Straight to the recipe An ancient Roman delicacy In June 2012 I gave a talk aboutĀ RomanĀ Food at theĀ Roman FestivalĀ in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. This inspired me to try my hand at preparing Lucanicae, one of the recipes forĀ sausagesĀ in the Roman cookery bookĀ De re coquinaria. I have written more on this book in my notes on other…
PERIOD
Medieval stuffed chicken
Straight to the recipe Pullis iuvenis in tempore estivali This summer I was experimenting with roasting whole chickens on the barbecue, so of course I searched for a medieval recipe too. That was easy, in medieval cuisine roast fowl is standard fare for nobles, and I chose a recipe from theĀ Tractatus de modo preparandi et…
Real Dutch kroket and bitterbal
The picture shows my daughter and some of her friends at her birthday party many years ago (in 2002). As part of the festivities they were preparing their own meal, the standard birthday fare for a lot of Dutch children in the past: kroketten, French fries and apple sauce, but everything made from scratch. They…
If you’re feeling under the weather
I prepared this beverage with barley water and almonds for the promotion on the Foodie Festival in Amsterdam of my most recent book Het geheim van de keukenmeid (The cook’s secret). Theme of this publication is recipes from the eighteenth century from printed cookery books with the word ‘keukenmeid’ (kitchen maid or cook) in the…
Cheese biscuits
Straight to the recipe The first recipes for 2019 both concern hot, mulled wine. To accompany these wines, I have added this recipe for cheese biscuits from a French cookery book that we used for our Christmas dinner 2018: La cuisine de monsieur Momo, cĆ©libataire. This was originally published in 1930. These biscuits were served…
Braised Belgian Endives
Straight to the recipe Belgian endives are not widely appreciated. It does not look very attractive once it is cooked, with its grey and slimy exterior. That is why generally speaking, today this vegetable is eaten raw as salad, or only slightly cooked. Imagine my horrified surprise when I read the recipe for Belgian endives…
Thank you!
Thanks to your gift Coquinaria can remain online without introducing a paid membership. I appreciate it very much. Below a little something as a token of my appreciation (a recipe, a picture, a little fact). Once in a while the ‘little something’ will be changed. Delicious rice salad for the Summer season When we have…
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…
Excellent cookies
This is a recipe for small but rich cookies. High tea is not customary in theĀ Netherlands, but we do serve a biscuit or cookie with a cup of coffee or tea, in the morning as well as in the afternoon. At what time of the day would these cookies have been served in theĀ eighteenth…
Broccoli in the ‘Opera’
Straight to the recipe TheĀ OperaĀ from this recipe has nothing to do with music, and everything with theĀ opus magnusĀ of Italian cook Bartolomeo Scappi, which appeared in print in 1570.Ā OperaĀ 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 MĆ©nagier’s from the fourteenth century. No spices and sugar, but herbs to bring the stuffing to taste. The recipe comes from theĀ Ouverture de cuisine, published in 1604 by Lancelot de Casteau. He was, according…
Home Made Italian Pasta
The Italians are famous for their pasta. On this page you learn how to make fresh pasta, with eggs and without eggs, and for stuffed pasta likeĀ ravioliĀ andĀ tortellini. Asian pasta is also delicious. See here forĀ recipes. And for those of you who are interested in the past,Ā hereĀ are recipes for fresh pasta from the sixteenth century. And…
Rice Pudding for Lent
Straight to the recipe This fourteenth-century recipe is especially forĀ Lent, the period between carnival and Easter. Meat and dairy products were banned from the table (see the recipe forĀ Fake Fish), and inventive cooks would create delicate dishes within these limitations, even though meals during Lent should be sober occasions. This sweet almond-rice pudding with raisins…
Sup with prunes and raisins
Straight to the recipe A dish for Lent This recipe for a ‘sup’ from the middle of the eighteenth century demonstrates the original meaning of the word soep (soup in English). The (toasted) bread at the bottom of the dish soaks in the juices of the dish, and adds filling carbohydrates to it. Often the…
Traditional Dutch herring salad
The Dutch are famous for eating ‘Dutch new’ or ‘matjes’ herring, which is essentially still raw. Tourists stare with fascinated abhorrence at those strange people who let the fish slide down their throats with extatic expressions on their face. But why would this be any less delicious than eating Japanese sashimi? And the herring is…