Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Butter’d French Beans (1660)

Butter’d French Beans (1660) — Robert May’s Table Greens for a Holiday Feast

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — exploring how early modern English cooks transformed simple vegetables into elegant side dishes fit for the season’s most abundant table.

Still Life of Autumn Fruits and Vegetables — shared image for the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series, evoking abundance and the early-modern feast.

A Gentle Dish for the Early-Modern Table

By the mid-17th century, “French beans” — the New World haricot — had become a fashionable vegetable in England. Robert May includes several recipes for them in The Accomplisht Cook (1660), treating them tenderly with butter, vinegar, and spice. They offer a luminous green note amid the roasts, puddings, pies, and rich sauces of the season — a perfect complement to a modern Thanksgiving table inspired by early modern English cookery.

Historical Context

New World Origins: Haricot beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are native to Central and South America. Long before European contact, Indigenous farmers cultivated dozens of varieties—green beans, kidney beans, and shelling beans—across Mesoamerica and the Andes. They formed part of the “Three Sisters” agricultural system alongside maize and squash.

Arrival in Europe: Spanish explorers brought these New World beans to Europe in the early 1500s. By the 1530s they appear in Mediterranean gardens; by the 1550s they were fashionable in Italy and France, where they were prized for their thin, edible pods. England, following French horticultural fashion, adopted them slightly later—thus the English name “French beans.”

Adoption in England: By the late 1500s, green beans were grown in English kitchen gardens, though still considered something of an imported delicacy. Herbalists such as John Gerard (1597) describe “the French bean which cometh from beyond the seas,” distinguishing it from the older Old World broad bean (Vicia faba). These slender beans were more tender, easier to cook, and well suited to the new culinary trend of lightly prepared vegetables.

Why They Appear in May (1660): By Robert May’s time, French beans had become a regular feature in elite kitchens. His recipe aligns with the era’s preference for simple treatments—boiling, buttering, and seasoning—allowing the vegetable’s natural color and delicacy to shine. The touch of vinegar and nutmeg reflects early-modern taste for balancing “cold and moist” foods with warming spices.

From New World to Tudor Thanksgiving: The journey of the French bean—from Indigenous agriculture to Spanish ships, to French gardens, to English cookbooks—mirrors the broader Columbian Exchange that reshaped European foodways. Serving this dish at a modern Thanksgiving connects the contemporary holiday table with the very ingredients that transformed 17th-century English cooking.

Original Recipe 

Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (London: 1660), p. 204.
Public link to the recipe on Archive.org

To stew French Beans.
Take your French beans and string them, then seeth them well in fair water; when they are tender, put them into a pipkin with some sweet butter, a little vinegar, pepper, and salt; and shake them well together. Serve them hot, with grated nutmeg cast upon them.

Still Life of Autumn Fruits and Vegetables — shared image for the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series, evoking abundance and the early-modern feast.

Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Barberry Sauce for Roast Meats (1660)

Barberry Sauce for Roast Meats (1660) — A Tudor & Stuart Alternative to Cranberries

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — exploring how early modern English cooks used tart, jewel-red fruits like barberries to brighten rich feasts in much the same way we use cranberry sauce today.

A Sharp, Scarlet Counterpoint to Roast Meat

Long before cranberries became iconic on American holiday tables, English cooks were using barberries to do a very similar job. These tiny, vivid red berries — the fruit of the shrub Berberis vulgaris — appear in 16th- and 17th-century English recipes as garnishes, pickles, and sharp, “cooling” sauces for goose, pig, pork, and rich pies.

In The Accomplisht Cook (1660), Robert May scatters barberries through pies and dressings, and suggests them in sauces for goose and other roasted fowl. Their bright acidity and ruby colour made them a perfect foil for fatty meats — a role cranberries would come to play later in colonial New England.

Barberries, Cranberries, and the Thanksgiving Table

Barberries in England: Barberries are native to Europe and western Asia. In early modern England they were valued both as a medicine and a culinary ingredient, especially for their sharp taste and striking colour. They were used in pickles, preserves, sauces, and as garnishes on rich dishes, and were common enough to appear repeatedly in British recipe books and household manuscripts.

Cranberries in North America: Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are native to North America. Indigenous peoples in New England and the Canadian Maritimes harvested them for food, dye, and medicine. Seventeenth-century English accounts of New England describe “craneberries” being eaten with meat and as part of pemmican-like preparations.

Parallel Uses, Different Histories: While there is no surviving English recipe that says “use cranberries where you would use barberries,” the two fruits occupy very similar roles:

• Both are small, tart, scarlet berries.
• Both were served with rich meats as a sharp, refreshing contrast.
• Both appear in sauces, relishes, and preserves.

In England, barberries remain the canonical choice in the 17th century; in colonial New England, cranberries fill the local niche. For modern historical cooks in North America, cranberries can be a practical stand-in when barberries are unavailable — as long as we are clear that the substitution is modern, not Tudor or Stuart.

Period Sources: Barberries in Robert May’s Kitchen

Sauce for a Goose — Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

The following comes from May’s “Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose”, which gives two forms. The second explicitly calls for barberries in a rich apple-based sauce.

Source: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (London, 1660), “Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose.” The full text is available via Project Gutenberg and early modern facsimiles.

Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose.
1. The Goose being scalded, drawn, and trust, put a handful of salt in the belly of it, roast it, and make sauce with sowr apples slic’t, and boil’d in beer all to mash, then put to it sugar and beaten butter. Sometime for veriety add barberries and the gravy of the fowl.

2. Roast sowr apples or pippins, strain them, and put to them vinegar, sugar, gravy, barberries, grated bread, beaten cinamon, mustard, and boil’d onions strained and put to it.

To Pickle Barberries Red — Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

May also gives directions for pickling barberries, which provide the preserved fruit used in sauces throughout the year.

Source: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (London, 1660), section on pickles and preserves (often titled “To pickle Grapes, Gooseberries, Barberries, red and white Currans” and related entries).

To Pickle Barberries Red.
When your Barbaries are picked from the leaves in clusters, about Michaelmas, or when they are ripe, let your water boyl, and give them a half a dozen walms; let your pickle be white-wine and vinegar, not too sharp, so put them up for your use.

Sweet Potatoes Three Ways (1660–1670) — May & Woolley at the Early-Modern Table

Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Sweet Potatoes Three Ways (1660–1670)

Sweet Potatoes Three Ways (1660–1670) — Robert May & Hannah Woolley

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — exploring how early modern English cooks transformed New World ingredients into elegant, comforting, and festive dishes fit for the season’s most abundant table.

Still Life of Autumn Fruits and Vegetables — shared image for the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series, evoking abundance and the early-modern feast.

A New World Root, Transformed by English Cooks

Sweet potatoes — known in 17th-century England as “Spanish Potatoes” — arrived through Spanish trade routes in the early 1500s. Originating in Central and South America, Ipomoea batatas traveled across the Atlantic decades before the white potato and quickly became associated with luxury, warmth, and even medicinal virtues.

By the time of Robert May and Hannah Woolley, sweet potatoes were considered both a delicacy and a curiosity: sweet, moist, filling, and ideal for combining with sugar, sack, spices, and butter. These dishes, though rarely seen on modern tables, shimmer with warmth and holiday resonance — a perfect trio for a historically inspired Thanksgiving feast.

Expanded Historical Notes: Sweet Potatoes in Early Modern England

New World Origins: Sweet potatoes were cultivated by Indigenous peoples across the Caribbean, Central America, and the Andes long before European contact. Their sweetness, vivid color, and adaptability made them an ideal export crop during the Age of Exploration.

Arrival via Spain: Spanish ships carried sweet potatoes to Europe in the early 1500s; they quickly spread through Mediterranean trade networks and then northward. They reached England by the 1520s–1530s, where they were sold as exotic novelties — often linked to aphrodisiac qualities and “warming” humoral properties.

“Spanish Potatoes” vs. “Potatoes”: Early modern English texts differentiate between:

• Spanish Potatoes — sweet potatoes
• Potatoes — the newly introduced white/Irish potato

May uses both terms; Woolley uses both interchangeably depending on the edition. In culinary practice, the sweet potato is the one combined with sugar, spices, and citrus.

Humoral Medicine: Sweet potatoes were classed as “hot and moist,” nourishing and gentle on the stomach. Combined with warming spices (cinnamon, nutmeg), sugar, or sack (fortified wine), they were thought to strengthen the body in cold months — making them an ideal winter dish.

Culinary Meaning: These recipes show how New World ingredients integrated into English feasting culture — sweet, rich, buttery, and festive. Serving them today forms a bridge between the Columbian Exchange and the modern Thanksgiving table.

Period Recipes (Three Ways)

1. Robert May — The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

“To butter Potatoes.”
From The Accomplisht Cook, Book V, p. 225 (1660).
Public link to May’s recipe

To butter Potatoes.
Take Potatoes and roast them, then peel them and slice them; then strew sugar, cinnamon, and salt on them, and put in a piece of butter; then toss them up, and serve them hot.

2. Hannah Woolley — The Queen-Like Closet (1670)

“To Preserve Potatoes.”
Book I, “To Preserve Potatoes.”
Public link to Woolley

To Preserve Potatoes.
Take your Potatoes, and slice them very thin, then boil them in water till they be tender; then take them up, and dry them, and boil Sugar and water to a thickness; then put in your Potatoes, with a little Rosewater, and so keep them for your use.

3. Woolley Tradition — Potato Pottage (17th c.)

Referenced across multiple household manuals of the 1650s–1670s; a warming household dish.

Potato Pottage.
Boil your Potatoes in fair water or broth till they be tender; then bruise them, and put to them strong broth, a little grated bread, sweet butter, and such herbs as you like; season it with Salt, and so serve it well stewed.

Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Earliest English Pumpkin Pie from The Compleat Cook and The Queen-Like Closet

England’s earliest spiced pumpkin pies: 1658 & 1670 English “pumpion” pies layered with apples or scented with sack and rosewater—two period versions, two modern bakes.

Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Compleat Cook & The Queen-Like Closet

Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670)

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — Early modern English cooks balanced spice, fruit, and rich sauces to delight feast guests. In that spirit, we imagine how 17th-century dishes—roasts, puddings, and pies—might grace today’s Thanksgiving table with historical flavor and good cheer.

A Pie of Pumpion and Apple — England’s First Pumpkin Pies

By the mid-1600s, New World “pumpions” (pumpkins) found a home in English kitchens. Two of the earliest printed examples—The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s The Queen-Like Closet (1670)—reveal different approaches: one layers herbed pumpkin fritters with sliced apples and currants, finished with a wine-egg caudle; the other stews and mashes the pumpkin, perfumes it with rosewater and sack, and glazes it with a sweet caudle. Together, they prefigure the later Anglo-American pumpkin custard pie while retaining a distinctly Restoration palate.

Historical Context: The Journey of the Pumpkin

From the New World to the Old: Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) are among the oldest cultivated crops in the Americas, domesticated in Mexico around 7000–5500 BCE. By the 15th century they were a staple from South America to New England. Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried seeds home in the early 1500s, where the “Indian gourd” quickly took root in Iberian and Italian gardens.

Arrival in England: The word pompion (later spelled pumpion or pumpkin) entered English by 1548, from French pompon and ultimately Latin peponem, “melon.” William Turner’s Herbal (1551–68) lists the pompion among familiar garden plants, and John Gerard’s Herbal (1597) describes “the great round pompion,” judging it “cold and moist in the second degree.” English cooks viewed it as a vegetable requiring the balancing warmth of spice, wine, and butter.

Early English Recipes: By the mid-1600s, the pumpkin had moved from curiosity to kitchen. The herbed, apple-layered pie in The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s sweeter rosewater version in The Queen-Like Closet (1670) mark its first recorded uses in English cookery. Both reflect a transitional taste—part vegetable fritter, part custard pie—infused with the season’s abundance of spice.

Across the Atlantic Again: English colonists in New England found pumpkins thriving in Indigenous fields and adopted them eagerly. By the late 17th century, colonial cooks abandoned herbs and apples for smooth spiced custards, giving rise to the pumpkin pie of early American tradition, immortalized in Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery (1796).

Date	Event	Location
~7000 BCE	Pumpkins domesticated	Mesoamerica
Early 1500s	Introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers	Iberia
1536	Described in Mattioli’s Commentarii	Italy
1548	First English record of “pompion”	England
1597	Gerard’s Herbal notes “great round pompion”	England
1658	The Compleat Cook publishes “Pumpion Pie”	London
1670	Hannah Woolley’s Queen-Like Closet	London
1796	Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery	United States

Humoral Insight: Early modern physicians classified pumpkins as “cold and moist.” Period cooks corrected this by adding warming ingredients—spice, sugar, and eggs—making dishes like pumpion pie both healthful and seasonally balanced.

Glossary: Pompion — early English spelling of pumpkin; Caudle — a warm sauce of egg yolk and wine; Verjuice — acidic juice from unripe grapes used for tartness.

Original Recipes

A. The Compleat Cook (1658)

To make a Pumpion Pie.
Take about halfe a pound of Pumpion and slice it, a handfull of Tyme, a little Rosemary, Parsley and sweet Marjoram slipped off the stalks, and chop them small, then take Cinamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and six Cloves, and beat them; take ten Eggs and beat them, then mix them, and beat them altogether, and put in as much Sugar as you think fit, then fry them like a froiz; after it is fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your Pye, take sliced Apples thinne round wayes, and lay a row of the Froiz, and a layer of Apples with Currans betwixt the layers while your Pye is fitted, and put in a good deal of sweet Butter before you close it; when the Pye is baked, take six yolks of Eggs, some white Wine or Verjuice, and make a Caudle thereof, cut up the Lid, and pour it in, then sugar it, and serve it up.

B. Hannah Woolley, The Queen-Like Closet (1670)

To make a Pumpion Pye.
Take the Pumpion, and pare it, and slice it thin, and stew it till it be tender, then mash it and season it with beaten Spice, Sugar, and Rosewater, and lay it in your Pye, and put in good store of Butter, and when it is baked, pour in a Caudle made of Eggs, Sack, and Sugar, and serve it hot.

Period Technique: A caudle is a lightly thickened sauce of wine (or sack) and egg yolks, poured into a hot pie to glaze and enrich it just before serving.

Choose Your Pie: The 1658 version is savory-sweet with herbs, apples, and currants; the 1670 version is silkier and perfumed with rosewater and sack. Both are unmistakably 17th-century.

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)

Green Pudding of Sweet Herbs – A Tudor Boiled Pudding from The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

Green Pudding of Sweet Herbs – A Tudor Boiled Pudding from The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

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.

A 17th-century-inspired feast still life. Alongside the roast, dishes like green puddings of sweet herbs added color and richness to the Tudor–Stuart table.

On a Tudor or early Stuart winter table, not every “pudding” was sweet. Many were savoury, herbal, and vividly green — rich with cream and egg yolks, scented with mace and nutmeg, and studded with currants and dates. Robert May’s “green boil’d Pudding of sweet Herbs” is one of these: a bread-and-cream pudding colored with spinach juice and flavored with a whole garden of herbs.

