Pastry Coffins, The Medieval Tupperware - Page 3

Breanna · ‎25-10-2022

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 · ‎26-10-2022

Oh no no no @Cleoriff! That sounds terrible hahaha.

Sounds like a show from the early 2000s - Fear Factor. Honestly I bet those people still have nightmares!

Enlli · ‎26-10-2022

@Breanna asked what was the weirdest food... Well I can tell you the weirdest experience.

A group of us had gone shopping to Sainsbury for the reenactment groups supplies. We had gone late it see if there were any bargains....and there was.

The fishmonger was about to dispose of a 1.5 mtr shark that was a display item and we persuaded him to part with it.

Pushing a supermarket trolly holding a shark across the car park gets you some funny looks.

This is not O2 and we are all customers here similar to yourself and cannot answer account type queries.

Cleoriff · ‎26-10-2022

@Enlli wrote:
@Breanna asked what was the weirdest food... Well I can tell you the weirdest experience.
A group of us had gone shopping to Sainsbury for the reenactment groups supplies. We had gone late it see if there were any bargains....and there was.
The fishmonger was about to dispose of a 1.5 mtr shark that was a display item and we persuaded him to part with it.
Pushing a supermarket trolly holding a shark across the car park gets you some funny looks.

A Shark? Just brilliant @Enlli 😂

Veritas Numquam Perit