Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook

by Francine Segan, Patrick O'Connell (Foreword), Tim Turner (Photographer)

“Shakespeare’s Kitchen not only reveals, sometimes surprisingly, what people were eating in Shakespeare’s time but also provides recipes that today’s cooks can easily re-create with readily available ingredients.” —from the Foreword by Patrick O’Connell Francine Segan introduces contemporary cooks to the foods of William Shakespeare’ s world with recipes updated from classic sixteenth- and seventeenth-century cookbooks. Her easy-to-prepare adaptations shatter the myth that the Bard’s primary fare was boiled mutton. In fact, Shakespeare and his contemporaries dined on salads of fresh herbs and vegetables; fish, fowl, and meats of all kinds; and delicate broths. Dried Plums with Wine and Ginger-Zest Crostini, Winter Salad with Raisin and Caper Vinaigrette, and Lobster with Pistachio Stuffing and Seville Orange Butter are just a few of the delicious, aromatic, and gorgeous dishes that will surprise and delight. Segan’s delicate and careful renditions of these recipes have been thoroughly tested to ensure no-fail, standout results. The tantalizing Renaissance recipes in Shakespeare’s Kitchen are enhanced with food-related quotes from the Bard, delightful morsels of culinary history, interesting facts on the customs and social etiquette of Shakespeare’ s time, and the texts of the original recipes, complete with antiquated spellings and eccentric directions. Patrick O’Connell provides an enticing Foreword to this edible history from which food lovers and Shakespeare enthusiasts alike will derive nourishment. Want something new for dinner? Try something four hundred years This edition does not include photos.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, History, Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Food and Drink

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2003

Reviews

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

16th and 17th Century recipes (and some adaptions) for the modern cook. The source material is impeccable (almost all are primary texts from the period - not strictly Elizabethan/Jacobean - running thorough 1699) and the book does include a number of original recipes. However, for the most part, the dishes have been altered (sometimes for the modern palate, others for modern cooking techniques) and some appear to be created whole cloth by the author - inspired, as it were, by period ingredients and dishes. This isn't to say that this isn't an excellent book, just that it's not aimed at reenactors or for open hearth cooking. In addition to recipes, period excerpts and lovely photographs, this book also includes sample menus and some (brief) tips on organizing a "Elizabethan" dinner party. This section is only a few pages and is definitely aimed at guests with little or no knowledge of the period.

[Kender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great bibliography, attractive photos, period quotes, explanations of period dining practices, and the recipes look tasty. We're going to test a few with the aim of including them in a dinner party. The only negatives are that the author changes some ingredients, and tells you what the original ingredients were, but not the quantity. If you have many cookbooks from late 15th to early 17th century Britain, you might have the ones included here, but since I don't, now I want to find them so I can try the actual original recipes. Overall, a worthy addition to my cooking library.

[Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for research (kinda).

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook features foods that were made during Shakespears time.

I made the dish of the front cover last night and it was awesome!I did make some changes though. I don't like saffron or sage so I omitted those two ingredients and I added mushrooms (button and portobello). I would definitely make this dish again.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this book and about the research that went into developing the book and the recipes. Reading Shakespeare and about the time period of the original recipes that were written in 1300's - to 1600's was fascinating- and then the recipes themselves written in the original writing and then a modern translation of them was interesting. I can't wait to try the modern interpretation of the recipes! Learning about the foods themselves was interesting as well.

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to find myself amused by tidbits about Elizabethian food culture in a cookbook. I also now have more context to some lines and general information on Shakespeare's plays that are basically food culture related. Still, found some interesting recipes that I plan to try soon.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought some of the modern adaptations were a bit too modern, but I loved the chapter on planning a party!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

really love myself a good
period cookbook

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I've been on a food history kick, and this is another great book exemplifying that subject. This tells about the sort of things that were eaten during the English Renaissance, the time of Shakespeare. It gives anecdotes on cooking and the sources of the recipes, Shakespearan quotes on a given recipe and even a guide on how to do an Elizabethan feast at the end of the book. I plan on trying out some of the recipes soon, esp the cover recipe and the Chicken & Plum Pie.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francine Segan has done extensive research from cookbooks from the age of the bard, selected recipes from various texts, and adapted them for the modern cook. Thankfully she left out the wren's brains, hummingbird tongues, and a few other special items. The recipes have a surprising amount of fruit, lots of herbage. The recipes are printed in their modern renditions, and the original in old English as well. A fun and entertaining read. Now, to cook from it!

[Geri Laufer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing good food, elaborate recipes, inspiring! for instance: Individual Meat Pies with Cointreau Marmelade. Advance preparation for my talk on Herbs of Shakespeare for the Culinary Historians of Atlanta.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun one to get from the library. I found it really interesting to read about the food and day dream of someone else making them for me, but there was only a handful that I bothered copying out that I would actually make on my own.

[Alicia]

The recipes in this are probably disgusting but interdisciplinary/interactive to history things totally interest me.

[angrykitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

so...some of the recipes actually have a reproduction of the original recipe, and some have quotes from plays that fit....overall, not bad for a foodie and/or shakespeare nerd....

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this from APT. It looks lovely.