wheat (240 pounds) in the 
Assisa Panis, approximately 480 whole-wheat trencher loaves would cost at 
least 33 1/4 d. Considering two meals a day was common and limiting use to 
one trencher per meal, one person would expend just less than 2 1/2 s. (and 
1/2 ton of flour) a year on trenchers if using two a day.

I've found references to bread trenchers in a band across central Europe 
from England to Poland, which suggest a possible connection to the manorial 
system.  I have no references from Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Russia or 
Eastern Europe.  So if you know of any from Spain, please point me to them.

Terry

-----Original Message----- 
From: Susan Lord

My research goes from 13th century Spain until 1474, the death of Henry IV 
of Castile.
Occasionally, I bring English references into my work such as trenchers but 
I have never heard of this, nor do I have any references to burned bread 
until the Great Fire of London!

What is your reading? Are the quotes below valid?


> On Dec 10, 2016, at 08:13, Beverly Walker <peacockwalk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Quartz 
> <http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?s=e8a6ba66e69a2e177132ad16d38e9c0a&u=29546>
> Charter Member
>
> Join Date: Jan 2003
> Location: Home of the haggis
> Posts: 24,433
> If recent programs on UK TV History are to be believed, then it's a 
> reference to those who were served the upper parts of bread loaves, as the 
> bottom of the loaf would have burnt bits. IIRC on the TV show they sliced 
> the bottom off and cut the rest of the loaf in three. The servants got the 
> bottom bit.
>
> The bread was divided according to status. The workers would get the burnt 
> bottom of the loaf, the family would get the middle and guests  would get 
> the top, or the "upper crust".
> Although an admonition to "Kutt the upper crust [of a loaf of bread] for 
> your soverayne" can be found in a 1460 work, the term 'upper crust' didn't 
> come to be used figuratively to refer to persons of the higher classes 
> until the 19th century. Many have speculated that the phrase "upper crust" 
> originated with a custom of slicing the choice top portion off a loaf and 
> presenting it to the highest-ranking guests at the table, but there is no 
> documentary evidence supporting this as the phrase's actual origin.
>
> The Word Detective <http://www.word-detective.com/080401.html#uppercrust>:
>
> Quote:
> The term "upper crust," referring literally to the upper portion of a loaf 
> of bread, is indeed very old, dating back to at least 1460. Subsequent 
> instances of "upper crust" included its figurative use as a synonym for 
> the surface of the earth (1555) and as slang for, believe it or not, a hat 
> (1826).
>
> But the metaphorical use of "upper crust" in its modern sense of "the 
> aristocracy or the wealthy class" seems, as Mr. Bryson says, to have first 
> occurred in early 19th century America, and was widespread enough by 1848 
> to be included by John Bartlett in his seminal "Dictionary of 
> Americanisms" published that year. And the term simply refers to the 
> "upper layers" of society in an economic sense, not to the perceived 
> superiority of any portion of a loaf of bread.
>
> 
> <http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?s=e8a6ba66e69a2e177132ad16d38e9c0a&do=newreply&p=6762252>
>