Library to share 14th-century royal cookbook online

[supernova]

Pages from Forme of Cury, a 14th-century cookbook being digitised for online viewing.
Photograph: University of Manchester John Rylands University Library

A rare medieval cookbook is to be digitally photographed page by page and the results uploaded to the internet for gourmands around the globe to study.

Forme of Cury, a recipe book compiled by King Richard II's master cooks in 1390, details around 205 dishes cooked in the royal household and sheds light on a little-studied element of life in the Dark Ages.

Written in Middle English, it contains the instructions for creating long-forgotten dishes such as blank mang (a sweet dish of meat, milk, sugar and almonds), mortrews (ground and spiced pork), and the original quiche, known in 14th century kitchens as custard.

It is one of 40 literary treasures being made freely available on the internet for the first time by the University of Manchester's John Rylands University Library.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/22/10

They are digitizing other rare books too, but the cookbook angle is such a novel one, I knew everybody in this group would find it interesting too. This also interests me being an English geek. I love Middle English and can still somewhat recite The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in (what people think is) Middle English dialect. I can't wait 'til this comes online and I can look through it, reading about custard, 14th Century-style. Although, I have to say the idea of meat and sweet is alien to me. :D

[silverweb]

1. How interesting!

It'll be fun to check the recipes out and maybe even try some.

Looking forward to seeing this on line.

[Tab]

2. It'll be interesting, but probably indecipherable to people like us

With fire do fewt your arbas
for two moons and a night
add salt and juice of pekinil twice
Cream a bon in the style of kell and place on top
Serve.

[Warpy]

3. It's going to be fascinating, to say the least

The cookbook should be a treasure trove for both foodies and historians. We know the comings and goings, the wars and battles, and how much a pennyweight of bread was when it was determined at the Assizes. What we don't know are the simple things about what they ate, how they passed their days, and a lot of what they wore. This will help fill in some of the gaps, especially if it has a few recipes for the ordinary foodstuffs eaten by the servants.

[eleny]

4. I can see printing out a page for hanging in the kitchen

Thanks for letting us know about it!

This is such a fantastic thing to do. Anthropologists all over should be interested in reading it, too.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I'd also love to see some stuff by/about/from Caterina de’ Medici

She's pretty much the godmother of modern southern European cooking.

[shugah]

6. awesome!

then we will have an idea about the history of english cooking and all that entrails.