English 14th Century Meal

This meal is intended to represent a harvest time feast meal for a petty noble or lower-class merchant who has perhaps a reason to celebrate a new contract or a deal. It is not a fast or lenten day, when meat products must be avoided. There are several recipes given, which show a variation for a Ember day where no meat is allowed, but eggs and milk are allowed (versus a lenten fast day - no meat, no eggs, no milk, no animal products of any type except for fish.) The use of one illusion food (Pommes Dorrey) and the use of saffron in many of the dishes makes this a special feast both for the giver and the cook.

The typical structure of a feast meal begins with a course that is intended to pique the appetite. The herbs and spices used are those that were thought to stimulate the appetite. The second course would bring out the "gross meats", the sauces, and other dishes that would begin to fill up the now hungry feaster. The third course, would be composed of the more subtle flavored dishes, the interesting, the unusual. Because the feaster's appetite would have been appeased, they would be more inclined to enjoy a bite of this or that and taste the esquisite combination of flavors and presentations that are as much a feast for the eyes as they are fit for the stomach.

Depending on the giver of the feast, if there were more courses to be served, each would be more elaborate than the last. Until finally, the last course, of sweetmeats, wafers, and spiced wine would be served.

The gross or roasted meats with several sauces to chose from, the meat day rice would have come from a typical second course. The fig pudding and the cawdle of salmon would have typically been served in a third course.

All herbs except where noted, were grown in my own garden, harvested, and used fresh.

All references to ground ginger refer to ginger root, which I then sliced and dried, then ground to a powder myself.

All ground seeds - I bought the seeds whole (except for the fennel - which I harvested myself), and ground them myself to obtain the freshest flavor.

Chicken stock is used through out where ever broth was called for. I boiled several breasts of chicken in a stock pot over several days and reserved the resulting broth for use in these recipes.

I tend to use burgandy wine because I like its flavor when used for cooking.

I use balsamic vinegar - aged 11 years or more, because I love its flavor. I want the flavor and not the bite when I am using vinegar. If a recipe calls for verjuice, then I used lemon juice to add bite to the dish.

All fruits, vegetables, herbs, and meats used are fresh unless specifically called for otherwise.

My approach to redacting a recipe is to find the original recipe if I can, then find as many translations as possible. Then, I develop my own translation and work my redaction from my translation of the original recipe.

It is an interesting side note to see how the various authors have translated/interpeted the original recipe. In Pleyn Delite and To the King's Taste, both proport to print the original recipe, but both have wording and spelling differences than the reproduction that appears in A Forme of Curye that appears in A Collection of Medieval and Reniassance Cookbooks.

PD - refers to Pleyn Delight Then number of recipe in the manuscript
FC - refers to Forme of Cury Then number of recipe in the manuscript
TTKT - refers to To The King's Taste

Top of Page

Introduction

First Course:

Second Course

Third Course

Miscellaneous Recipes