Subtlety
An entremet or entremets (; French: [ɑ̃tʁəmɛ]; from Old French, literally meaning "between servings") in Medieval French cuisine referred to dishes served between the courses of the meal, often illusion foods and edible scenic displays. The term additionally referred to performances and entertainments presented between the courses. After the mid-17th century, the term referred to certain types of savory and sweet culinary preparations, and to the stage of the meal in “Classical Service” when they were served. Since the early 20th century, the term has more commonly referred only to the sweet preparations of the entremets stage of the meal.
In the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, an entremet marked the end of a course of the meal and could be a culinary preparation like frumenty (a type of wheat porridge) that was brightly colored and flavored with exotic and expensive spices, or elaborate models of castles complete with wine fountains, musicians, and food modeled into allegorical scenes. By the end of the Middle Ages, entremets had also evolved into dinner entertainment in the form of inedible ornaments or acted performances, often full of the symbolism of power and regality. In English, such displays were more commonly known as a subtlety (also sotelty or soteltie); they did not typically include acted entertainment, but did include culinary jokes like live blackbirds flying out of a pie, a scene immortalized in the folk song "Sing a Song of Sixpence".
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