Your Goose is Cooked! Medieval and Tudor Goose in a Hotche Pot.

In this series:

• A Medieval Hodge-Podge.
• The Earliest Medieval Hodge-Podge Recipes.
• Your Goose is Cooked! Medieval and Tudor Goose in a Hotche Pot.
• Making Mincemeat Out of It: Medieval and Tudor Mincemeat Pies.

Medieval and Tudor cook books are not easy to come by. The first goose in a Hodge pot (gees in ochepot) recipe here is from a 14^th century cook book. Those that follow will do so in chronological order. The closest to Tudor times are two: one about a generation before and one about a generation after. The similarities and differences may surprise you.

We’ve mentioned that goose was a dish associated with the Feast of St. Michael’s (a.k.a. Michaelmas). In fact, it was allowed on English tables from Michaelmas to the last day before Lent.

The first recipe was included in a vellum manuscript once owned by the antiquary Rev. Samuel Pegge, part of which was a collection of recipes. The recipe is quite short, as were all such things in that earlier age.

For to make gees (geeſe) in ochepot (hotchpot).

Nym and ſchald hem wel, and hew hem wel in gobettys, al rawe, and ſeth hem in her owyn (own) grees, and caſt thereto wyn or ale a cuppe ful, and myre (mince) onyons ſmal and do thereto; and boyle yt, and ſalt yt, and meſſe yt forthe.[1]	Take hold of and scald them well, and hew them well into gobbets, all raw, and seethe them in their own grease, and cast therein wine or ale a cup-full and mince onions small and also cast them in; and boil it, salt it, and mess it forth.

 

The next recipe come from a manuscript probably of the early 15^th century. The very fact of a written record of recipes means, in each case here, that the household that had it in the kitchen was well up in the social hierarchy. Here the text is a bit longer and more detailed but not much.

Goos in hochepot.

Take a goos not fully roſted, and chop her on gobbettes and put hit in a pot, and do therto brothe of freſh fleſh, and take onyons and mynce hom, and do therto; take brede, and ſtepe hit in brothe, and drawe hit up with a lytell wyn, and do hit in the pot, and do therto pouder of pepur and of clowes, and of maces, and of rayſynges of corance, and colour hit with ſaffron and ſaunders, and let thi pottage be hangynge, and ſerve hit forthe.[2]	Take a goose not fully roasted and chop it into gobbets and put it in a pot, and add thereto broth of fresh flesh, and take onions and mince them, and add them thereto; take bread and steep it in broth, and soak it with a little wine, and put it in the pot, and add powder of pepper and of cloves, and of mace, and of raisins of currants, and color it with saffron and alexander[4] and let the pottage be thick, and serve it forth.

The first half of this recipe is nearly identical to the first recipe above. The range of seasonings to be added to the pot, however, is far greater. That fact tells us a good deal about the improvement of living conditions among the upper classes. Goose being a strong dish to begin with it seems likely that the second recipe would be much more to a modern taste… if it weren’t for the dressing of entrails.

The next recipe is a poem copied from Sloane MS. 1986 of the 15^th century. Perhaps this made it easier for illiterate cooks to remember the ingredients. It is in the Northern dialect which was more primitive at any given time.

Gose in a Hogdepot.

In peſiſ þou ſchalle þy goſe ſtryke. Take water and wyne bothe ilyke; Do in þy goſe; and onyons þou take A gode quantite, as I er ſpake. And erbus hacked þou take alſo. And caſt [th]ou in er þou more do; þen ſet þy pot over þo fyre. And hit wele ſtir for þe hyre; And make a lyoure of brede and blode. And lye hit þerwithe, for hit is gode; Kast powder þerto and ſalt anon. And meſſe hit, þenne þou baſe done.[5]	In pieces thou shall thy goose strike. Take water and wine in equal amounts; Put it in thy goose; and onions thou take A good quantity, as I ever spake. And herbs hacked thou take also. And cast thou in ever thou more put in; Then set thy pot over the fyre. And it well stir for thy hire; And make a layer of bread and blood. And lie therewith, for it is good; Cast powder thereto and salt anon. And mess it, then thou beest done.

 

Again, the recipe is much the same. Being in the more primitive North, presumably fewer seasonings were available. Saturating bread with the blood of the goose is again a throwback. That and blood broths were quite common in earlier times and more lower-class households.

The next recipe is from the middle of the 15^th century. Here we have the blood of the goose again as a broth. The seasonings now include Galingale & Cumin which we have not see before.

A goos in hogepotte.

Take a Goos, & make hure clene, & hacke hyre to gobettys, & put yn a potte, & Water to, & sethe to-gederys ; þan take Pepir & Brennyd brede, or Blode y-boylyd, & grynd y-fere[6] Gyngere & Galyngale & Comyn, & temper vppe with Ale, & putte it þer-to; & mynce Oynonys, & frye hem in freysshe grece, & do þer-to a porcyon of Wyne.[7]	Take a goose, & make her clean, & hack her to gobbets, & put in a pot, & put in water, & seethe together; then take pepper & and toasted bread, or boiled blood, & and grind together Ginger& Galingale & Cumin, & temper up with Ale, & put it in; & mince Onions, & fry them in fresh grease, & put in a portion of wine.

As you will have noticed, no measurement is given for any of the ingredients in any of the recipes. It will be a good while before cook books add that feature that we would now consider essential.

Stop back by for more about the various details of Medieval and Tudor life. And for the final recipe for Goose in a Hodge Pot which will include a very special cook.

 

---

[1]  Warner, Richard. Antiquitates Culinariae (1791). 40.

[2] A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household... Edw III to Wm & Mary,… (1790). 423.

[3] Deleted 11/1/21.

[4] Saunder] OED. Alexander. Olusastrum, horse parsley.

[5] Morris, Richard. Liber Cure Cocorum (1862). 32.

[6] y-fere] together

[7] Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth Century Cookery-Books (1888). [Harleian MS 279] 18.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

To Where Did Queen Elizabeth I Disappear in August 1564? July 18, 2021. “Leicestershire was in the opposite direction from London. Nichols could discover no more.”

Elizabeth I’s Progress to Cambridge University, 1564: Her Arrival. June 20, 2021. “The Queen would be the only woman riding a charger. It was a statement that she could rule as well as any king, including the rule of a war horse.”

Simnel Cake: Lenten Treat of the Ages. March 7, 2021. “Samuel Pegge sees confirmation that saffron was used in the crusts of simnel cakes in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale…”

Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador.  April 3, 2019.  “…the Queen of England, with the permission of her physicians, has been able to come out of her private chamber, she has permitted me… to see her…”

Lady Southwell on the Final Days of Queen Elizabeth I.  March 24, 2019.  “her majesty told [Lady Scrope] (commanding her to conceal the same ) that she saw, one night, in her bed, her body exceeding lean, and fearful in a light of fire.”

Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.

Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.