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The Curious Cookbook
In this day and age of celebrity chefs and food porn, the recipes and illustrations from historical cookbooks can appear quaint, bizarre, revolting, or downright absurd.
From the frugal to the fantastical, The Curious Cookbook features the most unusual and fascinating recipes from historical cookbooks dating from the Middle Ages to the Second World War. While all of the featured recipes can be recreated, they also offer fascinating insights into the cultural, economic, and regional aspects of the eras.
The Forme of Cury , published in 1390 and the oldest known English-language cookbook, details how to cook whale, crane, heron, seal, and porpoise. An early eighteenth-century cookery shares the Queen's recipe for "cosmetick water to collar eels"; The Boke of Kokery provides all of the details for recreating "soltete," an elaborate Bible-themed sugar sculpture first made for the 1443 ordination of the Archbishop of Canterbury; The Hard Time Cookery from 1941 explains how to make mayonnaise without eggs, using "1 tin sweetened milk, an equal amount of vinegar, 1 tbsp salad oil, 1 tbsp made mustard, salt."
Never before have examples from so many rare and exotic cookbooks been available in a single volume, promising entertaining and informative recipes for cooks, as well as history buffs.
From the frugal to the fantastical, The Curious Cookbook features the most unusual and fascinating recipes from historical cookbooks dating from the Middle Ages to the Second World War. While all of the featured recipes can be recreated, they also offer fascinating insights into the cultural, economic, and regional aspects of the eras.
The Forme of Cury , published in 1390 and the oldest known English-language cookbook, details how to cook whale, crane, heron, seal, and porpoise. An early eighteenth-century cookery shares the Queen's recipe for "cosmetick water to collar eels"; The Boke of Kokery provides all of the details for recreating "soltete," an elaborate Bible-themed sugar sculpture first made for the 1443 ordination of the Archbishop of Canterbury; The Hard Time Cookery from 1941 explains how to make mayonnaise without eggs, using "1 tin sweetened milk, an equal amount of vinegar, 1 tbsp salad oil, 1 tbsp made mustard, salt."
Never before have examples from so many rare and exotic cookbooks been available in a single volume, promising entertaining and informative recipes for cooks, as well as history buffs.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2012
68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 28, 2020
That rare beast: a cookbook that can be both used and read. A collection of odd recipes from English cookbooks. I haven’t tried any of them yet. One or two you could do as is. Many would need a substitution or two. I’d have trouble getting hold of a porpoise. There’s some ingenious stuff in here. Apparently the way to cook a hedgehog is in a ball of clay. You crack the clay and the spines come away with it.
What’s perhaps more interesting is not what they ate, but what they didn’t. In the early recipes there are of course no tomatoes, no potatoes, no chillis. Imagine what it must have been like for the first Old Worlder to put tomato and onion together. Interestingly, there are also no onions in those early recipes, though I have another medieval cookbook that does use onions. I think it’s just that these are odd recipes. Also no garlic. Despite it growing wild in England it was apparently never cultivated.
The earliest recipes are in Middle English (with a translation). My Middle English isn’t too bad, but they are also completely incomprehensible to me. Granted that the writing of recipes wasn’t the cameo art-form we have today, but I realised just how limited my vocabulary really is from reading only poetry.
There are a few recipes from the Vicomte de Mauduit’s book “They Can’t Ration These”. I might actually hunt down a copy of this as it’s something that I think could be easily used even today.
This is a nicely made book. Small and heavy with good quality paper. Good present for a Foodie. That’s how I got my copy.
What’s perhaps more interesting is not what they ate, but what they didn’t. In the early recipes there are of course no tomatoes, no potatoes, no chillis. Imagine what it must have been like for the first Old Worlder to put tomato and onion together. Interestingly, there are also no onions in those early recipes, though I have another medieval cookbook that does use onions. I think it’s just that these are odd recipes. Also no garlic. Despite it growing wild in England it was apparently never cultivated.
The earliest recipes are in Middle English (with a translation). My Middle English isn’t too bad, but they are also completely incomprehensible to me. Granted that the writing of recipes wasn’t the cameo art-form we have today, but I realised just how limited my vocabulary really is from reading only poetry.
