In Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It,” what was eaten as an accompaniment to pancakes?

In Shakespeare’s times the word “pancake” could refer to either a pancake as it is known today or a fritter. Tudor pancakes were made with a simple basic mixture that was popular with all classes, although the rich often dressed them up with more elaborate ingredients. They made hearty meals using only the simple ingredients of flour, milk, salt and egg. Pancakes could be sweet or savoury; sometimes they were used to wrap up other food, like bacon or cheese.

Shakespeare scholars have claimed that the playwright had a fascination with pancakes and other breakfast foods. For example, in “All’s Well That Ends Well” he mentions them in connection with a “pancake bell.”

In “As You Like It” (Act 1, Scene 2) the fool Touchstone tells a curious story concerning the dubious quality of some savoury pancakes: “Of a certain knight that swore by his / honour they were good pancakes, and swore by his / honour the mustard was naught. Now, I’ll stand to it, / the pancakes were naught and the mustard was / good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.”

So, the knight had sworn on his honour that the pancakes were good when in fact they were not. Touchstone goes on to explain that, because the knight in fact had no honour, he had not committed perjury (he was not forsworn) when he lied about the pancakes.