Pastry Coffins, The Medieval Tupperware

[Breanna]

I was doing a bit of casual, late night weird reading last night and came upon this interesting little titbit from Atlas Obscura.

A predecessor to the pies we love today, pastry coffyns were hard boxes made of dough used to hold and preserve food. Basically they were so hard and tasteless to be inedible but it does sound like a great biodegradable food storage solution!

Apparently lamprey (look that up if you want to have nightmares) was a favourite to be sealed inside the pastry box with mint, parsley, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, and ground almonds. And after it was cooked, the coffin would be cut open and the juices drained out to make sauce. It sounds...slimy.

Of course, in true aristocratic excess, some took it a bit further by ordering huge pastry coffins that could accommodate things like birds, frogs, and even small people-- painted with mercury and lead for that *extra special* touch.

I'll be honest, I always wondered about the nursery rhyme where the "four and twenty blackbirds" get baked in a pie. It's all adding up now...

Thankfully this horrifying moment in food history has led us to the short crust pastry and pie as we know it today. I think I'll skip the peacock and tortoise and go for apple though. 

Pie anyone?

[Breanna]

@Enlli 

Nothing like having dinner in slow motion so you don't get a bone stuck in your throat!

We always had an abundance of squirrel stew in late winter as it was never the first choice to grab from the chest freezer. Of course, my father left the processing of squirrel and fish to the kids-- too tedious for his tastes.

[Breanna]

@Cleoriff  @TallTrees 

That reminds me of a short story by Neil Gaiman - Sunbird - about a secret club that makes some truly wild dishes.

[TallTrees]

No I don't think I would ever eat "eel"   @Enlli 

you are very brave.  Squirrel best for the Fox 😁

[TallTrees]

Swan? Anyone

  @Breanna   @Cleoriff   @Enlli 

This was also a fav dish for the Kings and Queens

[Breanna]

Nooo way. And they made the swan watch 😂 oh dear oh dear.

That reminds me of a time someone trapped (and later admitted to eating) a local black swan where I lived in China. It was quite the scandal!

[sheepdog]

---

@Breanna wrote:

I was doing a bit of casual, late night weird reading last night and came upon this interesting little titbit from Atlas Obscura.

A predecessor to the pies we love today, pastry coffyns were hard boxes made of dough used to hold and preserve food. Basically they were so hard and tasteless to be inedible but it does sound like a great biodegradable food storage solution!

Apparently lamprey (look that up if you want to have nightmares) was a favourite to be sealed inside the pastry box with mint, parsley, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, and ground almonds. And after it was cooked, the coffin would be cut open and the juices drained out to make sauce. It sounds...slimy.

Of course, in true aristocratic excess, some took it a bit further by ordering huge pastry coffins that could accommodate things like birds, frogs, and even small people-- painted with mercury and lead for that *extra special* touch.

I'll be honest, I always wondered about the nursery rhyme where the "four and twenty blackbirds" get baked in a pie. It's all adding up now...

Thankfully this horrifying moment in food history has led us to the short crust pastry and pie as we know it today. I think I'll skip the peacock and tortoise and go for apple though. 

Pie anyone?

---

I no longer want to eat a Greggs Steakbake 🤣

[Enlli]

Peacock tastes fine. (Although the one we had was a pea hen.

[Breanna]

@sheepdog The verdict is still out on Greggs steak bake for me. Tried it and it felt like 

[Breanna]

Weirdest thing you've ever eaten @Enlli?

Mine is definitely cicada pupae. Hated it even more than I thought I would 😂

Century eggs are pretty funky too but they have their time and place.

[Cleoriff]

@Breanna 

You should watch I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out Of Here, 12 'celebs' are taken to the jungle in Australia. They undergo tasks to win stars for food for camp. Some of the eating tasks are horrendous. Kangaroo anus, Animals eyes, Maggots, Vomit fruit, 100 year old eggs. Animal testicles etc etc.

It starts in November. I can't wait. 😂