The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages

Woodbridge Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer. Very Good/Very Good. 1995. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0851156118 Dust jacket price clipped. Blue cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No inscription. 276 pages clean and tight. The cookery of the late middle ages has been unjustly neglected. Numerous references exist showing what food was customarily eaten across Europe by the aristocracy of the time, but it is only recently that scholarly research has extracted a number of recipes from manuscript sources and made them generally available. The recipes which survive indicate how rich and varied a choice of dishes the wealthy could enjoy. In this fascinating study, Dr Scully examines both the theory and practice of medieval cooking, demonstrating their complex interdependence. The master cook who worked in the noble kitchens of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries possessed wide knowledge. During his apprenticeship under other masters, he learnt a range of culinary skills using the standard facilities of the open fire, the mortar and the bolting-cloth to their best advantage. He had a large repertoire of preparations for all occasions, in order to accommodate the seasonal scarcity of certain foods and the lean-day strictures of the Church. He also possessed a wealth of knowledge of the theoretical aspect of medieval cookery: he was obliged to understand thoroughly the inherent qualities of all the foodstuffs he handled, as determined by contemporary medical treatises, in order to ensure that he never imperilled the health of his master's household by an unsuitable choice or combination of ingredients. With few exceptions, these ingredients are much the same as those in favour today: it is the how and why of their different treatment that makes the cookery of five centuries ago of such interest. .