Centuries-old Coventry Godcakes back on menu at RSC

[dutchman]

Forget Easter eggs and choccies ... Coventry Godcakes are making a comeback after several hundred years off the menu.



The forgotten city delicacy is making its star debut this week at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Rooftop Restaurant in Stratford.

The old-style recipe has been rediscovered and given a modern twist by RSC head chef Nick Funnell.

He was on the computer working on ideas for the restaurant’s new menu when he came across references to Coventry Godcakes

He brought in his colleague Teresa Legaspi who hit the kitchens and worked on recreating the centuries- old recipe.

The result is a yummy treat which Nick and Teresa hope will prove irresistible for locals and some of the thousands of visitors from across the globe who arrive in Stratfrord every year.

The old traditional dessert is a triangular sweet pastry which used to be given by godparents to their godchildren for good luck at Easter, New Year’s Day or on the child’s birthday.

The Coventry Godcakes date back several hundred years and a similar cake even gets a mention in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The three sides of the pastry are said to represent the Holy Trinity.

The new RSC recipe includes diced peel, currents, raisins, apple, apricots, star anise and cinnamon soaked in rum and then cooked in pastry coated in sugar syrup.



Nick served up a menu fit for a queen when Queen Elizabeth officially opened the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre and she later sent him a thank you letter for the wonderful meal of dover sole she had.

He’s also served canapes to Prince Charles and cooked for many of the RSC actors and crew, who enjoy tucking into his modern versions of old recipes.

Nick said he enjoys going on the internet and tracking down old recipes dating back to Elizabethan and medieval times and then adapting them to modern tastebuds.

He’s put English shark and ling on the RSC menu in the past and his nibbles menu has featured a pig’s ear version of pork scratchings.

He’s also found recipes for Staffordshire oatcakes and a sausage special that offers savoury meats one end and a dessert the other.

“It’s a meal on a plate,” said Nick.

The busy chef reckons he’s served up to 63,000 customers since the restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened and he is hoping Coventry Godcakes will be another big hit with food lovers.

He said: “It’s very light and the flavours just come through.”

[Spuffler]

"The new RSC recipe includes diced peel, currents, raisins, apple, apricots, star anise and cinnamon soaked in rum and then cooked in pastry coated in sugar syrup." - could it be that the y are called Godcakes because if you keep eating them, you end up meeting God sooner than otherwise....?