to see that the powdered and salted meats in
the larder were properly kept ; and vigilant
supervision was to be exercised over the cellar,
buttery, and other departments, even to the
prevention of paring the tallow lights.
Braithwaite dedicates a section to each
officer ; but I have only space to transcribe,
by way of sample, the opening portion of his
account of “ The Officer of the Kitchen
“ The Master-Cook should be a man of
years ; well-experienced, whereby the younger
cooks will be drawn the better to obey his
directions. In ancient times noblemen con-
tented themselves to be served with such as
had been bred in their own houses, but of
late times none could please some but
Italians and Frenchmen, or at best brought
up in the Court, or under London cooks :
nor would the old manner of baking, boiling,
and roasting please them, but the boiled
meats must be after the French fashion, the
dishes garnished about with sugar and pre-
served plums, the meat covered over with
orangeade, preserved lemons, and with divers
other preserved and conserved stuff fetched
42 Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp.
from the confectioner’s : more lemons and
sugar spent in boiling fish to serve at one
meal than might well serve the whole expense
of the house in a day.” He goes on to
describe and ridicule the new fashion of
placing arms and crests on the dishes. It
seems that all the refuse was the perquisite
of the cook and his subordinates in a regu-
lated proportion, and the same in the bakery
and other branches ; but, as may be supposed,
in these matters gross abuses were committed.
In the “Leisure Hour” for 1884 was
printed a series of papers on “ English Homes
in the Olden Times.” The eleventh deals
with service and wages, and is noticed here
because it affords a recital of the orders made
for his household by John Harington the
elder in 1566, and renewed by John Haring-
ton the younger, his son and High Sheriff of
Somersetshire, in 1592.
This code of domestic discipline for an
Elizabethan establishment comprises the
observance of decorum and duty at table,
and is at least as valuable and curious as
those metrical canons and precepts which
Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp. 43
form the volume (Babees’ Book) edited for
the Early English Text Society, etc.
There is rather too general a dislike on the
part of antiquaries to take cognisance of
matter inserted in popular periodicals upon
subjects of an archaeological character; but
of course the loose and flimsy treatment
which this class of topics as a rule receives in
the light literature of the day makes it perilous
to use information so forthcoming in evidence
or quotation. Articles must be rendered
palatable to the general reader, and thus
become worthless for all readers alike.
Most of the early descriptions and hand-
books of instruction turn, naturally enough,
on the demands and enjoyments of the great.
There is in the treatise of Walter de
Bibblesworth (14th century) a very interesting
and edifying account of the arrangement of
courses for some important banquet. The
boar’s head holds the place of honour in the
list, and venison follows, and various dishes
of roast. Among the birds to be served up
we see cranes, peacocks, swans, and wild
geese ; and of the smaller varieties, fieldfares,
44 Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp.
Page 13
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
to see that the powdered and salted meats in the larder were properly kept ; and vigilant supervision was to be exercised over the cellar, buttery, and other departments, even to the prevention of paring the tallow lights.
Braithwaite dedicates a section to each officer ; but I have only space to transcribe, by way of sample, the opening portion of his account of “ The Officer of the Kitchen “ The Master-Cook should be a man of years ; well-experienced, whereby the younger cooks will be drawn the better to obey his directions. In ancient times noblemen contented themselves to be served with such as had been bred in their own houses, but of late times none could please some but Italians and Frenchmen, or at best brought up in the Court, or under London cooks : nor would the old manner of baking, boiling, and roasting please them, but the boiled meats must be after the French fashion, the dishes garnished about with sugar and preserved plums, the meat covered over with orangeade, preserved lemons, and with divers other preserved and conserved stuff fetched
42 Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp.
from the confectioner’s : more lemons and sugar spent in boiling fish to serve at one meal than might well serve the whole expense of the house in a day.” He goes on to describe and ridicule the new fashion of placing arms and crests on the dishes. It seems that all the refuse was the perquisite of the cook and his subordinates in a regulated proportion, and the same in the bakery and other branches ; but, as may be supposed, in these matters gross abuses were committed.
In the “Leisure Hour” for 1884 was printed a series of papers on “ English Homes in the Olden Times.” The eleventh deals with service and wages, and is noticed here because it affords a recital of the orders made for his household by John Harington the elder in 1566, and renewed by John Harington the younger, his son and High Sheriff of Somersetshire, in 1592.
This code of domestic discipline for an Elizabethan establishment comprises the observance of decorum and duty at table, and is at least as valuable and curious as those metrical canons and precepts which
Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp. 43
form the volume (Babees’ Book) edited for the Early English Text Society, etc.
There is rather too general a dislike on the part of antiquaries to take cognisance of matter inserted in popular periodicals upon subjects of an archaeological character; but of course the loose and flimsy treatment which this class of topics as a rule receives in the light literature of the day makes it perilous to use information so forthcoming in evidence or quotation. Articles must be rendered palatable to the general reader, and thus become worthless for all readers alike.
Most of the early descriptions and handbooks of instruction turn, naturally enough, on the demands and enjoyments of the great. There is in the treatise of Walter de Bibblesworth (14th century) a very interesting and edifying account of the arrangement of courses for some important banquet. The boar’s head holds the place of honour in the list, and venison follows, and various dishes of roast. Among the birds to be served up we see cranes, peacocks, swans, and wild geese ; and of the smaller varieties, fieldfares,
44 Royal Feasts and Savage Pomp.