There are a few recipes from the Vicomte de Mauduit’s book “They Can’t Ration These”. I might actually hunt down a copy of this as it’s something that I think could be easily used even today.
This is a nicely made book. Small and heavy with good quality paper. Good present for a Foodie. That’s how I got my copy.
July 25, 2012
I confess, I'd rather eat a plate of cheese and crackers while reading a cookbook that really make a complicated meal.
That said, this book made me lose my appetite even for cheese and crackers. I did laugh a lot, however, over recipes like
the following:
Farts of Portingale
Imitation entrails
Instant meat-stock glue
Artificial asses' milk with bruised snails
Nourishing soup for the deserving poor
Fresh-roasted asparagus coffee
That said, this book made me lose my appetite even for cheese and crackers. I did laugh a lot, however, over recipes like
the following:
Farts of Portingale
Imitation entrails
Instant meat-stock glue
Artificial asses' milk with bruised snails
Nourishing soup for the deserving poor
Fresh-roasted asparagus coffee
February 24, 2025
3.5/5
Despite what the cover might lead you to believe, this is only sort of a cookbook. That is, it would be quite difficult to actually make any of these recipes in a modern kitchen, either because A) the original, usually bare-bones historical instructions rarely include amounts or cook times or details of method, B) some of the methods that are included would be impossible to carry out if you don’t have, say, a giant fireplace and/or several servant, or C) some of the ingredients are difficult to find or possibly illegal (eg: porpoise).
What this IS is a tour through some of the weirdest recipes Britain has ever generated, from the Frankenstein’s monster that is the medieval cokyntryce (half a capon sewed to half a pig, roasted and made golden with a coating of egg yolks and saffron) to a WWII rationing-inspired attempt to transform cold porridge into something resembling lemon curd.
In the process, you’ll learn the answers to many historical questions, such as:
- “Did lasagna exist before tomatoes” (YES, surprisingly)
- “How bored, exactly, were 17th century aristocrats?” (Bored enough to think filling pie shells with live birds and frogs and unleashing them on their guests was hilarious dinner-time entertainment)
- “Do carrots actually help you see in the dark?” (Not unless you have a serious vitamin A deficiency, but propaganda writers spread the idea during WWII, first, encourage Brits to eat more home-grown veggies and, second, as a cover for the invention of radar. “No, no, old chap. No special technology here! Our pilots are so accurate in the dark because they ate their carrots!”)
It should be noted, however, that the attempts to find the funniest recipes does mean that a reader could come away with a rather skewed view of what people in each of these time periods were actually eating, on average (even among the bored rich people).
If you want to know how to actually MAKE historical recipes like this, though…you’ll need to check out something like the “Tasting History” channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TastingHistory
Despite what the cover might lead you to believe, this is only sort of a cookbook. That is, it would be quite difficult to actually make any of these recipes in a modern kitchen, either because A) the original, usually bare-bones historical instructions rarely include amounts or cook times or details of method, B) some of the methods that are included would be impossible to carry out if you don’t have, say, a giant fireplace and/or several servant, or C) some of the ingredients are difficult to find or possibly illegal (eg: porpoise).
What this IS is a tour through some of the weirdest recipes Britain has ever generated, from the Frankenstein’s monster that is the medieval cokyntryce (half a capon sewed to half a pig, roasted and made golden with a coating of egg yolks and saffron) to a WWII rationing-inspired attempt to transform cold porridge into something resembling lemon curd.
In the process, you’ll learn the answers to many historical questions, such as:
- “Did lasagna exist before tomatoes” (YES, surprisingly)
- “How bored, exactly, were 17th century aristocrats?” (Bored enough to think filling pie shells with live birds and frogs and unleashing them on their guests was hilarious dinner-time entertainment)
- “Do carrots actually help you see in the dark?” (Not unless you have a serious vitamin A deficiency, but propaganda writers spread the idea during WWII, first, encourage Brits to eat more home-grown veggies and, second, as a cover for the invention of radar. “No, no, old chap. No special technology here! Our pilots are so accurate in the dark because they ate their carrots!”)
