The kitchen's windows are open to allow the cold air in, leavening the heat washing from brick ovens along the walls. One holds a great boar roasting on a spit, while another heats a cauldron of spicy stew, and a third is occupied by racks of baking tarts. On a spruce trestle table, more pastries are laid out in various stages of assembly. Bowls of spices, from salt to paprika, occupy marble countertops along the walls. Nearly concealed by some hogsheads of mead, a trapdoor descends into the cellar. |