Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine

y Alexander Neckam in the twelfth century; at least I am not aware of any ol

was born in 1157. He died in 1217, so that the composition of this work of his (one of many) may be referred to the close of the twelfth century. Its value is, in a certain sense, impaired by the almost complete absence of English terms; Latin and (so called) Norman-French being the languages almost exclusively employed in it. But we have good reason indeed to be grateful for such a legacy in any shape,

received as something like counterparts of what we possessed in England at or about the same period. We keep the phrase pot luck; but, for most of those who use it, it has parted with all its meaning. This said production of Neckam of St. Albans purports to be a guide to young housekeepers. It instructs them what they will require, if they desire to see their establishment well-ordered; but we soon perceive that the author has in view t

n a bowl, of which the principal material was pork, stand almost alone; for we get, wherever we look, nothing but descriptions by learned and educated men of their equals or betters, how they fed and what they ate — their houses, their furniture, their weapons, and their dress. Even in the passage of the old fabliau of the “King and the Hermit” the latter, instead of admitting us to a cot

der. It was edited by Dr. Pegge in 1780, and included by Warner in his “Antiquitates Culinariae,” 1791. The Roll comprises 196 receipts, and commences with a sort of preamble and a Table of Contents. In the former it is worth noting that the enterprise was undertaken “by the assent and avisement of masters of physic and of philosophy, that dwelled in his (Richard II.‘s) court,” which illustrates the ancient alliance between medicine and cookery, which has not till lately been dissolved. The directions were to enable a man “to make common pottages and common meats for the household, as they should be made, craftily and wholesome

as is to be gathered from a Latin memorandum at the end, in his lordship’s hand, preserved by Pegge and Warner in their editions. The fellowship between

cit de

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ining it. We encounter here, too, onions under the name borrowed from the French instead of the Anglo-Saxon form “ynne leac”; and the prescriptions for making messes of almonds, pork, peas, and beans are numerous. There is “Saracen sauce,” moreover, possibly as old as the Crusades, and pig with sage stuffing (from which it was but one step to duck). More than one species of “galantine” was already known; and I observe the distinction, in one of the s

re is no allusion to butter. Among the receipts are some for dishes “in gravy”; rabbits and chickens were to be treated similarly; and the gravy

-do Englishman was furnished in the time of Henry VI., and it is so far special, that it deals with the subject more from a middle-class point of view than the “Regulations for the Royal Household,” and other similar compilations, which I have to bring under notice. The names, as usual, are often misleading, as in blanc manger, which is very different from our blanc-mange; and the receipt for “goo

dward IV., and then proceeds to furnish a series of directions for the cook of a king’s or prince’s household; for, although both at the outset and the conclusion we are told that these dishes were calculated for all estates, it is abundantly obvious that they were such as never then, or very long subsequently, reached much lower than the court or the aristocracy. There is a less complete copy here of the feast at the enthronement of Archbishop Nevile. I regret that neithe

any comprehending nearly all the matters that were apt to interest the few educated persons who were qualified to peruse its pages; and amid a variety of allied topics we come here across a catalogue of terms used in speaking of certain dishes of that day. The reference is to the prevailing methods of dressing and

sewhere than to supply the reader with the fruits of his own direct observation. But there are certain points in it which are curious and original. He tells the ploughman that, after confessio

ds roast meat twice a week, on Sundays and on Thursday nights; but perhaps

at the universities); but he thought that children and the aged or infirm could not be tied by any rule. He condemns “bull’s beef” as rank, unpleasant, and indigestible, and holds it best for the labourer; which seems to indicate more than anything else the low state of knowledge in the grazier, when Venner wrote: but the

f taken to excess; nor does he approve of herrings and sprats; and anchovies he c

, and a draught of pure claret. He gives a receipt — the earliest I have seen in print — for making metheglin or hydromel. He does not object to furmety or junket, or indeed to custards, if they are ea

ode of sopping them in wine as existing in his time. They were sometimes roasted in the embers, and there were other ways of dressing them. John

he liked the Quality, in which he embraced the Universities, and he tenders them, among other little hints, the information that green ginger was good for the memory, and conserve of roses (not the salad of

enetian work entitled “Epulario, or the Italian Banquet,” printed in 1549, we recognise the Spanish tone which had in the sixteenth century communicated itse

