More on Tudor England and Hampton Court

Some more details about Tudor England, cooking, and what was being done in the kitchens at Hampton Court.

What the Cooks Wore and Why in Tudor England, Hampton Court Kitchens

Lighting a Tudor fire without matches

Henry's VIII diet

Heston’s Christmas Feasts

Heston Blumenthal is a chef in the UK and owner of a the Michelin-starred restaurant called The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire. He did a number of TV shows, showing how inspired he is by history and how he has created menus and “feasts” based on tastes of the past.

With Christmas only days away, I thought I would post his Christmas Feast show for those of you to enjoy. You can see how he takes from the past and gives it his own twist.

Heston's Christmas Feast part 1

Heston's Christmas Feast part 2

Heston's Christmas Feast part 3

Heston's Christmas Feast part 4

The Kitchens of Hampton Court

A very good friend of mine posted a lovely video about the Kitchens at Hampton Court. Over the years, I knew that when you visited the site in the UK, that there were demos and people using the kitchens. However, I never thought to look at You Tube to see if there were any videos on the subject.

Here are a few videos about Tudor cooking (Henry the VIII) and life in Hampton Court, showing how the recreate the past first hand.

Henry the VIII Kitchens at Hampton Court

King's Confectionary

Show and Tell with Spices

13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook: Jewish Recipes

Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook is from the 13th Century with a variety of recipes, translated by Charles Perry. My source for the cookbook was found over here complete.

With the holidays swiftly approaching, I figured now was a good time to share some Jewish recipes that may good well with the festivities.

Jewish Partridge [stuffed]
Clean the partridge and season it with salt. Then [for the stuffing] crush its entrails with almonds and pine-nuts and add murri naqî’ [use soy sauce], oil, a little cilantro juice, pepper, cinnamon, Chinese cinnamon [cassia], lavender, five eggs and sufficient salt.

Boil two eggs, stuff the partridge with the stuffing and insert the boiled eggs [shelled] and put some stuffing between the skin and the meat, and some of it in the interior of the partridge.
Then take a new pot and put in four spoonfuls of oil, half a spoonful of murri naqî’ [use soy sauce] and two of salt. Put the partridge in it and put it on the fire, after attaching the cover with dough [seal it tightly], and agitate it continuously so it will be thoroughly done. And when the sauce has dried, remove the lid and throw in half a spoonful of vinegar, throw in citron and mint, and break two or three eggs into it. Then put a potsherd or copper pot full of burning coals on it until it is browned, and then turn [the contents] around so that the other side browns, and roast it all. [After the bird has cooked, steamed, uncover it and let it brown.]

Then put it in a dish and put the stuffing around it, and garnish it with the egg yolks with which you dotted the pot, or with roast pistachios, almonds and pine nuts, and sprinkle it with pepper and cinnamon after moistening with sugar, and present it, God willing.

A Jewish Dish of Chicken
Clean the chicken and take out its entrails. Cut off the extremities of its thighs and wings and the neck, and salt the chicken and leave it.

Take these extremities and the neck and the entrails, and put them in a pot with fine spices and all the flavorings and cilantro juice, onion juice, whole pine-nuts, a little vinegar and a little murri [use soy sauce], good oil, citron leaves, and stalks of fennel. Put this over a moderate fire. When it is done and the greater part of the sauce has gone, cover the contents of the pot with three eggs, grated breadcrumbs and fine flour. Crush the liver, add it to this crust and cook carefully until the liver and the crust are cooked.

Then take the chicken and roast it carefully, and baste it with two eggs, oil and murri [use soy sauce], and do not stop greasing [basting] the chicken inside and out with this until it is browned and roasted.

Then take a second little pot and put in two spoonfuls of oil and half a spoonful of murri [use soy sauce], half a spoonful of vinegar and two spoons of aromatic rosewater, onion juice, spices and flavorings. Put this on the fire so that it cooks gently.
And when it has cooked, [cut up the roasted chicken and put it in the sauce] and leave it until it is absorbed. Then ladle it into a dish and pour the rest of the sauce on it, and cut up a boiled egg and sprinkle with spices, and ladle the preceding [pine-nut and entrails dish] into another dish, and garnish it too with egg yolks; sprinkle it with fine spices and present both dishes, God willing.

A Jewish Dish of Eggplants Stuffed with Meat
Boil the eggplants and take out their small seeds and leave [the skins] whole [hollow out the cooked eggplants].
Take leg meat from a lamb and pound it with salt, pepper, cinnamon, Chinese cinnamon [cassia] and spikenard. Beat it with the whites of eight eggs [whipped] and separate six egg yolks. Stuff the eggplants with this stuffing.

Then take three pots and put in one of them four spoonfuls of oil, onion juice, spices, aromatics and two spoonfuls of fragrant rosewater, pine-nuts, a citron [leaves], mint, and sufficient salt and water. Boil well and throw in half of the stuffed eggplants.

In the second pot put a spoonful of vinegar, a teaspoon of murri [use soy sauce], a grated onion, spices and aromatics, a sprig of thyme, another of rue, citron leaf, two stalks of fennel, two spoonfuls of oil, almonds, soaked garbanzos, some half a dirham [1 dirham=3.9g/3/4tsp] of ground saffron, and three cut garlic. Add in sufficient water until it boils several times, and throw into it the rest of the stuffed eggplants.

And in the third pot put a spoonful and a half of oil, a spoonful of cilantro water, half a spoon of sharp vinegar, crushed onion, almond, pine-nuts, a sprig of rue and citron leaves. Sprinkle with rosewater and sprinkle with spices.

Decorate the second [dish] with cut-up egg yolks and cut rue and sprinkle it with aromatic herbs. Cut an egg cooked with rue over the third pot, sprinkle it with pepper, and present it.
[This gives you two dishes of stuffed eggplants, each with a slightly different sauce, and one dish of a sauce that can be used over both dishes.]

13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook: Bread, Crepes and Puff Pastry

The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author. Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook is from the 13th Century with a variety of recipes. My source for the cookbook was found over here complete (I believe this is a reposting from David Freeman’s version, but I am not 100% sure).

Charles Perry was the translator of the text.

With Thanksgiving coming, I figured some bread and crepe recipes may be helpful to change things up in your menus:

Recipe for Folded Bread from Ifriqiyya [Tunisia]
Take coarsely ground good semolina and divide it into three parts. Leave one third aside and knead the other two well [with water].
Roll out thin bread and grease it. Sprinkle some of the remaining semolina on top and fold over it and roll it up. Then roll it out a second time and grease it, sprinkle some semolina on top and fold it over like muwarraqa [puff pastry]. Do this several times until you use up the remaining third of the semolina.
Then put it in the oven and leave it until it cooks. Remove it when tender but not excessively so. If you want, cook the flatbreads at home in the tajine. Sprinkle it with cinnamon and serve it.

You can then crumble it and with the crumbs make a tharida like fatir, either with milk like tharida laban, which is eaten with butter and sugar, or with chicken or other meat broth, upon which you put fried meat and a lot of fat.

[This sort of folded bread, heavy in butter or oil, is a common Asian bread, served with meals. It is usually made into one-person rounds, rather than a large loaf. It is made fresh before a meal, otherwise the bread stales very quickly.]

Preparation of Khubaiz [starch] that is Made in Niebla [and starch crepes]
Take good wheat, put it in a washtub, and cover it with good, fresh water. Change the water after two or three days so that the wheat softens and makes talbina [releases its starch into the water], as is done for starch.

Then remove the water and press [the wheat bran] with the feet in the bottom of a rush basket or sack, or by hand if there is only a little of it, and beat it all over so that it whitens until it forms crumbs the size of grains of wheat, or a little larger. Sieve into a bowl what [liquid] comes out of the pith. Then pour a little fresh water over the wheat bran to wash it. Squeeze it until none of the pith remains.

Put all this [liquid] in a bowl and leave it in the sun until it binds together. Strain from it the flour water that is left over, time and again, until it thickens. Then pour it in a cloth and hang it so that it drips until it dries, and expose it to the sun if you want to make starch. Leave it on the cloth in the sun until it dries. This is the recipe for starch. Do not let it get near dew or it will spoil.

When the khubaiz [starch] has been made, take some of it before it dries — it will be like yogurt — and beat it until it is smooth. If you wish, dissolve dry starch in fresh water so that it comes out according to this description. [You make a thin batter.]
Then put a frying-pan over a moderate fire, and when it has heated, smear it with a cloth soaked in oil [lightly brush with oil]. Then take some of the dissolved starch [batter] with a spoon and pour it in the frying-pan. With your hand, move it around the pan so that it [the batter] stretches out thin. When it has bound together and whitened, take it to a board or a cloth [set it aside] and grease the frying pan with oil [again, for the next one]. Pour in another large spoonful until you have a sufficient quantity. [You are making starch crepes or thin pancakes, just as the French crepes are made.]
[To make honey cheese crepes:]
Have prepared filtered skimmed honey, thickened in a pot on a weak fire. Leave it on the hearthstone so that it remains fluid.
Then put a frying pan full of fresh oil over a moderate fire. When the oil is boiling, put in fresh cheese while the oil boils. Remove it right away in a sieve so it does not burn and drain off the oil from the cheese.
Every time you take a khubaiz from the frying-pan, drain it of its oil and throw it into this melted honey [then remove it], and overturn the [cooked] cheese onto it with a spoon, bit by bit, and stir it with [the back of] a spoon until they are mixed one with the other [spread the softened cheese over the crepe slowly until it cools and become firm], it hardens and forms one mass.

Preparation of Muwarraqa Musammana [buttery, flaky, puff pastry dough]
Take pure semolina or wheat flour and knead a stiff dough without yeast. Moisten it little by little [with water] and don’t stop kneading it until it relaxes and is ready and is softened so that you can stretch a piece without severing it.

While a [frying] pan is heating, take a piece of the dough and roll it out thin on marble or a board. Smear it with melted clarified butter or fresh butter liquified over water. Then roll it up like a cloth until it becomes like a reed. Then twist it and beat it down with your palm until it becomes like a round thin bread, and if you want, fold it over again. Then roll it out and beat it down with your palm a second time until it becomes round and thin. [This process mixes the butter into the dough.]

Then put a new frying pan on a moderate fire. Then put the dough round in a heated frying pan after you have greased the frying pan with clarified butter, and whenever the clarified butter dries out, moisten [with more butter] little by little. Turn the dough around until it cooks, and then take it away and cook more [rounds of dough] until you finish [cooking] the amount you need.
[This makes puff pastry rounds, like crackers. You can sprinkle them with sesame seeds or poppy seeds.]

13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook: Syrups

The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author. Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook is 13th Century with a variety of recipes from “healthful cooking” to many things you wouldn’t think was so healthy at all. I’ll be posting a few samples from this cookbook. My source for the cookbook was found over here complete (I believe this is a reposting from David Freeman’s version, but I am not 100% sure).

Charles Perry was the translator of the text.

Some Syrups:

Syrup of Mint: Way of Making It
Take mint and basil, citron and cloves, a handful of each, and cook all this in enough water to cover, until its substance comes out, and add the clear part of it [filter it] to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar.

The [spice] bag: an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of flower of cloves. And cook all this [the essence, the sugar, and the spice bag] until a syrup is made.

Its benefits: it frees bodies that suffer from phlegm, and cuts phlegmatic urine, fortifies the liver and the stomach and cheers it a great deal; in this it is admirable.

Syrup of Fresh Roses, and the Recipe for Making It
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of fresh roses, after removing the dirt from them, and cover them with just boiled water for a day and a night, until the water cools and the roses fall apart in the water. Filter it and take the clean part of it and add to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar. Cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup.

Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with two of hot water. Its benefits are at the onset of dropsy [swelling from water, edema], and it fortifies the stomach and the liver and the other internal organs, and lightens the constitution; in this it is admirable.

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn [vinegar syrup]
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup.

Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water when fasting. It is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst

Since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of sour vinegar for a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey and it is admirable.

Syrup of Pomegranates
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sour pomegranates and another of sweet pomegranates, and add their juice to two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar. Cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup. Keep until needed.

Its benefits: it is useful for fevers, and cuts the thirst, it benefits bilious fevers and lightens the body gently.

Syrup of Lavender [Halhâl]
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of lavender and cook it in [enough] water to cover it until its substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and add it to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey. Cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup.

Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half of this with three of hot water. Its advantages are in cleaning the brain and the stomach; it lightens the body and dries up black bile gently, but it contracts the breath, and it is fitting to regulate the drink with a cheering drink or cheering water.

Syrup of Lemon
Take lemon, after peeling off the skin, press it [to a pulp] and take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup.

Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.

Assizes of Bread, Beer, & Lucrum Pistoris

Found this source from this website. It’s a source from 1350.

The Assizes of Bread, Beer, & Lucrum Pistoris
[Arkenberg Introduction]

The Assize of Bread and Beer (including the Lucrum Pistoris), only takes the form found in the printed Statutes of the Realm in 6% of all Common Law English statute books written up to 1350. More often the three component parts, the Assize of Bread, the Assize of Beer, and the Lucrum Pistoris, appear alone in the statute books as separate instruments. Occasionally, though, the Assize of Bread and the Assize of Beer show up combined in a single instrument–the Assize of Bread and Beer. But in this instance, the Lucrum Pistoris still stands alone as a separately-titled instrument. Together or separately these three instruments appear in over half of all statute books written. Their popularity should not surprise. First issued in various forms during the reign of Henry II, with variations in form and issuance dates down to that of Edward II (See: G. J. Turner, “Some Thirteenth Century Statutes. II,” Law Magazine and Review, 4th ser., 22 (1897): 240-250, p. 241), the three regulated the price, weight, and quality of the bread and beer manufactured and sold in town, village, and hamlet (See: Alan S. C. Ross, “The Assize of Bread,” Economic History Review, 2d ser., 9 (1956): 332-342, pp. 332, 334; R. H. Hilton, A Medieval Society: The West Midlands at the End of the Thirteenth Century (London, 1966), pp. 230-231; Judith M. Bennett, Women in the Medieval English Countryside: Gender and Household in Brigstock Before the Plague (Oxford, 1987), p. 120; Bolton, Medieval English Economy, pp. 127-128; Helen M. Cam, The Hundred and The Hundred Rolls: An Outline of Local Government in Medieval England (London, 1930; reprint ed., 1963), pp. 211-212).

Assisa Panis (Assize of Bread): When a Quarter of Wheat is sold for 12d., then Wastel Bread of a farthing shall weigh £6 and 16s. But Bread Cocket of a farthing of the same grain and bultel, shall weigh more than Wastel by 2s. And Cocket Bread made of grain of lower price, shall weigh more than Wastel by 5s. Bread made into a Simnel shall weigh 2s. less than Wastel. Bread made of the whole Wheat shall weigh a Cocket and a half, so that a Cocket shall weigh more than a Wastel by 5s. Bread of Treet shall weigh 2 wastels. And bread of common wheat shall weigh two great cockets.

When a quarter of wheat is sold for 18d., then wastel bread of a farthing white and well-baked shall weigh £4 10s. 8d.

When for 2s., then £3 8s.

When for 2s. 6d., then for 54s. 4d. ob. q.

When for 3s., then for 48s.

When for 3s. 6d., then for 42s.

When for 4s., then for 36s.

When for 4s. 6d., then for 30s.

When for 5s., then for 27s. 2d. ob.

When for 5s. 6d., then for 24s. 8d. q.

When for 6s., then for 22s. 8d.

When for 6s. 6d., then for 20s. 11d.

When for 7s., then for 19s. 1d.

When for 7s. 6d., then for 18s. 1d. ob.

When for 8s., then for 17s.

When for 8s. 6d., then for 16s.

When for 9s., then for 15s. q.

When for 9s. 6d., then for 14s. 4d. ob.q.

When for 10s., then for 13s. 7d.

When for 10s. 6d., then for 12s. 11d. q.

When for 11s., then for 12s. 4d. q.

When for 11s. 6d., then for 12s. 10d.

When for 12s., then for 11s. 4d.

When for 12s. 6d., then for 10s. 10d. ½

When for 13s., then for 10s. 5d. ½

When for 13s. 6d., then for 10s. 0d. ¾

When for 14s., then for 9s. 8d.

When for 14s. 6d., then for 9s. 2d. ¾

When for 15s., then for 9s. 1d.

When for 15s. 6d., then for 8s. 9d. ½

When for 16s., then for 8s. 6d.

When for 16s. 6d., then for 8s. 2d. ¾

When for 17s., then for 8s.

When for 17s. 6d., then for 7s. 9d. ¼

When for 18s., then for 7s. 6d. ¾

When for 18s. 6d., then for 7s. 4d. ¼

When for 19s., then for 7s. 2d.

When for 19s. 6d., then for 6s. 11d. ½

When for 20s., then for 6s. 9d. ¾

And it is to be known, that then a Baker in every Quarter of Wheat, as it is proved by the King’s Bakers, may gain 4d. and the Bran, and Two Loaves for advantage [for the furnage?] for Three Servants, 1d. ob. for Two Lads, ob. in Salt, ob. for kneading, ob. for Candle, q. for Wood, 2d. for his Bultel ob.

Assisa Cervisie (Assize of Beer): When a quarter of Wheat is sold for 3s. or 3s. 4d. and a Quarter of Barley for 20d. or 2s., and a Quarter of Oats for 16d., then Brewers in cities ought and may well afford to sell two gallons of beer or ale for a penny, and out of cities to sell 3 [or 4?] gallons for a penny. And when in a town 3 gallons are sold for a penny, out of a town they ought and may sell four; and this Assize ought to be holden throughout all England.

Lucrum Pistoris (Gain of the Baker): And if a Baker of Brewer be convicted that they have not kept the foresaid Assizes, the First, Second and Third time they shall be amerced, according to the Quantity of their offence; and that as often as a Baker shall offend in the weight of a farthing loaf of bread not above 2s. weight, that then he be amerced as before is said; but if he exceed 2s. then he ought to undergo the judgment of the Pillory without any redemption of money. In like manner shall it be done if he offend oftentimes and will not amend, then he shall suffer the Judgment of the Body, that is to say, the Pillory if he offend in the weight of a farthing loaf under two shillings weight as is aforesaid. Likewise the woman brewer shall be punished by the Tumbrell, trebuchet, or castigatorie, if she offend divers times and will not amend.

Source.

From: A. Luders, ed., 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.

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

This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book.

The English Housewife: Potluck picks

Summer picnic season is upon us. And while banqueting was far more the thing to do in 1615, some of the recipes that were featured in The English Housewife could be nice take alongs.

Here are some of the translations (from this website over here). At least they give you some new ideas for old world dishes.

“Banquetting fruit and conceited dishes There are a world of other bak’d Meats and Pyes, but for as much as whosoever can do these, may do all therest, because herein is contained all the art of Seasonings, I will trouble you with no further repetitions, but proceed to the manner of making Banqueting stuff, and coinceited dishes, with other pretty and curious secrets, necessary for the understanding of our English House-wife: for albeit, they are not of general use, yet in their due times, they are so needful for adornation, that whosoever is ignorant therein, is lame, and but the half part of a House-wife.

To make paste of Quinces To make past of Quinces, first boyl your Quinces whole, and when they are soft pare them, and cut the Quince from the Core; then take the finest Sugar you can get, finely beaten or searsed, and put in a little Rose-water, and boyl it together till it be stiff enough to mould, and when it is cold, then role it, and print it. A pound of Quinces will take a pound of Sugar, or near thereabouts.

To make thin Quince cakes To make thin Quince-cakes, take your Quince when it is boyled soft as beforesaid, and dry it upon a Pewter plate, with a soft heat, and be ever stirring of it with a slice till it be hard, then take searsed Sugar quantity for quantity, and strew it into the Quince, as you beat it in a wooden or stone mortar, and so roul them thin and print them.

To preserve Quinces To preserve quinces, first pare your quinces, and take out the cores, and boyl the cores and parings altogether in fair water, and when they begin to be soft, take them out and strain your Liquor, and put the weight of your Quinces in Sugar, and boyl the Quinces in the Syrup till they be tender: then take them up, and boyl the Syrup till it be thick. If you will have your Quinces red, cover them in the boyling; and if you will have them white, do not cover them.

To make Ginger-bread Take Claret-wine, and colour it with Townsall, and put in Sugar, and set it to the fire; then take wheat bread finely grated and sifted, and Licoras, Anniseeds, Ginger and Cinamon beaten very small and searsed; and put your bread and your spice together, and put them into the wine and boyl it, and stir it till it be thick, then mould it and print it at your pleasure, and let it stand neither too moist nor too warm.

To make Jumbals To make the best Jumbals, take the whites of three Eggs, and beat them well, and take off the froth; then take a little milk and a pound of fine wheat flowre and Sugar together finely sifted, and a few Anniseeds well rub’d and dryed, and then work all together as stiff as you can work it, and so make them in what forms you please, & bake them in a soft oven upon white papers.”

The English Housewife: Going Fishing?

Summer can include camping, and sometimes, fishing for some. The English Housewife from 1615 had a few ideas to make fish. Here they are from the lovely website over here which you should check out the details.

Here are a few of the translated recipes:

“Additions For dressing Fish: How to souse any fresh fish. Take any fresh fish what soever (as Pike, Bream, Carp, Barbel, Cheam, and such like) and draw it, but scale it not; then take out the Liver and the refuse, and having opened it, wash it: then take a pottle of fair water, a pretty quantity of white Wine, good store of Salt and some Vinegar with a little bunch of sweet herbs, and set it on the fire: as soon as it begins to boyl, put in your fish, and having boyled a little, take it up into a fair vessel, then put into the liquor some gross Pepper and Ginger, and when it is boyled well together with more salt, set it by to cool, and then put your Fish into it, and when you serve it up, lay Fennel thereupon.

