Medieval Cookery: Recipes and History (Cooking Through the Ages)

In many ways this is a good book, giving recipes redacted for modern use and some interesting information. Unfortunately Ms Black does not merely turn recipes into modern language, she adapts them leaving out difficult to find ingredients and adding modern ingredients such as tomatoes which were unknown in medieval times, and even worse does not point out where she has done this. For someone new to historical food the book is therefore seriously flawed, and to someone who already has some knowledge it does not give anything useful since the information is suspect.

Superb little book for those with an interest in cooking at this time (3/3 people found this helpful)

.....as well as being an excellent resource for the good old `history school project`!

English Heritage version/2003. Front Cover - John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, dining with the King of Portugal, depicted in a late 15th-Century manuscript.

`One of a series of books which look at the art of cookery in Britain at different periods in history.
The recipes, which have been adapted for the modern kitchen, provide a taste of the times and the book also includes information on food, cooking equipment, kitchen designs, serving of meals and the development of etiquette.'

96 shiny high quality pages, split over 2 main sections:-

(1) Recipes
Flesh-day dishes
Lenten and fish-day dishes
Sweet dishes

(2) History
Cooking methods and tools
Table service and etiquette

with foreword from Lloyd Grossman MBE, an introduction, a food choice section, a bibliography and a recipe index.

`The earliest surviving English recipe books date from about 1390, when `The Forme of Cury' was written by order of King Richard II. Our knowledge of English medieval cookery in general comes mostly from indirect sources, such as government and church regulations, account and rent books , and a few books about table manners and diet.
Pictures and poems such as Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' fill further social detail.
The recipes included in this book date from the late 14th and early 15th Century and have been adapted for the modern kitchen.........'

Useful information precedes the recipe section including reference to foodstuffs, such as breads, fish, meats, milk, pottage, almonds, salt and spices along with more historical notes, e.g.:-

`There were times of desperate famine in the Middle Ages. The Black Death left villages depopulated, with few to till the soil or sow next year's grain. Local battles during the Wars of the Roses left the fields trampled flat, the livestock slaughtered or driven off, and the field workers gone......'

Modified recipes, with the old English method, if applicable, include:-

Beef or Mutton Olives
Broiled Venison or Beef Steaks
Beef and Vegetable Pottage
Grape-Stuffed Boiled Chicken
Rastons
Lenten Stew
Hot Wine Beverage
Almond Milk
Pike with Galentyne Sauce
Losyns (Lozenges)
Pears in Wine Syrup
Gingerbread
Curd Flan

Interspersed with quotes, illustrations and photographs, this is a superb little book for those with an interest in cooking at this time, as well as being an excellent resource for the good old `school project`!

Dressed Swan or Peacock
`....Chaudron (chawdron) was a special sauce for swans. It was made of the bird's own guts, cut small and boiled in broth with its blood and vinegar and strong spices. It looked blackish and was served hot. Swan was quite often served as an ordinary dish, without the head......'

`Salt was vital to the medieval diet as it was the main method of preserving meat during the winter.
Two methods were used - dry-curing and brining.
The first involved laying meat in a bed of salt while the latter was a method whereby meat was suspended in a strong solution of salt and water.
The first method gave the best results but was very hard work as the salt had to be pounded from the solid blocks into fine crystals.
In important households a special servant known as `the powderer' was employed to do this job.
The vast and often elaborately decorated salt cellar on the table at a feast was a guide to a person`s status in medieval England.
If you were someone of importance you would be placed `above the salt'.'

Other books in the series:-

Roman Cookery
Tudor Cookery
Stuart Cookery
Georgian Cookery
Victorian Cookery
Ration Book Cookery

Medieval Cookery: Recipes and History (Cooking Through the Ages)

Maggie Black

Reader Reviews:

Spoiled by historical inaccuracy (1/1 people found this helpful)

Superb little book for those with an interest in cooking at this time (3/3 people found this helpful)

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