Banquet & Final Course

The sweet and celebratory close of the feast: custards, fruits, comfits, sweetmeats, puddings, marzipan, and banquet delights meant to end the meal with pleasure, refinement, and display.

What Was the Banquet?

In medieval and early modern dining, the banquet was not the entire feast but often its final and most refined service. Sweet dishes, preserved fruits, comfits, spiced confections, creams, custards, wafers, marzipan, decorative sweets, and fragrant delicacies were brought forward to delight the senses and bring the meal to a graceful conclusion.

Depending on place, period, and household, the final course might feature fruit preserved in honey or syrup, molded sweets, sweet pies, fritters, puddings, candied spices, or elaborate sugar work. These dishes often displayed status, hospitality, and culinary skill as much as nourishment.

About this collection: This catalog gathers sweet dishes, custards, creams, puddings, preserved fruits, comfits, sweetmeats, marzipan, decorative sweets, and other foods associated with the closing service of the historic feast. Drinks and cordials appear in their own collection.

Catalog note: This is a living collection and part of an ongoing archive renovation project. Historical recipes on Give It Forth span many years of research, and older posts were sometimes labeled according to earlier systems or broader categories. As labels are reviewed and standardized, recipes that do not best fit this catalog may be moved to a more appropriate collection, while dishes that belong here may be added.

Recipe Catalog

Gathering recipes from the archive...