Cockentrice is a dish consisting of a suckling pig's upper body sewn onto the bottom half of a caponorturkey.[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 used.[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, at times also spelled cockentryce, is only one version of the dish's name. The original name was cokagrysorcotagres, a portmanteau of "cock" and grys, a suckling pig. Other spellings from the period include koketris, cocagres and cokyntryche.[2]