He tells us that these puddings are “excellent for stuffings of roast or boil’d Poultrey, Kid, Lamb, or Turkey, Veal, or Breasts of Mutton.” In other words, they could be served in slices as a side dish, or used as a rich, herbal forcemeat filling for meat and fowl.

The Original: A Green Boil’d Pudding of Sweet Herbs

To make a green boil’d Pudding of sweet Herbs.

Take and steep a penny white loaf in a quart of cream and only eight yolks of eggs, some currans, sugar, cloves, beaten mace, dates, juyce of spinage, saffron, cinamon, nutmeg, sweet marjoram, tyme, savory, peniroyal minced very small, and some salt, boil it in beef-suet, marrow, (or none.) These puddings are excellent for stuffings of roast or boil’d Poultrey, Kid, Lamb, or Turkey, Veal, or Breasts of Mutton.

This short paragraph carries a great deal of information: it tells us the base (bread and cream), the enrichment (egg yolks, suet, marrow), the “green” element (spinach juice and herbs), the seasoning (currants, dates, sugar, spices), and the preferred cooking method (boiled as a pudding, then served or used as stuffing).

What Is a Boiled Pudding?

In the 16th and 17th centuries, many puddings were cooked not in tins, but in cloth. The mixture was poured into a floured or buttered linen or canvas pudding cloth, tied securely, and boiled in a pot of water or broth until set. Afterward, the pudding was turned out, sometimes browned before the fire, and served in slices. The same method works for both sweet and savoury puddings.

Glossary: Penny Loaf, Spinage, & Peniroyal

Penny white loaf: A small, fine white bread, roughly similar to a modern small boule or 250–300 g of white sandwich bread (without the crusts).

Juyce of spinage: Spinach juice — spinach leaves pounded or blended, then squeezed to extract a vivid green juice used to color and flavor the pudding.

Peniroyal (pennyroyal): A strongly flavored mint family herb. Because modern pennyroyal is not considered food-safe, we omit it here and rely on marjoram, thyme, and savory instead.

Tudor Appetizers: Entrées de Table from The Accomplisht Cook

Tudor Appetizers: Entrées de Table from The Accomplisht Cook

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,” 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.

A clove-studded roast turkey in the Tudor–Stuart style, served with citrus, herbs, and bread sippets. Here it stands in for the “entrance to the table” in Robert May’s 1660 kitchen.

If the roast turkey is the great centerpiece of a holiday table, then the entrées de table are its graceful opening act. In the mid-seventeenth century, English cooks like Robert May borrowed the French idea of “made dishes” — elegant, composed plates of meats, vegetables, and fruits — and set them out as an entrance to the table: the first sight that greeted guests as they sat down to dine.

They are, in many ways, the ancestors of our modern appetizers: small, complex, carefully arranged dishes meant to delight the eye as much as the appetite.

“Another made Dish in the French Fashion”

Another made Dish in the French Fashion, called an Entre de Table, Entrance to the Table.

Take the bottoms of boil’d Artichocks, the yolks of hard Eggs, yong Chicken-peepers, or Pidgeon-peepers, finely trust, Sweetbreads of Veal, Lamb-stones, blanched, and put them in a Pipkin, with Cockstones, and combs, and knots of Eggs; then put to them some strong broth, white-wine, large Mace, Nutmeg, Pepper, Butter, Salt, and Marrow, and stew them softly together.

Then have Goosberries or Grapes perboil’d, or Barberries, and put to them some beaten Butter; and Potato’s, Skirrets or Sparagus boil’d, and put in beaten butter, and some boil’d Pistaches.

These being finely stewed, dish your fowls on fine carved sippets, and pour on your Sweet-Breads, Artichocks, and Sparagus on them, Grapes, and slic’t Lemon, and run all over with beaten butter, &c.

Somtimes for variety, you may put some boil’d Cabbidge, Lettice, Colliflowers, Balls of minced meat, or Sausages without skins, fryed Almonds, Calves Udder.

This is less a single recipe than a palette of ingredients: delicate pieces of poultry, artichokes, asparagus, grapes, potatoes, skirrets, pistachios, cabbage, and cauliflower — all gently stewed in white wine and butter, then arranged over carved sippets (toasted bread) and finished with lemon and more butter. It is sophisticated, seasonal, and abundantly flexible, just as a modern appetizer spread might be.

Historical Note: What Is an “Entre de Table”?

In early modern menu language, an entré(e) or entre de table was a “made dish” that entered the table with the first course. Rather than a single roast, it was a composed plate or platter: small pieces of meat, vegetables, and fruits layered together in a rich broth or sauce. These dishes sat between the great roasts and pies, offering variety and visual interest. They are close cousins to what we would now call appetizers or small plates.

Glossary: Sweetbreads, Sippets & Pipkins

Sweetbreads: The delicate thymus or pancreas of calf or lamb, prized for its tender texture. In modern kitchens, you can substitute small pieces of chicken thigh or breast for a similar feel.

Lamb-stones, cockstones & combs: Period terms for various small offal pieces and cockerel combs used as delicacies. For most modern cooks, diced chicken or turkey can stand in.

Knots of Eggs: Tiny curds or clusters made by stirring beaten egg into hot liquid, or small egg yolks poached together.

Pipkin: A small earthenware pot used for gentle stewing over coals.

Sippets: Thin slices or shapes of bread, toasted or fried, used to soak up sauces and form the base of a dish.

Robert May’s Roast Turkey (1660): Basting, Saucing, Baking & Carving a Feast Bird

Robert May’s Roast Turkey (1660): Basting, Saucing, Baking & Carving a Feast Bird

A clove-studded roast turkey in the Tudor style, served with citrus, herbs, and bread sippets. Adapted from Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook (1660).

This month, we’re setting the table for a different kind of Thanksgiving — one with a Tudor and Stuart flavor. From Robert May’s 1660 “Accomplisht Cook” to earlier Tudor household manuals, we’ll explore how roast birds, herb puddings, and fruit-studded pies once filled English Christmas and winter feasts. Each recipe has been adapted for a modern kitchen — perfect for cooks who want to bring a little early modern elegance to their Thanksgiving table.

When we think of “traditional” holiday turkey, most of us picture a very modern table. But by the time The Accomplisht Cook was printed in 1660, Robert May already had a fully developed system for roasting, basting, saucing, baking, and even carving great birds like turkey, bustard, and peacock. This post gathers several of his turkey-adjacent passages into one place and offers a modern redaction you can actually put on a holiday table.

Historical Note: The Birds of Robert May’s Table

Turkey: Native to the Americas, turkeys were introduced to England in the early 1500s through Spanish and English trade with the New World. By the reign of Henry VIII they were already fashionable; by the late Tudor period, they regularly appeared at Christmas feasts, often replacing peacock or swan as the grand centerpiece.

Bustard: The great bustard (Otis tarda) was a huge wild game bird native to southern England and the open downs. Weighing up to 30 pounds, it was prized for its rich meat and rarity. Overhunting led to its extinction in Britain by the early 19th century (though reintroduction efforts have since succeeded on Salisbury Plain). In May’s time, serving a bustard was a display of elite access to rare game — the Restoration equivalent of a trophy roast.

Peacock & Swan: These older medieval showpieces were still occasionally served, but more often preserved in decorative pies or replaced with turkey and goose for practicality.

Capons, Pheasants, and Partridges: These smaller birds filled the secondary places on the table, roasted or baked in pairs for symmetry, often “larded” with bacon for richness and shine.

Of Fatting Turkies (Robert May, 1660)

For the fatting of turkies sodden barley is excellent, or sodden oats for the first fortnight, and then for another fortnight cram them in all sorts as you cram your capon, and they will be fat beyond measure. ... Their eggs are exceeding wholesome to eat, and restore nature decayed wonderfully.

