conditions and titles which to ourselves
may appear incongruous and obscure, but
which were in tolerable keeping with the
financial and commercial organisation of the
period, with a restricted currency, a revenue
chiefly payable in kind, scanty facilities for
transit, and an absence of trading centres.
These steward-ships, butler-ships, and cook-
ships, in the hands of the most trusted vassals
of the Crown, constituted a rudimentary
vehicle for in-gathering the dues of all kinds
renderable by the king’s tenants ; and as an
administrative scheme gradually unfolded
itself, they became titular and honorary, like
our own reduced menagerie of nondescripts.
But while they lasted in their substance and
reality, they answered the wants and notions
erf a primitive people ; nor is it for this practical
age to lift up its hands or its voice too high ;
for mediaeval England is still legible without
much excavation in our Court, our Church,
nay, in our Laws. There lurk our cunning
spoilers !
Mr. Fairholt, in the “Archaeological
Album,” 1845, has depicted for our benefit
234
The Kitchen.
the chef of the Abbey of St. Albans in the
fourteenth century, and his wife Helena
The representations of these two notable per-
sonages occur in a MS. in the British Museum,
which formerly belonged to the Abbey, and
contains a list of its benefactors, with their gifts.
It does not appear that Master Robert, cook
to Abbot Thomas, was the donor of any
land or money ; but, in consideration of his
long and faithful services, his soul was to be
prayed for with that of his widow, who be-
stowed 3J\ 4 d. ad opus hujus libri, which
Fairholt supposes to refer to the insertion of
her portrait and that of her spouse among the
graphic decorations of the volume. They are
perhaps in their way unique. Behold them
opposite !
Another point in reference to the early
economy of the table, which should not be
overlooked, is the character of the ancient
buttery, and the quick transition which its
functionary, the butler, experienced from the
performance of special to that of general
duties.
He at a very remote period acted not merely
The Kitchen.
235
as the curator of the wine-cellar, but as the
domestic steward and storekeeper ; and it was
his business to provide for the requirements
of the kitchen and the pantry, and to see that
no opportunity was neglected of supplying,
from the nearest port, or market town, or fair,
if his employer resided in the country, all
the necessaries for the departments under his
control. We are apt to regard the modern
bearer of the same title as more catholic in his
236 The Kitchen.
employments than the appellation suggests ;
but he in fact wields, on the contrary, a very
circumscribed authority compared to that of
his feudal prototype.
One of the menial offices in the kitchen,
when the spit came into use, was the broach-
turner, lately referred to. He was by no
means invariably maintained on the staff, but
was hired for the occasion, which may augur
the general preference for boiled and fried
meats. Sometimes it appears that any lad
passing by, or in want of temporary employ-
ment, was admitted for this purpose, and had
a trifling gratuity, or perhaps only his dinner
and the privilege of dipping his fingers in the
dripping, for his pains.
Warner cites an entry in some accounts
*
Page 74
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
conditions and titles which to ourselves may appear incongruous and obscure, but which were in tolerable keeping with the financial and commercial organisation of the period, with a restricted currency, a revenue chiefly payable in kind, scanty facilities for transit, and an absence of trading centres. These steward-ships, butler-ships, and cookships, in the hands of the most trusted vassals of the Crown, constituted a rudimentary vehicle for in-gathering the dues of all kinds renderable by the king’s tenants ; and as an administrative scheme gradually unfolded itself, they became titular and honorary, like our own reduced menagerie of nondescripts. But while they lasted in their substance and reality, they answered the wants and notions erf a primitive people ; nor is it for this practical age to lift up its hands or its voice too high ; for mediaeval England is still legible without much excavation in our Court, our Church, nay, in our Laws. There lurk our cunning spoilers !
Mr. Fairholt, in the “Archaeological Album,” 1845, has depicted for our benefit
The Kitchen.
the chef of the Abbey of St. Albans in the fourteenth century, and his wife Helena The representations of these two notable personages occur in a MS. in the British Museum, which formerly belonged to the Abbey, and contains a list of its benefactors, with their gifts. It does not appear that Master Robert, cook to Abbot Thomas, was the donor of any land or money ; but, in consideration of his long and faithful services, his soul was to be prayed for with that of his widow, who bestowed 3s. 4d. ad opus hujus libri, which Fairholt supposes to refer to the insertion of her portrait and that of her spouse among the graphic decorations of the volume. They are perhaps in their way unique. Behold them opposite !
Another point in reference to the early economy of the table, which should not be overlooked, is the character of the ancient buttery, and the quick transition which its functionary, the butler, experienced from the performance of special to that of general duties.
He at a very remote period acted not merely
The Kitchen.
as the curator of the wine-cellar, but as the domestic steward and storekeeper ; and it was his business to provide for the requirements of the kitchen and the pantry, and to see that no opportunity was neglected of supplying,
from the nearest port, or market town, or fair, if his employer resided in the country, all the necessaries for the departments under his control. We are apt to regard the modern bearer of the same title as more catholic in his
236 The Kitchen.
employments than the appellation suggests ; but he in fact wields, on the contrary, a very circumscribed authority compared to that of his feudal prototype.
One of the menial offices in the kitchen, when the spit came into use, was the broachturner, lately referred to. He was by no means invariably maintained on the staff, but was hired for the occasion, which may augur the general preference for boiled and fried meats. Sometimes it appears that any lad passing by, or in want of temporary employment, was admitted for this purpose, and had a trifling gratuity, or perhaps only his dinner and the privilege of dipping his fingers in the dripping, for his pains.
Warner cites an entry in some accounts
*