Next weekend will be the scene of feasts and festivities all over Britain, from street parties and village fêtes to palatial banquets and sold-out dinners in grand hotels as the nation celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
I thought long and hard about what meat to cook for my Elizabethan banquet- Frances Bissell
Those who do not remember what they ate on Coronation Day, or are too young to have been there, probably would not have liked it. Those who do remember will, if they are sensible, have no intention of repeating the experience.
It rained. Some foodstuffs were still rationed. Strong tea and fish paste sandwiches were the order of the day, not champagne and smoked salmon, unless, of course, you were a privileged guest at one of the many celebratory banquets.
At the state banquets held at Buckingham Palace you would have been served ‘tortue claire Sandringham’, ‘délices de sole Prince Charles’, ‘carré d’agneau à la Windsor’, and ‘boite de fraise Reine Elizabeth’, or, on the next day, ‘consommé St Georges’, ‘rosettes de saumon Edinburgh’, ‘filet de boeuf poelé Palais’ and ‘soufflés glacés Princesse Anne’.
When asked to develop some recipes to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, I decided to explore the kitchen of the first Elizabethans. Very good it was too; the food was colourful, imaginative, subtle, and full of flavour, just the kind of food we like to eat today in fact.
Without turning it into a slavishly ‘olde Englishe’ travesty, and, on the other hand, without poring over numerous scholarly works to get it right, you can easily create a feast for your friends with an Elizabethan flavour.
There might be one or two culinary howlers of the most obvious kind that you want to avoid, thus foiling the smirks of know-all guests. Potatoes were not yet part of the diet, although sweet potatoes were.
Tomatoes were not cultivated in southern Europe until the end of the 16th century, and we did not reckon much of them for some time after that. “The whole plant is of a rank and stinking savour”, wrote one critic, the fruit yielding “very little nourishment to the body”.
No death-by-chocolate cakes, truffles or mousses, I’m afraid, as our Elizabethan ancestors were not familiar with chocolate. Rhubarb was only used medicinally. We had no bananas until 1633 and no pineapples either until Cromwell’s day.
Strawberries were wild strawberries, which the prudent Elizabethan housewife would have dug up in the woodlands and transplanted in her own garden. Fish was plentiful, however, for the fishing industry thrived under Elizabeth I, who realised that it was a good training ground for seamen and a source of reserves come the Armada.
Thus, you can incorporate many different types of fish dishes in your menu. Perhaps try fillets of mackerel, salmon or other blue fish, cooked in a well-seasoned broth and then allowed to cool in it so that a light jelly forms. The predominant notes should be sweet, sour and spicy.
The sweetness would have come from dried fruit, the sourness from alegar or verjuice, the first made from beer, the other pressed from unripe grapes, for which you can substitute malt and cider vinegar respectively.
Cinnamon, ginger and pepper were widely used, albeit expensive in Elizabethan England, for the East India Company was not yet formed and the spices were bought from the Portuguese and Venetian traders.
An alternative fish dish would be a delicate salad of shellfish, such as winkles, cockles, crabmeat and shrimps with fresh herbs, small salad leaves and edible flowers. Locally caught prawns will work perfectly, and this is the best time of year for them.
Elaborate and beautiful salads were popular in the 16th century, and they would have been decorated with borage, violets, pinks, marigold petals and roses. Or you might like to try a dish of shellfish cooked in ale, quick and easy to cook, and serve it with pieces of toast, in shallow soup plates.
I thought long and hard about what meat to cook for my Elizabethan banquet. Turkey was a possibility, with a celery, herb and oyster stuffing, newly brought from the Americas.
But then I chose venison. For a large gathering, I would roast a larded haunch or a saddle, but two dishes I have cooked and liked very much are venison ‘allowes’, or olives, thin slices of lean meat, spread with a forcemeat, rolled and baked, and a venison and mushroom pie. This was particularly successful and I ‘stretched’ the venison with mushrooms and sausage meat. Readers will note how closely it resembles the Maltese braġoli.
English pastures were rich and dairy produce abundant in those days as today. Desserts would be cool and creamy, such as syllabubs, junkets and fools. I would also include a fresh cream cheese, mixed with chopped sage, marigold petals and seasoning.
Saffron and rosewater were popular as flavourings, both in sweet and savoury dishes, and I have used them in my biscuit recipe, combining them with other flavours used in Elizabethan times. They are perfect served with a tart fruit fool.
If you want to add more desserts, I would include a rosewater junket and a lemon syllabub or posset and a taffety tart, a recipe dating back to at least Elizabethan times; variations on the theme occur in cookbooks over a period of a hundred years or so.
The combination of lemon, rosewater and anis is exquisite and the tart very easy to make.