(Stuffed Copper Pigeon)
Troyce Jopoïksdaughter used to be a cook in Ildritz, but became one of the more famous business women of modern times, thanks to her invention of the “Stuffed Copper Pigeon”.
Troyce served in the mansion of the Count of Lazulameir since she was a girl of 8 years old. Her mother was the cook in the mansion. When her mother died in 1817, Troyce became the new cook. She was 20 years old.
The kitchen in the mansion was in the basement, the formal dining-room in the second floor, two stairs up. Between the kitchen and the dining-room was a small elevator in order to pull up the full dishes and to gently lower the empty ones. The elevator was operated by hand.
In 1837, Troyce went to Ildritz with the count. The Ildritz palace of her master had a new feature: steam post. This triggered an idea in Troyce’s mind, and she started saving her money. In 1841, when Ildritz was being rebuild after the war, and many more houses were connected to the steam post infrastructure, Troyce left her master and founded “Brass Meals” in the centre of Ildritz.
Brass Meals was nothing more than a large kitchen, with several connections to the steam post system. Instead of letters, Troyce put “meals” in the copper tubes. Customers could sent her an order via steam post and with her special meals, Troyce could deliver her products within a quarter of a stond. The steam post system proved to be fast enough to deliver the dishes steaming hot!
With her experience in the kitchen, the quality of Troyce’s food was very good. However, the customers had to become accustomed to the shape of the food. The tubes of the steam post system are rather small, and could not be filled with real dishes like the elevator in Lazulameir. Instead, Troyce had developed some “brass meals” that just fit right into the tubes of the system. Most of these meals were a kind of pie, dough stuffed with a variety of fillings. Small bottles do also fit in the tubes. With four or five copper pigeons, one could have a complete diner for one person. Troyce could send the cutlery as well, but this part of the enterprise never worked out well, because of the Dalethian custom to bring ones own cutlery. The only ones that would hire the nice silver cutlery from Troyce were those that could not afford the silver cutlery (not even hire it).
Business was blooming and to make sure the food would arrive as soon as possible, Troyce opened some other kitchens in other districts of the city. But there was only one Troyce and only her brass meals were good enough for the upper classes. The kitchens in other districts were for the middle class men that would work through the night. In the main kitchen, it was still Troyce who cooked. She had some private connections in her kitchen, to loyal customers. One of these is said to be a connection to the Imperial Palace.
Prices of Brass Meals are still increasing. The district kitchens have fair prices for normal meals, but the exclusive brass meals cooked by Troyce require a small fortune to buy. Most expensive thus far was her unicorn kidneys, spiced with sevenpetaled snowcrusher and kempseeds, served with lofaswamms and urt. It has been ordered by the Princess of Daleth for her fiance, the Count of Hveitsvar, who was “a bit hungry” when he arrived in the palace.
The Brass Meals did conquer Ildritz, and soon some other kitchens opened a steam post connection for their customers. The food became commonly known as Stuffed Copper Pigeon.
but in Salamandran the system never became popular. It was Ildritzian decadence, they said in the south.