People were skilled at eating neatly with their hands, and in wealthy households they were provided with large linen napkins. The solid foods were often served on top of slices of bread to catch the juices, and they were eaten with the fingers, not with the spoon or knife.įorks did not appear on medieval tables. They ate solid foods from plates, using small, sharp table knives to cut the food into small pieces. People drank from cups and ate their soups and stews from bowls using spoons. What kind of tableware would have been used in a wealthy medieval household? It was often served with sweet or savory wafers – very thin, delicate, crisp cookies made in a “wafering iron,” which was similar to the krumkake iron still used in Norwegian cookery. Those who could afford it used honey, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and other spices to make a spiced wine called hypocras (or ypocras), which was the favorite after-dinner drink of wealthy households, comparable to a fine liqueur today. The imported wine didn’t keep especially well and was often quite sour. In England, however, spices and wine were very expensive because they were all imported. Medieval Europeans craved sugar and other spices. (Fruit pies did not appear until later, when pastry-making was transformed.) They could be roasted or poached, spiced and stuffed with raisins or currants. Some varieties of apples and pears could keep well for months. Seasonal berries and other fruits were beloved by all classes. Speaking of sweets, today we make so many it’s hard to avoid them. The last course included light and sweet dishes, such as fritters, baked fruit and wafers. These might be accompanied by elegant, labor-intensive vegetable dishes, such as creamed leeks. The third course featured expensive delicacies, often spit-roasted, such as venison or other wild game tender meats such as lamb or veal or poultry, such as pigeons or geese. The elite diners would be served with fine-quality bread, ale and wine the servants and non-elite guests would be served with coarser bread, second-quality ale and no wine.įor the non-elite diners, the first two courses would comprise their entire meal, but the high-status diners would have been offered the full four courses. These might be served with boiled or braised seasonal vegetables, such as cabbage or spinach. On a “flesh day” (when meat-eating was allowed), the first course was always a hearty pottage (soup or stew), followed by grete flesshe – large, inexpensive joints of beef, mutton or pork, either roasted or boiled. In a wealthy household, a grand festive meal would have included four courses. Meat-eating was prohibited in medieval England on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, as a form of religious fasting.ĭinner, the main meal of the day, was eaten at midday. But those who could afford it ate lots of meat and poultry when the Catholic church allowed it. The turkey is native to the Americas, so there were no turkeys in medieval Europe. How would the menu have been different in medieval England? A medieval meal may have included a beef roast or capon chicken, creamed leeks, fine breads and a spiced sweet wine, called hypocras, which was served warm. Today, we often make a turkey or prime rib as the main course for Christmas dinner. Here, Carlin discusses what foods were eaten by masters and servants in wealthy English households, and how the food was prepared. Then, as now, she says, a festive meal was an essential part of the Christmas holidays. UWM historian Martha Carlin researches everyday life in medieval England, with special interests in London, food, shopping, the household and inns.
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