SOME SWEET TERMS
By Alys Katharine, O.L.,
O.P. (Elise Fleming)
One of the difficulties in working within the SCA is that we
come from so many different times and places.
Even if one’s persona is English there is still a thousand years separation
from AD 600-1600. Those of us who are
cooks confront an ever-changing language as well as "regional
variations" for the same words. In
foods and confections, certain terms started as meaning one thing in the
fourteenth century and referred to something different by the seventeenth. Here are some of the words you might
encounter with a few of their possible meanings.
SUBTLETY (also soteltie, sotelty, soteltee, suttlety) was used
in France until the 17th century. It
often refers to skilled craft work by the cook or confectioner. Subtleties can be non-edible, partly edible,
or totally edible. There are several
possible sources for the term.
"Subtil" referred to the widely-held belief in the medicinal
effect of sugar. Today in France the
meal still ends with a "digestif", to help digestion. "Sotil" also meant
"subtle", a reference to wit or wisdom. This was a time for witty after-dinner chatter, a time for
showing off, for puns and pointed comments.
At first these fancy works
may have been called "warners" because they warned or gave notice of
the meal. Wood, plaster, wax, lard,
jelly and sugar were some of the materials from which they were made. Many of the subtleties served at the end of
each course bore mottoes to explain the allegorical meanings that were
intended. In a number of cases, the
herald's office recorded the particular mottoes from a feast. In some instances, the term
"subtelty" included the idea of entertainment within the meal.
INTERLUDE, ENTREMET frequently refers to an entertainment
occurring within a meal or between the "mets" (entre-met). "Met", a French word, referred to
the individual course. Sources such as
Le Viandier use "entremet" to refer to a simple dish, sort of a
palate-cleanser, between the courses of fancier dishes. Some of his entremets include pates,
frumenty, meat and fish gellies, boiled millet, rice, aspics, and some sweet
dishes. However, entremets also
referred to what we think of as a subtelty or an entertainment. Le Viandier's entremet of the Swan Knight
needed 12 pieces of wood to make the boat, lead sheets to form the coffer which
held the water, parchment and down to cover the boat, a painted cloth to
simulate waves, and strong men to carry the whole thing! St. George consisted of foodstuffs to make
the platform, horse, St. George, and dragon, although non-edible materials
might be used as well. A human maiden
led the entremet through the hall.
One source for "interlude" is the term
"intromitto" which means "to introduce, let into." The Romans had an "intermissum"
which referred to an extra course which was added to the meal, generally
consisting of some expensive, luxurious food to top off a fancy dinner. This has some similarity with the use of a
subtlety to show off one's wealth by using such an expensive commodity as
sugar.
Interludes were also entertainments that came between the
various courses. One supposition is
that this came from the 14th and 15th century pageants which also gave rise to
mummings and disguises. Interludes were
plays that were short enough to be squeezed in between the courses. The earliest reference is a few short lines
from 1300. There are additional
references in the 14th century with recorded ones dating from the end of the
15th century. Interludes allowed the
players to interact with the guests.
There was an intimacy between player and diner that was not permitted in
"mummings" or "disguises."
Guests were often targeted as the butt of jokes or comments by the
actors.
DISGUISES, while not a food, were romantic fantasies played out
between the courses. Frequently the
host (Edward III and Richard II among others) played a role. The earliest records are from 1347 and show
up in the clothing and props that were planned. Costumes were often outlandish but did not necessarily hide the
participants' identities. Disguises
were most frequently done during Tudor and Stuart periods. The disguisers might sing and dance but
never interacted with the dinner guests as was done with the interludes. So that everyone might be aware of the
meaning of the strange costumes and
activities, a "presenter" would make comments. Mumming may have been an offshoot of the
early disguises.
BANQUET had two meanings.
