Spots 
Heavy broth begins with mutton, beef, and capons boiled down with sweet herbs, nutmeg, and mace. Bread crumbs or egg yolks thicken these pottages into rich, restorative spoon meats for grand feasts. Orange juice, verjuice, or wine vinegar adds an essential sharp acidity to balance the fat.
Large joints of beef, venison, and wild fowl require careful balance on iron spits above clear hardwood coals. Basting mixtures of claret, butter, and grated bread form a rich crust that holds juice inside the meat. Sweet herbs like rosemary and thyme infuse the dripping fat caught in shallow pans underneath.
Thick rye or wheat dough crusts, baked hard to serve as durable vessels, enclose venison, wild boar, or spiced poultry. Nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and dried fruit layer between slices of meat to preserve and sweeten the interior during long baking. Hot clarified butter poured through a hole in the top lid seals the contents completely.
Banquets reach their peak through dramatic centrepieces designed to astonish noble guests before the meal begins. Pastry ships discharge miniature working cannons made of sugar while artificial stags bleed red wine when pierced. Hollow pie crusts release live birds and frogs into the dining hall to trigger playful chaos.
Fasting days demand inventive treatments for pike, carp, eel, and salmon without dairy or meat broths. Wine, butter, herbs, and almond milk replace animal stocks to build rich stewing liquids and sauces. Sweet spices and dried fruits elevate simple poached fish into dishes fit for aristocratic tables.
Fruit pastes, clear jellies, and candied peel rely on boiled sugar syrups worked to precise temperatures. Quinces, plums, and oranges are boiled repeatedly in clarified sugar until translucent, then dried on wire frames. These sweetmeats offer both digestive relief at the banquet's end and a demonstration of household wealth.
Master seventeenth-century English culinary techniques for aristocratic banquets, meat pies, fish dishes, and sugar work.