"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."
Today I bring you an old recipe reinterpreted through a Victorian's eyes. If you've been following me for a while, you've seen this already in one of my long articles on the Ingoldsby Legends, specifically the one on The Lay of St Cuthbert. Ingredients (for around...
This is a classical recipe for marinated boar baked with scallions. If you want something older, here you can find a Roman recipe (and the picture in the header). Ingredients (serves 6 people): 1 kg of boar meat, chopped and suitable for a stew; 400 grams...
Allegedly a favourite drink of Henry VIII (a man for which I have zero sympathies, as you might imagine), a recipe of this jelly can be found in A Book of Cookrye Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therin, compiled around 1591 by one...
Ingredients: 2 medium eggs; 220 grams of white flour; two cups of honey (the clearest the better, simple acacia honey will do) 100 grams of caster sugar; clear water; a curl of butter; half a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon; a small cup of seeds (you...
This is one of my favourite recipes, though I very rarely get to cook it because boiled chestnuts aren't that easy to find, and I have no patience for boiling chestnuts myself. Ingredients (serves 6 people): For the filling: 500 grams of large chestnuts; 100 grams of...
This one has the meat, I promise you. But will it have oranges? Source: The recipe comes from a book called The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, (you have to read this like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets). The book is dated 1594 and written by...
This is a throwback from last year's December, 4th: that one was for patrons only, this one is published for everybody. Plum Porridge, is described by Alison Weir as «a thick broth from mutton or beef, boiled in a skin with plums, spices, dried fruits, breadcrumbs...
The recipe is taken from Thomas Dawson’s The Good Huswifes Jewell (1596), and it's for a variety of long-lasting bread that was usually not particularly tasty, and it's called this way because it's cooked twice, like a biscuit. Alternative versions and an amended, modern one...
The dish is also known as Capons in Dorre, and it features in MS Pepys' Gentyll Manly Cokere (1490). You can read the original here, alongside some translations. Grind blanched almonds, temper them up with clear water and stir until it starts to look like milk....
December starts on a Friday this year, and Friday used to mean fish, so let's stick with tradition. It always amazes me how many people haven't tasted eel, which is traditional in my part of Italy, but let's not be like cooking blogs, so...
