Documenting the Undocumentable;

How to Create a Historically Accurate Feast where there are no extant recipes

By Dame Hauviette d’Anjou (Channon Mondoux)

Where do you begin?

The task we are setting on is not an easy one. I will tell you that it can be done and done well and I will explain the steps I took to document a feast for an Irish 12th Century dinner. There are also pitfalls and limitations to consider. We will look at those as well.

Last spring I served a feast that was centered around the castle Carrickfergus in Ireland of the 12th Century. The setting was suggested to me by the Lady Katherine de Lacy, as part of a theme for our event, Clancy Day. Lady Katherine’s grandmother was from Carrickfergus and her family was at one time, caretakers of the castle itself. I saw this suggestion as a great challenge. To create a feast where no series of extant recipes were available for me to replicate. The most difficult hurdle was determining just what I was going to do to make this feast more than a fantasy meal. I decided that I was going to base it on facts.

The issues at hand;

There are a few issues to address before we begin to compile the information for our feast. The first issue is;

Why “create” recipes of a medieval nature when there are hundreds (virtually thousands) waiting to be worked?

This is a legitimate question and one, that as serious medieval re-enactors we have to ask ourselves. What we are dealing with as cooks within the SCA is a demand to have “themed events”. This is a very different situation from presenting a period dish for submission into competition or even cooking under your own volition. The ideal situation is to have a theme that is directly related to a period cooking manuscript (preferably one that has been translated into your language) in both location and time period.

This more often than not, doesn’t occur. Your choice here is clear, either decide that you want the recipes for the feast to be singularly from period examples and that the recipes will be redacted as exactly as is humanly possible from that source (or combination of sources) regardless of the theme OR attempt to create a feast from period sources and other historical documents that can AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE approximate what would have been served within the themed events constructs. I am not in any way advocating making up recipes solely based on modern ones, assuming the foodstuffs were available within period. As accurately as possible means examing many factors of what goes into period recipes. This is a fine line to walk, especially when some would propose that potatoes could have been carried by ocean currents to Europe and there is what looks like a turkey in the Bayeux Tapestry, therefore turkey and mashed potatoes is a potential medieval dinner for 12th Century Normans. NOT! :)

Are you sure you have exhausted all possibilities of locating a source for extant recipes?

This issue is significant as well. All too often I hear people discussing preparation for a feast with no mention of period sources. This is a step that should be thoroughly investigated before you set out on the task of developing a database of information for your themed event. There are several resources that you can use to determine whether or not there really are recipes from 9th Century Byzantium or 16th Century Africa. Remember that it’s not only recipes in and of themselves that you will be working with.

In order to help you determine if there any recipes available I have a few suggestions.

1. “Stefan’s Florilegium” website which can be found at; http://www.florilegium.org/.

This resource is a collection of various topics, as written articles and discussions including extensive notes from the SCA cooks email list, a high end discussion group whose members are excellent talent and have many resources of their own. This is the first place I advise people to go to when searching for unusual cooking information.

2.Local, regional and international cook’s email lists. You can generally subscribe to these by logging on to Kingdom level websites or searching the internet.

3. The library, both University and Public. Lets not forget there are research librarians who can help you search and locate many unusual sources. It just takes time and patience. Some schools have cookbook collections, some have cultural programs that might contain travel reports with detailed information. All of these things are helpful in you search.

Your personal preferences will influence the end result and therefore the resulting work is not “true to form”.

This may be true, but not necessarily undesirable. Let’s start with using period references. A MS like Le Viander de Taillevent, is a 14th C account written by a master cook of the middle ages. Few people will study this MS and produce the same feast twice, even more so, it is rare that two people will redact the same recipe exactly the alike. Unless the recipe contains quantities, full and complete directions and leaves no step out, we will automatically rely on our cook’s instincts to re-create the recipe.

Of course with experience, one develops a stronger sense of what is intended by the medieval cook. Understanding terms such as “pointing, allaying and standing” will give you knowledge of how the recipe will work itself out. The book “Fabulous Feasts” by Madeline Pelner Cosman is infamous for it’s poor rendition of recipes, but is invaluable for the more significant part of it’s work on cooking practices in the middle ages. But beyond these definitive steps, we are most often left to use our culinary knowledge. For some this comes naturally, for others, they require a great deal of support in developing a recipe. Those of you who cook using a bunch of this, a pinch of that and a tea cup full as your standard measure have a better sense of how to deal with the recipes we most often encounter. That still does not mean we cannot interpret what recipes do exist.

However, when developing recipes from sources other than strictly medieval cooking MS’s we must be even more diligent to ensure that our resulting work is not simply adding a modern recipe to a medieval menu. Ingredients that we use today and that may have existed in period, may not have been used in the same manner and vice versa. An example are the key ingredients to baking powder. Today we use baking powder without a second thought to it’s existence for it’s leavening effect on baked goods. Prior to the 18th Century, the combination of baking soda and cream of tartar as a leavening agent was to my knowledge, unheard of. Leavening had to be achieved in a different way, often by using eggs, milk and sometimes yeast or an item called “hartshorn” (even this is questionable) to produce lighter baked goods. What kind of effect does this have on baked goods of an earlier period? It has a significant one, and we can’t put it aside because you like your oat cakes fluffy and besides your grandmother made them that way. You’ll need to work on the recipe using the potential ingredients until the desired effect is achieved. If you cannot produce the recipe without adhering to medieval cooking rules, then find another recipe to work with. With our premise of not having an extant recipe available we must still rely on ground rules to guide us.

What are the rules then? Here are some suggestions for developing your recipes and menu.

No modern inventions (i.e. baking powder)/ingredients (new world)-

This can be a daunting task to determine just what wasn’t used prior to the 17th C. Again, your cook’s lists, the florilegium and some other cooking encyclopedia’s can be helpful. See the list of resources at the end.

Be true to the culture- iced dishes may have been invented by the chinese, but that does not mean that your feast in 15th Century Greenland is going to include it appropriately on the menu. A closer reality would be creating a menu for a 15th Century country that had significant cultural overlaps with the country of origin.

Acknowledge your limitations- be sure to let the feasters know what you have done. If the feast closely adheres to a cooking MS but differs in some way, they should know this. If the dishes are purely from your imagination and have little or no documentation as to their composition, they should know that also. It is unfortunate when someone attends a feast serving under the understanding that it is period, only to find out that it is modern in all but the title.

Use medieval recipes that are approximate in period, location, general culture or slightly out of period recipes that can be supported by other factual documentation;

An example of this is attempting to produce a 12th Century Irish recipe for oatcakes; this is the documentation I presented to support my recipe;

On the Subject of Oatcakes

Tolls charged in Dublin in 1233 by Henry the III, Lord of Ireland, for goods describes a limited variety of items although it is suspected that the list is incomplete. The list includes; wheat ,oats, horse or mare, ox or cow, hogs, sheep, wine, grain, salt, fat, cheese, honey, butter, herrings, and salmon among other merchandise.[i]

A second toll in 1250 adds the following food items;

grain, flour (either entering or leaving the port of Dublin), deer skins, goat skins, or horse hides, squirrel skins, sides of bacon, onions, pepper, alum, mill-stone, beans, kitchen utensils, and fat pork.[ii]

In, the Capitualary of Frankfort, The Price of Staples of 794, the decree discusses various grains and even denotes the cost of oatcakes,

C.4. Our most pious lord king has decreed, with the assent of the holy synod, that no man, clerk or lay, may sell his corn more dearly, in time of abundance or scarcity of the harvest, than the public muid brings according to recent decree. For a muid of oats one denarius, for a muid of barley two denarii, for a muid of rye three denarii, for a muid of wheat four denarii. But if he wishes to sell it as bread, he ought to give twelve wheaten loaves, each weighing two pounds, for one denarius; fifteen of rye of equal weight for one denarius; twenty barley loaves of the same weight, or twenty-five oat cakes of the same weight, for one denarius. As for the public grain of the lord king, if it be sold, two muids of oats shall be sold for a denarius, one of barley for a denarius, one of rye for two denarii, one of wheat for three denarii. And let him who holds a benefice from us see to it that, when he has given what is due to God, no serf belonging to that benefice die of hunger, and what is left after the necessities of the serfs have been attended to shall be sold according to the rates mentioned above.[iii]

