Talk:Sugar caster

Cruet

The article speaks of a "set", including a vinegar cruet, an oil cruet, and other vessels including a caster.

This usage is alien to me. In my understanding, a cruet is a set of dispensers for savoury condiments: oil, vinegar, prepared mustard, salt, and ground pepper, all arranged on a tray, and usually silver or plate. The salt would be in a pierced silver container, itself containing a blue glass bowl (because otherwise the salt would corrode the silver). The mustard would be served in a similar way, because prepared mustard often also includes corrosive ingredients (vinegar). Both the salt and the mustard would have a lid, and a little spoon, for which an opening would be present in the lid. The "cruet" is the set, complete with the tray. Nobody would ever put a sugar caster on such a tray; you don't generally sprinkle sugar on your salad or your steak. Most normal people don't drizzle vinegar or smear mustard on their raspberries-and-cream. Sugar is not normally served at the same time as salt, mustard, vinegar or pepper.

Back in the day, nobody in England used black pepper; pepper was white (or rather, grey), and sufficiently finely-ground that it could reasonably be served in a shaker with fine holes. Nobody used a grinder for white pepper; and the very idea of a salt-grinder was bizarre (good Lord, grinding salt is servant's work). MrDemeanour (talk) 18:00, 12 September 2019 (UTC)