Context: May’s note shows how recently turkeys had joined English barnyards. Introduced from the New World just a century earlier, they were still treated as curiosities worth special care. His method—first feeding boiled grain, then hand-cramming like capons—was meant to produce the rich, buttery birds served at Christmas. The mention of “restoring nature decayed” reflects period belief in food as medicine: turkey eggs were considered strengthening for the elderly or convalescent.

Historical Note: Of course, the Tudors and Stuarts did not celebrate Thanksgiving as we do in America today. This series simply imagines how dishes from their winter feasts — from Robert May’s 1660 Accomplisht Cook to earlier Tudor cookbooks — 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.

Think of this as an early modern English answer to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner: a roast turkey, richly basted, brightly sauced, optionally baked in pastry, and carved at table as a piece of performance art.

Robert May and the Seventeenth-Century Christmas Table

Robert May (1588–1664) worked in both English and French-influenced kitchens, and his Accomplisht Cook sits at the turning point between late Tudor/early Stuart foodways and the Restoration court. His famous “Bill of Fare for Christmas Day” shows just how lavish a noble household’s table could be, and it’s one of the earliest English Christmas menus that features turkey alongside swan, venison, and minced pies.

A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day (Robert May, 1660)

From The Accomplisht Cook — A 17th-century Christmas table as it might have been set in a great English household, featuring the first and second courses for one “mess.”

First Course

1. Oysters.
2. A collar of brawn.
3. Stewed broth of mutton marrow-bones.
4. A grand sallet.
5. A pottage of caponets.
6. A breast of veal in stoffado.
7. A boil’d partridge.
8. A chine of beef, or surloin roast.
9. Minced pies.
10. A jegote of mutton with anchovy sauce.
11. A made dish of sweet-bread.
12. A swan roast.
13. A pasty of venison.
14. A kid with a pudding in his belly.
15. A steak pie.
16. A hanch of venison roasted.
17. A turkey roast and stuck with cloves.
18. A made dish of chickens in puff paste.
19. Two bran geese roasted, one larded.
20. Two large capons, one larded.
21. A custard.

Second Course

Oranges and Lemons.

1. A young lamb or kid.
2. Two couple of rabbits, two larded.
3. A pig souc’t with tongues.
4. Three ducks, one larded.
5. Three pheasants, one larded.
6. A swan pye.
7. Three brace of partridge, three larded.
8. A made dish in puff paste.
9. Bologna sausages, anchovies, mushrooms, caviare, and pickled oysters in a dish.
10. Six teels, three larded.
11. A gammon of Westphalia bacon.
12. Ten plovers, five larded.
13. A quince pye or warden pie.
14. Six woodcocks, three larded.
15. A standing tart in puff-paste with preserved fruits and pippins.
16. A dish of larks.
17. Six dried neats’ tongues.
18. Sturgeon.
19. Powdered geese.
20. Jellies.

Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660): A Christmas Day bill of fare featuring roast turkey “stuck with cloves”.

Within this world, turkey is both fashionable and firmly embedded in the performance of a winter feast. May then shows us in detail how to baste it, sauce it, bake it, and even how to carve it in front of the company.

Divers Bastings for Roast Meats

Before we ever get to the carving knife, May begins with the art of basting. His “divers bastings” turn a plain roast into something scented, glazed, and showy.

Divers Bastings for roast Meats.

1. Fresh butter.

2. Clarified suet.

3. Claret wine, with a bundle of sage, rosemary, tyme, and parsley, baste the mutton with these herbs and wine.

4. Water and salt.

5. Cream and melted butter, thus flay’d pigs commonly.

6. Yolks of eggs, juyce of oranges and biskets, the meat being almost rosted, comfits for some fine large fowls, as a peacock, bustard, or turkey.

In modern terms:

• Butter or clarified suet give a rich, golden, crisp skin.
• Claret wine and herbs add aroma and colour, especially good on mutton or stronger meats.
• Cream and butter make a delicate pale glaze for roast pig.
• Egg yolks, orange juice, and crushed biscuits form a sweet, glossy crust for grand birds, finished with comfits scattered over the top.

Historical Note: What Was “Claret Wine”?

In the seventeenth century, claret referred broadly to light red wines imported from Bordeaux and Gascony — the word itself comes from the French vin claret, meaning “clear wine.” Early clarets were pale, almost rosé-like, because they were fermented briefly on the grape skins and shipped young. By Robert May’s day, claret had deepened in color but was still lighter and sharper than modern Bordeaux blends.

Modern Substitute: Use a medium-bodied dry red wine such as a Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Côtes du Rhône. For recipes that emphasize freshness (like bastings or sauces), a Pinot Noir or red table wine works beautifully. Avoid sweet or heavy fortified wines — May’s claret would have been tart and food-friendly, not rich or syrupy.

Historical Note: What Was “Bisket”?

In early modern English cookery, a bisket (or “bisket bread”) meant any hard, twice-baked bread — the word comes from the French biscuit, literally “twice cooked.” There were two main types:

• Hard Bisket: a plain, crisp rusk used for travel or shipboard rations (like naval hardtack).
• Fine or Musked Bisket: a delicate, sweetened version flavored with sugar, rosewater, musk, and sometimes anise or caraway seeds. These were the precursors to our modern ladyfingers and biscotti.

When May calls for “biskets” to be crushed into a sauce or basting (as in his egg yolks, juyce of oranges and biskets glaze), he’s referring to the fine sweet type — a dry sponge or rusk used to thicken or sweeten a mixture, not the savory ship’s biscuit.

Modern Substitute: Use crushed ladyfingers, biscotti, or dried sponge cake crumbs for sweet dishes. For savory sauces, plain melba toast or water crackers will approximate the texture and mild flavor of historical bisket bread.

For a modern turkey inspired by May, a simple claret-and-herb baste during roasting, followed by an optional egg-and-orange glaze near the end, is both period-plausible and achievable in a home kitchen.

Sauces for Roast Land-Fowl

May then turns to sauces, many of them built on bread, onions, citrus, nuts, and fruit. These are mainly intended for turkey, bustard, peacock, pheasant, partridge, and other land-fowl.

Sauces for all manner of roast Land-Fowl, as Turkey, Bustard, Peacock, Pheasant, Partridge, &c.

1. Slic’t onions being boil’d, stew them in some water, salt, pepper, some grated bread, and the gravy of the fowl.

2. Take slices of white-bread and boil them in fair water with two whole onions, some gravy, half a grated nutmeg, and a little salt; strain them together through a strainer, and boil it up as thick as water grewel; then add to it the yolks of two eggs dissolved with the juyce of two oranges, &c.

3. Take thin slices of manchet, a little of the fowl, some sweet butter, grated nutmeg, pepper, and salt; stew all together, and being stewed, put in a lemon minced with the peel.

4. Onions slic’t and boil’d in fair water, and a little salt, a few bread crumbs beaten, pepper, nutmeg, three spoonful of white wine, and some lemon-peel finely minced, and boil’d all together: being almost boil’d put in the juyce of an orange, beaten butter, and the gravy of the fowl.

5. Stamp small nuts to a paste, with bread, nutmeg, pepper, saffron, cloves, juyce of orange, and strong broth, strain and boil them together pretty thick.

6. Quince, prunes, currans, and raisins, boil’d, muskefied bisket stamped and strained with white wine, rose vinegar, nutmeg, cinamon, cloves, juyce of oranges and sugar, and boil it not too thick.

7. Boil carrots and quinces, strain them with rose vinegar, and verjuyce, sugar, cinamon, pepper, and nutmeg, boil’d with a few whole cloves, and a little musk.

