Much is known about the momentous tragedies and triumphs acted out on the Tudor stage but while court officials connived and queens lost their heads, life in the kitchens of the nobility carried on. Terry Breverton’s Tudor Cookbook gives us a fascinating and enjoyable insight, not only into what the Tudors ate but how their food was cooked, the ingredients and equipment they used and thus by analogy what life might have been like for the serving classes in the Tudor kitchen.
How to read a cookbook? Whether you are a browser, a dipper or a cover to cover reader my advice is to read the introduction first. Breverton explains that some sources are taken from the reign of Edward IV right up to the reign of James the first and sixth but all of them would have been eaten in Tudor times.
The vocabulary and dialect of the time has been to some extent modernised by Breverton but he offers footnotes to each recipe explaining not just the language but any relevant history and setting that goes with it. I found this easier than having a glossary at the back although I have yet to know what the height of a Manus Christi was and I was confused at times by whether the term marrow referred to the vegetable or the marrow of a bone. I drew my own conclusions.
There is a list of primary and secondary sources at the back of the book together with a list of websites for further reading and for digitised versions of the sources used.
All the recipes were used in the households of the wealthy. Breverton makes no apology for this. Only the records of the rich and literate survived and the poorer classes were unable to record their recipes. We are given some insights into Fast Days and Feast Days and the book does contain some vegetarian recipes. Cooking methods were basic, food being either roasted on a spit, boiled (seethed) in a pot or placed in a brick oven. Measurements tended to be by the handful, quarts, gallons and sometimes ‘a good deal’. In general the recipes are for mass catering and therefore required large quantities of ingredients.
The ingredients themselves held some surprises for me. I had assumed that we were still in a age where honey was the only sweetener. However, sugar was being produced in Mexico and South America in general. It was expensive and only for those who could afford it. It was sold in solid form, the sugar being scraped off. It seems that rich households did not use it sparingly and it was used in dishes that we would think of as savoury, and sweet and sour was not an unusual combination at those times. Spices were also a sign of wealth. Breverton points out that they were not used to cover the taste of rancid foodstuffs but were used in subtle combinations to enhance flavours.
It seems there were very few animals that were not fair game during this era. There was the usual game, rabbit, hare and pigeon but also songbirds, seals and porpoises. Eggs were used liberally. Every part of the animal was used even cock’s brains. Nothing was wasted.
Potatoes were yet to come on the scene, bread being the staple carbohydrate but sweet potatoes were available and used, in this case in a dessert dish. Oranges were in use but were sour like a marmalade orange and used in both savoury and sweet dishes, as were lemons. British garden fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries and red and black currants, apples, pears and plums were put into tarts, preserves and confits.
Is it possible to use these recipes? Well, the author asserts that they can be and I decided to put this to the test by making Baked Chickens (page 96). No quantities are given in this recipe, so chickens in this case amounted to a couple of breasts. I used the spices sparingly and sugar, a couple of teaspoons of demarara. I used sweet oranges and for barberries, I used redcurrants. I substituted cider vinegar for verjuice to produce the sour taste (verjuice was the juice of unripened grapes or apples). Then I served it up on a slice of toast. It was surprisingly balanced, light and fruity with a hint of Christmas mincemeat about it. It wasn’t difficult to make at all although some of these dishes are labour intensive. Would I make it again? Yes, I would and I hope to try out other recipes too.
To say that this book is fun is not to denigrate it in any way. It is an interesting way to learn about an aspect of Tudor life that is perhaps otherwise little known about. I enjoyed dipping into it and discovering the familiar, like Lemon Chicken and the not so familiar, Baked Porpoise (or seal). It is a book which, I hope, will please anyone interested in food and cooking as well as readers of history.
And now, I am off to find some cowcumbers to make myself a sallet.
Reviewed by Anne Blunsden
Baked Chicken(s) page 96
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