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Food and Fantasy Worlds Meats Mutton (sheep) Pork (wild or domestic) Rabbit Venison (deer) Goat Beef Fowl Chicken Quail Pheasant Goose Swan Herron Peacock Seafood Fresh and Salt Water Haddock Cod Salmon Pearch Flat-fish Cockles Mussels Oysters Scallops Pike Smelt Dogfish Whale Seals Lamprey Eel Back to Main Page |
Meats would have been most often cooked with one of two methods. Roasting: Meats would have been cooked on a spit over a fire. The spit would have been turned regularly, often by a kitchen boy. Herbs would have been used to flavor the meat. Boiled: Meats would have been cooked in a large pot or kettle of water hung over a fire and boiled. Herbs and other ingredients would have been added for flavor. Sauces or graves may be made with the reserved stock after cooking. Quality and preservation One of the most persistent myths of the medieval diet is that meat was often eaten spoiled and heavy spices were used to cover the taste of rotted meat. Medieval people no more ate spoiled meat then you do. Spoiled meat tasted bad and can cause sickness and even death. Spices were expensive and used sparingly to flavor or scent a dish, not to overwhelm it. Animals were taken to town while alive, slaughtered there and sold within two days. In many areas law mandated this two day rule. A butcher who sold rotten meat could expect to face stiff fines. |
