Subject: Info wanted: Peacock served in feathers

From: [email-masked] (R. Dijkhuis)
Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 14:19:11 GMT

Hello!

I am looking for documentation about medieval banquets, to be used in a work 
of fiction that I'm working on. A friend of mine told me some banquets would 
have as their final tour de force a peacock served in its feathers. 
My question is: how was this done? What materials were used (I suppose it 
would first be carefully skinned and after cooking the skin, with the 
feathers, would be carefully put back on the bird again), how long did it 
take, what other tricks and fripperies were used to enhance the effect, 
and....

Well, just any information about this would be much appreciated.

Please e-mail; I am not a regular subscriber to this newsgroup.

Reinder Dijkhuis
[email-masked]

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From: Gretchen Miller <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 May 1993 12:46:29 -0400

Yup, that's about it -- Skin the bird, reserve the skin (possibly
salting it for preservation, but I wouldn't count on it, cook the bird
and put the skin back on.  Often the headers were painted with gold leaf.

One trick that doesn't relate to birds is the "Flaming boar's head". 
You cook the boars head, paint it with gold leaf, soak a piece of cotton
with camphor and place it in the boar's mouth, and light it as you carry
it out of the kitchen...

I've always wanted to try that one.

toodles, gretchen

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From: [email-masked] (David Friedman)
Date: Fri, 14 May 1993 18:04:58 GMT

Master Chiquart, chief cook to the Duke of Savoy in the 15th century,
recommends cheating--roasting a goose and dressing it in the peacock skin.
Apparently peacock does not taste very good. The discussion is in Du Fait
de Cuisine. There is a commercially published translation by Terrence
Scully, and a translation by my wife (based on Scully's publication of the
French manuscript) included in the collection of source material I sell.

David Friedman