After looking through all the Tudor cookbooks we have in our libraries, I determined to cook something for the weekend - a feast perhaps. The Tudor Cookbook: From Gilded Peackock to Calves Feet Pie by Terry Breverton was perhaps slightly ambitious for a mainly vegetarian eater and after rejecting the porpoise and seal dishes I finally attempted the Spinach toastee.
It was easy getting the ingredients: spinach, egg yolk, raisins, ginger, cinnamon, orange juice, butter, sugar and bread. And once I changed the 'pressing between wooden boards' into draining, and the 'heating over open charcoal fire' to toasting - it was very easy to prepare.
Method: chop the spinach, fry the cinnamon and ginger in butter, add the spinach, raisins and juice of the orange, cook for a few minutes, add the egg yolk - stir and cook. Butter the toast, sprinkle with sugar, spread the spinach on top and grill for a few minutes.
I had to seriously cut down on the sugar - it was in the spinach, in the egg yolk, sprinkled on the butter on the toast and then finally sprinkled on top.
A picture of the results shows how healthy and modern it looked, and it tasted OK - 'interesting' said the family. Tudor cookery seems very adventurous - almost middle eastern in its mix of sweet and savoury. The peasants didn't eat the quantity of meat, spice and sugar in a lot of the recipes, this was food for the privileged few. The Church calendar was a huge influence on what could be eaten when, and perhaps most importantly the seasons - what could be found in the gardens and hedgerows at the time and what had been preserved. This is a treat of a book - and there are others to dip into to get a flavour of Tudor times -
How to be a Tudor: a dawn-to-dusk guide to everyday life- Goodman,Ruth
All the King's cooks: the Tudor kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace - Brears,Peter C.D
Everyday life in Tudor London - Porter,S.
I am going to try a pudding next - the family have been warned!
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