Chewettes were small pastry items that were eaten in England from the late 14th to the beginning of the 17th centuries, described in various sources as pies, pastries and tarts. Contents varied widely, including boiled eggs and ginger, spiced, minced meat on days that did not require fasting, and fish such as hake and haddock on the days that did. At various times, they were baked, boiled and fried—the only element that remained consistent was an external pastry crust.

Chewettes were known under several spellings, including chewete, chewet, chawette, chuette, chuet, chuett, and chewit. The word's etymology is contested, although multiple philologists agree a French origin is likely. Chewettes were one of several similar dishes eaten across the middle of the second millennium, and have been likened to the whist pie of Lancashire which continues to be eaten.

Preparation and serving Across various sources, chewettes are described as small pies, tarts, and pastries. With contents and methods of cooking varying dramatically across recipes, the only consistent element across preparations was the presence of an external crust.

The contents of chewettes varied with the religious requirements of the day, and with what cooks had at hand. On non-fasting days, chewettes were made by filling pastry with spiced, minced meat, including poultry, pork or veal, while on fasting days, fish such as codling, haddock, hake or turbot were included. Cooks did not limit themselves to the flesh of the animal, using liver and marrow bones in some recipes. Non-meat fillings included ginger and hard-boiled eggs, and in later chewettes, sweet ingredients including dried fruits. In different preparations, chewettes were baked, boiled or fried, and included or excluded a pie crust on top.

The last descriptions of chewettes come from the Stuart Restoration, in the late 17th century. In the last feasts in which they were served, chewettes were filled with bone-marrow, and were set in the gaps between the largest, most valued dishes. Small dishes placed in such a fashion later became known as hors d'oeuvres. As they faded from feasts, the place of chewettes was taken by croquettes.

Name Chewettes were known under a number of names over the centuries, including chewet, chawette, chuette, chuet, chuett, and chewit. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the name's etymology as unclear, and a derivation from the word chew unlikely; an explanation Ken Albala endorses given the chewette's small size, allowing it to be eaten in a single mouthful.

Ernest Weekley, the British philologist, proposed that chewet may derive from the French , formerly meaning jackdaw, the bird. The basis of this, besides the similar sounds, is ascribed by Weekley to the habit of the jackdaw in collecting odd items, reflecting in the inconsistent, mixed contents of the chewette. Charles H Livingston disregarded this theory, favoring the OED's more uncertain position. What was likely, according to Livingston, was a French origin, given the recurring -et(t)e ending and the role of French chefs in compiling the recipes of the cookbook The Forme of Cury, which gives two early recipes for "chewetes". Livingston proposed the word's origins may reference to shell, via the Old French chever/chaver, meaning "to hollow out", including in a 12th century text in reference to pastry.

The last usage of chewette or its alternate spellings identified by the Oxford English Dictionary came in 1688, in Randle Holme III's text The Academy of Armory, which mentions "chewit, or small Pie: minced or otherwise".

Recipes

Records of chewettes being consumed in England exist from the late 14th century to the beginning of the 17th century. An early mention appears in The Forme of Cury, circa 1390, which gives recipes for "chewetes" on days of non-fasting and fasting:In the English cookbook Liber Cure Cocorum, published circa 1430, recipes are again listed for "chewetes on fysshe day" and "chewetes on flesshe daye". Unlike those in the Forme of Cury, however, these are given in rhyming verse, with the recipe for "chewetes on flesshe daye" given as follows:

By the early 17th century, Gervase Markham gave a recipe for a late chewette in the 1623 text The English Huswife:

Related dishes The chewette is credited by several food historians as a precursor to the mince pie. Chewettes were among several similar dishes in the middle of the second millennium; Livingston draws one such comparison to the of contemporary France. According to the food historian Glyn Hughes, chewettes may be similar to the whist pie of Lancashire, which continues to be eaten.

See also Battalia pie Glossary of historical culinary terms

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