Here’s just a quickie to let you all know that I did a little bit of historical cookery on TV on Saturday. I was hired to cook some mediaeval food as part of the Channel 4 documentary series Britain’s Most Historic Towns, and I thought you might be interested in watching as I don’t appear on the blog very often. My episode was in the beautiful city of Winchester and I cooked up an eel pie for the presenter Alice Roberts. The recipe I used was from Britain’s earliest extant cook book The Forme of Cury, written in the time of Richard II, sometime in the late 14th Century.
Here’s a clip of myself and Alice eating the pie.
If you are in the UK, you can catch the episode on Channel 4 on demand here. The series is very good, so I suggest you binge-watch the whole thing so far!
I also made some hippocras – a type of spiced wine – but that bit was cut out for time (it was a jam-packed episode!). Next post I’ll give you the recipes so that you can have a go yourself. It might be a while because I am in the process of moving house…
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British Food: A History 
Excellent!
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Thanks man!
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Nice one! I suppose eel is nothing more than a long fish… it’s the snake-like similarity that is off=putting!
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Yeah it definitely puts folk off, but they are really quite delicious!
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Pingback: Favourite Cook Books no.3: The Forme of Cury, Part I | British Food: A History
Neil, I can’t see eel pie without thinking of Manuel in Fawlty Towers saying, “I tell him paella is Spanish, not Cockney stinking eel pie.” Your pie looks lovely, but I’m afraid I’m not ready for eel pie! My English gran and mum would have made it, I’m sure, if they could’ve gotten their hands on some eels in the US.
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You.should give eel a go! It’s easier to get hold of in the USA, or at least St Louis! Thanks for the comment
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