8. Take a manchet, pare off the crust and slice it, then boil it in fair water, and being boil’d some what thick put in some white wine, wine vinegar, rose, or elder vinegar, some sugar and butter, &c.

9. Almond-paste and crumbs of manchet, stamp them together with some sugar, ginger, and salt, strain them with grape-verjuyce, and juyce of oranges; boil it pretty thick.

There is a whole post lurking in these nine sauces alone, but for our turkey we can simplify to one or two options:

• A simple onion and bread sauce enriched with nutmeg, butter, and a splash of white wine (nos. 1–2, 4).
• A **citrus bread sauce** with egg yolks and orange or lemon juice (no. 2), which feels especially festive.
• An almond and verjuice sauce for a more luxurious, almost gravy-like accompaniment (no. 9).

A Green Boil’d Pudding of Sweet Herbs

May also gives us a green boiled pudding that he explicitly recommends as a stuffing or side for roast poultry, kid, lamb, or veal. It functions very much like a rich, herbal “stuffing pudding”.

To make a green boil’d Pudding of sweet Herbs.

Take and steep a penny white loaf in a quart of cream and only eight yolks of eggs, some currans, sugar, cloves, beaten mace, dates, juyce of spinage, saffron, cinamon, nutmeg, sweet marjoram, tyme, savory, peniroyal minced very small, and some salt, boil it in beef-suet, marrow, (or none.) These puddings are excellent for stuffings of roast or boil’d Poultrey, Kid, Lamb, or Turkey, Veal, or Breasts of Mutton.

For a modern table, this could be adapted as a savoury-herbal bread pudding baked in a dish or used to stuff a turkey loosely in the cavity (mind your food-safety timings).

To Bake a Turkey (for Hot or Cold Service)

At last we come to the baked turkey itself. May’s version is technically a baked pie — the bird boned, larded, heavily seasoned, and sealed in pastry and butter. He offers both a cold, preserved version, and a hot, freshly sauced one.

To bake Turkey, Chicken, Pea-Chicken, Pheasant-Pouts, Heath Pouts, Caponets, or Partridge for to be eaten cold.

Take a turkey-chicken, bone it, and lard it with pretty big lard, a pound and half will serve, then season it with an ounce of pepper, an ounce of nutmegs, and two ounces of salt, lay some butter in the bottom of the pye, then lay on the fowl, and put in it six or eight whole cloves, then put on all the seasoning with good store of butter, close it up, and baste it over with eggs, bake it, and being baked fill it up with clarified butter.

Thus you may bake them for to be eaten hot, giving them but half the seasoning, and liquor it with gravy and juyce of orange.

Bake this pye in fine paste; for more variety you may make a stuffing for it as followeth; mince some beef-suet and a little veal very fine, some sweet herbs, grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, two or three raw yolks of eggs, some boil’d skirrets or pieces of artichocks, grapes, or gooseberries, &c.

For most of us, a whole boned turkey baked in a giant pie is a little ambitious on a weeknight; but the flavour profile and saucing adapt beautifully to a more familiar roast.

Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder – DIY Bouillon with Historical Tips

Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder – DIY Bouillon & Historical Tips

Learn how to make vegetable stock powder, vegetable stock, and homemade bouillon from scratch. Perfect for medieval-inspired cooking, camp meals, and budget-friendly feasts.

Originally published: 8/9/2025  |  Updated: 10/30/2025

Dietary Notes 🥕: Vegan • Vegetarian • Gluten-Free. Low-sodium: see tips below. Allergen-friendly: no nuts, dairy, soy; skip nutritional yeast if sensitive and sub mushroom powder.

Renaissance Candied Fruit, Roots & Flowers (Markham, 1623) — Step-by-Step + Modern Method

Sugared Plums (Renaissance method)

Originally published: 2015  •  Updated: 2025-10-24

Context. This post expands on Gervase Markham’s early-17th-century candying method from The English Huswife (1623), part of his famous “banqueting-stuffe”—the delicate sugarwork served at the end of elite meals. Candying preserved seasonal produce for winter and created jewel-like sweets for feast courses and subtleties. Below you’ll find Markham’s original text and a carefully tested modern method I use for SCA feast work.

Fridayes Pye (1615): Meatless Chard, Apple & Raisin Tart from John Murrell

A Fridayes Pye made with greens instead of beet-root

Originally published 6/23/2015. 
Updated: October 20, 2025 – expanded with historical context on fish days, greens vs. root beet.

During research for large, serve-warm-or-room-temp banquet dishes, I fell in love with this meatless tart from John Murrell’s A New Booke of Cookerie (London, 1615). It’s a savory-sweet “Friday” pie—perfect for fast days—combining beet greens (i.e., chard) with apples, raisins, ginger, and a squeeze of orange.

Why “Fridayes” Pye?

In early modern England, Friday was on of the traditional "fish days" or fasting days required by the Church — meaning no flesh meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.) could be eaten. This custom was rooted in Catholic tradition and continued well into the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, even after England’s break from Rome. 

By the early 1600s, when John Murrell published A New Booke of Cookerie (1615), the observance of Friday and Lent fasts was still common across all social classes. Cooks compiled specific “Friday” or “Fish Day” sections in their books, filled with meatless dishes made from: 

• Fish, eggs, dairy, and vegetables 
• Pastries and pies enriched with fruit and spice instead of meat 
• Almond milk, butter, and oil as substitutes for animal fats 

So when Murrell labels this as a “Fridayes Pye,” he’s signaling that the recipe is appropriate for a fast day: 

• It’s meatless, using greens, fruit, butter, and spice instead of animal flesh. 
• It fits the pattern of “Lenten pies” — dishes made for observant days that were still elegant and flavorful. 
• The ingredients (greens, raisins, orange) reflect the seasonal spring diet tied to Lent and Easter preparation.

Fish Days and Fast-Day Cookery

In early modern England, “Friday” dishes like this one belonged to the long tradition of fish days—weekly abstinences from flesh meat inherited from the medieval Church. After the Reformation these customs never disappeared; instead, Elizabeth I and her Parliament re-cast them as patriotic observances that protected England’s fishing trade. On a fish day, cooks avoided beef, pork, or fowl but freely used fish, eggs, cheese, and butter. Only during the stricter Lenten fast were all animal products forbidden, replaced by almond milk or oil. Thus Murrell’s “Fridayes Pye,” rich with greens, fruit, and spice but still containing butter, fits the ordinary fish-day table perfectly—pious enough for Friday, but indulgent compared with true Lenten fare.

Historical note: The 1563 “Act for the Maintenance of the Navy” mandated regular fish days not for religion but to sustain England’s maritime economy. Observing fish days kept demand for sea-fish steady, ensuring a ready navy in wartime. Religious habit thus became state policy—a rare case where piety and politics shared the same table.

📌 Beet “greens,” not beet-root: In 16th–17th-c. English sources, “beetes” often means the leaf (chard). The line “picke out the middle string, and chop them small” points to de-ribbing greens. You can still make a beet-root version, but the period default is chard.

Why Greens, Not Roots?

When early English cooks wrote of “beetes,” they almost always meant the leaves—what we now call Swiss chard or leaf beet. The swollen red root beet familiar today was a later development. Medieval and early-modern gardeners grew white and red beetes mainly for their greens, prized for winter hardiness and gentle sweetness. Continental varieties that emphasized the root (the forerunners of today’s beetroot) reached England in the later 17th century and did not become common until the Georgian period.

John Murrell’s instruction to “picke out the middle string, and chop them small” clearly describes de-ribbing leaves rather than peeling roots. In humoral terms, greens were considered more cool and moist, balancing the hot and dry spices like ginger and pepper—making this dish suitable for Friday fasts and Lenten abstinence alike.

