Second Course (Roasted, Boiled in Sauce, Served with Sauce, Grilled, Fried or Baked Items)

The roast consists of foods that have been exposed to dry heat—baked, roasted, or grilled. Derived from the late 13th-century word rostir, meaning “to cook or burn,” these are the centerpiece dishes of a medieval meal. Platina suggests serving meat boiled in a sauce or roasted and paired with one. Other methods include cooking on a spit, grilling, or baking in pastry.

For the more elaborate second course, Le Ménagier recommends “the best roast you can get” with rich sauces, pastries, Lombardy tarts, chestnuts, and fritters. This course is ideal for heavier meats—roasted, baked, in pastry, served cold (froide sauge), jellied, or sliced. Maistre Chiquart suggests whole piglets or kid, trays of roast fowl, and simple sauces like salt, jance, or cameline.

Today’s cook can include meat and fish dishes, aged cheeses, roasted or fried vegetables, and seasonal fruit such as pears, apples, medlars, and quince. Pancakes and fritters also appear in this course.

Here you will find an index of recipes that would be appropriate for the second course of a four-course medieval feast.

Index of Recipes

---

Meat, Fish, and Poultry

• Capon Farced – Stuffed, roasted chicken (Harl. MS 279, 1430)
• Capoun in Salome – Capon in gravy
• Capponi sopramentati serviti freddi con caparetti sopra – Cold, poached, and stuffed chicken
• Coleys – Chicken Cullis (a thick stew)
• Chykonys in dropey – Chicken in gravy
• For Pyes of Mutton or Beefe – Mincemeat Pie (1591)
• Himono (干物) – Grilled dried fish
• Namazu kabayaki ナマズの蒲焼 – Grilled catfish, Japanese style
• Sausages, Otherways – Pan-fried sausages (Robert May)
• Schwarzwaelder Schinken (Smoked Pork) – German smoked ham, perfect for slicing cold or serving warm in a meat-focused course. 
• Tench Three Ways – Medieval preparations of freshwater fish, including grilled, baked, and sauced versions from Harleian MS 279.
• Recreating a German Sausage – A study in period sausage making with robust spice and preservation methods.
• Italian Salted Beef – Poached, sliced, and lightly spiced, ideal served cold with herbs or sauce per Platina’s guidance.

Vegetables

• A Fridayes Pye – Beet greens and apple pie with raisins
• Roasted Chestnuts, Turnips, and Sage – Le Ménagier de Paris, 1393

Other

• Let Lardes – Herbed custard cooked in bacon grease (Harl. MS 4016, 1450)
• To make a Crystal Jelly – Meat or fish jelly, multiple colors (Robert May)