KITCHEN UTENSILS
A complete account of the equipment and utensils "that
should never be wanting" in a monastic kitchen is given in
the Customary of Cluny, written by the German monk
Ulrich in the last quarter of the eleventh century.[206]
We
could not ask for a more authentic interpretation of the
accoutrements in the Kitchen of the Plan of St. Gall:
Three cauldrons (caldaria): one for cooking the beans
(fabas); the other for cooking the vegetables (olera); and
the third on an iron tripod (cum tripode ferrea) for heating
water, should it be needed for the washing of clothes. Four
additional basins (cuppae): one to keep the half-cooked
beans; the second with running water (in qua cadit aquaeductus)
for cleaning the vegetables before they are put
into the cooking cauldron; the third for washing the plates
(scutellae); and the fourth for heating the water that is
needed for washing the feet of the monks (mandatum) and
for shaving (ad rasuram).
Further, four ladles (cochlearia): one for the beans; one
for vegetables; the third, a little smaller, for skimming the
fat (ad saginam exprimendam); and a fourth, made of iron,
to cover the cinders of the stove. Lastly, a pair of tongs
(forceps) to reduce or quench the fire.
In addition: four pairs of protective sleeves (manicae), to
prevent the shirts of the monks from being soiled by the
ever present soot of the kitchen; two special gloves (palmariae),
to shield the hands of the monks against the heat
of the cooking vessels as they are removed from the fire and
tipped; three towels (manutergiola), to be replaced each
Thursday, with which the kitcheners clean their hands;
a knife to cut the lard (cultrum ad lardum) and a whetstone
for sharpening it (cotis ad acuendum); a skillet (patella) for
heating water and for melting lard, and a smaller one, with
tiny holes in the bottom, to strain the fat (in fundo minutatim
perforata ut ipse adeps coletur). Also: a salt box (pyxis in qua
sal recondatur); a chest (scrinium) to store odds and ends
(minora); a bucket (urna) for drawing water; two brushes
(scopae) for scrubbing the cauldrons after cooking; two ends
of wire netting (retis abcisiones) to clean both cauldrons and
plates; two tables, one for stacking the plates (scutellas)
after they have been rinsed immediately following the meal,
the other for stacking them for the subsequent day after
being thoroughly cleaned. Lastly: two seats (
sedilia), called
benches (
banci) in vulgar Latin; a four-legged stand of
moderate height (
cella quadripoda et submissa) on which
the basin with the vegetables is placed before they are put
into the cooking cauldron; a large stone, perhaps even a
millstone, upon which any of the cauldrons may be put when
beans or vegetables are served; another one to serve as a
stand for the basin in which the plates are washed between
meals.
There is a bellows to blow the fire (follis ad sufflandum
ignem) and a fan woven of pliant twigs to air it (flabellum
vimineum ad ventilandum); a pole (contus) to carry cauldrons,
another one to reduce the fire (ad ignis dimotionem); a trough
(canalis) for water, for the frequent washing of hands; two
swinging cranes of triangular shape (trigoni), each made of
three beams so joined together at irregular angles (de tribus
lignis licet imparibus angulis facti) that they may be turned
like doors in this and in that direction. To this frame,
chains are attached to carry the cauldrons which, suspended
in this manner, may be filled with water at the aqueduct
(prope aquaeductum) and then moved without strain
to the fire.
Among other things, Ulrich also tells us that the fire in
the kitchen is never allowed to die out, but is carefully
covered in the evening, so that on the coming morning it
is found alive.[207]