An Irish feast is incomplete without oatcakes. Even saying the name “oatcakes” invokes an Irish accent. A period reference to scottish oat cakes is found as an observation by Froissart, as found in Cariadoc’s Miscellany. This reference tells me that oatcakes are such an important part of the diet that they form a staple for the people of the British Ilses,

"the only things they take with them [when riding to war] are a large

flat stone placed between the saddle and the saddle-cloth and a bag

of oatmeal strapped behind. When they have lived so long on

half-cooked meat that their stomachs feel weak and hollow, they lay

these stones on a fire and, mixing a little of their oatmeal with

water, they sprinkle the thin paste on the hot stone and make a small

cake, rather like a wafer, which they eat to help their digestion. [iv]

The recipe that I worked from originates in Traditional Irish Recipes, by John Murphy and is simply oats and water, identical to the above. There is a second recipe that comes from The Scots Kitchen, by Meg Dod. The latter recipe includes flour, sugar, eggs and milk. A bit more rich than the former.

This is my redacted recipe based on Froissarts observations; (it should be noted that His Grace, Duke Sir Cariadoc, has his own recreated recipe and provides the Froissart description above as the basis, however, my recipe differs slightly in interpretation)

.75 lbs steelcut oats

2 cups hot water

pinch salt

mix ingredients, let sit for a few hours to soak up water. Make 4 inch cakes. Cook on a greased med-hot grill for 7-10 minutes on one side. Place in a 350 degree oven for a further 7-10 minutes. makes 16 cakes

The following recipe is one that I developed based on the more elaborate recipe from the later period source and in conjunction with one that originates from a restaurant in Carrickfergus named Killybegs.[v] Note that this recipe is modern and is only an example to show that oatcakes are still eaten in the area.

The World’s Best Oatcakes
(As Sampled in Killybegs, November 96)

Ingredients
1 ½ cups white flour
2 cups rolled oats or oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
¼ pound of butter (you can substitute cooking oil for the butter, with reducing the amount of milk; it just makes a crisper cake)
¾ cup buttermilk or sweet milk soured with a little vinegar.

What to Do
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Cut in ¼ pound butter or rub it in with your fingers until the mixture is like fine meal.
Add ¾ cup buttermilk or sweet milk soured with a little vinegar.

Work the dough briefly with your hands, adding a few more sprinklings of flour, until it is no longer sticky. Divide dough into 6 lumps. Patting it with your hands, shape the six lumps into flat disks, about 4 or 5 inches in diameter, doesn’t matter how thick. Put them on a buttered cookie tin. Cut each disk into quarters but don’t separate them. With the point of a butter knife, print a small cross into each quarter. (An old Irish cook told me this lets the devil out and makes them keep better; I never omit this step.)

Bake them in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F. (200 degrees centigrade) for about 15-20 minutes, until they start to be tinged with brown. Turn the oven off, leave the oven door ajar, and let them crisp up on the outside for ten minutes more. Break the quarters apart. And serve them hot or cold with tea. With butter or cheese or jam. Or tuck them in your kit bag if you’re going off to war or to the New World, or any place where you might need nourishing, long-keeping food. I bet William Wallace ate a lot of these cakes in his skirmishes with the invaders.

Another recipe;

Scots Crumpets , A traditional recipe from The Scots Kitchen, Meg Dod, 1929

Flour, sugar, eggs, milk.

Make the batter some hours before it is required. Beat separately the yolks and whites of four eggs. Pour into a basin and add half a pint of milk and three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Mix well, and gradually add flour till you have a thickish batter. Beat till quite smooth and set aside. Put a girdle or frying-pan on a bright clear fire and rub with suet. To have light, pretty crumpets the fire must be brisk and the girdle hot, so that they will reise quickly. Drop with a spoon as many as the girdle will hold, and before they have time to form a skin and get dry on the top they should be ready to turn. Do this quickly, and a lovely golden-brown skin as smooth as velvet will be formed and a delightfully light crumpet produced.

Hauviette’s Adapted Recipe for Oatcakes, this is the final product of my ressearch I hope others enjoy it.

makes 16 oatcakes

1 cup of oat flour (2 cups ground rolled oats)

1 cup of course ground steel cut oats

1cup butter milk or soured milk

3 eggs

pinch of salt

Mix ingredients. Let sit for 1 hour. Cook as a pancake, on a hot griddle, not turning, but placing into a 350 degree oven to dry the tops.

[i] J. T. Gilbert, ed., Historical and Municipal Documents of Ireland, (London: Longmans, Green, 1870), pp. 96-97; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 413-414. Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg

[ii] J. T. Gilbert, ed., Historical and Municipal Documents of Ireland, (London: Longmans, Green, 1870), pp. 124-125; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 415-416. Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg

[iii] From: J. P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae Cursus Completus, (Paris, 1862), Vol. XCVII, p. 193, reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p. 130 Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg

[iv] (Froissart's Chronicles, Penguin Books translation.)

[v]http://imagesofireland.tripod.com/recipes.htm#The World’s Best Oatcakes

These were the steps taken to support one recipe that could not be found in the period in question in the location from which I was developing my feast.

Sources

Here I will reproduce the bibliographies I have used for source material. This list is of course, not complete! There is much information out there on topics I have never even encountered. You are limited only by your time.

Irish

Bonwick, James Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions Dorset Press, United States 1986

Cariadoc, HG Duke, A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Seventh Edition Volume II 1998, Sixth Edition Volume I 1991

Coulton G. G., ed From Reginald of Durham, "Life of St. Godric, " in. Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1918)

Dod, Meg The Scots Kitchen, Blackie and Son Ltd, Glasgow 1929

Eddison, E.R. Egil’s Saga, done into English Out of the Icelandic With an Introduction, Notes and an Essay on some Principles of Translation. Greenwood Press, New York, 1968

Foote Peter, and Wilson David M. The Viking Achievement University of London, Sidwick & Jackson London

1970

Frux, Gregory William Life in Thirteenth Century Novgorod, Issue #99 The Complete Anachronist

Graham-Campbell, James The Viking World, Ticknor & Fields, New York, 1980

Hieatt, Constance B. and Butler, Sharon. Curye onInglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth Century (Including the Forme of Cury). London: For the Early English TextSociety by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Luders, A., ed., The Assize of Bread The Statutes of the Realm: Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third, in Pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain, From Original Records and Authentic Manuscripts, 11 vols., (London: Record Commission, 1810-1828), Vol. I, pp. 199-200

McLaughlin, Mary Martin and Ross, James Bruce, The Portable Medieval Reader.Pages 497 - 499, 25th printing November 1969. copyright 1949 by The Viking Press, Inc.Edited, The Vision of Viands --- author: Aniar MacConglinne

Murphy, John Traditional Irish Recipes Appletree Press, 1980

Prescott James Le Viander de Taillevent, , 1988 Alfarhaugr Publishing Society, Inc. 1908 Oak St Eugene OR 97405

Reeves, William The Life of St. Columba, founder of Hy, Written by Adamnan, ninth abbot of that monastery, Dublin 1857, Printed at the University Press

Redon Odile, Sabban Francoise, & Serventi Silvanno, Translated by Edward Schneider, The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy, University of Chacago Press, Chicago and London 1998

Sartorius G. F., ed., Urkundliche Geschichte des Ursprunges der Deutschen Hanse, J. M. Lappenberg, rev., (Hamburg, 1830), Vol. II, p. 29; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, eds., A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965),

Strehlow Dr.Wighard & Hertzka Gottfried, M.D. Hildegard of Bingen’s Medicine, translated by Karen Anderson Strehlow, Bear & Company, Santa Fe New Mexico, 1988

Tannahill, Reay Food in History Three Rivers Press, New York 1988

Wilson, C.Anne Food and Drink in Britain, From the Stone Age to Recent Times The Anchor Press Ltd, bound by Wm. Brendon & Son Ltd, Great Britain, 1973

Wilson David M. The Viking Age in the Isle of Man, The archaeological evidence. Odense University Press 1974

Yasin Annette M aka Ailknn Olafsdotter., A Viking Feast, Documentation for Ingredients and Cooking Methods

Websites

Viking Foods - 9th and 10th century by Þóra Sharptooth, a tenth-century steader from the area near Jorvík in the Danelaw.

