Larks, Powdered Geese and a Kid with Pudding in his Belly; that and much more in Robert May's Christmas Feast.

Though from the continent not England, this scene of Christmas season celebrations was painted by David Teniers the Younger in the mid-17th century, the period of focus for today's writing on seasonal feast.

The holiday season being what it is, I will not be able to get into a deeper discussion of hospitality today, as I am a little busy helping someone enact the idea in real life.  

I will, however, provide a bill of fare or, in other words, a menu for Christmas Day and explain a few of the interesting items, to me at least. Whether the massive amount of meat was from an actual feast or whether it was a bit of propaganda, (more on that in the coming days) it was published in 1660 by Robert May in his The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art and Mystery of Cookery. 

The general heading for this section of his book is “Bills of FARE for every Season in the Year...as it was used before Hospitality left this Nation” ie: before King Charles I was killed and Parliament, then Cromwell, ruled England in the 1650s.  May is looking backing in nostalgia and probably forward, as the monarchy would be restored with Charles II, very soon after his book was published.  

But on to the food:  

“A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day, and how to set the Meat in order.

Oysters. 

1 A coller of Brawn. 

2 Stewed Broth of Mutton Marrow bones. 

3 A grand Sallet. 

4 A pottage of Caponets. 

5 A Breast of Veal in Stoffado. 

6 A boild Partridge. 

7 A Chine of Beef, or Surloin roste. 

8 Minced Pies. 

9 A Jegote of Mutton with Anchove sauce. 

10 A made dish of Sweetbread. 

11 A Swan roste. 

12 A Pasty of Venison. 

13 A Kid with a Pudding in his Belly. 

14 A Steak Pie. 

15 A hanch of Venison rosted. 

16 A Turkey roste and stuck with Cloves. 

17 A made dish of Chickens in Puff-paste. 

18 Two Brangeese rosted, one larded. 

19 Two large Capons one larded. 

20 A Custard. 

The second course for the same Mess.  

Oranges and Lemons. 

1 A young Lamb or Kid. 

2 Two couple of Rabits, two larded. 

3 A Pig soust with Tongues. 

4 Three Ducks, one larded. 

5 Three Pheasants, 1 larded. 

6 A Swan Pie. 

7 Three brace of Partridge, three larded. 

8 Made dish in puff-paste. 

9 Bolonia Sausage, and Anchove, Mushrooms, and Caviare, and pickled Oysters in a dish. 

10 Six Teels, three larded. 

11 A Gammon of Westfalia Bacon. 

12 Ten Plovers, five larded. 

13 A Quince Pie, or Warden Pie. 

14 Six Woodcocks, 3 larded. 

15 A standing Tart in puffpaste, preserved fruits, Pippins, &c. 

16 A dish of Larks. 

17 Six dried Neats Tongues. 

18 Sturgeon. 

19 Powdered Geese. 

Jellyes."

A peek ahead shows us our required mince pies and other uses for neat’s (cow) tongue but starting from the beginning, here are a few select and hopefully interesting explanations.  

A collar of brawn came to be a saying in the eighteenth century but here it just means the meat around the neck and chest of a brawn – a period term for a boar.  Brawn has also come to mean headcheese in the UK because it was probably originally made with boar but this use predates that.  

A Sallet is a salad – probably something green.  The word came to English from late Latin via French – where it was herba salata or salted greens. 

Caponets are young gelded roosters that are raised for eating.  

“Veal in Stoffado” means stuffed veal.  

Chine of beef is a standing rib roast, a cut that includes the backbone. 

The best guess for Jegote is a leg of Mutton 

Bran- or brant geese are smaller breed of geese.  

Larded means similar to today, to add fat to lean meats, usually using some kind of pork. 

Soust is sauced.  

Bolonia sausage is mortadella, the better precursor to the bologna of your sandwich.  

Teel, now spelled teal is a kind of duck. 

The gammon or ham from Westphalia continues to be famous.  

Plovers are small wading birds.  

Pippins are desert apples as seen in some mince pie recipes.  

Powdered geese are salted and therefore preserved geese.  Similar in a way to corned beef: corned referred to the size of salt – corn or grain sized ie. rock salt - that was used in the preserving process.  These geese were salted using the powdered variety, presumably. It is a dish found in a number of other works of food writing in the period.  

You end your meal with jellies or the seventeenth century version of Jell-O. 

If something seems a bit off-putting, you were not starved for variety.  This was part of the Christmas hospitality, lauded and derided, that I will discuss in the coming days.

Some pictures I took of a copy of Robert May's book, showing the foldout illustrations of the forms for various dishes, including some that are including in his Christmas bill of fare.