Porpoises, beaver tails, boar's head and puffins are just some of the exquisite dishes on medieval tables during the festive season. In this episode, food historian Annie Gray joins Dan in his kitchen to cook up some delicious Christmas fare from ages past. They make wassail - an ancient alcoholic punch - and mince meat pies as they talk about the Pagan rituals, Medieval feasts and Victorian traditions that dictate what we put on our Christmas dinner tables. You can make these festive delicacies at home as you listen! Find the easy-to-follow traditional recipes Dan and Annie used here: Annie's book is called 'At Christmas We Feast' 0:00 Introduction 0:23 Were Christmas Traditions Invented by Victorians? 1:44 The Surprising History of Turkey and Goose 3:52 Swan Pies and Hand-Raised Signets 4:55 The 12 Days of Christmas Fasting & Feasting 7:05 Making Victorian Wassail: A Hot Boozy Custard 19:55 Tasting the 19th Century Punch 21:30 The History of Meat in Mince Pies 25:35 Did Oliver Cromwell Actually Ban Christmas? 32:55 Recreating Eliza Acton’s 1845 Mince Meat 45:20 The Ultimate Victorian Mince Pie Tasting Produced by Mariana Des Forges, James Hickmann and McKenna Fernandez, edited by Matthew Wilson & the channel manager is Vilde Øksnes. You can find more Dan Snow's History Hit on the audio podcast here: https://podfollow.com/dan-snows-history-hit/view Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds. #DanSnowsHistoryHit #HistoryPodcast #Christmas