“to make Pies that the Birds may be alive in them, and fly out when it is cut up.” Some of the other more salient beads relate to the mode of dressing s

o our acquaintance with early culinary ideas and p

. de Worde. 4to, 1508, 15

, 1546. Often reprinted. It is a rece

By John Partridge. 12mo, 1580, 1586; and under the title of

. Gathered by A.W. 1

wson. In two Parts, 12mo, 1585. A copy of P

sewife’s Treasu

Dutch Victual. Licensed in

e’s Handmaid for the

ladies and gentlewomen. By John Murrell. Licensed in 1617.

y George Crewe. Licensed

Ladies and Gentle

ened. By Patrick, Lord Rut

are Secrets. Published by La Fount

ublished by Salvatore Winter of Naples, an expert Ope

rather in the cla

, and Manner of preparing all sorts of Food used in this Nation. By Thomas Muffet

y. . . . Transcribed from the true copies of her Majesties own Receipt Books. By W.M., one of her late Serva

ect way teaching how to raise, season, and make all sorts of pies. . . . As also the Perfect English Co

e says, in the shambles; and it was for those who affected such matters to get it done, but not by him who did the “French Cook”1. He seems to imply that the latter, though an excellent work in its way, had not only been marred in the translation, but was not so practically ad

r is it under that title in the

ner” represents women rolling out paste, p

instance, containing “My Lady Rennelagh’s choice Receipts: as also some of Capt. Gvilt’s, who valued them above gold.” The value for us, however, is solely in the link with a noble family and the little touch about the Captain. There are many more such in

in the Patent Office Library, Mr. Ordish has obligingly pointed out to me a cur

h Cooper, who had been head-cook to Charles I, and who styles his 1654 volume “The Art of Cookery Refined and Augmented.” He gives us two varieties of oatmeal pudding, French barley pudding, and hasty pudding in a bag.

eekly Pamphlet, promised much more than the Books performed) may have provided this but a cold intertainment at its first coming abroad; yet I know it will not stay long in the world,

class gentry than some of those which had gone before. It adapted itself to sundry conditions of men; but it kept in view those whose purses were not richly lined enough to pay for dainties

s occupation gone, like a greater man before him; and the world may owe to en

e their appearance at Oliver’s table: Dutch puddings, Scotch collops of veal, marrow puddings, sack posset, boiled woodcocks, and warden pies. He seems to have understood that eight stone of beef were cooked every morning for the establishment, and all scraps were diligently collected, and given alternately to the poor of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, and

calling for an orange, which was the sauce he preferred to that joint, and her highn

st afterwards among the poor, as Cromwell is said just above to have made a rule of his hou

nd earlier Tudor rule, was favourable to the naturalisation of the Parisian school of cookery, and numerous works were published at and about that time, in which

wn how we should treat turnips after this wise. Some of the ingredients proposed for sauces seem to our ears rather prodigious. In one place a contemporary peruser has inserted an ironical calculation in Ms. to the effect that, whereas a cod’s head could be bought for fourpence, the condiments recommended for it were not to be had for less than nine shillings. The book teaches us to make Scotch collops, to pickle lemons and quinces, to make French bread, to coll

her pages, such as they are (for there are but thirty), are now publici juris. The lesson to be drawn from Mistress Tillinghast’s printed labours is that, among our ancestors in 1678, pies and pasties of all sorts, and sweet pastry, were in increased vogue. Her slender volume is filled with elucidations on the proper manufacture of paste of vario

Proper New Book of Cookery,” or “The Book of Cookery.” Notwithstanding the presence of many competitors, it continued to be a public favourite, and perhaps answered the wa

y of works of reference for the housekeeper and the cook became much more regular and extensive. In 1653, Selden’s friend, the Countess of Kent, brought out her “Choice Manual

By Robert May. 8vo, 1660

ookery Dissected. By W

net, stored with all manner of rare r

Candying, and making several sor

e Servant-Maid

with excellent Directions for Cooking, and also for Preser

and Drinks, of the Preparation of Fo

The mode of Carving at the Table represe

Ale, and other sorts of Liquor

ke twenty-three sorts of Wines, equal to that of France

neral. By Louis Lemery. Trans

of Cookery. By Henry Howard, Free Cook

s Master-Cook to their late Majesties King Charles II., King James II., King Willia