It should be noted, however, that the attempts to find the funniest recipes does mean that a reader could come away with a rather skewed view of what people in each of these time periods were actually eating, on average (even among the bored rich people).
If you want to know how to actually MAKE historical recipes like this, though…you’ll need to check out something like the “Tasting History” channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TastingHistory
September 16, 2025
中文版译名《大英图书馆里的秘密食谱》
如果你曾经看到过歪屁股营销号讽刺中国人吃无禁忌的文章，那么你可以把这本书甩他们脸上了。
欧洲中世纪的食材食谱让人叹为观止自叹不如
一些好听名字的菜谱：金币瓦罐汤（汤里放金币可以让病人早日康复），仙女奶油，雪花碟，鲦鱼艾菊蛋卷
生猛系：煎脑渣，叫花刺猬，松鼠宴，炖乌鸦，芦笋炒乌龟，天鹅馅饼和三角胸衣（吃剩的天鹅的皮用来做内衣），巧克力海鸭子，活蝰蛇汤，紫色毒梨，蜗牛人造驴奶，袋鼠汤，鹦鹉派，怎么原始怎么来。
这些远远不够，根据书中所说，另一本《成就厨师》书中提到，让人难忘的食谱还有：裹着活青蛙和小鸟的馅饼，沾着鲜血的鹿肉糕点等等难以想象的食谱。
最后 与本书异曲同工的书籍是《大英黑暗料理大全》，等我看完那本，在那本评论里会补充说明。
如果你曾经看到过歪屁股营销号讽刺中国人吃无禁忌的文章，那么你可以把这本书甩他们脸上了。
欧洲中世纪的食材食谱让人叹为观止自叹不如
一些好听名字的菜谱：金币瓦罐汤（汤里放金币可以让病人早日康复），仙女奶油，雪花碟，鲦鱼艾菊蛋卷
生猛系：煎脑渣，叫花刺猬，松鼠宴，炖乌鸦，芦笋炒乌龟，天鹅馅饼和三角胸衣（吃剩的天鹅的皮用来做内衣），巧克力海鸭子，活蝰蛇汤，紫色毒梨，蜗牛人造驴奶，袋鼠汤，鹦鹉派，怎么原始怎么来。
这些远远不够，根据书中所说，另一本《成就厨师》书中提到，让人难忘的食谱还有：裹着活青蛙和小鸟的馅饼，沾着鲜血的鹿肉糕点等等难以想象的食谱。
最后 与本书异曲同工的书籍是《大英黑暗料理大全》，等我看完那本，在那本评论里会补充说明。
January 23, 2025
It’s interesting to know what animals are our ancestors’ food. It’s interesting to read but I’ve lost my appetite. Don’t read it before meal.
March 24, 2023
[2023.03.24_36]
【2 March 2023 / Readmoo/144】
【2 March 2023 / Readmoo/144】
April 21, 2013
I love old recipes and I mean really old like Apicius. This isn't quite that old but recipes date from 1390 to 1944. There's a good mix of recipes and commentary on those recipes. Most are hilarious to read and you wouldn't want to imagine eating most of them. I certainly hope I never have to use cold porridge in a recipe as a cream substitute or make coffee out of ground roasted asparagus berries. On the other hand the recipes for Bunny Hugs and Whore's Farts don't look too bad.
What I don't understand is why this British Library produced book has such and ugly cover in a muddy brown. It could do so much better to sell itself.
What I don't understand is why this British Library produced book has such and ugly cover in a muddy brown. It could do so much better to sell itself.
January 7, 2013
Love this- only wish there were more information on the history of the recipes.
August 1, 2013
At first I didn't think these were recipes because they really didn't look like the kind of recipe I'm used to. Interesting stuff though. Neat recipes and historical info.
September 8, 2021
普普通通，雖然說驚人……可是就也是蠻淺碟的講一講，當成簡單談資是還不錯，但就也不是很深入。
May 4, 2023
其實內容蠻無聊的 哈
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews