Cockentrice is a dish consisting of a suckling pig's upper body sewn onto the bottom half of a capon. [1] Alternately, the front end (head and torso) of the poultry is sewn to the rump of the piglet to not waste the other half. [2] Other animal combinations were also made, although not so named. [3] The cockentrice was basted with a mixture of egg yolk and saffron during the roasting or covered with gold foil; it was also filled with a similar mixture to have a gilded inside. The dish originates from the Middle Ages [2] and at least one source attributes the Tudor dynasty of the Kingdom of England as its originator. [4]
Cockentrice or cockentryce is only one version of the dish's name. The original name was cokagrys or cotagres, a portmanteau of "cock" and grys, a suckling pig. Other spellings from the period include koketris, cocagres and cokyntryche. [2] The name also references the mythical cockatrice, [3] a dragon with a cock's head.
