William Shakespeare at the table

At an English table in Shakespeare's time, there was no separation of starter, main, and dessert. Instead, 'courses' were served: a first course where pottages, boiled meats, and pies arrived together on the table, a second course of roasts and finer dishes, and then the 'banquet' — a separate, sweet and fragrant service of marchpane, candied fruits, and spiced wines, nibbled while rising from the table. Sweet and savory mingled freely: meat was sugared, wine was spiced, and this blend was considered the height of refinement.

Two twin signatures run through all the cooking of this time: sack (a sweet white wine from Spain and the Canaries, Falstaff's beloved wine), and the trio of sweet spices — cinnamon, mace, nutmeg — brightened with currants and a dash of verjuice. It is this spiced sweetness, laid even upon meat, that gives its color to the English Renaissance table.