If, having read Fr Ray Blake's recent post on
feasting to mark the Annunciation, you did roast a swan for dinner yesterday and want to sample more late medieval fare, the site from which he took the recipe can be found
here, and offers a wide range of culinary possibilities.
A friend of mine did want to have swan at a dinner he was organising for Oriel historians. When the difficulties of obtaining such provender were pointed out he began to think of going out on the Thames with a punt gun... ( In the event we had goose for dinner).
Not too much of a problem in Oxford I would think?
ReplyDeleteActually, I believe that a full grown swan would be a challenge to one's molars, the custom was to cull the cygnets just before they moulted into white.
It puts me in mind of a thirsty college chaplain who, wandering through the covered market one day, made an impulse purchase of a Canada goose. I guess the Fellers boys saw him coming. The goose was disgusting: it tasted of mud. No doubt it had been poached (stolen, not cooked) by some oik from Blackbird Lees.
ReplyDeleteWith reference to the Last Knight's comment the goose had definitely been shot - I know because I got some lead shot in my mouth from it. The goose may not have been that good, but the accompanying sauces and forcemeats were very tasty - and we had a lot of wine to wash it down.
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