Straight to the recipe A bright summer-sauce from the sixteenth century Blackbirds, thrushes, finches – who doesn’t enjoy hearing these beautifully singing birds? Except of course if you happen to grow currants in your garden. Then suddenly these birds turn into voracious monsters that plunder the bushes before you’ve had the chance to harvest a…
16th century
Barley porridge for the ill
Straight to the recipe Who is still eating porridge nowadays? For my grandfather, born in 1904, it was breakfast. Often from oats, but sometimes it was ‘lammetjespap’ (‘lamb porridge’, with milk and flour). We, grandchildren used to breakfast with bread, thought this an exotic habit. But now, I love to start the day with hot…
Cherry custard from the sixteenth century
This recipe is from The Excellent Cookbook from Carolus Battus, published in 1593. Marleen Willbrands and I (Christianne Muusers) have published an edition of this cookbook, with a facsimile and translation in modern Dutch and introduction on the life and works of the author, sixteenth-century views on haelth and diet, kitchenware and cuisine of the…
Parsnip salad
Straight to the recipe A sixteenth-century Dutch recipe This winter salad for parsnips is taken from a Dutch cookbook from the middle of the sixteenth century. It is a translation from a recipe by the Italian humanist Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi) in De honeste voluptate (published in 1474, edition Milham, see bibliography). The Dutch cookbook bears the title Eenen nyeuwen…
A brief history of pasta – Part 2
To part 1 of the history of pasta When I published two macaroni recipes from World War I, I also added a page on the recent history of the production of macaronipasta. This page can be considered as the ‘prequel’ of that history section: pasta and macaroni from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century….
Medieval bread with fennel and lard
Straight to the recipe Recipes for bread from the distant past are rare. The recipe on this page was inspired by the description in the Nyeuwen cooc boeck (New Cook Book) by Gheeraert Vorselman (edition Cockx-Indestege 1971, see bibliography). Actually this is a description of a kind of flat, unleavened bread, but I added yeast…
Broccoli in the ‘Opera’
Straight to the recipe The Opera from this recipe has nothing to do with music, and everything with the opus magnus of Italian cook Bartolomeo Scappi, which appeared in print in 1570. Opera means ‘the work’ (in Italian, in Latin it would have been ‘the works’). Nowadays the cookbook is mainly known for its magnificent engravings which illustrate all kinds of…
Tourte de fonges
Straight to the recipe Mushroom pie from Lancelot de Casteau This mushroom pie from 1604 is much more modern than the Ménagier’s from the fourteenth century. No spices and sugar, but herbs to bring the stuffing to taste. The recipe comes from the Ouverture de cuisine, published in 1604 by Lancelot de Casteau. He was, according…
White tourte, a favourite of Pope Julius III
Straight to the recipe Sweet Italian pastry from the sixteenth century In the Netherlands we are used to abdications. This year, 2013, our queen Beatrix will hand over the throne to her son Willem Alexander, as her mother Juliana did thirty three years ago, and her grandmother Wilhelmina in 1948. But an abdicating pope has not…
Scappi’s Macaroni
Straight to the recipe A lot of work, but also a lot of fun The previous historical recipe on Coquinaria consisted of three parts: two recipes for macaroni from World War One, and a page on the production of industrial pressed macaroni. There is also a page with part two of the history of making macaroni and other…
Gooseberry Omelette
Straight to the recipe A sixteenth-century Dutch recipe The recipe for omelette (tasey) balances on te edge of what we could name the culinary Middle Ages. It is taken from the Seer excellenten gheexperimenteerden nieuwen Coc-boeck (The very excellent and tried new cookbook) that the physician Karel Baten (Carolus Battus) published as appendix to the second edition of…
Sauces for broiled fish
Fish played a prominent role in the daily diet throughout the Catholic Middle Ages, because during set periods and days the eating of meat was forbidden. Lent is the most extended and strict period of dietary restrictions, because not only meat, but all animal produce (butter, cheese, eggs) were prohibited foodstuff. On the weekly fast days the…
Stockfish with peas, apple and raisins
Straight to the recipe An ode to dried food A very medieval tasting recipe. It’s an ode to dried food, except the onion all ingredients are dried. This makes it an excellent dish for end of winter. The recipe was meant for fishdays or for Lent. If you prepared it for a fishday you could use butter, but in Lent when…
Red mustard the Roman way
Straight to the recipe This is not the first recipe for mustard on Coquinaria. The first mustard-recipe, from the fourteenth-century cookbook Le Ménagier de Paris, was published fifteen years ago. Mustard in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times is comparable to tomato ketchup or soy sauce in some restaurants: there is a bottle on…
Panunto
Crostini with cheese The Italian cuisine is one of my favourites. So, here is another recipe from Italy’s rich culinary past! I have made these small toasts many times, and each time my guests were pleasantly surprised by the simplicity and delicious taste of these crostini. The flavour is unexpected for modern palates: cheese, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon,…