Meat was the main component of a meal in the seventeenth and a wide variety of meat was eaten. Apart from beef, lamb, mutton, Pepys would also have eaten duck, venison,chicken, turkey, game birds and of course songbirds like larks. It was also a favourite trick to conceal all sorts of surprises in a pie in that period - hence the old nursery English rhyme "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie".
i had understood that the "blackbirds" rhyme referred to the social status (from Tudor times) gained from a pie to outdo all others in your social circle - apparently Henry VIII had a pastry pie shell made in which were placed 24 blackbirds which fluttered out when the pie case was cut, to the amazement and edification of all.
Cosmo, the future Grand Duke of Turin, visited London during the Spring of 1669. I suspect some of the entries in his journal reveal things other than was intended.
I've standardized the spelling of names I know, corrected scanning errors I could figure out, and increased the number of paragraphs. I apologize if I guessed incorrectly:
Its population, although very great, being estimated at about 450,000 persons, out of which number 30,000 or thereabouts are reckoned to be in Old London alone, is yet not so numerous as that of Paris.
Nevertheless, in the latter city, though the inhabitants are more numerous, the consumption of butchers' meat is much greater in London, either because there are no abstinence-days, or in consequence of their voracity, the English eating more meat than anything else; and on this account, there are slaughtered there, every day, besides other animals, 3,000 oxen, with large joints of which their tables are covered.
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Pepys never mentions oxen being anything but beasts of burden, and never mentions ox being served, no matter how short food was in London during the plague and after the fire. So I suspect this was really beef, but it was so over cooked and tough Cosmo and his courtiers didn't recognize it?????? And he was dining with the best sorts.
From: TRAVELS OF COSMO THE THIRD, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY, THROUGH ENGLAND, DURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND (1669) TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT https://archive.org/stream/travel…
His highness, Cosmo, must be considered only as a traveler. Under his direction, the narrator of the records was Count Lorenzo Magalotti, afterwards Secretary to the Academy del Cimento, and one of the most learned and eminent characters of the court of Ferdinand II. They were all professed Catholics, of course.
"4 April, 1663: 'We had a fricassee of rabbits and chicken, a leg of mutton boiled, three carps in a dish, a great dish of a side of lamb, a dish of roasted pigeons, a dish of four lobsters, three tarts, a most rare lamprey pie, - a dish of anchovies - good wine of several sorts; and all things mighty noble and to my great content.'
"Background information:
"This was one of the feasts Samuel Pepys threw to celebrate his survival from being cut for the stone. But it was typical in the amount of protein and the absence of vegetables (this may have caused some of the century's bladder stones).
"Dinner was at midday. It was usual to cover the table with fish and meat and sweet pies, and then 'remove' them and start again with the same mixture. Afterwards, sweetmeats and fruit were served elsewhere, perhaps in the garden or a separate 'banqueting house'. After that lot, you could survive on a simple supper.
"Breakfast hardly existed for most people. Weak beer was the usual drink. Samuel Pepys may have been networking over his breakfast of wine, oysters and anchovies.
4 Annotations
First Reading
hazel-mary • Link
Meat was the main component of a meal in the seventeenth and a wide variety of meat was eaten. Apart from beef, lamb, mutton, Pepys would also have eaten duck, venison,chicken, turkey, game birds and of course songbirds like larks. It was also a favourite trick to conceal all sorts of surprises in a pie in that period - hence the old nursery English rhyme "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie".
simon • Link
i had understood that the "blackbirds" rhyme referred to the social status (from Tudor times) gained from a pie to outdo all others in your social circle - apparently Henry VIII had a pastry pie shell made in which were placed 24 blackbirds which fluttered out when the pie case was cut, to the amazement and edification of all.
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Cosmo, the future Grand Duke of Turin, visited London during the Spring of 1669. I suspect some of the entries in his journal reveal things other than was intended.
I've standardized the spelling of names I know, corrected scanning errors I could figure out, and increased the number of paragraphs. I apologize if I guessed incorrectly:
Its population, although very great, being estimated at about 450,000 persons, out of which number 30,000 or thereabouts are reckoned to be in Old London alone, is yet not so numerous as that of Paris.
Nevertheless, in the latter city, though the inhabitants are more numerous, the consumption of butchers' meat is much greater in London, either because there are no abstinence-days, or in consequence of their voracity, the English eating more meat than anything else; and on this account, there are slaughtered there, every day, besides other animals, 3,000 oxen, with large joints of which their tables are covered.
@@@
Pepys never mentions oxen being anything but beasts of burden, and never mentions ox being served, no matter how short food was in London during the plague and after the fire.
So I suspect this was really beef, but it was so over cooked and tough Cosmo and his courtiers didn't recognize it?????? And he was dining with the best sorts.
From:
TRAVELS OF COSMO THE THIRD, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY,
THROUGH ENGLAND,
DURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND (1669)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT
https://archive.org/stream/travel…
His highness, Cosmo, must be considered only as a traveler. Under his direction, the narrator of the records was Count Lorenzo Magalotti, afterwards Secretary to the Academy del Cimento, and one of the most learned and eminent characters of the court of Ferdinand II. They were all professed Catholics, of course.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
FROM: "Sex, Lice and Chamber Pots in Pepys' London"
By Liza Picard
Last updated 2011-02-17
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/bri…
"Food:
"Diary extract
"4 April, 1663: 'We had a fricassee of rabbits and chicken, a leg of mutton boiled, three carps in a dish, a great dish of a side of lamb, a dish of roasted pigeons, a dish of four lobsters, three tarts, a most rare lamprey pie, - a dish of anchovies - good wine of several sorts; and all things mighty noble and to my great content.'
"Background information:
"This was one of the feasts Samuel Pepys threw to celebrate his survival from being cut for the stone. But it was typical in the amount of protein and the absence of vegetables (this may have caused some of the century's bladder stones).
"Dinner was at midday. It was usual to cover the table with fish and meat and sweet pies, and then 'remove' them and start again with the same mixture. Afterwards, sweetmeats and fruit were served elsewhere, perhaps in the garden or a separate 'banqueting house'. After that lot, you could survive on a simple supper.
"Breakfast hardly existed for most people. Weak beer was the usual drink. Samuel Pepys may have been networking over his breakfast of wine, oysters and anchovies.
"He did complain of indigestion."