Fun fact: The modern bulbous beet descended from chard-like ancestors. 18th-century breeders selected for thicker roots, giving rise to the sugar beet and the deep red garden beet we know today.

Original Recipe (1615)

Fridayes Pye. WAsh greene Beetes cleane, picke out the middle string, and chop them small with two or three well relisht ripe Apples. Season it with Pepper, Salt, and Ginger: then take a good handfull of Razins of the Sunne, and put all in a Coffin of fine Paste, with a piece of sweet Butter and so bake it: but before you serue it in, cut it vp, and wring in the iuyce of an Orenge, and Sugar.

— John Murrell, A New Booke of Cookerie, 1615; ed. T. Gloning

White Bread in Early Modern England: Manchets (1594) vs. Robert May’s French Bread (1685)

Fine white breads on the English table, 16th–17th c.

Can you imagine eating two to three pounds of bread a day—and washing it down with ale? In late medieval and early modern kitchens, bread was the staple, from four-day-old trencher loaves to fine white table bread. This overview compares two elite white breads I bake often: manchet “after my Ladie Graies use” (1594) and Robert May’s “French bread” (1685).

Almond Milk Recipes in the Middle Ages — Variants from Water to Wine

Almonds were the medieval cook’s “milk” on fast days—drawn with water, sugar-water, broth, or even wine.

Almond Milk in Period Sources — How Medieval Cooks Made It (and Variations)

Originally published 1/2/2015 / updated 10/1/2025

For roughly a third of the medieval calendar—Lent and other fast days—cooks avoided meat, dairy, and eggs. Far from the stereotype of endless roasts, elite kitchens leaned on almond milk as a flexible stand-in for dairy: it could be drawn “thick” or “thin,” seasoned sweet or savory, and tailored to the dish at hand.

Because every trained cook knew how to make it, many manuscripts don’t bother giving a basic recipe. When they do spell it out, we learn that medieval almond milk could be drawn with plain water, sugar-water (white or “black”/brownish sugar), or tempered with honey—and in practice, cooks also drew it with broth for savory dishes, or wine for rich Lenten fare and sweets. Below are period texts with clean translations, followed by kitchen-ready modern methods for each variant.

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Primary Recipes (Original & Translation)

Harleian MS 279 (c. 1430) — “Froyde almoundys” (Cold Almond Milk, sugar-water)

Original

xj. Froyde almoundys. Take blake sugre, an cold water, an do hem to in a fayre potte, an let hem boyle to-gedere, an salt it an skeme it clene, an let it kele; j^an take almaundys, an blawnche hem clene, an stampe hem, an draw hem, with fe sugre water thikke y-now, in-to a fayre vessel: an [yf] fe mylke be nojt swete y-now, take whyte sugre an caste fer-to.

Modern English

11. Cold Almond Milk. Take black sugar and cold water and put them in a pot; let them boil together, salt and skim clean, and let it cool. Then take almonds, blanch them, and grind them; draw them with the sugar-water thick enough into a fair vessel. If the milk is not sweet enough, add white sugar.

Source: Austin, Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, Harl. MS 279.

Harleian MS 4016 (c. 1450) — “Froyte de almondes” (Cold Almond Milk, sugar-water)

Original

Froyte de almondes. Take blak sugur and cold water, and caste the sugur and þe water in a potte; and lete hem boile togidre, and salt, and skeme hem clene, and let hit kele; And þen take Almoundes, and blanche hem clene, and stampe hem in a morter al smal, and drawe hem thik ynowe thorgh a streyner with sugur water… And serue hit forth in maner of potage, And namely in lenton tyme.

Modern English

Cold Almond Milk. Boil black sugar with water, salt and skim clean, let cool. Blanch and grind almonds very fine; draw them thick enough through a strainer with the sugar-water… Serve it as a kind of pottage, particularly in Lent.

Source: Austin, Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, Harl. MS 4016.

MS Pepys 1047 — “To make gode almondys mylke” (Honey-tempered)

Original

Take brokyn sugure or for fawte ther of take claryfied hony and put hit into fayre water And set hit on the fyre and boyle hit and skymme hit clene and set hit be syde the fyre and let hit cole and then blanche thy almondys cast them yn a morter and bray them small temper hem up with þe same water.

Modern English

Take crushed sugar—or, if lacking that, clarified honey—and put it in fair water. Set it on the fire, boil and skim clean; set aside and let cool. Then blanch almonds and grind them small; temper them with the same water.

Source: MS Pepys 1047 (transcription at OldCookery.com).

Notes: These texts show the core technique (blanch → grind → draw/strain) and clearly attest to sugar-water and honey-water variants. In practice, medieval recipes also direct cooks to “draw with broth” for savory pottages and sauces, or with wine for certain feast dishes and sweets. “Thick” vs. “thin” is a matter of almond-to-liquid ratio.

Almond Milk in the Middle Ages — History, Humors & Culinary Uses

Ground almonds mixed with water – the basis of almond milk, a medieval staple.

Almond Milk in the Middle Ages — History, Humors & Uses

Originally Published 11/10/2015 / Updated 10/1/2025

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.” That phrase feels especially true when we look at almond milk. Today, we reach for it as a dairy-free alternative in lattes or smoothies. In the Middle Ages, cooks turned to it for many of the same reasons: dietary restrictions, health, and versatility.

Almond milk appears in nearly every major medieval cookbook — from the English Forme of Cury (c. 1390) to French texts like Le Viandier. Whether thickened into custards, stirred into pottages, or sweetened for desserts, it was a foundational ingredient in European kitchens from the 13th–15th centuries. Understanding almond milk helps unlock a whole category of medieval recipes.

Origins & Spread of Almonds

The almond tree (Prunus dulcis) is native to the regions of modern-day Iran and Central Asia. Cultivation spread westward along trade networks into Persia and the Mediterranean by the first millennium BCE. The Greeks and Romans knew almonds well — Roman authors like Pliny the Elder mention them, and they were commonly served at banquets.

Through Roman expansion and later Arab influence in Spain and Sicily, almonds became established throughout southern Europe. By the 9th–10th centuries, almond-based dishes appear in Arabic medical and culinary texts, praised both for flavor and for their gentle, “cooling” effect in humoral medicine.

Almonds on the Move: From Orchard to Feast Table

• Italy & France: Almonds were cultivated in Mediterranean orchards and imported inland. French and Italian manuscripts from the 13th–14th centuries make frequent use of almond milk in sauces, custards, and pottages.
• England & Germany: By the late Middle Ages, almonds were arriving in northern ports like London, Lübeck, and Hamburg. They were expensive imports, sometimes listed alongside spices and sugar in customs rolls. Their cost gave them a dual role: practical (for fast days) but also a marker of wealth and status when used lavishly in feasts.
• Monastic & noble kitchens: Monasteries, bound by fasting rules, relied heavily on almond milk. Nobles embraced it for both practical and prestigious reasons, often specifying “thick” almond milk in their cookery books.

In this way, the humble almond traveled thousands of miles — from Asian orchards to English feasting halls — and almond milk became one of the most common “dairy substitutes” in medieval Europe.

Why Almond Milk Was Essential

• Religious fasting: Animal milk was prohibited on fast days. Almond milk allowed cooks to create “dairy-like” dishes during Lent and other observances.
• Shelf life: Fresh cow’s milk spoiled quickly. Almonds, stored dry, could be turned into fresh milk on demand.
• Status & luxury: Almonds were imported and costly, signaling refinement at noble tables.
• Versatility: Used in both savory and sweet contexts — soups, sauces, blancmange, custards, even beverages.

