PATHFINDER - BASIC PERIOD COOKING
Meliora de Curci
A pathfinder is a listing of easily available resources to be used as a starting point for research into a particular field or topic. When looking at books on period cookery, I find the most ones are those that include the original recipe as well as their modern adaption (redaction). In my opinion, the following resources are a good starting point for research into period cookery.
Books
David Friedman is known in the SCA as Duke Sir Master [et al] Cariadoc of the Bow. The Miscellany is a collection of recipes, how-to articles and controversial articles on what they have done and what they think about the SCA. The area of interest to this pathfinder is the 100 plus pages devoted to recipes. They provide the original recipe and their modern worked-out versions. The recipes range throughout the SCA period and contain many Islamic and early period recipes. A must for any budding SCA cook. This is available direct from: D. Friedman, 3806 Williams Rd, San Jose, CA 95117 for $11.00 US.
Hieatt, Constance B [et al] (1996) Pleyn Delit: medieval cookery for modern cooks, 2nd edition. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7632-7 (pbk)
These authors have included the original recipe, a modern recipe for us to cook from and a good series of notes on each recipe about how and why they chose to differ from the original recipe. They also provide some discussion on why certain foods were eaten and when during the meal. They also provide some sample menus for those interested in documenting "a feast" rather than "a series of recipes". Also, the bibliography they provide is fantastic for those interesting in further research into this area. This book is available at all good bookstores. I bought mine at the Co-op bookshop for $20.00.
Renfrow, Cindy (1993) Take a Thousand Eggs or more: a translation of medieval recipes ... 2 volumes, privately printed, USA. ISBN 0-9628598-0-X (pbk - spiral-bound)
Cindy is known in the SCA as Mistress Sincgiefu Wærfæst(OL). Book One provides over 100 worked out recipes (which include the original recipe, a translation of this into recognisable English and then her modern worked out recipe). She also provides a glossary of unusual ingredients. Book Two provides many translated but unworked recipes (for those adventurous to try their hand at redacting). It also includes a glossary of common phrases - to help you do your own translating. Both volumes are currently available through the SCA stock clerk. Cindy has just brought out a 2nd edition of each of these volumes, but I think the stock clerk is still carrying 1st edition.
Santich, Barbara (1995) The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: medieval recipes for today, Wakefield Press, Adelaide ISBN: 1-86254-331-3 (pbk)
Santich is a noted Australian culinary historian. In this book she presents recipes she has translated from 14th and 15th century Italian and Catalan manuscripts. She does provide the original recipe (in the original language) a translation and her modern recipe. The only criticism I have heard of this book is that she does not list the recipe number from the original book (thereby making it hard for other translators to check her work). However, for a budding cook (or an English-bound one such as myself) I recommend it as it provides a different style of cuisine. For those that can read the original texts, Santich has provided a bibliography. This book is available through all good bookstores for $16.95
Spurling, Hilary (1987) Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book: Elizabethan country house cooking, Penguin Books, USA. ISBN: 0-14-046956-7 (pbk)
Unlike the other four books, this one is based on a single family recipe book that was handed down through the generations. Unfortunately this is one of the downfalls of the book - Spurling does not always list whether the recipes she cites are from the original hand (and therefore Elizabethan) or added in by a later hand. However, this book is really the best "beginner’s late period cook book" to my mind as Spurling does includes the original recipes as well as her modern versions. She also arranges the recipes in a monthly order to give some feel for the seasonal aspect to Elizabethan cooking. This is available at all good bookstores for $16.95
For when the budding cook gets more adventurous and wants to start redacting their own recipes, I would suggest collecting the following 2 volumes:
Friedman, David (1998) Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks 2 volumes, privately printed.
Volume One contains photocopies of many out-of-print (and out-of-copyright) period cookery manuscripts and modern reprints of period cookery books. Volume two contains English translations (done mainly by SCA people) of period cookbooks in other languages. For the small price, I would recommend these as the first books any adventurous cook should obtain. These are available direct from: D. Friedman, 3806 Williams Rd, San Jose, CA 95117. Volume One, $7.00 US. Volume Two $10.00 US
SCA-Cooks email list
To subscribe, send an email to majordomo@ansteorra.org with the body subscribe SCA-Cooks or subscribe SCA-Cooks digest. This is a high-traffic list with an average of 50 posts per day - however most are on-topic. By this I mean discussions of period recipes, cooking implements, brewing info, cooking techniques etc. Like all lists it occasionally degenerates.
Web Sites
Medieval/Renaissance Food Homepage http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html
This web-site hangs off the SCA Arts & Sciences page and is maintained by SCA people. It lists web-sites put up by SCA members as well as those by other recreational groups. It lists recipes, menus and articles written by SCA members.
Stefan's Florilegium http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/rialto.html
Stefan reads many SCA-related email lists. He collects together any informational email posts he sees and puts them into files arranged by topic. This is the Florilegium - it is huge and occasionally useful (and covers a lot more topics than cooking)
Cariadoc's Miscellany http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html
This is a webbed copy of the 5th edition of Cariadoc’s Miscellany. It is text-only but it is searchable. Very useful for recipe searches.