Elizabethan Food Menu For The Rich
In 16th century england you truly were what.
Elizabethan food menu for the rich. Soup of the day. What how and where people ate in tudor times depended greatly on who they were. Vegetables used were beans turnips greens parsnips carrots cabbage colewart beetroot salsify artichokes asparagus peas salads lettuce onions leeks pumpkins melon cucumbers skirret horseradish gourds olives potatoes yams. Liza picard describes how class religion and politics all influenced how elizabethans shopped for food cooked and ate.
Everything from the number of dishes eaten to the ways in which food was served was dictated by status. Caramelized onions in rich broth melted swiss mozzarella provolone cheeses. 8 oz certified angus beef burgers served on a brioche bun choice of steak fries or tots. List of elizabethan food facts the rich people ate always fresh food and fresh vegetables.
The wealthiest elizabethans ate lavish meals of many courses while many poorer people didn t even have their own ovens and some of the poorest survived on leftover scraps from the rich. Melted cheddar cheese diced onions. For the rich oranges lemons capers and olives were imported from mainland europe. An ordinary is both the tavern that serves a daily fixed price meal plate of stew loaf of bread pot of ale and the meal itself.
Fruits were generally served in pies while vegetables were served in soups and stews. Chervil young sow thistle corn salad leaves of clary spotted cowslip. A gentleman often has his dinner out either eating at an ordinary or buying food at a cook shop and taking it home. Consequently whatever the season offered in terms of wild vegetables and fruits were well received by everyone.
Here is a summary of the items he claims were on that menu from 1455. Course 2 dishes covered with a german sauce gilt sugar plums and pomegranate seeds 2 enormous pies each one surmounted with small pies to represent a crown. Poor people in general had humble and unvaried diets whereas the rich of elizabethan england ate well. A salted haunch of venison thickly stuffed with rosemary roasted straight over a woodfire served with a sweet and tangy sauce made of cinnamon cloves and ginger.
As the elizabethan period witnessed the so called little ice age the winter season was markedly longer than in other eras greatly increasing the risk of scurvy as vitamin rich fresh food became scarce. Rich people were the one to take the benefits of the expensive fruits like pomegranates peaches and oranges. Course 1 a civet of hare a quarter of stag which had been a night in salt a stuffed chicken a loin of veal. They enjoyed all kinds of meat including beef pork lamb mutton bacon veal and deer and fancy fowl such as peacock swan and goose.