What are some Middle English period foods/recipes? for a school project please?

Question

I'm doing a project on Middle English period food so if you know anything on the subject or have any recipes to share it would be much appreciated

middle english like between the old english and the new english periods

Answer 1

Bubble & squeek, bangers & mash, turnips, potatoes, carrots,(lots of root vegetables), mutton, chicken, pheasant, goat, venison, beef & kidney pie. Think poverty (in style) even for the Royalty because things weren't very available & cooking methods were pretty poor for the commonly inferior products available. They ate mutton but had to cook it for hours to make it edible. We wouldn't think pf eating mutton today. The cerfdomes that settled around the castles grew the produce & only the root & hardey vegetables were successful then. Both Royals & cerfs hunted. It was in these times & because of the bad tasting food that the great interest in exotic spices began to grow into a huge business in coming centuries. I know there are actual recipes from antique cookbooks from that century. I believe someone suggested above a website fot just that! Have fun!! PS Hardly any fresh fruits (oranges etc.) or things like lettuce.

Answer 2

Recipes featuring dried legumes are a good bet. Lentils, beans, etc. Chicken, goose, duck and other fowl were eaten in abundance in the middle to upper classes, and pork was MUCH more common than beef since cattle were used more for dairy or beasts of burden.

Also, most breads were used not so much as a food, but as a bowl or plate that other foods were set upon. The parts of the bread that got soft from the other foods were eaten, then the still-hard parts were thrown to the pigs.

Wine and low-alcohol ale were drank more commonly than water because water was not pure, at best. It wasn't common to use forks until around the Renaissance period, so foods that could be eaten with a spoon, knife, and just fingers were the norm. It is rumoured that since napkins/serviettes weren't used, fingerbowls were used and then the ale in them was consumed at the end of the meal. Just hearsay, though. You may want to check that one out for yourself with more research. Good luck on your project!

Answer 3

Middle Ages I assume you mean not middle english.

This is what you need.

http://www.godecookery.com/godeboke/godeboke.htm