Decorating a Tudor Kitchen in Your Period Dollhouse

To decorate your period Tudor dollhouse kitchen well, you should learn a little about the Tudor period, and what type of food and equipment would be found in the Tudor kitchen. The Tudor period in England was a time of great changes in house design. During the Tudor period, the focus changed from churches to houses. Houses were smaller and with more detailing and had new styles of decorating, such as the Tudor arch, Tudor chimney, and use of brick.

Food

During the Tudor period, there was no means to freeze food. The Tudor kitchen would only have fresh foods in it. This means that the kitchen should only have in it vegetables that are available in the same season. According to the British Library website, while very rich people had access to potatoes and occasionally sugar, these were not available to the lower classes, and would only appear in your dollhouse kitchen if it is a very large mansion. There was little access to fresh water, so they usually drank ale with every meal.

During the Tudor period, all meat came from freshly-killed farm animals, and immediately roasted, boiled, or made into a pie. Your dollhouse kitchen might include some meat roasting on a spit, or a miniature meat pie cooling on a shelf. Bread was served with every meal during the Tudor period, so be sure to have some miniature loaves in your kitchen.

The lower classes during this period used a lot of herbs and spices to flavor their food. Tudor cooking involved lots of sauces made from fruit. Fruits were also pickled to keep for later on in the year.

Cooking Utensils

According to the British Library, prior to the Tudor period, slices of bread were used instead of plates. During the Tudor period they began using "trenches," flat boards with hollows carved out for food. Spoons and knives were used for eating, but not forks.

The Tudor dollhouse kitchen should hold objects needed for cooking over a fire, such as a cauldron and fire spit. Clay jars and pots were used for storing and cooking food.

Most women could not read during this period, so cookbooks were fairly uncommon. However, the number of women who could read was increasing, so there were a few books marketed towards the more affluent women.

Furniture

The Tudor period kitchen would have a table made of wood. The kitchen would also have shelves, and maybe some stools. The Tudor kitchen was also used for washing, so a big wooden tub might be kept in the kitchen for bathing and washing clothes.