Tudor Food Words - 04/15/03 08:34 PM
(boy, am I opening a can of food worms with this one, but I'll give it a try 
)
I saw a fascinating study of the table fare of Henry VIII's court on the Food Channel the other day called, Eat Like A King. It's running all month and is a wonderfully intriguing, and thorough, examination of the king's table and all that went into it's daily preparation, a worthwhile excursion from an historical, culinary, and linguistic perspective. There were many words describing food and derived from food at that time that I thought worthy of discussion here.
upper crust -- evidently derived from Henry VIII's penchant for favoring a slice from the top crust of a loaf of bread.
carving words -- A master carver was considered an important and delicate artform then, and carvers who were adept were said to be able to use their cutlery like it was another extension of their arm. So much so that each type of meat, fish, and poultry had their own unique techniques for slicing, and there were actually different words according to each specific procedure...i.e. [verbing] a swan. I'll have to search for these on another site and come back with them, though...they did mention a few on the air.
stargazy pie -- a pie made with small whole fish, pilchards or herrings, with their little faces sticking through the crust around the rim so they were looking at you before you ate them.
Maids of Honor -- a unique tart pastry whose secretive recipe is guarded by the family to this day. During his travels, Henry VIII was presented with a feast at some village, and he liked these Maids of Honor so much he had the poor sucker who made them arrested and impressed into his culinary service. They did mention how the tarts earned their name, Maids of Honor, but it evades me.
Tudor England, and most notably Henry VIII's court, was responsible for many drastic changes in the "Western diet", some of the foremost of which was the importation of sugar to use in vast quantities (in lieu of honey) and the imbibing of distilled spirits.
There were no potatoes in Britain until the 18th Century (fish'n'chips a recent tradition, eh?). This also makes me wonder how potatoes became such a crucial part of the Irish diet, and what the folks in Ireland relied on for their main subsistence before the potato.
liquor
Firstly, as was mentioned on another thread, all people drank large quantities of beer and ale, all day long, instead of water at that time because the water was considered unsafe, even the children. It was said there are old jokes about Tudor England being constantly drunk because of this. Henry VIII had a goblet of ale delivered with his breakfast every morning when he arose at 5 am to go hunting.
Distilled liquors, however, were a new import that only the King's Court could afford or obtain.
Royal usquebaugh: This was a special recipe liquor drink made from rare Arabian distilled liquor with the addition of gold leaf to supposedly help the King's health as a tonic, especially the heavy metal.
hypocras -- another Kingly liquor concoction
Two more facinating culinary notes;
The King consumed a large portion of cheese at the end of every meal (a three hour, three course affair beginning at 11 a.m. every day, main meals in the evening didn't become customary till much later) to help with his digestion (as advised by his physicians)...it's a wonder he lived to 57!
The King's chefs experimented with all sorts of decoration and coloring, including child's urine, which gave them a desired green coloring.
Roasting meat over a spit was first done by employing a spit boy to sit by the hot fire for hours, constantly turning the spit of meat. They later did develop a crude rotisserie to do this.
Here's the link to the show site. And there are speciifc links here to the recipes and backgrounds of stargazy pie, Maids of Honor, hypocras, and Royal usquebaugh.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2C832244
This is a food-word thread, but...
)I saw a fascinating study of the table fare of Henry VIII's court on the Food Channel the other day called, Eat Like A King. It's running all month and is a wonderfully intriguing, and thorough, examination of the king's table and all that went into it's daily preparation, a worthwhile excursion from an historical, culinary, and linguistic perspective. There were many words describing food and derived from food at that time that I thought worthy of discussion here.
upper crust -- evidently derived from Henry VIII's penchant for favoring a slice from the top crust of a loaf of bread.
carving words -- A master carver was considered an important and delicate artform then, and carvers who were adept were said to be able to use their cutlery like it was another extension of their arm. So much so that each type of meat, fish, and poultry had their own unique techniques for slicing, and there were actually different words according to each specific procedure...i.e. [verbing] a swan. I'll have to search for these on another site and come back with them, though...they did mention a few on the air.
stargazy pie -- a pie made with small whole fish, pilchards or herrings, with their little faces sticking through the crust around the rim so they were looking at you before you ate them.
Maids of Honor -- a unique tart pastry whose secretive recipe is guarded by the family to this day. During his travels, Henry VIII was presented with a feast at some village, and he liked these Maids of Honor so much he had the poor sucker who made them arrested and impressed into his culinary service. They did mention how the tarts earned their name, Maids of Honor, but it evades me.
Tudor England, and most notably Henry VIII's court, was responsible for many drastic changes in the "Western diet", some of the foremost of which was the importation of sugar to use in vast quantities (in lieu of honey) and the imbibing of distilled spirits.
There were no potatoes in Britain until the 18th Century (fish'n'chips a recent tradition, eh?). This also makes me wonder how potatoes became such a crucial part of the Irish diet, and what the folks in Ireland relied on for their main subsistence before the potato.
liquor
Firstly, as was mentioned on another thread, all people drank large quantities of beer and ale, all day long, instead of water at that time because the water was considered unsafe, even the children. It was said there are old jokes about Tudor England being constantly drunk because of this. Henry VIII had a goblet of ale delivered with his breakfast every morning when he arose at 5 am to go hunting.
Distilled liquors, however, were a new import that only the King's Court could afford or obtain.
Royal usquebaugh: This was a special recipe liquor drink made from rare Arabian distilled liquor with the addition of gold leaf to supposedly help the King's health as a tonic, especially the heavy metal.
hypocras -- another Kingly liquor concoction
Two more facinating culinary notes;
The King consumed a large portion of cheese at the end of every meal (a three hour, three course affair beginning at 11 a.m. every day, main meals in the evening didn't become customary till much later) to help with his digestion (as advised by his physicians)...it's a wonder he lived to 57!
The King's chefs experimented with all sorts of decoration and coloring, including child's urine, which gave them a desired green coloring.
Roasting meat over a spit was first done by employing a spit boy to sit by the hot fire for hours, constantly turning the spit of meat. They later did develop a crude rotisserie to do this.
Here's the link to the show site. And there are speciifc links here to the recipes and backgrounds of stargazy pie, Maids of Honor, hypocras, and Royal usquebaugh.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2C832244
This is a food-word thread, but...
) And "mince that plover" will get me arrested down here, guaranteed! 
g'night...))
