A grand 17th-century “sallet” of roast meats, pickled vegetables, citrus, and herbs — Robert May’s elegant Tudor salad for a Thanksgiving feast.

A Grand Sallet of Minced Capon and Pickled Things – Robert May’s Festive Cold Salad (1660)

A Dutch still-life evoking the abundance of a 17th-century banquet — a perfect match for the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Editor’s Note: As autumn turns to feast season, the next several posts on Give It Forth explore a different kind of Thanksgiving table — one inspired not by Pilgrims and pumpkins, but by the kitchens of Tudor and Stuart England. These 16th- and 17th-century dishes, drawn from sources like Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook (1660), showcase the foods and flavors that would have graced a festive English winter board. Presented here in modern form, each recipe offers a way to bring history to an American Thanksgiving — blending Old World elegance with New World abundance.

Historical Note: The Tudors and Stuarts did not celebrate Thanksgiving as we do in America today. This series simply imagines how dishes from their winter feasts — roasts, “made dishes,” puddings, and spiced pies — might have found their way, in spirit and flavor, to the modern table. It’s a chance to explore the shared themes of gratitude, abundance, and seasonal celebration across centuries.

The Historical Recipe

To make a Grand Sallet of minced Capon, Veal, roast Mutton, Chicken or Neats Tongue.
Minced capon or veal, &c. dried tongues in thin slices, lettice shred small as the tongue, olives, capers, mushrooms, pickled samphire, broom-buds, lemon or oranges, raisins, almonds, blew figs, Virginia potato, caparones, or crucifix pease, currans, pickled oysters, taragon.

How to dish it up.
Any of these being thin sliced, as is shown above said, with a little minced taragon and onion amongst it; then have lettice minced as small as the meat by it self, olives by themselves, capers by themselves, samphire by it self, broom-buds by it self, pickled mushrooms by themselves, or any of the materials abovesaid. Garnish the dish with oranges and lemons in quarters or slices, oyl and vinegar beaten together, and poured over all, &c.

To make a grand Sallet of divers Compounds.
Take a cold roast capon and cut it into thin slices square and small, (or any other roast meat as chicken, mutton, veal, or neats tongue) mingle with it a little minced taragon and an onion, then mince lettice as small as the capon, mingle all together, and lay it in the middle of a clean scoured dish. Then lay capers by themselves, olives by themselves, samphire by it self, broom buds, pickled mushrooms, pickled oysters, lemon, orange, raisins, almonds, blue-figs, Virginia Potato, caperons, crucifix pease, and the like, more or less, as occasion serves, lay them by themselves in the dish round the meat in partitions. Then garnish the dish sides with quarters of oranges, or lemons, or in slices, oyl and vinegar beaten together, and poured on it over all.

On fish days, a roast, broil’d, or boil’d pike boned, and being cold, slice it as abovesaid.

— Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

The Historical Recipe

To make a Grand Sallet of minced Capon, Veal, roast Mutton, Chicken or Neats Tongue.
Minced capon or veal, &c. dried tongues in thin slices, lettice shred small as the tongue, olives, capers, mushrooms, pickled samphire, broom-buds, lemon or oranges, raisins, almonds, blew figs, Virginia potato, caparones, or crucifix pease, currans, pickled oysters, taragon.

How to dish it up.
Any of these being thin sliced, as is shown above said, with a little minced taragon and onion amongst it; then have lettice minced as small as the meat by it self, olives by themselves, capers by themselves, samphire by it self, broom-buds by it self, pickled mushrooms by themselves, or any of the materials abovesaid. Garnish the dish with oranges and lemons in quarters or slices, oyl and vinegar beaten together, and poured over all, &c.

— Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

Modern Redaction – A Holiday Salad Platter

This grand sallet reads like the ancestor of both the antipasto and the holiday crudité tray. The goal is to contrast colors, textures, and preserved flavors — roast meats beside pickled vegetables, citrus, and sweet dried fruit — all brightened with a tarragon-scented dressing.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked roast turkey, chicken, or ham, finely diced
• 2 cups mixed lettuces, shredded small
• 2 Tbsp capers
• ¼ cup green olives, halved
• ¼ cup pickled mushrooms or artichokes
• ¼ cup raisins or dried cranberries
• ¼ cup toasted almonds or walnuts
• 1 small orange, sliced thin
• ½ lemon, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp minced tarragon (or parsley)

Dressing

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp cider vinegar (or wine vinegar)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

To Assemble

1. Combine the diced meats with tarragon and a small spoonful of the dressing.
2. Arrange lettuce in the center of a wide platter; mound the meat mixture in the middle.
3. Neatly group the remaining ingredients — olives, capers, pickled vegetables, dried fruit, and nuts — around the edge in small piles.
4. Garnish with orange and lemon slices.
5. Whisk oil and vinegar together, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle lightly over the whole.

Period Technique: May’s instruction to “beat oyl and vinegar together” is one of the earliest English references to what we’d recognize as a vinaigrette. In the 17th century this would have been done by hand with a fork or spoon until just emulsified.

Modern Serving Suggestions

• For a rustic platter, substitute roasted root vegetables or green beans for pickled samphire.
• Add halved deviled eggs and small cheese curds for a heartier Thanksgiving starter board.
• Serve chilled or at cool room temperature with crusty bread and cider or white wine.

🥕 Vegetarian adaptation: Omit meats and replace with roasted mushrooms or cold lentils; double the citrus and nuts.

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series
Exploring how early modern English recipes—roasts, puddings, sauces, and “made dishes” from Robert May and his contemporaries—might inspire today’s holiday table.

Continue the series:
🦃 Robert May’s Roast Turkey (1660) | 🥚 Green Pudding of Sweet Herbs | 🍇 Tudor Appetizers: Entrées de Table from The Accomplisht Cook

Sources & Further Reading

• Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, or the Art and Mystery of Cookery (London, 1660).
• See also: Rabisha’s Pickled Mushrooms from The Coronation Feast of Cadogan and (2015).
• Discussion of early modern cold “sallets” and pickled accompaniments in late Tudor and early Stuart household manuals.

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AI Assistance Disclosure: Historical transcription, formatting, and redaction support were provided with the help of AI tools for research and editing. All historical interpretation and final text are curated and verified by the editor of Give It Forth.