Richard II was certainly the royal connoisseur of food. His famous book of recipes (well, he didn’t actually write it!) the Forme of Cury, is constantly resorted to as a record of just how well our 14th-century ancestors were provided for when they sat down to eat. How often are we told that they held lumps of greasy meat in their hands, ripped it with their rotten teeth and then chucked the bones down for the hounds?
Well, I don’t doubt there were some who ate like that—hellfire, there are some of them around today! But Richard II and his sophisticated court were much more civilised. I’d love to have attended one of his feasts, or better, a more intimate supper where he and his closer friends relaxed and sampled the exquisite dishes that came from his kitchens.
If you go to this article you’ll read about the chicken dish that he could have been served. In the article it’s referred to as chicken pot pie, which to me appears to be a deep pie dish containing the chicken and gravy, and then topped with a delicious puff pastry. Whether or not it would have been served to Richard in this form I don’t know, but he would certainly have known the medieval stew known in England as pottage. He also definitely knew about pastry and all its uses. It’s only a short step to suspecting he’d have known about combining the two. In fact I think he’d have demanded it, because he wasn’t one to miss a tasty new food experience.
Well good luck to him. He’s always had some pretty rough press, and although I daresay he wasn’t a perfect angel, he doesn’t deserve to be so thoroughly abused. But then, by now you all know that he and Richard III, who has also been treated like this, are my two favourite monarchs! But I won’t bore you now by going on about it. 🙄
Here are more articles about Richard II and food: here and for the Christmas season go to this one.
If you go here here, you’ll find his cookbook is widely available. Unfortunately none of them have been signed by him in person! 😄
murreyandblue 
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