It could refer to a grand dinner as it still does today, or to the final
course of sweets. In Tudor and Stuart
times the banquet often referred to the latter. There were specialized recipes just for the banquet. Period cookbooks such as Thomas Dawson's
Good Huswife's Jewell list "all things necessary for a banquet". Among the items are various seeds and spices
(pepper, licorice, nutmegs, saffron, sugar, ginger, cloves, mace), fruits
(prunes, currants. lemons, oranges, raisins, dates, cherries), waters (rose
water, damask water), marchpanes, wafers, marmalades, preserves, conserves,
suckets, comfits, sweet biscuits, small cakes, gingerbread, jumballs,
syllabubs, and on and on.
The origins of the term may come from several sources. In Italian "banchetto" is a small
table or bench. "Banquet" itself
is a French term. In England Caxton
first used it as "bankettis" in 1483. Banquet was still used through the 18th century as a term
referring to a separate dessert course.
Banquetting rooms or houses were popular during Tudor and Stuart
times. These were often small, intimate
rooms where the guests stood up to eat their sweets, but some were several
stories high with several rooms on each floor.
DESSERT is the term that we now use for the banquet
course. In the 14th century Le Menagier
uses dessert for the separate course of fruit and confections. Its source is "desservir" meaning
"to clear the table". In the
late 1500s and early 1600s the term "dessert" was regarded as
un-English but by 1666 was commonly used.
By now not only the upper class was serving a dessert course in a
separate room but even the wealthier middle class had picked up the custom. In the late 18th century dinners became more
intimate. Rather than retiring to a
separate room as had been done during the Tudor and Stuart times, the sweets
were served immediately after the food in the same room. The remnant of the old banquetting rooms
lingered on in the modern world with the guests leaving the dining rooms to
have coffee and nuts a little while later in the living room.
COLLATION was a light
meal served cold with an emphasis on sweets.
In the 16th century it was part of the French court. Themes often centered around classical
mythology or allegories. In 1571 at a
feast honoring Elizabeth of Austria, new bride of Charles IX, the dinner was
followed by dancing. After dancing a
collation was served with preserves, sweet biscuits, fruits, marzipan, sugar
paste formed into meats and fish, with six large sugar sculptures of Minerva
bringing peace to Athens.
VOID or VOIDEE was a French custom. It referred to the final segment of a
banquet and became quite ceremonial. A
procession entered with the chamberlain leading the household staff who bore
all of the elaborate silver and gold plates and cups. It was usually held in a separate room where the guests stood to
consume the candied spices and sweets.
In England, to “void the table” meant to tidy up between courses. "Voiders" were vessels for
collecting leftovers and into which crumbs were swept. Their appearance at the table signalled that
it would soon be time for apples, nuts, or spiced wine to be served.
RERESUPPER was a late evening supper against which the Church
preached as sinful. It consisted of
light foods, often sweets, and for men it was primarily alcoholic. Generally, when guests finished their
dinner, that was expected to be enough food until the next morning. However, some people began to take snacks in
the late evening, a practice which was considered by the Church to lead to
sinful activities. Men frequently
became drunk during reresuppers which sometimes led them to further “licentious
activity.” As you will note, there is a
definite overlapping of meanings among banquet, entremet, and subtlety. Terms waxed and waned in popularity, but whatever
you choose to call your special plans to enhance your feast, you can be sure
your audience will be most appreciative!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
'Banquetting Stuffe', edited by C. Anne Wilson, Edinburgh University Press, 1991
Fast and Feast
, Bridget Ann Henisch, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976
Form of Cury,
1780 edition as printed in A Collection
of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks,
compiled by Duke Sir Cariodoc of the Bow and Duchessa Diana Alena, Fourth
Edition, Volume I, 1987
Good Huswife's Jewell, Thomas Dawson, 1596, Falconwood Press, 1988
Petits Propos Culinaires, Issues 17, 20
Prospect Books Ltd., London
The Viandier of Taillevent, edited by Terence Scully, University of Ottawa, 1988
Savoring the Past, Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983