During the sixteenth century the hearth, which had for most people remained on the floor in the centre of the home now moved to one side of the room inset into a brick chimney. This had been the case for the rich during the Middle Ages, but now, even the most humble cottage built of wattle and daub included a brick chimney. In many houses a brick oven was built next to the fire. Bedrooms were now on a separate floor above the living area which remained, for most, one room in which cooking, eating and any relaxing that was possible, took place.
While a cauldron was hung over the fire for stews and porridges and meat was roasted on spits in front of the fire it was now also possible to smoke foods by placing them high up in the chimney. Pies were still baked in a flour and water paste known as a ‘coffin’ which was discarded before the filling was eaten, but by the end of the century, fats were being added to the paste resulting in an edible pastry.
For the lower orders the diet remained centred on pottages, porridges, bread and cheese but for the well-to-do feasting became ever more elaborate. Food should look beautiful as well as taste delicious and flowers were scattered over salads, feathers were fixed to roast birds such as peacocks and sweet confections of sugar were sculpted. Not only were dishes highly decorated they sometimes provided drama. The nursery rhyme “Sing of Song of Sixpence” referred to the practice of placing live birds under a pastry crust which, when cut into, would fly about around the guests. The same was also done with frogs who would leap out onto the dining table as they were released.
Sugar was increasingly used in wealthy households and the first marmalade was made by Mary, Queen of Scots’ physician, who combined oranges with sugar to produce a jam that would cure seasickness.
The choice of meats increased during the Tudor period with badger, beaver, heron and crane being consumed by most and swan and peacock eaten by the wealthy. Meat continued to be forbidden on some days during the week and for longer periods such as Lent. Indeed, under Elizabeth’s reign the number of days a week only fish could be eaten increased, in order to strengthen the fishing industry which also provided sailors for the navy at times of conflict.
New ingredients were arriving from the Americas such as potatoes, tomatoes and chillies, although such ingredients would not be included in the English diet for another two centuries as they were regarded with suspicion. Potatoes were fed to cattle and tomatoes and chillies were ignored, although in Ireland the potato became an important part of the diet and tomatoes and chillies were relished by the Portuguese who, in turn, introduced them to their Indian territories. Coffee and chocolate also began to emerge, coffee beginning to be drunk in coffee houses in the seventeenth century and chocolate becoming a popular drink at the beginning of the eighteenth.
The sixteenth century also saw the emergence of the cookbook as publications such as Richard Pynson’s Boke of Cokery, Thomas Dawson’s The Good Huswifes Jewell and John Partridge’s The Good Hous-wives Handmaide were available to both housewives and domestic servants. They not only provided recipes and instructions on cooking methods but gave advice on health, cleanliness and the growing of herbs and vegetables.
