[Sca-cooks] Period Feasts, bread, butter

[Terry Decker]

Bread of some form was served at almost every meal.  Based on the available 
records, it is estimated that per capita consumption averaged 1 to 2 pounds 
per day.

Trenchers are a special case in that they are not intended to be eaten.  The 
cost of trenchers was prohibitive, so regular use was limited to the great 
noble houses, where it would likely be one trencher loaf per person per 
course (roughly 4 to 6 loaves per person per day, more for a feast).  The 
soggy remains would be removed between courses by the waiters under the 
almoner's direction to be given as charity to the poor (in theory, practice 
was a bit more variable.  Expensive fine china was a real bargain compared 
to bread trenchers.

Menagier, being merely upper class or possibly lower nobility, limited the 
use of bread trenchers to special occasions and limited them to one trencher 
per person per meal.

The bread and trenchers for a meal were controlled by the pantler who 
directed the amounts and quality depending on the number of diners. 
Accounting was handled by the household clerk, who received an accounting of 
the baker's inventories and outputs and the pantler's receipts from the 
baker and the accounting of the pantler's expenditures per meal.  Similar 
accountings of inventories and expenditures were required of the butler and 
the cook.  Breads were probably set forth several times during the meal to 
reduce wastage, but I have not encountered a description of the process.

Bear


But this does make me think, how was bread handled during a “standard” 
medieval feast. If they were using trenchers, were separate bread or rolls 
served? If so, when and how many times was it brought out?


Stefan