What Did the Tudors Eat at a Royal Banquet?

From banquets to pottage, what Tudors ate and drank varied greatly subject to their wealth and social status. Poor and wealthy alike lived off the land, using ingredients based on their availability and seasonality.

For those Tudors who could afford it, there was nothing like a good banquet to show off your wealth and social status. From interesting ingredients to intricately designed sugarcraft, banquets became a key social event, and Tudor monarchs notoriously indulged in some of the finest dishes and delicacies available.

In this video, Dan Snow visits the historic dining room at Beaulieu Palace House and plays at being a pampered Tudor King, sampling some of the food that would have been on the menu at a Tudor banquet.

First, he tries some venison, which was a popular option for the nobility as it could not be purchased, only hunted in private deer parks.

Next, he tastes a whole conger eel. Conger eel was not an everyday food but was something that a king might have eaten at a banquet. For example, we know that at The Field of Cloth of Gold, the Royal Household’s fish menu included; 9,100 plaice, 7,836 whiting, 5,554 soles, 2,800 crayfish, 700 conger eels, 3 porpoises and a dolphin.

He goes on to try something a bit more familiar to us; the humble sweet potato. Sweet potatoes were brought over to Europe by explorers in the Tudor era and were known to be very popular with Henry VIII.

Dan finishes up with a bite of marchpane, a sweet pudding consisting mostly of sugar and ground almonds. Marchpane became a key and fashionable part of the banquet dessert. Initially intended to be eaten, they ended up becoming predominantly a way for hosts to show off.

The whole meal is washed down with plenty of ale, a staple drink in the Tudor period.

Would you enjoy eating like a Tudor King? What would be the dish you’d most want to try? Let us know in the comments!

And keep your eyes peeled for the next episode of ‘History Feasts’ where Dan takes on the challenge of eating like a World War 1 soldier.

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[HistoryHit]

Anyone tempted by the conger eel? 🤔We've got more episodes like this one coming up - which periods would you like to see most?

[Oj]

I remember seeing this guy on tv at 3AM on bbc while waking up from a panic attack and I swear to god this mans voice calmed me down faster and more effective than anything else I’ve tried or done

[nonyabeeznuss]

I grew up poor in rural Montana, we ate deer and elk almost exclusively to the point I actually got sick of it. My parents would always scold me "this is what royalty used to eat, its good enough for you too!"

[Patricia-zqug]

Dan Snow is one of my favourite presenters, even when he talks with his mouth full.

[PokhrajRoy.]

Dan Snow looks rather cool in the shirtsleeves. Also, he should Collab with Max Miller.

[therealhellkitty]

It’s said that Anne Bolyne introduced the use of forks to the Court. She had learned about them when living in France.

[kelley-annconroy]

With regards to the marchpane dessert, Dan mentions it's made with shelled, ground almonds. Then, after the first bite, he said it reminds him of marzipan. I submit that the similarity between the words marchpane and marzipan is no accident.

[MrEagleeye]

Conger eels have a "protein glue" that makes itself present when the flesh has been ground up and mixed at high speed in a mixer. This glue can then be used to mix other kinds of fish meat together so that they don't fall apart.

This is a common low class item for making Fish balls in Asia as it has that glue and you grind it up into a fine paste with all the pinbones to obtain this paste. Placing it into a high speed grinder and adding salt, sugar pepper etc will produce a paste that you can form into any kind of shape and if place back in the fridge so that it becomes very cold, it becomes very bouncy when formed into balls and cooked in boiling water... or you form into elongated shapes and deep fry

[horatiohuffnagel]

This guy is good. Great historian that brings a sense of responsibility to the table, like his father. Always enjoyed watching them. My girlfriend asks me why I'm so good at jeopardy. History that entertains!!

[themightyjt]

My grandmother used to cook conger eel after my dad had caught them out of Poole Harbour, bloody delicious

[adam_p]

Marchpane is just a harder version of marzipan.
Salmon in Tudor times was often eaten by the poor. It was regarded as a paupers meal and avoided by the aristocracy.

[stevewebster]

When excavating a medieval street frontage in Salisbury some years ago the enviro sieving produced a lot of conger eel bone. As I was going on local radio to talk about the site I tried to find how the eels would have been eaten and found that in Birmingham and the Black Country curried conger eel was the way to go... I did try to cook it once, without producing a meal that I am minded to repeat... :-)

[martinlarkin]

I have eaten lots of Tudor food at historical events in England. Mostly of the common kind. Pottage was a staple of our diet. If my character was of high enough status I would dine at the high table. Nutmeg being the highlight as it was the king of spices. Costing more than it's weight in gold.

[ianwebb]

An intriguing video, Thank you, We live in Japan. My wife - Japanese - and I ate it in an Izakaya - a Japanese pub restaurant - last week. It was seared with a blow torch like thingy and coated with a teriyaki like sauce. My Mrs said it was called hadn't heard the word before, , , , it means conger eel. Had I known, maybe I would not have eaten it, , , , in fairness, it was very good! Would I eat it again? Maybe are too many Japanese dishes I prefer!

[johnbeene]

Years go by and Dan Snow is still 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Lord_Baphomet_]

I feel like Dan is just living his fantasies out… like I imagine him in a producer’s meeting trying to explain why he needs to live like a king for a day.

[goyoelburro]

They eat A LOT of Conger Eel in Chile. They call it "Congrio". It's often fried or grilled. I honestly didn't even know congrio was eel until someone pointed one out in a supermarket there 😂
Conger Eel is delicious when fried. If you want next level fish and chips, try some congrio instead of cod!!!

[williamrobinson]

Absolutely brilliant. The visuals, music, presentation, the lot. Venison I think needs that crusting of spices as it can be a bit bland. I do like the fact that Henry used his meat as a love letter. I too was a bit surprised by the look of conger eel, once the flesh was revealed. Looks like haddock. Sweet potatoes are always delicious. A bit of butter and pepper and salt and some strong cheese grated with these and I too could easily give the big fat king a run for his money. I don't know how to spell marchpaign but I DID know that it gives us marzipan, this looks like a pievl from Heaven. Where I work they're gearing up for The Tudor Pull on Sunday, and yesterday (Friday) I quipped that this event originated as Henry VIII's 'sorting out his next wife' thing, and guess what? An eavesdropping tourist BELIEVED THIS TO BE TRUE! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣.. I mean, how excellent can it possibly get? Nice one Dan. 🌟👍

[ngaireg]

Ale or beer? At that point in time there were specific (and legislated) differences between the two. Ale was non-hopped and beer was hopped. Ale was the long-term English staple and beer was the upstart, lowland brew that started to become popular in Henry VIII's time. Most of what was drunk would have been very low in alcohol, not because they watered it (that was more a thing for wine) but because it was the product of a second or third run of the grain mash - known as a small ale. This was the ale children drank and was the traveller's ale that the saying "one for the road" came from. Ale was a significant source of vitamin B at the time.

[MGMan-cesf]

Great! It's wonderful to see Dan tucking into that conger! (A sentence, I dare say, no one's ever written before.)