Dining in 1424
Moran, Eugene A.
DINING IN 1424 By EUGENE A. MORAN OLD histories give accounts of tournaments, battles, pageants and religious ceremonies, but of meals and how such were cooked and served up very little is said....
...Frutoure, Samata (Fritter or pancake) A Sotelte—A doctor of law Le II Cours Blamche Mortrewys (Forced meat of fowl or pork) Vyand Ryal (Almond rice mold) Pecoke Conyng (Young rabbit) Fesaunte Tele Chykonys Doryd (Chicken glazed with almond milk) Pygons Venysonn Rostyd Gullys (Gulls) Curlew Cokyntryche (Capon and pig roasted together) Aleche (Sliced meat or bread, spiced) Pystelade Chaud (Hot pastry...
...Pystelade Fryid (Pastry cooked in a frying pan) Frytoure Damaske (Fritter with Damascus dates) A Sotelte—Eagle Le III Cours Gely Creme Moundy Pety Curlewe (Small curlew) Egret (Young heron) Pertryche Venyson Rost Plovere Oxyn Kyn Quaylys Snypys (Snipe) Small Byrdys Dowcet Ryal (A kind of cheese cake) Petelade Fryid (A pastry cooked in a frying pan) Hyrchouns (Fish prepared as above) Eggs Ryal (Eggs royal) Pomys (A kind of forced meat ball with spices) Brawn Fryid A Sotelte—Sent Andrewe Frute Waffrys Wyn Dowce In the last menu the use of what is called the Sotelte, with which each course was concluded, must be explained...
...The truth is that this lack in the matter of vegetables was due to the limitations in knowledge of the fifteenth-century gardener, to whom a very scant few were known...
...They were often preceded by what were called "warners," or dishes meant to prepare the guests for the great tour de force of the chef in the Sotelte proper...
...1 Le I Cours Nomblyd de Roo (Loin of roe deer) Blamangere (Meat beaten up with rice into a cream) Brauncum Mustard (Brawn) Chynes de Porke (Chins of pork) Capona Roste de Haut Grece (Stuffed capon) Swan Roste Heroun Rostyd (Heron roasted) Aloes de Roo (Ribs of venison) Pudding de Swan Necke Un Lechemete (Sliced or minced meat) Un Bake viz Crustade (A pie, probably sweet) Le II Cours Rostyuyd (Stewed venison) Mammenye (Minced) Connyng Rostyd (Roast rabbit) Curlew Fesaunt Rostyd Wodecokke Roste Pertryche Roste Plover Roste Snypys Roste (Snipe roasted) Grete Byrdys Roste Larkys Rostyd Venysoun de Ro Rostyd Irchouns (Pork prepared, with spikes made of almonds, to look like a hedgehog) Unleche (Sliced meat or bread with spices) Payn Puffe (A pastry puff made with yolks of eggs, etc...
...In some cases it is impossible to identify the description even with the help of the recipe book...
...2 Le I Cours Furmenty with Venysoun (Venison with wheat "husked and boiled") Mammenye (Minced) Brawne Rede Roste (Eggs treated with violet flowers) Capoun de Haut Grece (Stuffed capon) Swan Heyroun (Heron) Crane Aleche (Sliced meat or bread, spiced) Crostade Ryal (A pie with currants, dates, eggs, etc...
...Menu No...
...However, by digging in the buried and hidden-away stuff of the larger libraries, by means of a reference in the doings of some archaeological society, by hint or remark in some antiquarian note-book, one finds enough matter out of which to give something better than a mere bird's-eye-view of the mediaeval feasts and banquets...
...inside) Colde Bakemete (Cold fruit pie) Menu No...
...The note-book, written by a fifteenth-century Sherry, may be found among the manuscripts in the British Museum...
...These were designs, more or less ambitious, in sugar and paste, which generally pointed some allusion to the circumstances of the feast...
...This unknown chef was a man of eminent standing in his chosen profession, for among his marked successes were the feast at the coronation of King Henry IV at Westminster, in 1399, two great fish banquets given in 1420, an installation feast in 1417, etc...
...Only those who make the search can know and appreciate the gastronomic art of the fifteenth century and the perfection it reached...
...Where the meaning is not decipherable, there has been set down over against the name by which the dish was called in the fifteenth century the indication of what it might now be called...
...Besides these, this expert in the science of cookery catered two great dinners at Wells, the first being given upon date of December 4, 1424, and the second, September 16, 1425...
...Nothing is said about vegetables in the courses of these dinners, and it is noteworthy, not only in these mediaeval menus, but in the great variety of recipes for making dishes which exist, that there is scarcely any mention of "green meat" beyond the herbs used for flavoring...
...Like Delmonico and Sherry, there were high-class artists in cookery, ready and willing to undertake the preparation of a banquet...
...Some of the dishes in our day will, no doubt, appear strange...
...It was the server's place to see, as the ancient Book of Kerving (an old English work) tells us, "that every person had a napkin and a spoon" and directions in detail exist as to the way in which the carver was to dismember birds, to free the fish from its bones, and to slice the meat into "gobbetts" which could be skilfully maneuvered by the guests with a spoon...
...In all large establishments a special officer, called the "ewerer"—the bearer of the jug and basin—was stationed to provide the necessary water and towel...
...There were professional chefs in England, who went about to furnish forth a banquet wherever their services might be required...
Vol. 12 • August 1930 • No. 14