Did you ever wonder what the Tudors ate and drank? What was Elizabeth I's first meal after the defeat of the Spanish Armada? Which pies did Henry VIII gorge on to go from a 32 to a 54-inch waist? The Tudor Kitchen provides a new history of the Tudor kitchen, and over 500 sumptuous – and more everyday – recipes enjoyed by rich and poor, all taken from authentic contemporary sources.

The kitchens of the Tudor palaces were equipped to feed a small army of courtiers, visiting dignitaries and various hangers-on of the aristocracy. Tudor court food purchases in just one year were no fewer than 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer and 53 wild boar, plus countless birds such as swan (and cygnet), peacock, heron, capon, teal, gull and shoveler. Tudor feasting was legendary; Henry VIII even managed to impress the French at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 with a twelve-foot marble and gold leaf fountain dispensing claret and white wine into silver cups, free for all!

• First Tudor cookbook since

  the sixteenth century

• Tudors have never been so

  popular. The BBC TV adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s trilogy Wolf Hall has been a

  massive hit, helping to maintain high level of interest in all things Tudor

• Subject of the book is

  relevant to many historic castles and houses with Tudor associations run by

  National Trust (Hardwick Hall, Speke Hall), English Heritage (Dover

  Castle,  Kenilworth Castle &

  Elizabethan Garden) and Historic Royal Palaces (eg Hampton Court which includes a fully restored and working Tudor kitchen). Also

  independent attractions such as Pembroke Castle (birthplace of Henry VII) and

  Hever Castle (childhood home of Anne Boleyn)