YE OLD BLOG

Introduction of Elizabethan Cuisine

In the Elizabethan era, food was an essential and prominent aspect of life. Both upper classes and lower classes enjoyed the cuisine, and both cooked it. In fact, recipies back then were written without lists of ingredients or clear instructions because the person using them would most likely already have knowledge of cooking and cooking techniques. The popularity of food at the time sparked the creation of many creative recipes, some of which we still make today. You may be familiar with the lamb pasty, rice pudding, or chicken pie. There were also the recipes such as snow cream, boiled pigeons, and gooseberry hops that were probably delicacies at the time, but are not at all popular today. In fact, the people of the 16th and 17th centuries loved their food so much, they developed a system of categorizing bread. The system was called the Assise of Bread, and it organized bread by general appearance, texture, and weight based on the type of rye, grain, or wheat it was made of. They even ate spice breads on special occasions such as Christmas and Good Friday(these were made by adding aromatic spices such as ginger and cinnamon to normal bread).

 

Poorer Class Cuisine

The poor generally ate what they grew themselves. This consisted mainly of root vegetables, grains and breads, dried and cured fish, and ale. They sometimes may have owned a goat for cheese as well. Most of the time they ate pottage, which was a type of stew. This was just a way of combining the vegetables, bread, and fish into a large crock pot like container to simmer then eat. Pottage was eaten at almost every meal. Their cuisine may have seemed very bland, but once in awhile, on special holidays such as Good Friday and Christmas, they mad spice breads that were concocted of grains they already had, and maybe some imported aromatic accents such as ginger or cinnamon.

 

Upper Class Cuisine

The upper class diet consisted of similar main food groups, but they also had access to hunting, and eating larger game such as deer meat. They still ate root vegetables, dried fish, ale, and breads and grains. Their breads differed because the type of bread one ate was dependent on their class in society. Also, they did eat root vegetables, but only select types that the poorer classes ate. Back then, the term “vegetable” was not commonly used, and instead, people referred to all edible plants as ‘herbs”. Therefore, the upper class only ate herbs such as garlic, leeks, and onions. They mostly avoided herbs because things grown in the ground were considered too low for the nobility.

 

Fun Facts

Here are some medieval vegetables you may have never heard about.

• Borage - a blue-flowered plant with hairy leaves that tasted like cucumber used in Elizabethan salad recipes

• Galingale - an aromatic root and the main ingredient of galyntyne which was a pungent medieval sauce

• Hyssop - a blue-flowered plant of the mint family whose leaves cut the grease in fatty meats and fish

• Laver - an edible purple seaweed used in Elizabethan salad recipes

• Purslane - a plant with a pinkish fleshy stem and small, round leaves; the leaves were used as a potherb or in salads.

• St.John's-Wort - a plant with brownish stalks & narrow leaves which were used in Elizabethan salad recipes

 

Effects Of Cuisine

The cuisine of this era, and the creativity of the recipies was starting to flourish because trade at the time was begining to increase and give the people more access to exotic herbs and spices. The demand grew, which kept trade strong. Trade actually started around the time of the crusades, when Europe was renewing itself. The crusades gave way to much trade, including all of these spices, and suga They happened in the years 1099-1261, so they really allowed for some new interactions through Europe.

 

Gingerbread of the Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gingerbreads and other sweets were immensely popular at the time, and different spice powders were used in certain dishes.

spice powders included...

• “Good Powder” or the general name for ground spices

• “Strong Powder” or the name for ground ginger/ blend of cinnamon, mace, cubeb, pepper, clove

• “Sweet Powder”, or the name for ground aniseed, fennel seed, and nutmeg, lastly, “White Powder” for when powdered sugar was mixed with ginger.