All the King's Cooks (24 page)

1.
 
Parboil the liver, pound smooth in a mortar or food-processor, then stir in the remaining ingredients.

2.
 
Pack the mixture into the skins using a funnel, tie up the ends, and plunge the puddings into a large pot of boiling salted water, then simmer them for 30 minutes.

3.
 
Either serve hot, or store in a cool place for no more than two days, then eat them cold or fry until lightly browned.

Vegetables would also have been boiled in the hall-place kitchen, probably using very simple recipes such as this:
¹⁶

CABBAGE
¹⁶

1.
 
Simmer the vegetables and saffron in the stock for 20 minutes until just tender.

2.
 
Place the vegetables in a large dish, pour in a little of the stock, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve immediately.

RICE OF GENOA
¹⁷

Bring the stock to the boil, stir in the remaining ingredients, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring to prevent it from sticking and burning.

TO MAKE A CUSTARD
¹⁸

1
 
Scatter the raisins and dates across the base of the flan and bake at 180º C (350º F, gas mark 4) for 5 minutes.

2
 
Beat together the remaining ingredients, pour into the flan and continue baking for 25–30 minutes until set, then serve cold and sprinkled with comfits or small biscuits.

SPINACH FRITTERS
¹⁹

1.
 
Chop or blend the spinach, breadcrumbs and spices, and beat in enough egg to form a soft paste.

2.
 
Heat a little butter in a frying pan, drop in a tablespoon of the paste, spreading and levelling it with the back of a spoon and shaking the pan to ensure that it does not stick. Then fry on both sides and remove to a hot dish, continuing until all the mixture has been used.

3.
 
Serve sprinkled with sugar on a hot dish.

Meat Day Second Course Pottages

JELLY HIPPOCRAS
²⁰

1.
 
Lightly bruise the spices and gently simmer with the salt and 275ml (½ pt) water for 10 minutes.

2.
 
Pour half the claret into a jug, stir in the sugar and gelatin, then strain in the hot spiced liquid through a paper coffee-filter. Stir until the gelatin has dissolved, stir in the remaining claret, pour into a serving dish, and leave to set.

SERGEANT OF THE KING’S CREAM OF ALMONDS
²¹

1.
 
Blend the almonds with half the water until very smooth. Strain the liquid into a saucepan, blend the residue with the remaining water, and strain it into the pan once more.

2.
 
Heat the almond milk to the boil while stirring, pour in the vinegar, remove from the heat, and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

3.
 
Place a double layer of muslin across a bowl, pour in the curdled almond milk and hang it up to drain, squeezing gently to remove the surplus liquid.

4.
 
Turn the almond curd into a bowl, stir in the wine or rosewater and sugar, pour into a bowl, and serve with wafers.

Meat Day Second Course Dishes

ROAST PHEASANT
²²

1
 
Cut the bacon or pork into 4 cm (1½ inch) long strips and use a larding needle to stitch each one into the breast, leaving the ends projecting.

2
 
Spit-roast or oven-bake at 180º C (350º F, gas mark 4) for about 45 minutes, until tender.

Simmer the ginger and the salt in the wine, pour over the pheasant in its dish and sprinkle with the ginger and cinnamon just before serving.

SERGEANT OF THE KING’S SIDES OF FAT DEER ROASTED
²³

1.
 
Weigh the joint, and calculate the roasting time at 30 minutes per 450g (1lb). Spit it, and continually turn and baste it with the wine, salt and black pepper. Or place it on a grid in a roasting tin, then bake in an oven pre-heated to 170°C (325°F, gas mark 3), with the wine etc. and baste it regularly.

2.
 
When cooked, place the venison on a hot dish and pour the liquor from the pan over it just before serving.

TO BAKE RED DEER
²⁴

Imprimis: parboil the Red Deer with wine and vinegar and also water; when it is cold, larde it, then lay it in the same liquor wherein it was parboiled and salt and so close it; then set it in the oven, the while it is abaking, make a syrup with a little of the leanest of your mutton broth, adding wine, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and mace; and also nutmegs and vinegar. Boil all these things together in a little pot, and when your paste is hard, put the syrup into the pastie, and so let it stand till you see how to draw it. This venison is better cold than hot.

Alternatively, the venison could be minced, larded and spiced before being baked – here is a less unwieldy dish than the last one!:

TO BAKE VENISON
²⁵

1.
 
Cut the bacon into long 7mm (¼ in) wide strips and soak them in the vinegar.

2.
 
Mix the venison with the cloves, fennel, salt and pepper.

3.
 
Mix the water into the flour to form the pastry, and roll it out into a large rectangle.

4.
 
Lay a quarter of the bacon across one half of the pastry, press a third of the venison into a rectangular slab on top of the bacon, then add alternate layers of venison and bacon.

5.
 
Moisten the pastry around the edge of the venison, fold the vacant half of the pastry over the top, and seal it down and decorate the edges (see
here
, drawing no. 1).

6.
 
Bake at 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) for 20 minutes, then reduce to 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4) for a further 1 hour 45 minutes, until cooked. Serve either hot or cold.

PEACOCK ROYAL
²⁶

1.
 
Lay the peacock on its back, cut round the skin at the top of each leg, then make another cut from the top of one leg across to the top of the other. From this point remove the skin from the lower part of the bird, cutting off the root of the tail internally, to keep it intact. Then remove the skin from the upper part of the bird, cutting off the last joint of the wings internally. Finally, peel the skin from the neck by pulling it inside out towards the head, up to the topmost vertebra, cutting through the neck at this point.

2.
 
Turn the skin completely inside out and thickly dust the flesh side with the cumin.

3.
 
Draw the peacock, truss the legs close to the body as if it were sitting on a perch, and insert a long skewer down the full length of the neck. Slide the peacock on to a spit, and use string or thin wire to truss the neck in an upright position (see
here
). Brush with the egg yolks and roast for 20 minutes per 450g (1lb) plus 20 minutes. Alternatively, place the trussed peacock on a grid in a roasting tin and cook at 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) for the same time.

The recipes then state that the peacock should be allowed to cool a little, which allows the neck to set in position, then its skin is replaced and its beak gilded with the gold leaf, just before serving. Today it is preferable to mount the skin on a chicken-wire frame to appear as if complete. You present this to the table, then return it to the kitchen, from where you now serve the real peacock without any risk of contamination from the raw skin. Traditionally, the peacock was accompanied by finely ground ginger or sauce ginger.

SAUCE GINGER (FOR PEACOCK)
²⁷

Liquidise together to form a smooth paste.

SERGEANT OF THE KING’S CHICKENS FARCED
²⁸

1.
 
Scald the herbs, drain immediately, and leave to cool.

2.
 
Create a space between the body and the skin of the chicken by inserting the fingers from both ends.

3.
 
Mix the egg yolks, raw egg, currants, pork and herbs together to form a smooth forcemeat, and pack this evenly between the skin and the flesh. Then truss the chicken for roasting.

4.
 
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6). Plunge the chicken into a large pan of boiling water for 15 minutes, then remove. Place immediately on a grid in a roasting tin, and roast for 20 minutes per 450g (1lb) uncooked chicken, plus 20 minutes.

5.
 
The chicken may be dredged with flour and basted with butter about 30 minutes after it has been put in the oven.

CHICKEN PIE WITH FINE PASTRY
²⁹

1.
 
First make the pastry. Place the sugar, salt, butter, saffron and ale in a saucepan, bring them to the boil, stirring to melt the butter.

2.
 
Put the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre, pour in the hot liquid, and quickly beat it in with a wooden spoon, while pouring in the egg, to form a dough.