DRINKING VESSELS and UTENSILS



LAYOUT

VESSELS
Tankards or horns (on request) are used to serve ale or mead

Goblets are used to serve ka-la-na, ta-wine, palm wine, water, and juices

Footed bowls are used to serve paga, sul-paga, and kalda

Mugs are used to serve blackwine

Plates are used to serve meals

STORAGE
Tankards and goblets are stored on the top shelf and second shelf above the counter.

Horns are hanging upon back wall of the servery

Footbowls are stored on the first shelf above the counter in the servery

Clay mugs are stored on the second shelf above the counter in the servery

Plates, trays, and serving kettles are under the counter in the servery

COOL ROOM
Casks of ale with spigots

Casks of Mead with spigots

Bottles of kalana and ta-wine

All other items of food or vegetables that must be kept cool

"My house, incidentally, like most Gorean houses, had no ice chest. There is little cold storage on Gor. Generally food is preserved by being dried or salted. Some cold storage, of course, does exist. Ice is cut from ponds in the winter, and then stored in ice houses, under sawdust. One may go to the ice houses for it, or have it delivered in ice wagons. Most Goreans, of course, cannot afford the luxury of ice in the summer." Guardsman of Gor, page 295

THE WINE RACK
All drinks served at room temp are stored in bottles

Casks with spigots hold room temp ale and mead

Botas of paga and sul-paga are available for those that request them

THE HEARTH
Upon the hearth is a kettle of blackwine, with a ladle.
 
Various pots and kettles hanging next to it ready for warming paga, ka-la-na, kal-da and cooking

"She built up the fire. I watched her. She unfolded and adjusted a single-bar cooking rack, placing it over the fire. From this she suspended a kettle of water. The single bar, which may be loosened in its rings, and has a handle, may also function as a spit." Renegades of Gor, page 150

"The suspension of the meat reminded me of the way peasant women sometimes cook roasts, tying them on a cord and dangling them, before a fire, then spinning the meat from time to time. In this way, given the twisting and untwisting of the cord, the meat will cook rather evenly, for the most part untended, and without spit turning." Renegades of Gor, page 120

Quotes from the books in reference to kitchens

"There were several yards of sausages hung on hooks, numerous canisters of flour, sugars, and salts; many smaller containers of spices and condiments. Two large wine jugs stood in one corner of the room. There were many closed pantries lining the walls, and a number of pumps and tubs on one side. Some boxes and baskets of hard fruit were stored there. I could see the bread ovens in one wall, the long fire pit over which could be put cooking racks, the mountings for spits and kettle hooks; the fire pit was mostly black now, but here and there I could see a few broken sticks of glowing charcoal, aside from this, the light in the room came from one small thalarion oil lamp hanging from the ceiling..." Assassin of Gor, pages 271-272

Cooking on the rence islands: "Before the feast I had helped the women, cleaning fish and dressing marsh gants, and then, later, turning spits for the roasted tarsks, roasted over rence-root fires, kept on metal pans, elevated above the rence of the islands by metal racks, themselves resting on larger pans." Raiders of Gor, page 44

VESSELS

The Taverns, inns and households of Gor use a variety of drinking vessels some examples of these drinking vessels are: cups, brass cups, glasses, bowls, goblets, metal goblets, a silver goblet studded with rubies, a golden goblet, and a kantharos, wineskins or botas made from verrskin leather, bottles so large they must be supported by a shoulder sling, bronze vessels with a similar strap, a hydria or water vessel, as well as bottles, sealed with the insignia of the brewer.

Amphora
Is a two handled, narrow necked vessel with a narrow, pointed base; it is commonly buried overnight in the earth in a storage hole with only its neck left above the surface; to cool certain beverages. Each Amphora would hold several gallons of liquid, and are generally used to transport and store wines.

I assumed, in an amphora, buried to the neck in the cool earth. Sometimes Earth girls, first brought to Gor, do not understand why so many of these two-handled, narrow-necked vessels have such a narrow, usually pointed base, for they cannot stand upright on such a base.(Mercenaries of Gor, page 257)

Bazi Tea cups
The Bazi tea ceremony is carried out using three small cups, as dictated by ritual. These three cups can be made of various materials from precious metals cups of sivler or gold to plain enameled cups. The three cups could be part of a set, specifically for the tea ceremony or individual cups.

Book 10: Tribesmen of Gor, page 38; Book 12: Beasts of Gor, pages 206, 209 and 212

BlackWine Vessels
Can be served in a variety of containers; a silver cup, small red or black enameled cup, thick clay bowls or mug

Brass Cups
Some of the plainer women are sold for as little as a brass cup;

Some of the plainer women are sold for as little as a brass cup; a really beautiful girl, particularly if of free birth and high caste, might bring as much as forty pieces of gold; such are, however, seldom sold; (Nomads of Gor, Chapter 2)

Botas
A bag with a reclosable stopper or cork, commonly made of verrskin leather; used to transport liquids. Often utilized by serving slave girls, especially in the camps. Bota's are 'generally' used for traveling only

They were passing about a bota of paga and, between dancing and trying to hold one another up, managed to weave unsteadily by. One of them looked at me and from his eyes I judged he may have seen at least three of me and offered me a swig of the bota, which I took.(Asassins of Gor)

Bottle
There are two types of bottles, very large ones, similar to jugs, that are used to refill bowls and goblets, and smaller sizes that are more like large wine bottles, they come with a corked top, like a wine bottle. Some are so large they must be supported by a shoulder sling

For all his uproarious stomping about the wagon last night, Paga bottle in hand, singing gusty Tuchuk songs, half frightening Miss Cardwell to death, he seemed in good spirits, looking about, whistling, occasionally pounding a little rhythm on the side of his saddle.

