Medieval Feast

 

Medieval Feast

 

Medieval Banquet

Medieval Banquet

Step back into history get Medieval facts and information about the types of food in Medieval Times

Medieval Feast

  • Medieval Food, period, life, age and times
  • Medieval Food and Diet
  • Different types of Medieval Food
  • Foreign influences on Medieval Food
  • Medieval meals, cooking and Medieval recipes
  • Medieval Times - Medieval Feast
  • Information for research into Medieval Food
  • Medieval Feast

 

 

Medieval Feast

Facts and interesting information about Medieval Food and meals,
specifically,
Medieval Feast

Medieval Feast
We have all heard about the extravagant feasts of the Medieval era. A menu for a feast of the wealthy was extensive, but only small portions were taken. Social etiquette  dictated that an extensive choice of foods should be made available at a Medieval feast. A  change in society had  emerged during the Medieval era when travel, prompted by the Crusades, led to a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. This cultural change extended to food preparation and presentation resulting in fabulous food arrangements with exotic colors and flavorings - especially when preparing a Medieval feast which was fit for a king.

Serving the Medieval Feast
Serving the Medieval Feast took careful planning, hard work and organisation:

  • The different foods required for the Medieval feast were usually entrusted to the squires of the kitchen, and were chosen, purchased, and paid for by one or more of these officials, assisted by the cooks
  • The dishes for the feast were prepared by the cooks and were placed by the esquires on dressers in the kitchen
  • At the start of the Medieval feast the food was carried to the tables in the Great Hall of the castle
  • The Great Table was set on a dais which was strictly reserved for the persons of distinction
  • Guests were shown to their seats after washing their hands at the entrance of the Great Hall
  • Buffets - these were a series of wooden planks with a number of stepped shelves. The number of shelves indicated rank - the more shelves the higher the rank
  • 'Stepped Buffets' were covered with rich drapes and assembled for use at the Medieval Feast
  • The finest plates of gold or silver were displayed on the 'Buffet' and servants served from them
  • The Medieval feast consisted of three, four, five, and even six courses
  • The main courses were sometimes made to imitate a sort of theatrical representation
  • Coloured jellies of swans, of peacocks, or of pheasants adorned with their feathers, having the beak and feet gilt, were served as a speciality and placed on the middle of the table on a sort of pedestal

French Medieval Feast
The historian of French cookery, Legrand d'Aussy, describes a great feast given in 1455 by the Count of Anjou, the third son of King Louis II of Sicily. This description illustrates the theatrical representation of the Medieval feast:

  • On the table was placed a centre-piece, which represented a green lawn, surrounded with large peacocks' feathers and green branches, to which were tied violets and other sweet-smelling flowers
  • In the middle of this lawn a fortress was placed, covered with silver
  • The fortress was hollow, and formed a sort of cage, in which several live birds were shut up, their tufts and feet being gilt
  • On its tower, which was gilt, three banners were placed
  • The first course consisted of a civet of hare, a quarter of stag which had been a night in salt, a stuffed chicken, and a loin of veal
  • The two last dishes were covered with a German sauce, with gilt sugar-plums, and pomegranate seeds
  • At each end, outside the green lawn, was an enormous pie, surmounted with smaller pies, which formed a crown. The crust of the large pies were silvered all round and gilt at the top. Each pie contained a whole roe-deer, a gosling, three capons, six chickens, ten pigeons, one young rabbit, and, no doubt to serve as seasoning or stuffing, a minced loin of veal, two pounds of fat, and twenty-six hard-boiled eggs, covered with saffron and flavoured with cloves
  • For the three following courses of the feast there was a roe-deer, a pig, a sturgeon cooked in parsley and vinegar, and covered with powdered ginger
  • A kid goat, two goslings, twelve chickens, as many pigeons, six young rabbits, two herons, a leveret, a fat capon stuffed, four chickens covered with yolks of eggs and sprinkled with spice, a wild boar, some wafers and stars
  • A jelly, part white and part red, representing the crests of the honored guests
  • Cream covered with fennel seeds and preserved in sugar
  • A white cream, cheese in slices, and strawberries
  • And, lastly, plums stewed in rose-water
  • Besides these four courses, there was a fifth, entirely composed of the prepared wines then in vogue, and of preserves. These consisted of fruits and various sweet pastries
  • It was indeed a Medieval feast which was fit for a king

Medieval Feast
The Medieval Times website provides interesting facts, history and information about Medieval times including Medieval Feast. The Medieval Times Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts about the fascinating subject of the lives of the people who lived during the historical period of the Middle Ages. The content of this article on Medieval life and times provides free educational details, facts and information for reference and research for schools, colleges and homework for history courses and history coursework.

 

 

Medieval Times - Medieval Feast

  • Medieval Food, period, life, age and times
  • Medieval Food and Diet
  • Different types of Medieval Food
  • Foreign influences on Medieval Food
  • Medieval meals, cooking and Medieval recipes
  • Medieval Times - Medieval Feast
  • Information for research into Medieval Food
  • Medieval Feast

Helpful information for history courses and history coursework - Read History Books - Medieval Society - Realms - Medival - Lives - Medival Era and Period - Medieval Feast - History - Foods - Meals - Cooking - Medieval Recipes - Spices - Information - Facts - Info - Medieval Period - Medieval - Middle Ages Food - Dark Ages - Information about Medieval Feast - Medieval Feast Facts - Medieval Feast Info - Medieval Times - Medieval Feast - Foods - Meals - Cooking - Medieval Recipes - Spices - Medival Era and Period - History Channel DVDs - Written By Linda Alchin