bread trencher class?

[ppfuf]

For the West/AnTir cooks' symposium next spring, I'm going to co-teach a class on bread with gormflaith. She's covering the practical bread-making parts, and I'm doing an overview of the use of bread trenchers and portpains in the medieval feast hall. I might include the instructions for cutting bread at the table c. 1480's England.

If you were going to take such a class, what questions would you like to have answered?

Comments

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

> What was put on them? Dry food, runny food,
> didn't matter?

Not soup. :) Most everything else we've eaten on trencher has worked quite well, even meats in heavy sauces and pottages.

> Were they shared? Who with?

Nope. You got a trencher of your own.

> Did class matter? (Did the baron get his own?)

Yes! The baron not only gets his own trenchers, he gets 4 where you and I would get 1, *and* his get replaced with every course.

> Were they eaten as part of the meal, or given to the
> dogs and beggars at the end of the meal?

Not usually eaten, please see my reply to thread-walker above.

> Were they used at feasts, normal meals, every meal?
> Only in certain seasons?

I think they were used at large formal feasts when you had more guests than you have dishes. It's conspicuous consumption, proving that you could "waste" all that labor, flour and firewood on disposable plates.

Thanks!

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks!