Tudor Cookery: Recipes and History

by Peter C.D. Brears

Contains over 50 recipes from the 16th century- all of which can be reproduced in the modern kitchen. The recipes include dishes such as Savoury Tongue Pie; Smothered Rabbit; Mutton in Beer and Sweet Cubes of Jellied Milk. The book also describes the historical background and has information on food, cooking equipment, the serving of meals and the development of taste and etiquette. As well as looking at what people ate in Tudor England, it also looks at the importance of the colonization of the New World on the Elizabethan diet. For the first time rare and exotic vegetables began to arrive - tomatoes from Mexico, kidney beans from Peru and from Chile, the potato. But the most important introduction was sugar from the West Indies, which quickly led to widespread tooth decay amongst the aristocracy - its greatest users. Even Queen Elizabeth had black teeth. The book is fully illustrated with full color photographs and woodcuts.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Peter Brears was director of both York and Leeds' City Museums, is a consultant to the National Trust, English Heritage, the Historic Royal Palaces, the winner of numerous prizes including the André Simon award for his book, Cooking and Dining in Medieval England, the standard text on the subject, and Britain's leading authority on jelly. He has written extensively on traditional foods and cookery in Yorkshire, as well as a groundbreaking illustrated catalogue of domestic and farmhouse materials in Torquay Museum. He supervised the reconstruction of several important historical kitchens, including those at Hampton Court, Ham House, Cowdray Castle and Belvoir Castle.