To boyl a Gurnet or Roch: First draw your Fish, and either spint it open in the back, or joynt it in the back, and trusse it round; then wash it clean and boyl it in water and Salt, with a bunch of sweet Herbs then take it up into a large dish, and pour unto it Verjuice, Nutmeg, Butter and Pepper, and letting it stew a little, thicken it with the yelks of Eggs: then hot remove it into another dish, and garnish it with slices of Oranges and Lemons, Barberries, Prunes, and Sugar and so serve it up.

How to stew a Trout: Take a large Trout fair trimm’d, and wash it, and put it into a deep pewter dish, then take half a pint of sweet Wine, with a lump of butter, & a little whole Mace, Parsley, Savory, & Thyme, mince them all small, and put them into the Trouts belly, and so let it stew a quarter of an hour, then mince the yelk of a hard Egg, and strew it on the Trout, and laying the herbs about it, and scraping on Sugar, serve it up.”

The English Housewife — Sallets for the Summer

“Containing the inward and outward Vertues which ought to be in a Compleat Woman… A Work generally approved, and now the Ninth time much Augmented, Purged, and made most profitable and necessary for all men, and the general good of this NATION.

By G. Markham.”

This guide to being a housewife was originally published in 1615, in England, and it is a translation obviously of a 9th edition of the book.

Here are some interesting food sections of the book. The original book had all sort of information one should know at the time such as dying, animal husbandry and physick (and more).

These are not my translations, however, I found them from another source over here. I would highly recommend checking out the persons translations as they are very good and this text in general is a great source for historical cooking.

“Of Cookery and the part thereof
It resteth now that I proceed unto Cookery it self, which is the dressing and ordering of meat, in good and wholesome manner; to which when our House-wife shall address her self, she shall well understand that these qualities must ever accompany it; First, she must be cleanly both in body and garments, she must have a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and ready ear; (she must not be butter-fingred, sweet toothed, nor faint-hearted) for the first will let every thing fall, the seconde will consume what it should encrease; and the last will lose time with too much niceness.

Now for the substance of the Art it self, I will divide it into five parts; The first; Sallets and Fricases; the second, boyled Meats and Broths, the third, Roast meats and Carbonadoes; the fourth, bak’t meats and Pyes, and the fifth, banquetting and made dishes, with other conceits and secrets.”

Since it’s July 4th here in the US and the weather is turning to higher temperatures, perhaps some Sallets are in order?

“Of Sallets, simple and plain: First then to speak of Sallets, there be some simple, some compounded, some only to furnish out the Table, and some both for use and adornation: your simple Sallets are Chibols pilled, washt clean, and half of the green tops cut clean away, and so served on a fruit dish, or Chives, Scallions, Rhaddish roots, boyled Carrets, Skirrets and Turnips, with such like served up simply: Also, all young Lettuce, Cabbage-Lettuce, Purslane, and divers other herbs which may be served simply without any thing but a little Vinegar, Sallet Oyl and Sugar; Onions boyled; and stript from their rind, and served up with Vinegar, Oyl and Pepper, is a good simple Sallet; so is Camphire, Bean-cods, Sparagus, and Cucumbers, served in likewise with Oyl, Venegar and Pepper, with a world of others, too tedious to nominate.

Of compound Sallet: Your compound Sallets, are first the young buds and Knots of all manner of wholesome Herbs at their first springing; as red Sage, Mint, Lettuce, Violets, Marigold, Spinage, and many other mixed together and then served up to the Table with Vinegar, Sallet-Oyl, and Sugar.

Another compound Sallet: To compound an Excellent Sallet, and which indeed is usual at great Feasts, and upon Princes Tables: Take a good quantity of blancht Almonds, and with your shredding knife cut them grosly; then take as many Raisons of the Sun clean washt, and the stones pickt out, as many Figs shred like the Almonds, as many Capers, twice so may Olives, and as many Currants as all the rest, clean washt, a good handful of the small tender leaves of red Sage and Spinage: mix all these well together with a good store of Sugar, and lay them in the bottom of a great dish; then put unto them Vinegar and Oyl, and scrape more sugar over all: then take Oranges and Lemons, and paring away the outward pills, cut them into thin slices, then with those slices cover the Sallet all over; which done, take the find thing leave of the red Cole-flower, and with them cover the Oranges and Lemmons all over; then over those Red leaves lay another course of old Olives, and the slices of well pickled Cucumers, together with the very inward heart of Cabbage-Lettuce cut into slices, then adorn the sides of the dish, and the top of the Sallet, with more slices of Lemmons and Oranges, and so serve it up.”