Bill of Fare for a Baptism in 1679.

Historical menus can be found in an amazing variety of books. I have a seventeenth century bill of fare for you today from The History of Baptism (Boston, 1817) by Robert Robinson. The baptism celebrations took place on this day almost three and a half centuries ago, and the proud father certainly put on a magnificent spread:

The following is the bill of fare of a dinner at Tynningham, the house of the Right Hon. the Earl of Haddington, on Thursday the twenty-first of August, sixteen hundred seventy-nine, when his Lordship's son was baptized:

Fresh beef ………………………... 6 pieces.

Mutton …………………………….. 16 pieces.

Veal …………………………………  4 pieces.

Legs of venison …………………  3

Geese ..……………………………… 6

Pigs ………………………………….. 4

Old turkeys ……………………….. 2

Young turkeys ……………………. 8

Salmon ……………………………….4

Tongues and udders …………... 12

Ducks ………………………………. 14

Roasted fowls …………………….. 6

Boiled fowls ........................... ..9

Chickens roasted ……………….. 30

Ditto stewed ……………………… 12

Ditto fricasseed …………………. 8

Ditto in pottage …………………. 10

Lamb …………………………………. 2

Wild fowl …………………………… 22

Pigeons, baked, roasted,

and stewed …………………......... 182

Hares roasted ……………………. 10

Ditto fricasseed …………………... 6

Hams …………………………………3

A puncheon of claret &c.

A little more detail of the actual dishes would have been interesting, but luckily there is no dearth of cookery books from the second half of the seventeenth century. I have chosen something quite intriguing from one of the best-known cookery books of the time.

To Pickle an old fat Goose.

Cut it down the back, and take out all the bones; Lard it very well with green Bacon, and season it well with three quarters of an Ounce of Pepper; half an Ounce of Ginger; a quarter of an Ounce of Cloves, and Salt as you judge proportionable; a pint of white wine and some Butter. Put three or four Bay-leaves under the meat, and bake it with Brown-bread, in an earthen pot close covered, and the edges of the cover closed with Paste. Let it stand three or four days in the pickle; then eat it cold with Vinegar.

The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened (1669)