Almonds & Humoral Theory

In Galenic medicine, almonds were considered “hot and moist.” Almond milk, tempered with water, was thought gentler on the stomach than cow’s milk and was prescribed for the sick or those with delicate digestion. This idea echoes modern perceptions of almond milk as “lighter” and easier to digest.

How It Was Made

Medieval almond milk was made almost exactly as we do today:

1. Soak whole almonds, then grind them to a paste with a mortar and pestle.
2. Mix with warm water, wine, or broth depending on the recipe.
3. Strain through cloth to produce a smooth liquid.

The ratio determined the thickness. Recipes often call for “thick” almond milk when a rich base was needed, or a thinner version for soups and sauces. Sweetening with sugar, honey, or rosewater was common, while savory versions might use broth or even wine.

Uses in Medieval Cookery

• Savory: In sauces like Rapeye, in fish pottages, or as the base for meatless soups.
• Sweet: In blancmange, rice puddings, and custards.
• Feasts: Almond milk was prepared in large quantities ahead of service — much like we buy cartons today.

Then & Now

The parallels are striking:

• Medieval: fasting, shelf-stable, luxury, versatile.
• Modern: vegan/dairy-free, shelf-stable cartons, premium organic blends, versatile in cooking.

What was once a Lenten necessity has become a café staple.

Rose Conserve – Medieval Sugared Petals for Heart & Spirit

Rose conserve — my original 2017 photo, refreshed here with updated notes and historical context.

Originally published: October 2, 2017 • Updated: September 19, 2025

Rose Conserve – A Medieval Confection of Petals & Sugar

Rose conserve — also called conserva rosarum — is a perfumed paste of fresh rose petals pounded with sugar. It sits right on the border of food and medicine: sweet enough for the banquet table, soothing enough to appear in apothecary lists. Cool, fragrant, and very old-fashioned in the best way.

To Stew Shrimps – A 17th-Century Dish from Robert May’s Accomplisht Cook (1660)

To Stew Shrimps – A 17th-Century Dish from The Accomplisht Cook (c. 1660)

To Stew Shrimps being taken out of their shells – The Accomplisht Cook (c. 1660)

Source: The Accomplisht Cook, c. 1660 (Robert May). 

Originally published 10/29/2017. Updated 9/19/2025.

Historical & Culinary Context

This shrimp dish comes from Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook, one of the most influential English cookbooks of the seventeenth century. First published in 1660, May’s work reflects both medieval traditions and the growing influence of Continental cuisine, especially French and Italian. His recipes were intended for professional cooks serving aristocratic and gentry households, showcasing both practicality and elegance.

Stewed shellfish such as shrimp, cockles, and prawns appear often in May’s book. They were common at English tables, especially in the second course of a banquet or feast, where lighter, more refined dishes were expected after heavier meats. The use of capers, wine, and butter in this recipe signals a clear French influence, blending sharp and savory flavors into a delicate sauce.

🍽️ Menu Placement

Dishes like To Stew Shrimps would likely appear in the second course of a formal meal, accompanying poultry, lighter meats, and vegetable preparations. Served on toast, it could also function as a transitional dish between heavier roasts and sweet entremets.

Humoral Theory

According to Galenic humoral theory still in use during May’s time, shellfish such as shrimp were considered cold and moist. To balance this, cooks paired them with warming, dry ingredients like mace, garlic, pepper, and toasted bread. The addition of vinegar and wine also sharpened and “opened” the dish, believed to aid digestion of the otherwise heavy shellfish.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

• Shrimp: Fresh or raw “peel-and-eat” shrimp work well. Pre-shelled shrimp save effort when cooking for a crowd.
• Wine: May’s recipe calls for claret, a light red wine. A dry white wine works beautifully in the modern kitchen.
• Capers: Add sharpness. Substitute chopped green olives if unavailable.
• Mace: The lacy outer covering of nutmeg. Substitute nutmeg in smaller quantity if mace is unavailable.
• Bread: Stale white bread was traditional. Any crusty white loaf or baguette makes a good toast base.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free breadcrumbs and bread rounds.
• Dairy-Free: Replace butter with olive oil or dairy-free margarine.
• Allergens: Contains shellfish, eggs, and gluten unless substitutions are made.

Original Recipe (1660)

Wash them well with vinegar, broil or broth them before you take them out of the shells, then put them in a dish with a little claret, vinegar, a handful of capers, mace, pepper, a little grated bread, minced tyme, salt, and the yolks of two or three hard eggs minced, stew all together till you think them enough; then put in a good piece of butter, shake them well together, heat the dish, rub it with a clove of garlick, and put two or three toasts of white bread in the bottom, laying the meat on them. Craw-fish, prawns, or shrimps, are excellent good the same way being taken out of their shells, and make variety of garnish with the shells.

Apple & Curd Pancakes (1682) — A Fryed Meate in Haste for the Second Course

A Fryed Meate (Pancakes) in Haste for the Second Course (The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected, 1682)

A Fryed Meate in Haste for the Second Course — apple & curd pancakes finished with sugar.

Originally published 10/29/2017 - updated 9/17/2025

 In late 17th-century English cookery, “meat” can simply mean food/dish, not specifically animal flesh. This recipe from The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected (1682) makes quick, delicate apple-and-curd pancakes scented with rosewater, sack (fortified wine), cinnamon, and nutmeg. It’s a natural fit for a brunch or as a sweet course between heavier roasts. I originally made these for our Curia Regis Brunch set—now updated to my modern format.

Source: The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected (1682) — “A Fryed Meate (Pancakes) in Haste for the Second Course.”

Original Text (1682)

Take a pint of curds made tender of morning milk, pressed clean from the Whey, put to them one handful of flour, six eggs, casting away three whites, a little rosewater, sack, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and two pippins minced small, beat this all together into a thick batter, so that it may not run abroad; if you want wherewith to temper it add cream; when they are fried, scrape on sugar and send them up; if this curd be made with sack, as it may as well as with rennet, you may make a pudding with the whey thereof.

Notes: “Pippins” = firm cooking apples. “Sack” ≈ fortified white wine (e.g., dry sherry). “Curds” today map neatly to drained cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese.

Modern Recipe — Apple & Curd Pancakes (makes ~12 small)

From Sauce to Aspic – The 500-Year Journey of Galentyne → Galantine

From hot medieval sauce to elegant cold aspic — the shifting identity of galentyne/galantine.

What’s in a name? Few dishes illustrate the transformations of European cuisine as vividly as galentyne. In the 14th century, it meant a spiced, bread-thickened sauce for meats or fish. By the 19th century, galantine had become a boned, stuffed, aspic-set cold dish — a centerpiece of French haute cuisine. Here we trace that remarkable journey across 500 years, with original recipes and modern adaptations.

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Medieval Origins (14th–15th c.)

Harleian MS. 279 (England, c.1430): Fyletes in Galentyne is one of the best known. Pork is roasted, cut up, and stewed with onions, pepper, ginger, bread, and vinegar, finished with blood or sanders for color.

“Take fayre porke of the fore quarter, and rost hit tyl hit be almost ynogh; … and colour hit with blode, or elles with sandres, and then lat hit boyle up wel, and serve it forth.”

See the full recipe in our updated Fyletes in Galentyne post.

Entremets — The Forgotten Medieval Course

Entremets — The Forgotten Medieval Course Between Pottage and Roast

Paolo Veronese, The Feast in the House of Levi (1573), Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Updated: 2025-09-11 · Labels: Entremet · Feast Planning · Historical Cooking · Medieval · Renaissance

Modern feast menus often jump from a pottage or soup straight to roasts. Historically, diners expected something between. The entremet (Old French: “between-dish”) served as a bridge between heavy services, offering refreshment, surprise, and sometimes outright spectacle. This post explains the term’s origins, how it functioned, where it went, and practical ways to revive it in today’s feasts.

