Transcript TUDOR FOOD - @mountsbridgewater

TUDOR FOOD
Facts about Tudor food.
1. Sugar was very expensive so if they
didn’t have sugar they used honey
instead. They only used seasonal food
which was used as soon as it was
bought, killed, or picked as they did not
have fridges and freezers to keep foods
for any length of time. Fruit would be
preserved in syrup to use in the winter
months when there wasn’t any growing.
Meat would be hung from the ceiling in a
cold room to improve the flavour.
Facts about Tudor food continued
1. Bread was served with every meal and
was an important of the meal, for both
rich and poor, although 75% of the rich
peoples diet was made up of meat. Meat
was roasted, cooked on the spit, boiled
or made into pies. Fish was baked, fried,
grilled or boiled. The Catholic religion of
the early Tudors meant that they could
not eat meat on Friday often on
Wednesday instead of meat they ate fish.
The Difference between our food and
the Tudor food
• The Tudor’s ate some interesting foods that
today we do not eat, well not normally these
included Badger, Peacock, Heron, Crane,
Sparrows (not a lot of meat on those) and
Blackbirds. They also ate meats that are still
used today as well including Deer, Pheasant,
and Calves.
• Bread was made from white wholemeal flour as
it is today but this was for the rich. The poor
used rye or ground acorns to make their bread.
Water wasn’t drunk during this time as it was
unfit so ale and wine were drunk at meal times.
The Difference between our food
and the Tudor food continued.
• Fish including Eels, Pike, Perch, Trout,
Sturgeon, Roach and Salmon. These would be
eaten by the rich and also poor people but only if
they lived near the sea or rivers.
• The Tudors loved sweets and deserts. A popular
sweet which was served at banquets was
marzipan this was made from sugar and
coloured using vegetable dyes. These sweets
would be served in between courses. Puddings
would be served on plates made of sugar.
Pottage soup.
• A popular food for the poor is a
soup called pottage its made up
of peas, cabbage, onion, milk,
water and herbs.
Swan Pie
• This was very popular at Henry the VIII’s
banquets. Swans would be used in the pie
and then one would be roasted and then
dressed back into it’s original feathers and
placed on the top.
Tudor customs.
Tudors only used spoons and knives
for eating. Forks were introduced
from Italy during the reign of Henry
the VIII but were mainly used for
serving.
It was rude to finish every thing on the
table because the leftovers went to
the staff, this was known as Manners.
Tudor customs continued.
• Food for the wealthy was all about entertaining,
the banquets included Jugglers, Musicians and
Dancers and was seen as a huge event going
on for hours.
• A joke the cooks used to play was to make a pie,
the crust which went on top was called a Coffin
and this was placed on top of live birds including
Pigeons and Blackbirds. When the host cut into
the pie the birds would fly out. This was seen as
very funny for the guests.
Where did the food come from.
Food usually came from local farms,
markets, fairs and estates. Food would
also be grown within the grounds of the
big houses. All foods would be seasonal a
lot of foods were introduced from abroad
in later Tudor times including potatoes,
tomatoes, peppers, maize and Turkeys.
Where did the poor peoples food
come from
• Mainly what they could grow themselves, if they
lived in the country and were able to keep
chickens they would use these for both eggs and
meat. Herbs would be collected in the woods
and hedgerows. Rabbits would be shot and
used for skins and food. Beef would be bought
from the market with money saved. Fruits would
be possibly stolen from the large estates
orchards usually by the youngest in the house
and gathered in the woods.
Tudor Kitchen v Today’s Kitchen
In the Tudor times cooking was done on
fires as there were no cookers or
microwave ovens. Hampton Court had six
massive fireplaces. Meat was cooked on a
spit using a metal rod. Pots were put over
a fire using a work surface with hole in it.
Bread was cooked in a large stone oven.
Tudor Kitchen V Today’s Kitchen
continued
• In the large houses and palaces the
kitchens were separated into different
areas these would include a areas for
preparing the food, decorating it, pastry
making plus serving areas. The place that
wine and ale was stored was known as the
Butteries. The Larder was a large room
which was usually cool/cold and this would
be separated into different areas for the
different types of food.