[Sca-cooks] Peacock

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

I'm going to quote part of a post I made back in 2006.  The author
mentioned is Enrique de Villena, and the book is "Arte de Cortar" (Art
of Carving), written in 1423.

Villena says that there are two ways to serve a roast peacock in its
finery.  The first is to roast it whole, with the still-attached tail
and neck wrapped in damp napkins to keep them from scorching.  The other
was is to remove the tail and cut off the neck, then re-attach them to
the roasted bird with splinters of wood.  For extra elegance (and
presumably to cover the marks of decapitation), the peacock's neck is
draped with a "mantellina" (little mantle or scarf) of velvet or
cloth-of-gold, painted with the king's arms.


Brighid ni Chiarain