Tudor Kitchen, Part 1

In 2007 I was fortunate enough to visit London, England.  The number one item on my "to do" list was to visit the Hampton Court Palace, which Henry VIII used as one of his palaces.  It has a working Tudor kitchen and I was determined to see it.  Of course I went nuts and took about 100 pictures of items that would really only appeal to cooks...

I am interested in how kitchens, equipment, and some food items looked from this time period and I want to share what I saw with you.  This tour comes in parts for brevity and organization.  Let's start with the kitchen.  **Remember, this is a royal kitchen, designed to make and serve food for hundreds of people each day.  This is not your average, ordinary home-style kitchen.  Men were the cooks and everything was, well, "king-sized".

This is just one room where preparations were made.

Another room with another table.

One fireplace, big enough to cook a very large animal!

Another fireplace, designed with spits to roast large chunks of meat.

The ovens were smaller.  This allows them to hold the heat close to the items being baked.

 This is a small storage room with barrels and baskets.  Look at the fish!

This gives you just a glimpse of what the place was really like.  They do cooking demos here and of course let the public wander through.  From what I have read, when this was a working kitchen, the place would be packed with people and tables and supplies all trying to coordinate meals fit for a king and his court.

Part 2:  "Food Prep Tools", to follow.