Once again the highly respected food historian Anne Menzies has been asked to research a themed dinner at Christ Church for the Oxford Literary Festival. Last year’s historic dinner was Noble Dining, and focused on a menu that Cardinal Wolsey, the founder of Christ Church, might have consumed in the 16th century. This year, Anne gives us Regal Dining which she has based on the restoration of Charles II and his visit to Christ Church in September 1663.

This was the period when the dining experience with all the trimmings was restored to its full glory after a decade of austerity under Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth Government. She has used the recently published book A Gambling Man, Charles II and the Restoration, 1660 – 1670, by Jenny Uglow, as her inspiration.

The menu Anne has devised is not an exact meal as served at the college during this time, but it certainly boasts food fit for a king who dined on French food during his exile. The dishes she has chosen come from Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook, published 1660 as Robert May was trained in France and was responsible for ‘Frenchifying’ English food. Patrick Lamb’s Royal Cookery, published posthumously in 1710 – a copy of which is kept in the Christ Church library – has influenced her choice of dishes, too, as Patrick Lamb was Master Cook to Charles II.

In keeping with the times, there will be two courses. A soup, followed by a meat dish form the first course. Fish and puddings make up the second. Both courses will be served on platters and in a manner that enables the diners to help themselves, as was the fashion then.

Anne said: “To achieve a menu of real impact I have had to look hard for recipes that relate to the occasion, the king, Oxford and also Christ Church. It’s a bit like doing a culinary crossword in reverse.”

She went on to explain that it was an exciting period as so many new foods were being imported to England.

“A year after his restoration, Charles II was presented with a queen pine, or a pineapple from Barbados. Around that date, the first sorbets were being produced, but as the science of freezing a sugar solution was known by very few, only the Italian aristocracy or select monarchs would have sampled iced waters. So pineapple sorbet will be served before the pudding.”

Green tea and coffee will be served too, as Charles II’s wife, Catherine of Braganza, brought her taste for elegant tea drinking to the court.

Anne says that quite coincidentally, the diariest John Evelyn reported that the first cup of coffee to be consumed in Britain was by a Greek in Oxford 11 years earlier.

John Evelyn was not only a loyalist and friend of the king, his manuscripts were housed in the library at Christ Church for 40 years. This is why Anne has also included a Compound Salat (salad) from John Evelyn’s book Acetria. A discourse of Sallets, written in 1699.

“This is an example of multidimensional relationships where the salad relates to the college, Oxford, the king and the occasion,” Anne explained.

The college chefs, under the guidance of head chef Chris Simms, will add a further authentic note to the dinner by preparing March Butter and Manchet bread. The butter, which takes its name after the month in which it is made, is created from fresh cream whipped until it becomes butter, and then roughly fashioned into shape, leaving the reside of buttermilk in the serving bowl. The Manchets link perfectly to Charles II as he was responsible for bringing in French rolls, so that instead of sharing a loaf of bread, everyone dining had their own roll.

Charles II was just 19 when his father was executed. Until then, he had been rich and powerful, then suddenly he was exiled, scouring foreign courts, broke and hopeless. Anne points out that this makes him different from other kings, as he experienced both sides of the coin.

“As a survival mechanism during his exile, he developed the appearance of charm and outward compliance. Whatever people thought of Charles’s performance, they had to admit that the mask was superb. But of course it meant it was hard to work out what he really thought.”

To get this point across, Anne will be laying a number of elaborate masks on the table to symbolise this aspect of the king’s character. Wine glasses will be placed bottom-up in a tureen filled with ice to cool them as this was a time when diners preferred their drinks cool. There will also be silver tankards on the table.

This superb dinner will be served in the Freind Room, Christ Church, on Tuesday evening, March 23.

The main festival dinner takes place in the Great Hall, Christ Church, on Saturday, March 27. For ticket and further information call 0870 343 1001, or go to the website (www.oxfordliteraryfestival.com).