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One of the most common online-isms is the "servery", a term used to describe the kitchen, or cooking area of a Gorean home. Following are quotes describing the kitchen, utensils, and various methods of cooking food.

"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


The books describe a kitchen that is well but simply appointed. It mirrors in many ways the kitchens found in medieval houses, some of which were very elaborate and lavishly appointed. Scappi describes a late 16th century kitchen thus:

"While preparing a meal always required great stamina, the variety and organization of the tasks would vary greatly from place to place. In a team of cooks working in a royal or noble kitchen, the work was divided among specialists who were in turn assisted by numerous obedient helpers: from the hateur, who was in charge of roasting, to the potier, who saw to the pots and dishes, everyone had his own job to attend to. The saucier simmered the sauces; the potagier peered into the pots of potage; the broyeur manned the mortar; and, of course, the souffleur fanned and maintained the fires.”

Everyday work was repetitive and labor intensive, from the grinding of spices, chopping of meat and vegetables to the pounding of sugar. Labor included tending to spits or pots, chopping or hauling of wood to maintain a fire, hauling water, and an endless supply of dirty dishes to be washed.

Kitchens shared several characteristics. The heart of the kitchen was the hearth. In the home of a peasant this could be nothing more then a fire pit ringed with stone, a cauldron hanging from the beam overhead or from a swinging bar. Manor house or castle kitchens were much more complicated, and bear a remarkable resemblance to the kitchen that Norman describes. The fireplaces at Clarendon in 1206 were big enough to roast two or three oxen whole. The hearth was oftentimes equipped with an overhanging chimney to help with ventilating the smoke which would have been unavoidable. A good hearth also featured firedogs for spit-roasting, and adjustable hooks which allowed cauldrons and pots to be hung at a desired level above the fire, or swung aside from its direct heat. These options could be vital to ensuring the proper cooking temperature for a given dish. Other common items to find around a hearth would be andirons, grills, or grates.

"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


The floor of the kitchen was commonly trodden down earth. Although some homes boasted the luxury of a floor made of stone, paved tiles or brick. Other common furnishings included large tables, providing space necessary for cutting and mixing of ingredients, stone sinks that drained into a common cesspool for washing and a chopping-block for hacking meat and vegetables into small pieces.

The Stove or oven was separate entity from the fireplace. A stove was generally a long bench of masonry stone that held deep containers, possibly lined with iron or ceramic. An oven was created of bricks and was comprised of a single chamber, possibly conical shaped, with a chimney to draw the heat upwards. Peat or charcoal, rather than wood, was generally used as fuel. In order to heat the oven or stove, wood was placed inside to heat about an hour and then the hot coals raked out before the food to be cooked was placed inside.

"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


One can imagine that the kitchen was the center of a lot of activity. Not only was the head cook responsible for directing all the work that went on within the kitchen, organizing a veritable army of skilled and unskilled labor to create meals that could include over forty different dishes for upwards to five hundred people, he was also responsible for knowing where to obtain the raw food needed to prepare those dishes, and also responsible for the delicate tasks that required a skilled hand, such as the preparation of sauces.

In deference to the head cook and the many kinds of foods that were prepared in the kitchen he had at his ready disposal many tools. A mortar and pestle was crucial for the grinding of spices, crushing of herbs, or the grinding of almonds, already cooked vegetables or meat into pastes. Knives were used to carve, bone, chop, or mince meat and vegetables. The ulo, or woman's knife was not suitable for carving. It is very likely that it was used prior to cooking food cutting it into small bite sized pieces. Thus eliminating the need to cut food at one's plate or prior to serving.

“And there should be two large two-handed knives for dismembering cattle, and a dozen dressing knives for dressing; and also, two dozen knives to chop for potages and stuffings, and to prepare poultry and fish…also, half a dozen scrubbers to clean the sideboards and the cutting boards, and a hundred baskets for carrying meat to the casks, both raw and cooked, which one brings to and from the sideboards, and also for bringing coal, for roasts and wherever it is needed and also for carrying and collecting serving vessels.”


"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


In addition to an assortment of knives, mortar and pestle, cooking pots, chopping blocks and cauldrons, the kitchen might possess long-handled frying pans for frying eggs, fish, and fritters, metal grids for broiling/grilling, waffle irons for making crispy wagers, cleavers, mallets, tongs for cutting sugar, strainers, colanders, and sieves to filter liquid or foods, basting brushes, bunches of twigs for whisking and scouring; cloths for filtering almond milk and cleaning surfaces, scouring sand, and tubs for washing. There were also weighing scales, roasting forks, skimming spoons, rolling pins, and cheese graters. You could also find a whetstone to sharpen knives, bellows to increase the heat of the fire.

"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


"With a serving prong she placed narrow strips of roast bosk and fried sul on my plate."

Guardsman of Gor, page 234


"I shot the spiced vulo brain into my mouth on the end of a golden eating prong, a utensil, as far as I knew, unique to Turia."

Nomads of Gor, page 84


"The horn spoon snapped in his hands, and he angrily threw the pieces into his bowl."

Assassin of Gor, page 120


The kitchen was also the place to store food. The lack of refrigeration or "chillery"/"cool rooms" is a major difference between modern cooking and medieval. Supply of a particular food would have been dictated by the seasons. Root cellars, ice houses, and kitchen gardens would have alleviated part of this problem as well as bringing the meat in “on the hoof”. The main modes of food preservation were salting, drying, smoking, pickling and sugaring. Each of these methods strongly affected the texture and the flavor of food, requiring additional steps in cooking to make it palatable once more. A good ice house, properly made and maintained can hold ice up to five years. The temperature would be constant and much lower then the temperature found in a root cellar 60 degree's.

"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