[Sca-cooks] Feast for Catherine 1549

[James Chevallier]

Interesting accounts for a feast given for Queen Catherine by the Bishop of Paris in 1549.

Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France.... 1re série. Tome 3e
p 417

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6258907j/f435.image.r=festin?rk=21459;2

It is striking that the items include pasties (pies) and items for roasts, as well as a number of dessert pastries, but no sign of any chef (queu) or finer dishes such as brouets or their later equivalents.

Interesting too that the fragrant waters used include medlar water, which I've never seen mentioned before. Also first time I've seen turkey broken out as cock or hen in a meal. It's fun that the pastries include crescent-shaped cakes, but these would have been exactly that, not the pastry we know today. The spices used are all ones considered standard today (no grain of paradise, cubeb, etc.).


jC


Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com