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikfood.html

The Flour of Chivalry: The Rise of Bakers' Guilds in the Middle Ages

http://pw1.netcom.com/~madbaker/demisun/bakerguild.html

Stefan’s Florilegium

Florilegium.com

Images of Ireland: http://imagesofireland.tripod.com

Gaelic Dictionaries Online

http://www.ceantar.org/dicts/index.html

Internet Medieval Sourcebook

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Medieval Humoral Theory

1. Abu ‘ Ali al-Husain ibn ‘Abd-Allah ibn Hasan ibn ‘ Ali ibn Sina or Avicenna, al-’Arjuzat fi’t-ibb, Avicenna’s Poem on Medicine, translated by Haven C. Krueger, A.M., M.D., Witchita Kansas, Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield Illinois U.S.A., 1963

al-’Arjuzat fi’t-ibb, is known to have been translated into Latin many times, beginning with Gerardo Cremona’s translation in the middle of the twelfth century. Following is a review of the translations and work done with al-’Arjuzat fi’t-ibb as found in Avincenna’s Poem on Medicine.

12th C- Translation into Latin-Gerardo of Cremona

13th C- Translation into Latin- Armengaud de Blaise of Montpellier

16th C- (1522) Published in Venice and Lyon

(1527) Translation- Andrea Alpagus of Bellune

(1562) Marginal Notes Added- Benedictus Rinius Venetus

17th C- (1608) Index and vocabulary- Joanne Costus and Joanne Paulo Mongius

(1630) Translation in verse - Jean Faucher

(1649) Last prose edition- Antonius Deusingius

2. Ibn Butlan, Tacuinum Sanitatis, translated into Italian by Luisa Cogliati Arano, Translated and Adapted into English by Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook, George Braziller, New York, 1976

3. Luria, Maxwell and Hoffman, Richard L., eds. Middle English Lyrics. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1974) p. 112. The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies http://orb.rhodes.edu/non_spec/missteps/Ch4.html

4. Le Rouge, Nicholas The Shepherd's Calendar,

Troyes,1495http://www.adh.bton.ac.uk/schoolofdesign/MA.COURSE/LPR09.html

5. Qualities, Elements, Seasons, Humours, Based on a diagram from Isidoe of Seville, Liber de responsione mundi Augsburg, 1472 http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/intellectual/elements.html

Chaucerian Cookery

1)Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England Women’s Work in a Changing World 1300-1600, Oxford University Press 1996

2)Bothwell, Don and Patricia Food in Antiquity, A Survey of the Diet of Early Peoples The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 1998

3)Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales Trans: Neville Coghill. Cresset Press. London: 1986.

4) Milham, Mary Ella. Platina, on Right Pleasure and Good Health. A Critical Edition and Translation of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine , Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Tempe, Arizona, 1998

5)The Following Cooking manuscripts were found bound together in A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks (Seventh Edition) (1998) Volume I and II, Compiled by Duke Cariadoc of the Bow (David Freeman) with translations by several hands.

- Du Fait de Cuisine, by Master Chiquart, Chief Cook to the Duke of Savoy. (1420)

translated by Elizabeth Cook from a manuscript edited by Terence Scully, Vallesia v.40, pp. 101-231, 1985 (1420)

- Le Menagier de Paris (Goodman of Paris, c.1395) translated by Janet Hinson 1988 A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks (Seventh Edition) (1998) Volume I and II, Compiled by Duke Cariadoc of the Bow (David Freeman) with translations by several hands.

- Two Fifteenth Centruy Cookery Books. Harleian MS. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl.MS. 4016 (ab. 1450) with Extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553 & Douce MS. 55

Edited by Thomas Austin. Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press London New York, Toronto first published 1888, reprinted 1964

-The Forme of Cury,A Roll Of Ancient English Cookery, Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II, Presented afterwards to Queen Elizabeth, by Edward Lord Stafford, and now in the Possession of Gustavus Brander, Esq.Illustrated with Notes, And a copious Index, or Glossary. A Manuscript of the Editor, of the same Age and Subject, with other congruous Matters, are subjoined.

can also be found at ; Miscellany http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/

6)The Medieval Source book Online, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source Courtesy of Kenneth Hodges [email protected], Oct. 27 2000

Sources Used

[1] English Wayfaring Life in the XIVth Century, J. J. Jusserand, trans Lucy Smith, Putnam's Sons, New York,1931 (Orig. 1889).

