Among the poor folk of the English countryside in the 16th century, the meal was not divided into successive courses: it was built around two mainstays available all day. Pottage — a thick stew of grains and pot-herbs simmering endlessly in the iron pot hung from the chimney hook — and maslin bread, sliced for sopping. People ate mainly 'dinner' around noon and 'supper' at dusk, accompanied by small ale. Meat appeared only as salty scraps on ordinary days; sweets and good beer were reserved for feast days.

The emblematic technique of the peasant hearth: a single iron cauldron simmering constantly, fed each day with grains (barley, oats) and 'pot-herbs' pulled from the garden plot — leeks, cabbages, onions, broad beans, parsley, lovage, hyssop. No Eastern spices except on feast days: flavour came from herbs, salt, and time.