SC - war food

[Wendy]

- -Poster: Elysant <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>

Some more info on taverns.  Although again, I don't know how old these tavern 
practices are (my mother remembers this from when she was a child).  There 
was a tavern open early for the early morning workers in the port in the 
nearest town to my home village in Wales (Swansea).  They'd have several 
different meats available there for the workers, - a beef roast, a leg of 
lamb, and some black sausage, as well as pies and crusty bread.  "Everything 
was on the counter and covered with tea towels....  They'd slice off what you 
wanted, and you'd eat it with a big thick chunk of the bread.  The pies were 
pork pies, steak and kidney pies, and veal and ham pie".  

BTW re: the Veal and Ham Pie.  

Here's what I know about it.  The pie was made in a loaf tin. The pastry 
crust was made with a hot vs cold water pastry method.  After rolling the 
pastry out, a bottom/side crust was cut and placed into the tin.  Then a 
layer of the chopped up veal and ham mixture was put in the bottom and 
pressed down firmly. A row of hard boiled eggs was added, end to end, "like a 
train" and more of the meat mixture was added around and covering the eggs, 
and up to almost the top of the dish. the filling was pressed down firmly,  
the top crust was added, sealed around the edges etc., brushed with beaten 
egg and the pie was baked.  To serve, it was cooled, turned out upside down, 
and sliced like a loaf of bread.     

Does anyone have an actual recipe with a proper ingredient list etc. for this 
type of pie I wonder?  It seems to be in the same family as a pork pie.

Elysant


 
>>"Lainie asks:
>>>	A question came up the other day in my Chaucer seminar- and
>>>everyone looked at me because they know I'm into medieval food- but I
>>>really didn't have a decent answer- and the question was:
>>>
>>>	What did they serve at the Tabard Inn?
>>>
>>>	My best guess was sausage, cheese, bread, ale, wine, maybe pies.
>>>Does anyone else have ideas about tavern food?
>
>>According to the travel journals of Alexander Neckham in Paris, taverns
>>would often cook whatever foodstuffs the travelers brought with them
>>(picked up in the market just around the corner, say), for a small fee. He
>>talks about buying a chicken, having the goodwife cook it, and after dining
>>on it, he stuffs the leftovers in his wallet to eat on the road.
>>
>>Margery Kemp describes carefully how she had to provision herself for her
>>journeys to the holy land, even on shipboard.
>>
>>I'm wondering how medieval the concept of a tavern where you can buy a full
>>meal is? Or even if there's a hunk of meat you can buy a slab off of, how
>>common was it to have more than one choice available? I know the
>>"restaurant" is a fairly modern concept...
>
>>what do other folks think?
>
>I don't know how period and documentable these would be as tavern food, 
>(anyone know)?  but pickled eggs, and pickled onions (probably too modern) 
>are often served in pubs.  I've also seen Faggots and mushy peas, and pork 
>pies. Also pork scratchings.  
>
>Elysant
>
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