Farewell Party for Wolf Hall
My Week 17 of Wolf Hall
Time to celebrate
The Wolf Hall Menu
Some Culinary Quotes
Looking back
Time to celebrate, fellow WolfCrawlers!
It's time to celebrate our reading journey through the first book and to round off the end of the book in style with a feast. Below is the Wolf Hall menu, there should be something for every WolfCrawler and don't forget to pick up a souvenir from the gift shop.
But first: Pour yourself a glass of aquavit or wine and let's raise a glass to Grand Master Haisell! Three cheers for him! And with the second glass we toast to ourselves (for those who want to continue drinking: a bowl of milk and stewed quinces1 might help you the day after the party.)
Peasant dance by Pieter Breughel, the Elder, around 1565
The Wolf Hall Menu is an updated version of ‘Two Crows Inn’2. The menu contains a selection of dishes and meals that appeared in the first book :
The Wolf Hall Menu
SOUPS
Bowl of Chicken Broth
Charles Brandon: Soup with delicious game meat from the ducal forests of the Duke of Suffolk
MAIN COURSES
Kate’s Hot Pies according to an old recipe of the Cromwell family
Fried Eggs spiced up with Nutmeg and Saffron
Beef Olives stuffed with Sage and Majoram
The Two Crows Inn Salad: Lettuce, Smoked Eel and Apples with Lemon and Honey Marinade served with freshly baked Bread
Thurston Surprise: Our Chef de Cuisine knows 100 ways to prepare Herring, Cod and Eel. Let us surprise you with what he conjures up on your plate today.
Tender Roe Deer Ragout “Cranmer”
Chicken á la Anne Boleyn, a lightly poached breast of chicken, sliced into a cream sauce with tarragon
Torta di Funghi, fresh Mushrooms - handpicked daily from the Cromwell household in the woods- with eggs baked in cream
Northern Delight: Pudding made of oatmeal mixed with the blood of cattle
Quacking Henry: Duckling with sweet green peas
For your information: We do not serve songbirds!
GALA DINER
Roasted Piglet stuffed with chopped chicken, lardo, goat´s liver, minced feenel seeds, marjoram, mint, ginger, butter, sugar walnuts, hen´s eggs and some saffron. Please book one week in advance! And no, we do not serve a peacock or a swan instead of the piglet, we are an inn and not the fancy royal court.
DIET CUISINE
Cream Cheese More, stomach cleaner
Lord Chancellor’s/ More's/ Stew, flesh of some sort with a gritty sauce like Thames mud
DESSERTS
Almond Cream Henry &Anne flavored with Rose Water and petals of Roses and candied Violets (please note: this dessert will be soon taken off the menu)
Fresh Brambles with Yellow Cream and Cinnamon Wafer
Orange Tarte Jane (coming soon)
Our Sweet Allrounder Plate: Raisins, Sugared Fruits of the Season, Sugared Almonds
Syllabub served with seasonal fruit (strawberries, cherries, pears, plums) or nuts
CHEESE
Putney Cheese, matured for at least one year in the cellars of Austin Friar
Spanish Royal (not always available)
Parmesan Cheese Eustache (not always available)
The Wolf Hall Gift Shop
HONEY from the Austin Friar´s beehives
MARZIPAN FIGURES: Choose from our wide range of figures e.g. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey*, Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master Simon Haisell*, King Henry VIII, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell*, Queen Anne Boleyn.
New on offer by popular demand and made from our finest marzipan: Stephen Gardiner
On offer for a limited time only: Special edition of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk: The Rattling Duke: hollow inside and filled with sugar pearls, especially popular with children
*Decorative objects, please do not eat.
PRESERVED AUTUMN FRUITS - currently on special offer: take 2 jars pay one: Quinces in Honey
FINE LINEN SHIRT “Wolfcrawl”, colour white, one size, with embroidery of the WolfCrawl coat of arms3
KITCHEN APRON ‘Thurston, the legend’, colour black, one size
Some Culinary Quotes
‘…I’ll skin you alive and salt you!'
‘…I will chew him up, bones, flesh and gristle.’
Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Old-school gourmetMerry at breakfast, they say: dead by noon.
Motto of "Bring up the bodies",in "Wolf Hall:description of the sweating sickness ‘Am I to sit here, the King of England, with a miserable fire and nothing to drink?’
Henry Tudor, a grumpy person‘…good wine keeps the chills out.’
Universal truth‘Give us notice and we’ll pickle some herrings.’
Thomas Cromwell's idea of having fun in leisure time The Cardinal looks at the scavengers as they go about their work.‘Have we refreshments for our visitors?’(while his house is being searched)
'Give the poor child his diner.'(to Christophe)
Cardinal Wolsey, best host ever Anne Cromwell is a tough little girl. She could eat a princess for breakfast.
Thomas Cromwell, proud father'Dear God, I am hungry,' Master Secretary complains. 'I wish I had kept back one of the fool's crusts. I wish I had laid hands on the white rabbit,I'd eat it raw.'
A desperate Stephen Gardiner after the diner at More´s houseLooking back
So that was 17 weeks of Wolf Hall from a culinary point of view. When I started, I didn't think much would happen on that front, maybe a few royal feasts. I was a little mistaken, it was a recurring theme. Two meals in particular stood out for me and both were a More-Cromwell story: the dinner at Bonvisi's (there was this brief moment where More opened up and a conversation with Cromwell almost seemed possible) and the the diner at More's house (has there ever been a stranger one? I would have fled the dinner table).
What also stood out for me was how Cromwell's time as a kitchen boy in Morton kept coming up througout the book, and here often in the More context. And that Cromwell's path to his first promotion was through the kitchen service, from cook to clerk in a trading house.
What pleasantly surprised me was that Cromwell turned out to be a true gourmet *g*. One could say that the characters who come across as more “sympathetic” than others are also portrayed as those who enjoy food or appear in a positive context with food (Wolsey, Cromwell, Thurston, the Cromwell household ).
Let's move on to the next book and see what's there. Maybe the food at the Tower isn't so bad after all.
Mary Magdalene reading, attributed to Ambrosius Benson, between circa 1530 and circa 1540
Advice from Wyatt senior
Post ‘Two Crows Inn’, March, 8
A crowned snail representing the art of slow reading flanked by three black choughs representing the three books of the trilogy on a scarlet background framed with a border embroidered in gold thread. The embroidery on the border shows wolf heads.
Well this looks delicious! Here's a toast to your amazing posts adding culinary delights to the menu of Wolf Crawl. Food is such a big part of the books, among other things it really brings the world to life. There are plenty more meals to come, so save room for pudding.
This time around it stood out to me that Alice more wanted to bake Gregor cromwell in a sugar crust and eat him all up. Poor poor Alice