1) I really want to get more authentic with the food part of my impression, but I am a COMPLETE know-nothing when it comes to medieval culinary delights. I've seen several secondary sources available at amazon, etc. but can only afford one at the moment. So, a brief review by each would be appreciated by anyone who has experience with these books:
"The Medieval Cookbook" by Maggie Black
"Pleyn Delit" by Constance B. Hieatt
"The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy" by lot of people
"Take a Thousand eggs or more" by Cindy Renfrow
Any others which I have missed which are of merit.

2) Our best friend and worst enemy, the Internet, also has numerous sites regarding medieval cookery. I'm all-to-aware of the misinformation available out there, so I was wondering if anyone can recommend reputable sites online that would prove useful. The prettiest and most exhaustive seems to be "The Boke of Goode Cookery" at http://www.godecookery.com/godeboke/godeboke.htm . Any word on this one or related sites?

My focus at present is 12th-13th century NW Europe and the Latin East, but anything would be helpful.

Thanks for everyone's time,

Good Feasting,

In short I highly recommend The Medieval Kitchen. I see Take a Thousand Eggs as a good resource but not highly inspiring to a new cook. I would recommend 1000 eggs as a latter acqusition, and the goode cookery website as a very good supplemental tool for a small kitchen library.

The Medieval Kitchen
Mostly based on 14th and 15th century french and italian manuscripts. The authors of this book are french and italian, it has been translated by a gentleman who specializes in food and cookery and appears to be a good quality translation. 33 page introduction discussing aspects of food in the period such as: feast days, order of meals, spices, manners, cooking skills, asthetics; the treatment is a bit cursory but does tend to reference specific recipies and examples. There is also another 12 page section on applying the cooking to modern situations. Someone who is not familar with cooking and knowledgeable about ingredients would do well to read this section as it discusses substitutions and what kinds of things to look for. The book also contains a number of color plates from various manuscripts among them the BN Taqunium sanitatis from the late 15th century. The index and lists of recipies in the back have been helpful in finding specific items and in general the book seems to be laid out in a useful manner.

The recipies are are presented with a translation of the medieval text into modern english (a transcription of the medieval text is located in the back), a description of the choices made in interpreting the recipie, an ingredients list with proportions, and instructions. There are about 150 recipies, and of the dozen or so that I or my friends have tried this summer all are quite excellent.

Take a Thousand Eggs or More
Based on a transcription of 2 15th century manuscripts orginally published in the 19th century. Spiral bound in 2 volumes. Vol 1 contains over 100 recipies with modern redactions; vol 2 contains another 300 or so recipies with a translation into modern english but no redactions and will be a bit challenging for the novice user. The author's stated aim was largely to provide access to a collection of medieval recipies not so much a treatise on cooking in the middle ages. The book is illustrated with woodcuts and line redrawings for which the source of the image is given in a caption about 50% of the time.

Although I have had this book for a while I have not cooked out of it recently, so I'm not terribly comfortable giving an opinion on the ease or quality of the redactions.

goodecookery.com
One of the things that I like about this site is that the sources for recipies are generally clearly marked on each recipie and he is very upfront about recipies that do not come from medieval sources. I have generally had good luck with the recipies I have tried from the site.

I tend to print or photocopy the recipies that I am going to be working with and place them in a plastic see-through folder so that I don't worry about having to hold a book open (why spiral binding is useful) or spilling an ingredient on my prize book.

I recommend this book as a good starting place for begining medieval cooks as the originals are right next to the reconstructions. Reconstructions are not inspired, but certainly stay true to the medieval recipe in most cases. I especially appreciate the way the author goes for a good if not stellar reconstruction of any given recipe instead of trying for "weird" and winding up with inedible.

It should be noted that all the recipes in this collection are 15th C., which won't help Glen much.

I've held off responding to this thread, as I don't know of any 12th or 13th C. European cookbooks, and I am completely unfamiliar with medieval Middle Eastern cookery. Cariadoc's cookbooks (which Joseph cited above) are standards in SCA circles, along with straw hats. (Sorry! I couldn't help myself. )

One of the things that I really liked about Medieval Kitchen was the discussion of how they moved from one recipe to the other, what descisions they made. For someone who hasn't been doing alot of redactions I found it useful and an interesting read. (then again I like reading cookbooks) With 1000 eggs I could look at the recipes and compare them but I didn't really feel like I understood the process to get from one to the other.

as a student of European cookery history, I have a passing familiarity with some sources that Glen might find useful...

Cariadocs sources are indeed a wonderful resource for folks just starting out...there's a wide assortment of recipes from different times and places, including some 12th century appropriate stuff. He knows his stuff, and does not compromise authenticity at all.

Cariadoc has also made available a OUTSTANDING resource in his "collection of Medieval cookbooks". He has taken non-copyright protected cookbooks and reproduced them in two volumes. You get Digby, you get a translation of part of le Menagier, you get a 12th century Andalusian source(that's Moorish spain...pomegranite chicken...mmmmm.... ) you get some of the standard 145h-15th century English stuff.

Check out the Medieval and Renaissance Food HOmepage at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html

Yes, its an SCA source, but scattered in with a couple SCA style links is an amazing resource, including those of us who are slowing putting transcriptions of period sources up there for everyone else to access.

The non Western European stuff is very interesting for any of us interested in studying trends and comparing cuisines, especially as an illustration of the movement of trends (ex: pomegranite chicken appears in the Moorish stuff, and then again, later in the Italian. neat,eh? )

hope this helps...and good for you for trying to get more authentic in the food! so many people concentrate on the kit and then are happy eating SubWay sandwhiches out of their coolers....

--Anne-Marie

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AM got me hooked on asparagus, though I don't have the "sauce robert" to go with it, I cook mine with saffron, various spices, and green onions. Mmmmmmmm....

I forget, but that one might be in Early French Cookery, a Scully book. Needless to say this one and "The Medieval Kitchen" are two of our favs. Unfortunately, as Bob would say, we are just "pikers" in this area and therefore step aside for those who are more versed in the kitchen arts that we.

Jenn

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