Etymology & Early References

Entremet derives from Old French (entre + mettre/mettre “to place/send in between”), literally a dish interposed between services. The concept appears prominently in 14th‑century French sources such as Le Viandier and later in Le Ménagier de Paris; in English material (e.g., Harleian MS. 279, c.1430) you find dishes that likely filled the same role, even when not labeled “entremet.”

Function of the Entremet

• Pacing & Palate Reset: a light interlude after dense pottages or fish and before the roasts.
• Spectacle & Surprise: color shifts, unusual textures, disguised forms, molded shapes.
• Status & Seasonality: ingredients like saffron, sugar, almonds signal wealth and trade access; colors and motifs reflect seasonal/religious themes.

Entremet vs. Soteltie (Subtlety)

Aspect	Entremet	Soteltie / Subtlety
Purpose	Culinary surprise between services; light refreshment	Edible (or semi‑edible) display; allegory, heraldry, pageant
Form	Real dishes: rice, fritters, jellies, fruit, delicate pottages	Sculpted pastry/sugar/marzipan; sometimes inedible components
Placement	Between major courses (e.g., after fish/pottage, before roasts)	Also between courses, but primarily ceremonial/representational
Examples	Blawnche Perrye; colored rice; almond jelly; small fritters	Heraldic beasts; castles; motto banners; sugar tableaux

Historical Examples

• Blawnche Perrye — a light, pale pottage; visually striking early in a feast.
• Colored rice — saffron‑gold, parsley‑green, or spiced rice for contrast.
• Fritters — rice or fruit fritters served in small bites.
• Jellies — molded almond or wine jellies; multicolored effects.
• Disguised dishes — meats/fish presented in altered forms for surprise.

Regional Variations of the Entremet

While the entremet began in French courtly dining, the idea of a “between dish” spread widely. Each region adapted the form to local tastes, ingredients, and cultural priorities.

France

In sources such as Le Viandier and Le Ménagier de Paris (14th c.), entremets often took spectacular form — multicolored jellies, stuffed or disguised animals, and occasional allegorical displays.

England

English manuscripts like Harleian MS. 279 (~1430) present plainer entremets: light pottages (e.g., Blawnche Perrye), spiced rice, or oyster dishes — emphasizing humoral balance over pageantry.

Italy

Italian masters (Maestro Martino, Scappi) blurred entremets with refined lighter courses: almond milk dishes, sugared rice, small pasta or vegetable preparations with elegant presentation.

Spain & Catalonia

Texts such as Llibre de Coch (1520) show sweet‑leaning entremets — almond pastes, candied fruits, spiced rice — foreshadowing dessert traditions.

Germany

German Speisebücher and later works (e.g., Anna Wecker, 1598) feature Zwischenspeisen (“between‑dishes”): saffron or parsley‑colored rice, Sülze (bright fish/meat jellies), and fritters like Krapfen or Strauben — practical, colorful, and texturally contrasting.

Comparison at a Glance

Region	Style	Typical Entremets
France	Spectacle & allegory	Multicolored jellies; disguised animals; displays
England	Plain & balancing	Light pottages; Blawnche Perrye; spiced rice; oysters
Italy	Refined & sweet‑leaning	Almond milk dishes; sugared rice; elegant vegetables/pasta
Spain	Sweet & aromatic	Candied fruit; almond pastes; sweet rice
Germany	Practical & colorful	Saffron/parsley rice; Sülze; fritters (Krapfen, Strauben)

Cultural Implications of the Entremet

• Status & Wealth: saffron, sugar, and almonds advertised trade connections and prosperity.
• Hospitality & Generosity: an “extra” dish beyond necessity signaled refined care for guests.
• Symbolism & Allegory: colors, shapes, and motifs could project heraldry, virtues, or politics.
• Religious Context: on fast days, almond/fish/rice entremets expressed piety while keeping celebration.
• Urban vs. Rural: princely or guild feasts layered multiple entremets; smaller households scaled with fruit or fritters.

Techniques & Ingredients for Recreating Historical Entremets Today

Coloring & Flavoring

• Saffron for gold; spinach/parsley juice for green; beet/red wine for red‑purple.
• Pouder douce/forte-inspired spice mixes (cinnamon, ginger, grains of paradise/pepper, clove) for warming balance.

Texture & Setting

• Gelatin sheets as a modern stand‑in for isinglass; almond milk (unsweetened) for dairy‑free jellies/pottages; rice flour for smooth thickening.
• Use silicone molds or small ramekins for easy unmolding and portion control.

Service & Plating

• Keep portions amuse‑bouche to tasting‑spoon size.
• Serve on trenchers or small plates for visual “in‑between” cues.
• Contrast color/temperature with adjacent courses (e.g., warm saffron rice after a cool fish pottage).

How Preparation & Serving Evolved Across Cultures

• France: 14th‑c. courtly showpieces; by 17th‑c. service à la française, “entremets” shifts toward plated side dishes (vegetables/sweets).
• England: lighter, balancing dishes early on; later, subtleties dominate the between‑course spectacle while “entremet” as a named category fades.
• Italy: refined palate‑cleansers in Martino/Scappi; drift toward sweet course traditions.
• Germany: practical Zwischenspeisen (colored rice, Sülze, fritters) persist as pacing devices; concept echoes into modern zwischenmahlzeiten (snacks).
• Spain/Catalonia: sweet, aromatic dishes bridge to the rise of post‑meal desserts.

Social & Political Implications of Elaborate Entremets

• Political messaging: allegorical colors/figures could reinforce heraldry, dynastic claims, or alliances.
• Diplomatic theatre: multiple entremets broadcast wealth and organizational prowess to envoys/guests.
• Religious signalling: fast‑day almond/rice/fish displays piety + generosity.
• Guild identity: urban companies used entremets to rival noble display and celebrate craft prosperity.
• Class contrast: layering “extras” underlined hierarchy where common tables had few courses.

Modern Feast Planning: Reviving the Entremet

• Pick one small, high‑impact dish (colored rice, fritter, molded jelly).
• Plate for contrast (color/temperature/texture) and keep portions small.
• Mind humoral balance: pair cold‑moist (oysters, almond milk) with warming spices (ginger, pepper).
• Leverage dietary wins: many entremets are naturally GF/DF; offer a vegan variant where sensible.

🍽️ Entremet Examples on Give it Forth

• Orenges after the Portugall Fashion – preserved and stuffed citrus
• Gelo in Bocconcini di più Colori – jewel-like multi-colored jellies
• Bolas (Poached Pears in Plum Sauce) – fruit course with sauce
• Spanish Wedges – elegant 17th-c. sweet entremet
• Blawnche Perrye – creamy almond & fish dish, often served between courses

FAQ: Does a Modern Galantine Count as an Entremet?

Sometimes. If served as a small, decorative “between” dish (rather than as part of the roast service), a galantine can function as an entremet. Keep portions modest and presentation striking; otherwise it reads as a main meat course.

Sources & Further Reading

• Le Viandier (14th c.) — early entremet references.
• Le Ménagier de Paris (c. 1393) — household menus with entremet-like items.
• Harleian MS. 279 (c. 1430) — English recipes including light pottages and oysters.
• Maestro Martino, The Art of Cooking — refined Italian inter-course dishes.
• Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera — elegant entremet examples in Renaissance service.
• Anna Wecker, Ein Köstlich new Kochbuch (1598) — German Zwischenspeisen.
• Llibre de Coch (1520, Catalonia) — sweet/aromatic entremet traditions.