12 Items at a Feast of Henry VIII

How stuff works ^

[DallasBiff]

Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 until his death in 1547, was known for his voracious appetite. Portraits of Henry show a man almost as wide as he was tall. When he wasn't marrying, divorcing, or beheading his wives (he was on his sixth marriage when he died at age 58), this medieval ruler dined like a glutton.

He enjoyed banquets so much that he extended the kitchen of Hampton Court Palace to fill 55 rooms. The 200 members of the kitchen staff provided meals of up to 14 courses for the 600 people in the king's court. Here are some dishes served at a typical feast.

1. Spit-Roasted Meat

Spit-roasted meat -- usually a pig or boar -- was eaten at every meal. It was an expression of extreme wealth because only the rich could afford fresh meat year-round; only the very rich could afford to roast it, since this required much more fuel than boiling; and only the super wealthy could pay a "spit boy" to turn the spit all day. In a typical year, the royal kitchen served 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 760 calves, 1,870 pigs, and 53 wild boar. That's more than 14,000 large animals, meaning each member of the court was consuming about 23 animals every year.

2. Grilled Beavers' Tails

These tasty morsels were particularly popular on Fridays, when according to Christian tradition, it was forbidden to eat meat. Rather conveniently, medieval people classified beavers as fish.

3. Whale Meat

Another popular dish for Fridays, whale meat was fairly common and cheap, due to the plentiful supply of whales in the North Sea, each of which could feed hundreds of people. It was typically served boiled or very well roasted.

4. Whole Roasted Peacock

[Bratch]

… I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made… 

- Full lyrics

[SunkenCiv]

Food in Antiquity: A Survey of the Diet of Early Peoples
(Part of the Ancient Peoples and Places Series)
by Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/food-in-antiquity-a-survey-of-the-diet-of-early-peoples_patricia-brothwell_don-brothwell/1463594/

(with a name like Brothwell, it’s gotta be good ;^)

[MD Expat in PA]

By Max Miller? I subscribe to his You Tube channel. His videos are fantastic.

[MotorCityBuck]

Bet you miss the human bonfires.

[MotorCityBuck]

+1
Great song by the way.

[mewzilla]

Not a fan of marzipan??

No Battenberg cake for you, nick!

(more for me, then, heh heh heh...)

[SamAdams76]

I'm the same. I'm an adventurous eater who will try almost anything at least once.

Every item listed here on Henry VIII's feast menu is something I would try (and probably like). I have no problem with internal animal organs at all and don't understand why people are squeamish about them. Whenever I cook a whole turkey at home, I always call dibs on the bag of giblets in the bird cavity. If I'm the one cooking the turkey, I'll push them to the very back of the cavity (removing them from the bag of course) and then add the stuffing. Then, when removing the stuffing after cooking, I'll scoop those giblets out the the back and reserve them for my own plate. I never get competition for those except the family dog.

The description of black pudding was interesting (and I'd try that as well). People in America think of pudding as a sugary sweet smooth dessert as that promoted by Bill Cosby for Jello Pudding. But the British would call that custard. Their pudding is typically meat based and cooked like a sausage. It could even function as a main dish as opposed to a dessert, depending on what ingredients are used, such as the steak and kidney pudding with rich Guinness gravy pictured below.

This looks really good.

[SamAdams76]

[nickcarraway]

In Britain, a pudding can refer to any any dessert, not just what we think of in the U.S.

[KierkegaardMAN]

Wow.They used to throw babies up in the air in front of their mothers and catch them on their swords. The devil lusts for the blood of the innocents.

[MotorCityBuck]

Copy and pasted from WW1 propaganda. Real deep dive. 🤡🤡🤡
Take care.

[KierkegaardMAN]

The practice was real. Attributed to the Tartars originally. Although most likely spears not swords. Will Durant is a reliable source.

[MotorCityBuck]

I like Durant. One of many I have found interesting over the years.

[KierkegaardMAN]

Yeah, I have his complete history of Western civilization.
Paper is good. When so-called virtual ‘reality’ goes ‘poof’, great books will be golden, along with a l c o h o l, t o b a c c o and f i r e a r m s.