Bowl
From bowls for eating to bowls holding the oils for the lamps, to a shallow fire bowl. Dinner bowl is 6 inches across and flat on the bottom. Paga bowl is 5 inches across and footed. Slave bowl is 4 inches and shallow. Wine bowl or crater 3-4 inches across and is flat on the bottom. very heavy and very deep.

A esture from the proprietor, the grimy man in the tunic of white and gold, one of the serving slaves, with a flash of ankle bells, hurried to the Assassin and set before him a bowl, which she trembling filled from the flask held over her right forearm. Then, with a furtive glance at the girl chained at the side of the room, the serving slave hurried away (Assassins of Gor)

Cup
As I entered the room the men rose to their feet and shouted and lifted their cups in salute. (Outlaw of Gor, chapter 4)

Drinking Horns
Are made from the horns of animals, are often decorated with precious metals or jewels and can be found hanging beside the shelves in the servery. Some Freepersons carry their own Drinking Horns and may prefer to use them to the ones in the establishment. Drinking horns are most often used to hold mead.

Glasses / Goblets
There are many references to glasses and goblets of all sizes

Small, heavy, curved glass was nearby, on a flat box, which would hold some two ounces of the tea. Bazi tea is drunk in tiny glasses, usually three at a time, carefully measured. (Tribesman of Gor chapter 8)

Hydria
Described as a high handled water vessel, something similar is used by slave girls to dip paga from simmering kettles.

There were perhaps a hundred men, here and there, within the enclosure, and some fifteen or twenty girls. The girls filled their vessels, which, like the hydria, or water vessel, are high-handled, for dipping, in a large kettle hung simmering over a fire near the entrance to the enclosure. Warm paga makes one drunk quicker, it is thought. I usually do not like my paga heated, except sometimes on cold nights (Vagabonds of Gor, page 16)

Kantharos
This is basically just a pitcher used to store various beverages.

She knelt near the table, put the tray on the floor, unbidden performed obeisance and then, as though submissively, put to the tray on the table, and put the paga, in a small kantharos, and the bread on its trencher, before me. Then she put the bowl of porridge, with a spoon, before me. (Renegades of Gor)

Kegs/barrels
Are not exactly drinking vessel but they are used to store some of the beverages that you will be serving . Kegs and Barrels are kept in the servery along the wall, they have spigots in the face that you turn to draw the beverage from. Be careful when drawing that you do not allow the contents to foam too much

Kettle
Used for heating water or cooking in

Plate
A plate is a foot to 18 inches across, think dinner plate

"With a serving prong she placed narrow strips of roast bosk and fried sul on my plate." Guardsman of Gor, page 234

Rence Beer Serving Vessel
Rence beer is served in a guord or flagon that it is poured into.

Book 6: Raiders of Gor, pages 18 and 44

Spoons
Many different size spoons from tiny ones for sugar measurements to large ones for cooking

"The horn spoon snapped in his hands, and he angrily threw the pieces into his bowl." Assassin of Gor, page 120

Tray
A tray is silver, 2 1/2 feet by 2 feet.

"She carried a tray, on which were various spoons and sugars. She knelt, placing her tray upon the table. With a tiny spoon, it's tip no more than a tenth of a hort in diameter, she placed four measures of white sugar, and six of yellow; with two stirring spoons, one for the white sugar, another for the yellow, she stirred the beverage after each measure." Tribesmen of Gor, page 89

Turian Liquor
Like many strong liquors on urth are served in tiny glasses like shot glasses.

Book 13: Explorers of Gor, page 10; Kajira of Gor, page 406

Using knives in the servery
"The ulo, or woman's knife, with its semicircular blade, customarily fixed to a wooden handle, is not well suited to carving. It is better at cutting meat and slicing sinew." Beasts of Gor, page 262

How do slaves eat?
Seems that slave girls mostly ate their gruel from troughs or from bowls, using their fingers, though occasionally they were fed from the hands or tables of their Masters.

"I shared breakfast with Elizabeth who informed me that it was better than the porridge below in the trough in the feeding room for female staff slaves,..." Assassin of Gor, pages 106-107

This quote mentions the use of a ladle, and bowls... "The slender blond girl, who had been giving men water from the skin bag, was now given the work of filling small bowls from the large wooden bowl, for the bond-maids. She used a bronze ladle...The girls, including the slender blondish girl, emptied their bowls, even to licking them, that no grain be left..." Marauders of Gor, pages 64-65 ~*~

 

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