Peacock Re: [Sca-cooks] larding turkeys and other meats

[Daniel Myers]

On Monday, September 15, 2003, at 09:46 AM, <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>  
wrote:
>> Peacock was a status dish, it was eaten because you could afford to  
>> eat it,
>> not because you enjoy eating it. Very similar to eating swan, only  
>> the royalty
>> could eat swan because it was a royal bird ( at least in England).
>
> I've heard this before, but the statement makes me suspicious.  
> Certainly,
> all types of bird were eaten on a regular basis. And it may have been a
> status animal. But you have to wonder if people are jumping to
> conclusions..

I also wonder about it being a "status dish".  From those I've talked  
to who have raised them, peacocks are exceedingly easy to care for -  
much more so than chickens.

Also, a quick search for "swan" reveals an awful lot of recipes (and  
this is from only four period cookbooks), so I strongly suspect that  
its consumption was not limited to royalty.  One of the recipe notes  
even suggested serving swan as a side dish along with pheasants.

http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/ 
search.pl?term=swan&file=foc&file=lcc&file=lmdp&file=tfccb

- Doc


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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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