[2] London in the Age of Chaucer, A. R. Myers, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1972

[3] Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages, Christopher Dyer, Cambridge University Press, 1989

[4] English Weapons & Warfare, 449-1660, A. V. B. Norman and Don Pottinger, Barnes & Noble, 1992 (orig. 1966)

[5] The Armourer and his Craft from the XIth to the XVIth Century, Charles Foulkes, Dover, 1988 (orig. 1912)

[6] "The Cost of Castle Building: The Case of the Tower at Langeais," Bernard Bachrach, in The Medieval Castle: Romance and Reality, ed. Kathryn Reyerson and Faye Powe, Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa, 1984

[7] The Knight in History, Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1984

[8] Methods and Practice of Elizabethan Swordplay, Craig Turner and Tony Soper, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1990

[9] Life in a Medieval City, Joseph and Frances Gies, Harper & Row, New York, 1969

7)de Pizan, Christine, The Treasure of the City of Ladies: or The Book of the Three V irtues.Trans.: Sarah Lawson. N. Y.: Penguin, 1985, pp. 130-133

http://www.millersv.edu/~english/homepage/duncan/medfem/pizan4.html, October 27, 2001

8)Prescott James Le Viander de Taillevent, , 1988 Alfarhaugr Publishing Society, Inc. 1908 Oak St Eugene OR 97405

10) Tannahill, Reay Food in History Three Rivers Press, New York 1988

11)von Urwelt, Steffen, A History of Beers, Ales and Porters with Recipes and Advice to Brewers in the Current Middle Ages, Skating on Thin Ice Productions, Ramshead Armoury Inc, USA 1989

Websites

1)Master Huen’s Website: http://www.godecookery.com/chaucer/ccookery.htm

2)Cariadoc’s Miscellany: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/

3)The Medieval Source book Online, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source

Italian 15th Century

A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Sixth Edition, 1991, first compiled by Duke Cariadoc of the Bow and the Duchess Diana Alena

A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Seventh Edition, 1998 Volume II

Galen, On the Natural Faculties, Book III. Translated by Brock, Arthur, John M.D.

Milham, Mary Ella. Platina, on Right Pleasure and Good Health. A Critical Edition and Translation of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine , Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Tempe, Arizona, 1998

Ody, Penelope, The Complete Medicinal Herbal, A Practical Guide to the Healing Properties of Herbs, with more than 250 remedies for common ailments. Dorling Kindersley, London, England, 1993

Prescott, James, Le Viander de Taillevent, a 14th Century Cookery based on the Vatican Library Manuscript, Translated into English by James Prescott. Alfarhaugr Publishing Society, Inc. 1988.

Websites

Ancient Medicine- http://web1.ea.pvt.k12.pa.us/medant/GalNtIII.htm

Oregon State University website- http://osu.orst.edu/food-resource/v/cucum.html

Stefan’s Florilegium- http:www.florilegium.com

New York Wine and Grape foundation- http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/pool/vinfvar/ Title.html

Wine Lover’s Page- www.wineloverspage.com

Other Sources

Root, Waverly Food An Authoritative and visual history and dictionary of the foods of the world. Konecky and Konecky New York, 1980

- this reference book is useful for quick glances at various foodstuffs. Not always complete and fully accurate, but is generally reliable.

David, Elizabeth English Bread and Yeast Cookery, New American Edition. Biscuit Books Inc Newton Mass. 1977.

- this is an excellent resource for understanding the science and history of baking (at least in the British area)

Mennell, Stephen All Manners of Food Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present. University of Illinois Press, Chicago 1996.

- development of eating styles and the school of cooking.

Rohde, Eleanor Sinclair Old English Herbals. Dover Publications, 1977

- a review of several medieval handbooks of herbs.

Miller, J.Innes The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire 29 BC to AD 641. Oxford Press, 1969

- an excellent source for understanding the numerous spices called for in medieval recipes, including their original location and routes of import.