The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy

by Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi

The Medieval Kitchen is a delightful work in which historians Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi rescue from dark obscurity the glorious cuisine of the Middle Ages. Medieval gastronomy turns out to have been superb—a wonderful mélange of flavor, aroma, and color. Expertly reconstructed from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century sources and carefully adapted to suit the modern kitchen, these recipes present a veritable feast. The Medieval Kitchen vividly depicts the context and tradition of authentic medieval cookery.

"This book is a delight. It is not often that one has the privilege of working from a text this detailed and easy to use. It is living history, able to be practiced by novice and master alike, practical history which can be carried out in our own homes by those of us living in modern times."—Wanda Oram Miles, The Medieval Review

" The Medieval Kitchen , like other classic cookbooks, makes compulsive reading as well as providing a practical collection of recipes."—Heather O'Donoghue, Times Literary Supplement

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the basics of medieval eating, and then plunges into the recipes. They start with the text they were working with, comment on decyphering it and what substitutes, if any, they had to use, and then they describe it as a modern recipe. (A lot more detailed.) I can't tell you how good they are, because I got it as a reference for a character who's a cook in a medieval-ish setting. Recipes are, unsurprisingly, weighted toward the wealthy.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more than I ever thought I could learn about Medieval dietary customs and habits from this book. The foreward is fascinating. The authors present the original French or Italian text alongside a modern English translation, add a brief discussion of how they chose to interpret the recipe, and then, a recipe written in modern terms that the home cook can make quite easily. Everything I have made from these recipes has been delicious. A real window into the past

[AskNezka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional contextual history to fine dining in the medieval period and great adaptations of many recipes.

[Rev · Rating 5 out of 5]

did i devour this in the span of a day and then immediately hunt down a second hand copy since this book is way out of print? yes, yes i did.

[Szuwaks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolejny, ale na pewno nie ostatni w tym roku tytuł związany z historią kulinariów. Tym razem Francja i Włochy późnego średniowiecza.

Zespół autorski przybliża czytelnikom świat królewskich, książęcych i mieszczańskich uczt. Jak sami zauważają i podkreślają, jest to kuchnia zdecydowanie "wysoka", ponieważ żaden kuchmistrz nie zaprzątał sobie głowy zwyczajami żywieniowymi gminu (chociaż niektóre potrawy mogły trafić na stoły bogatszych chłopów). W pierwszej części książki wyjaśniają i wymieniają źródła, z których czerpali przepisy - poczesne miejsce zajmują wśród nich "Libro de Arte Coquinaria" mistrza Martino (XV-wiecznej gwiazdy kulinarnej i kucharza m.in. patriarchy Akwilei) czy "Le Ménagier de Paris" anonimowego mieszczanina paryskiego (który, będąc mężczyzną dojrzałym, postanowiłem stworzyć poradnik prowadzenia gospodarstwa domowego dla swojej młodej żony). Tutaj również opisują zwyczaje kulinarne poszczególnych grup społecznych (chociaż głównie tych wyższych), średniowiecznych Włoch i Francji, a także ówczesne poglądy na temat żywienia, techniki, wyposażenie kuchni, itd. (Np. sporym zaskoczeniem było dla mnie jak dużą rolę odgrywały migdały, a zwłaszcza mleko migdałowe). Pierwszą część kończą wyjaśnienia na temat doboru i ułożenia przepisów, porady praktyczne oraz to, jak zespół autorski do tego wszystkiego doszedł. Nie są to bowiem suche, wrzucone 1 do 1 fragmenty manuskryptów, ale zaadaptowane przepisy, które autorzy wielokrotnie testowali w praktyce, nie tylko na sobie, ale również na innych osobach.

Druga część książki to właśnie lista 150 (i kilku) przepisów na najróżniejsze potrawy. Każdemu towarzyszy odpowiedni fragment ze źródła - zarówno tekst oryginalny, jak i jego tłumaczenie. Po nim autorzy załączają wskazówki praktyczne, dodatkowe wyjaśnienia, albo ciekawostki na temat jednego ze składników, samej potrawy lub dzieła, z którego pochodzi. Na końcu dostajemy uwspółcześniony, odtworzony przepis ze znanymi nam miarami i instrukcjami. Niektóre przepisy są bardzo skomplikowane i ich odtworzenie w domowej kuchni może stanowić wyzwanie, jednak inne wydają się być na tyle łatwe, że nawet niedzielny kucharz sobie z nimi poradzi. Sporo potraw bazuje na mięsie - najróżniejsze polewki, zupy, pieczyste, ryby - ale dzięki znaczeniu postu ścisłego znajdą się tam również propozycje, które zadowolą też osoby na diecie wegetariańskiej, a nawet wegańskiej.

Jeżeli kogoś w jakimkolwiek stopniu interesuje historia kulinariów, zdecydowanie polecam. Nawet jeśli ktoś nie ma zacięcia do gotowania, to i tak dowie się z tej książki wielu ciekawostek na temat kuchni średniowiecznej. Tylko ostrzegam, lepiej nie czytać na pusty żołądek, bo burczenie w brzuchu może rozpraszać przy lekturze :v

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I am reading about the crusades and early religions, I was curious to learn what people ate at that time. This was a fun book to read, listed many recipes from the 14th and 15th centuries, and did give some insight into medieval meal planning and recipes. I found an interesting recipe for asparagus. All in all, time well spent.

[Nicola Il bix · Rating 5 out of 5]

La bellezza del libro non sta tanto nelle ricette da eseguire per sentirsi “fighi”, quanto nell’importante lavoro di cernita delle fonti eseguita dagli autori (cosa fondamentale per un serio lavoro storico). L’analisi intrecciata di esse porta a dipingere uno splendido quadro dell’Europa del XIV sec. e delle sue abitudini culinarie e sociali.

[Photina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Love the background that comes with the recipes

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a history book, good.
As a cookbook, nah.

[Elisabetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interessantissimo saggio nonché libro di cucina. Non ho ancora provato a realizzare le ricette riportate, ma rimedierò presto.

[Linda C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book not only includes recipes from Medieval France and Italy, but it has a lot of incredible history as well.

I did not realize that butter was not used in cooking nearly as often in the Middle Ages as it is today. So many of today's recipes start with butter, but at that time it was pork fat.

The author's say that the use of pork fat was universal in recipes, which made me smile and say to myself "except for the Jews and Muslims."

I really enjoy this book, even though I'm not much of a cook and have not used any of the recipes except for research.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Medieval cookbooks. Whenever I host a medieval themed dinner, this book comes off the shelf. The author provides some menu ideas for meat and non-meat days, number of guests and time of year.

It contains vegetable, meat, fish, poultry and dessert sections as well as sauces and how to make a hypocras.

[Dianna]

This book is very well researched but still accessible. It gives a detailed history of medieval cooking and then many recipes, given in both their original forms and then adapted for the modern kitchen. I learned lots of interesting things although I don't think I'll be cooking many of the recipes.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love culinary history and this book sets up medieval food perfectly. The recipes have definitely been modified for modern kitchens (lots of food processor action going on). But they are still very much medieval (as evidenced by the amount of eel used).

[Walt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not easy duplicating these recipes.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in period cooking. The recipes are fairly straight forward and I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for period recipes.

[Micaylah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. Although liberties are taken to adjust to todays mondern palate, it still has reams of accurate information.

[Margaret - · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting book and a look at how people ate in medevil times. how every I don't see myself making the recipes.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice historical cookbook!