ery. By J. Hall, Free Cook

, Confectioner to her late Ma

Receipts in Cookery, Physic, and

nd Country Cook. By Cha

ousewife. Seventh

A very choice Collection of Rec

a Chapelle, Cook to the Prince of

f Foods. By L. Lemery. Transl

fallen in my way, or been pointed out by the kindnes

ending cooks, and accounts for his omission of pigments by saying, like a gallant man, that his countrywomen little needed such things. Nott opens with Some Divertisements in Cookery, us’d at Festival-Times, as Twelfth-Day, etc., which are highly curious, and his dictionary itself presents the novelty of being arranged, lexicon-wise, alphabetically. He seems to have been a fairly-read and intelligent man, and cites, in the course of his work, many celebrated names and receipts. Thus we have:— To brew ale Sir Jonas Moore’s way; to make Dr. Butler’s purging ale; ale of health and strength, by the Viscount St. Albans; almond butter the Cambridge way; to dress a leg of mutton à la Dauphine; to dress mutton the Turkish way; to stew a pike the City way. Dr. Twin’s, Dr. Blacksmith’s, and Dr. Atkin’s almond butter; an amber pudding, according to the Lord Conway’s receipt; the Count

e; to make Shrewsbury cakes; to dress a leg of mutton like a gammon of bacon; to dress eggs à la Augemotte; to make a dish of quaking pudding of several colours; to make an Italian pudding, and to make an Olio. The eye seems to meet for the first time with hasty pudding, plum-porridge (an experiment toward the solidification of the older plum-broth), rolled beef-steaks, samphire, hedgehog cream (so called from its shape, currants being used for the e

them on a right Mazarine dish with the skins on, the cut side downwards; put to them a very little water, scrape on them some loaf

e makes us aware that she was a person of long practical experience. Indeed, as the volume comprehends a variety of topics, including medicines, Mrs. or Miss Smith must have been unusually observant, and have had remarkable opportunities of making herself conversant with matters beyond the ordinary rang

efa

to introduce it, and being so necessary for the gratification of the appetite, stands in need of no encomiums to allure persons to the practice of it; since there are but few now-a-days who love not good eating and drinking. Therefore I entirely quit those two topicks; but having thre

d themselves with the simple provision of nature, viz. the vegetable diet, the fruits and production of the teeming ground, as they succeeded one another in their several peculiar seasons, the art of cookery was unknown; apples, nuts, and herbs, were both meat a

ed, as in Isaac: nor no sicknesses but those that were both the first and the last, which proceeded from the struggles of nature, which abhorred the dissolution of soul and

ew necessary, both to render it more palatable and savoury, and also to preserve that part which was not immediately s

s and savoury messes; so that cookery then began to become a science, though luxury had not brought it to the height of an art. Thus we read, that Jacob made such palatable pottage, that Esau purchased a mess of it at the extravagant

, savoury herbs, or roots only; or spices, the fruits of trees, such as pepper,

he principal; broiling or roasting the next; besides which, I presume scarce any other wer

d that made any advances beyond plain dressing, as boiling, roasting, &c. For though we find indeed, that Rebecca his mother was accomplished with

me, when luxury entered the world, it grew to an art, nay a trade; for in I Sam. viii. 13. when the Israelites grew fashi

eatest height and perfection, if it is not got beyond it, even to its declension; for whatsoever new, upstart, out-of-the-way messes some humourists have invented, such

olume; and rather confound than improve those that would accomplish themselves with it. I shall therefore confine what I have to communicate within the limits of

our own country, and in such a manner as is most agreeable to English palates: saving that I have so far temporized, as, since we have to our disgrace so fondly admired the

many of them to us are impracticable, others whimsical, others unpalatable, unless to depraved palates; some unwholesome, many things copied from old authors, and recommended without (as I am persuaded) the copiers ever having had any experience of the palatableness, or had any regard to the wholesomness of t

wards; during which time I have been constantly employed in fashionable and noble families, in which the provisions ordere

rugal, and also for a sumptuous table, and if rightly observed, will prevent the spoiling of many a good dish of meat, the waste of many good materials, the vexation that f

s, cordials, English wines, &c., what I have said in r

e amends in giving none but what are approved and practicable, and fit either for a genteel or a noble Table

ve fifty, pastry above forty, cakes forty, creams and jellies above forty, preserving an hundred, made wines for

regular disposition or placing the dishes of provision on the table accordin

eipts, that have never been made publick; excellent in their kind, and approved remedies, which have not been obtained by me without much difficulty; and of such efficacy in distempers, &c

circumstances mentioned; who by making the medicines, and generously contributing as occasions offer, may help the poor in their afflictions, gain their good-will and wishes, entitle themselves

e and efficacy, I hope they will be as kindly accepted, as by me they are generously offered to the publick: and if they prove to the a