Fit for a King - A Taste of the Tudor Kitchen at Hampton Court

Historia Food Archeologists will be cooking up a series of flamboyant feasts fit for a King this December.

Though my clandestine visit to Hampton Court on a snowy Thursday afternoon wasn't timed too perfectly for witnessing the spectacle of King Henry VIII's palace's passionate food historians whipping up a festive table circa Christmas 1545.

These special seasonal culinary events open to visitors to Hampton Court didn't coincide precisely with my visit to the region, though I couldn't resist a solo tour along snow covered passageways to the fascinating world of the deserted palace kitchens.

Everyone knows that Henry VIII was a tyrannical glutton of monumental proportions (whom, I learned, most likely suffered from Scurvy due to a mostly meat-only diet of extreme decadence). Palace kitchens were staffed similarly to a large hotel of today's standards, with incredibly complex budgeting, accounting and ordering systems in place, not to mention the manpower of feeding the court as well as less privileged palace peoples.

The reason that the royal court of Henry and his daughter Elizabeth's day departed on the proverbial 'royal tour' for months of the year was that they had so thoroughly depleted the area's livestock, dairy, wildfowl and produce within a matter of months each year. 

Ever wondered about origin of the humble meat pie? The pastry case in Tudor times was fashioned from a thick paste of flour and water for housing a production line of chunks of meat and stew without the need for copper pans or other costly tins. Fast food of the 15th Century. Once served at King Henry's table, the top of a large pie would be removed and the meat ladled out. The pastry was an afterthought, unless, no doubt you happened to find yourself at a slightly lower elevation on the food chain.

I half expected Henry himself to stride down the darkened, tapestry-draped passageways of his living chambers. This wasn't one of the famed ghost tours of Hampton Court, but there was hardly a living sole to be seen except for an occasional docent and one or two random Italian and French women here and there in fur coats and hats to match.

To find oneself in Henry VIII's home stomping grounds on a dark, mid-winter's snow day, just before closing is a stirring experience. Gone were the hundreds of richly draped courtiers, jugglers, jesters,music, scurrying hoards of subservients, silver, jewels, stables full of horses. The distance from the kitchens to the great hall where the king partook of his legendary feasts took just half a minute to traverse. Not hard to picture platters of piping hot pheasant and venison being raced through the walkway up to the beautiful people of the time.

Walked on a fast-freezing icy sidewalk by the home of Sir Christopher Wren, England's most famous architect (1632 -1723) after the gates were closed for the night and the frolicking spirits at Henry's place. Wren rebuilt 51 churches after the Great Fire of London in 1666, including his signature piece, St.Paul's Cathedral. 

Traveling foodies take note: Live cooking in Hampton Court's Tudor kitchen takes place:

2010
4-5 December 2010
27 December 2025 - 2 January 2011

2011
5-6 February
5-6 March
2-3 April
22-25 April
30 April - 2 May 
28-30 May
4-5 June 
2-3 July
6-7 August
27-29 August
3-4 September
1-2 October
5-6 November 
3-4 December
27 December - 1 January 2026

Comments

[Lara knutson]

I want to come with you next year! This is fascinating!

[Frances]

I thought of you, Lara, while I was there, as I bought a packet of fair trade spices for hot spiced cider. We will have to get together to share that! And yes, maybe a foodie's week in England ought to be on the cards