Heston's Feasts Season 1 Episode 3 Heston's Tudor Feast
- March 17, 2009
In the third episode of Heston's Feasts season 1, the renowned chef Heston Blumenthal steps back in time to the Tudor era, with a challenge to recreate an extravagant feast fit for King Henry VIII at his Hampton Court Palace. With an extensive research on Tudor history, Heston leaves no stone unturned in creating a feast that replicates the culture, ingredients, cooking techniques and table manners of that time.
The episode begins with Heston exploring the gardens of Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII once took his leisurely strolls. The palace has preserved some of its vegetable patches, herbs and fruits that were grown during the Tudor period. Heston then heads to a local market to source rare breeds of meat and ingredients that were commonly used in Tudor cuisine, including swan, venison, and sugarloaf.
Back in his lab, Heston dives into the history of Tudor cooking, with a wealth of fascinating insights into the origins of dishes like Tudor custard (a precursor to modern-day custard), Tudor pie (a meat and fruit pie), and the Tudor syllabub (a sweet milky drink).
With his research completed, Heston puts his team to work, curating the Tudor feast with a meticulous attention to detail. He introduces period-appropriate table settings, such as pewter plates, wooden bowls, and linen tablecloths. For the appetizer course, Heston creates a 'sotelty', a decorative dish that was common during that era. It is made of a sugar sculpture of a stag, which is adorned with fruits and flowers.
Next, the team prepare the main course, which is a Tudor pie with a gammon filling. Heston explains how it was common during that time to use both sweet and savory fillings in pies. The dessert course is a Tudor custard pie, which is essentially a creamy custard baked in a pastry shell. Heston adds a hint of orange blossom water to give it a fragrance that was popular in Tudor England.
As the feast is being prepared, Heston takes a trip to the Royal Mint where he learns about the coins of the Tudor era. He also studies the etiquette of the Tudor court, and ensures that the guests of the feast, who are all dressed in Tudor clothing, follow the proper etiquette for eating at the court. Heston also partakes in preparing ale, a staple of the Tudor diet.
Finally, it's time for the feast to begin. The guests arrive to the sumptuous banquet table, and Heston himself sits down with them. The sotelty of a stag is presented, followed by the main course of Tudor pie. The dessert course follows, and all courses are paired with a range of beverages that were commonly consumed during that period.
As the night wound down, Heston reflects on his time traveling throughout Tudor England, discovering the secrets of the era's lavish and decadent feasts, as well as the everyday diets of its people. Through his ingenuity and passion for history, Heston and his team have succeeded in recreating a truly authentic Tudor feast to be remembered forever in the pages of culinary history.
