Henry VIII , who ruled England from 1509 until his destruction in 1547 , was know for his rapacious appetency . portrait of Henry show a man almost as wide as he was tall . When he was n’t marrying , divorcing , or beheading his wives ( he was on his sixth wedding when he break down at age 58 ) , this chivalric ruler din like a glutton .
He bask banquets so much that he extended the kitchen of Hampton Court Palace to fill 55 rooms . The 200 appendage of the kitchen staff provide meal of up to 14 courses for the 600 people in the king ’s court . Here are some mantrap served at a typical feast .
1. Spit-Roasted Meat
spitting - roasted meat – unremarkably a bull or Sus scrofa – was eaten at every meal . It was an expression of uttermost wealthiness because only the rich could afford overbold kernel year - round ; only the very ample could afford to roast it , since this required much more fuel than stewing ; and only the super flush could give a " spit boy " to turn the spit all day . In a typical year , the royal kitchen served 1,240 wild ox , 8,200 sheep , 2,330 cervid , 760 calf , 1,870 pig bed , and 53 wild boar . That ’s more than 14,000 large fauna , intend each member of the motor lodge was consume about 23 beast every yr .
2. Grilled Beavers' Tails
These tasty morsels were specially popular on Fridays , when according to Christian tradition , it was forbidden to eat meat . Rather conveniently , medieval people classified beavers as fish .
3. Whale Meat
Another popular dish for Fridays , whalemeat was middling common and tawdry , due to the plentiful supply of whales in the North Sea , each of which could feed hundreds of hoi polloi . It was typically function boil or very well roasted .
4. Whole Roasted Peacock
This discretion was suffice dressed in its own iridescent drab plume ( which were plucked , then replaced after the bird had been cooked ) , with its schnozzle gilded in gold leaf .
5. Internal Organs
If you ’re nice , halt reading now . gothic cooks did n’t believe in wasting any part of an animal , and in fact , inner electric organ were often consider as delicacies . Beef lungs , lien , and even udder were considered fit for a king and were usually keep up in brine or vinegar .
On the next page , our inclination of items at a feast of Henry VIII continues with Black Pudding .
Items at a Feast of Henry VIII, 6-12
Here is the rest of our item at a feast of Henry VIII , which includes roasted swan and zest fruit cake for special occasion .
6. Black Pudding
Another popular dish antenna – still served in parts of England – was black pudding . This blimp is made by fill a length of pig ’s intestine with the animal ’s boil , set blood .
7. Boar’s Head
A boar ’s psyche , garnished with bay and rosemary , serve as the centerpiece of Christmas feast . It for sure outdoes a flowered presentation .
8. Roasted Swan
Roasted swan was another delicacy reserved for particular occasions , largely because swans were regarded as too noble and dignified for everyday consumption . The bird was often presented to the table with a gold treetop upon its head . To this day , English law stipulates that all mute swans are owned by the Crown and may not be eat without permission from the Queen .
9. Vegetables
Perhaps the only type of nutrient Henry and his court did n’t exhaust to overindulgence was vegetables , which were see as the food of the poor and made up less than 20 percent of the royal diet .
10. Marzipan
A library paste made from background almonds , lettuce , and egg Andrew Dickson White and flavor with cinnamon and Piper nigrum , marzipan was once in a while dish up at the conclusion of a repast , although desserts were n’t common in England until the eighteenth C when incredibly elaborate sugar sculptures became popular among the aristocracy .
11. Spiced Fruitcake
The exception to the no sweet rule was during the Twelfth Night spread on January 6 , when a particular spiced fruitcake hold back a dry out pea ( or bean ) was served . Whoever establish the pea plant would be king or queen of the pea plant ( or bean ) and was treated as a guest of pureness for the remainder of the evening .
12. Wine and Ale
All this food for thought was washed down with tremendous quantities of wine and ale . historian estimate that 600,000 congius of ale ( enough to meet an Olympian - size swimming pool ) and around 75,000 gal of wine ( enough to fill 1,500 bathtubs ) were intoxicated every yr at Hampton Court Palace .
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen Davies , Marjorie Dorfman , Mary Fons , Deborah Hawkins , Martin Hintz , Linnea Lundgren , David Priess , Julia Clark Robinson , Paul Seaburn , Heidi Stevens , and Steve Theunissen
