Editing Peafowl (section)

== Gastronomy ==
[[File:Peacock served in full plumage (detail of BRUEGHEL Taste, Hearing and Touch).jpg|thumb|A peacock served in full plumage (detail of the ''Allegory of Taste, Hearing and Touch'' by [[Jan Brueghel the Elder]], 1618)]]

In ancient Rome, peafowl were served as a delicacy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gillis|first=Francesca|date=4 May 2020|title=Ancient Foodies: Modern Misconceptions, Alternative Uses, and Recipes for Food in Ancient Rome|url=https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors/26|journal=Classics Honors Projects|access-date=27 July 2021|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727191035/https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors/26/|url-status=live}}</ref> The dish was introduced there in approximately 35 B.C. The poet [[Horace]] ridiculed the eating of peafowl, saying they tasted like chicken. Peafowl eggs were also valued. [[Petronius|Gaius Petronius]] in his [[Satyricon]] also mocked the ostentation and snobbery of eating peafowl and their eggs.

During the [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] period, various types of fowl were consumed as food, with the poorer populations (such as [[Serfdom|serfs]]) consuming more common [[bird]]s, such as [[chicken]]. However, the more wealthy [[gentry]] were privileged to eat less usual foods, such as swan, and even peafowl were consumed. On a king's table, a peacock would be for [[conspicuous consumption|ostentatious display]] as much as for [[Cuisine|culinary]] consumption.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medieval-recipes.com/medievalrecipes/fowlrecipes.htm |title=Fowl Recipes |publisher=Medieval-Recipes.com |year=2010 |access-date=30 March 2012 |archive-date=13 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213082159/http://www.medieval-recipes.com/medievalrecipes/fowlrecipes.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

From the 1864 ''[[The English and Australian Cookery Book]]'', regarding occasions and preparation of the bird:

<blockquote>Instead of plucking this bird, take off the skin with the greatest care, so that the feathers do not get detached or broken. Stuff it with what you like, as truffles, mushrooms, livers of fowls, bacon, salt, spice, thyme, crumbs of bread, and a bay-leaf. Wrap the claws and head in several folds of cloth, and envelope the body in buttered paper. The head and claws, which project at the two ends, must be basted with water during the cooking, to preserve them, and especially the tuft. Before taking it off the spit, brown the bird by removing the paper. Garnish with lemon and flowers. If to come on the table cold, place the bird in a wooden trencher, in the middle of which is fixed a wooden skewer, which should penetrate the body of the bird, to keep it upright. Arrange the claws and feathers in a natural manner, and the tail like a fan, supported with wire. No ordinary cook can place a peacock on the table properly. This ceremony was reserved, in the times of chivalry, for the lady most distinguished for her beauty. She carried it, amidst inspiring music, and placed it, at the commencement of the banquet, before the master of the house. At a nuptial feast, the peacock was served by the maid of honour, and placed before the bride for her to consume.<ref>{{cite book |last=Abbott |first=Edward |title=The English and Australian Cookery Book |url=https://archive.org/details/b21505524 |date=1864}}</ref></blockquote>