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To the King's taste: Richard II's book of feasts and recipes
Original recipes from The Forme of Cury interspersed in the text. Recipes include: a Brie and egg tart, a fruit and salmon pie, parsnip fritters, an elderflower cheesecake, stuffed loaves, spiced wine, and rose hips in wine with almonds.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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130 people want to read
About the author
Lorna J. Sass
24 books7 followersLorna Sass is fondly known as "the Queen of Pressure Cooking." She is also a widely published food writer and an award-winning cookbook author. Check out her new blog: www.pressurecookingwithlornasass.word...
Lorna became interested in pressure cooking during the mid-eighties when most Americans had either never heard of this magical appliance or were afraid of it! Her COOKING UNDER PRESSURE, published in 1989, became a best-seller with over 250,000 copies in print. The 20th-Anniversary revised edition of COOKING UNDER PRESSURE came out on November 3,2009.
Lorna followed COOKING UNDER PRESSURE with 3 other pressure cooker books: GREAT VEGETARIAN COOKING UNDER PRESSURE (VEGAN!), THE PRESSURED COOK, and PRESSURE PERFECT.
During the nineties, Lorna wrote numerous vegan cookbooks, recognizing that a vegan approach to food created a much smaller carbon footprint. This was decades before cookbook authors were writing about the connection between food and sustainability. Her RECIPES FROM AN ECOLOGICAL KITCHEN was published in 1992! Her NEW VEGAN COOKBOOK was nominated for an IACP Award and her latest title in this category is SHORT-CUT VEGAN.
Her fourteenth cookbook, WHOLE GRAINS EVERY DAY, EVERY WAY, published in 2006, was awarded the prestigious James Beard Award in the "healthy focus" category. Her latest cookbook, WHOLE GRAINS FOR BUSY PEOPLE, focuses on quick-cooking recipes for cooks on the go.
Lorna has often found herself ahead of her time. While studying for her PhD in medieval literature at Columbia University, she wrote four historical cookbooks that were published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art--decades before anyone was studying food history!
Lorna's food articles have been published in dozens of prominent newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit. In addition to her own blogs, she has blogged for The Huffington Post and Green Fork, and wrote a monthly recipe column for localharvest.org.
She is a member of Slow Food, The Author's Guild, and the Women's Culinary Alliance and an alumna of Les Dames des Escoffier, an organization of the top women in the food industry.
Lorna's current passion is to make healthy food available to all, and she is especially eager to help people grow their own food on rooftops and in community gardens in NYC.
Lorna became interested in pressure cooking during the mid-eighties when most Americans had either never heard of this magical appliance or were afraid of it! Her COOKING UNDER PRESSURE, published in 1989, became a best-seller with over 250,000 copies in print. The 20th-Anniversary revised edition of COOKING UNDER PRESSURE came out on November 3,2009.
Lorna followed COOKING UNDER PRESSURE with 3 other pressure cooker books: GREAT VEGETARIAN COOKING UNDER PRESSURE (VEGAN!), THE PRESSURED COOK, and PRESSURE PERFECT.
During the nineties, Lorna wrote numerous vegan cookbooks, recognizing that a vegan approach to food created a much smaller carbon footprint. This was decades before cookbook authors were writing about the connection between food and sustainability. Her RECIPES FROM AN ECOLOGICAL KITCHEN was published in 1992! Her NEW VEGAN COOKBOOK was nominated for an IACP Award and her latest title in this category is SHORT-CUT VEGAN.
Her fourteenth cookbook, WHOLE GRAINS EVERY DAY, EVERY WAY, published in 2006, was awarded the prestigious James Beard Award in the "healthy focus" category. Her latest cookbook, WHOLE GRAINS FOR BUSY PEOPLE, focuses on quick-cooking recipes for cooks on the go.
Lorna has often found herself ahead of her time. While studying for her PhD in medieval literature at Columbia University, she wrote four historical cookbooks that were published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art--decades before anyone was studying food history!
Lorna's food articles have been published in dozens of prominent newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit. In addition to her own blogs, she has blogged for The Huffington Post and Green Fork, and wrote a monthly recipe column for localharvest.org.
She is a member of Slow Food, The Author's Guild, and the Women's Culinary Alliance and an alumna of Les Dames des Escoffier, an organization of the top women in the food industry.
Lorna's current passion is to make healthy food available to all, and she is especially eager to help people grow their own food on rooftops and in community gardens in NYC.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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July 27, 2013The book is a bit dated, it was first published in 1975, and our knowledge of Medieval foodways has improved leaps and bounds since. However, there are a few errors that I think are more due to lack of research than to limited knowledge at the time the book was written. For example, Sass claims that the recipe for almond milk found in Forme of Cury, the main manuscript used for the book, is the only published source known, and that is simply not true. The Herleian manuscripts, which she also uses as a source for "To the King's Taste," has at least one recipe for almond milk; it's found in MS.4016.
Another thing that bothered with me was her modernization of a baked fruit recipe that is cooked in a "coffyn" in the medieval recipe. Her modern recipe calls for a pastry that is to be eaten, where coffins were NOT meant to be eaten but just served as cooking vessels. There is a clear distinction between coffins and pastry crusts, which were actually meant to be eaten, in medieval recipes and Sass' modernization of the recipe did not keep the spirit of the original. Some times medieval recipes mention "fayre coffyne," which may have been eaten. The recipe I'm talking about here is called "Leshes fryed in Lenton" or "fruit slices fried for Lent." Coffins were used as late as the 19th century, if not later, so this knowledge of edible pastry vs. not edible pastry was certainly around in 1975.
And last, in the introduction she speaks about English ale having been made from barley, oats, and corn, which is true but "corn" here is misleading. Her book is targeted to every-day cooks and the term "corn" will definitely confuse a lot of people. Corn for the English at the time, and even as late as the 19th century, really meant wheat, not what WE think of as corn today. Modern corn, or maize, is a New World food, and I think she should have done better and either used "wheat" or made it clear that corn in this context is wheat. Again, this bit of knowledge was not alien in 1975. I don't know whether this was due to lack of research and her ignorance of the distinction, or the assumption that people would know what she was talking about; either way, poorly done.
I have had this book for several years and only made one recipe from it, which was inedible despite being made from the modernized recipe, so I don't feel confident enough to give this book any stars just yet.
Another thing that bothered with me was her modernization of a baked fruit recipe that is cooked in a "coffyn" in the medieval recipe. Her modern recipe calls for a pastry that is to be eaten, where coffins were NOT meant to be eaten but just served as cooking vessels. There is a clear distinction between coffins and pastry crusts, which were actually meant to be eaten, in medieval recipes and Sass' modernization of the recipe did not keep the spirit of the original. Some times medieval recipes mention "fayre coffyne," which may have been eaten. The recipe I'm talking about here is called "Leshes fryed in Lenton" or "fruit slices fried for Lent." Coffins were used as late as the 19th century, if not later, so this knowledge of edible pastry vs. not edible pastry was certainly around in 1975.
And last, in the introduction she speaks about English ale having been made from barley, oats, and corn, which is true but "corn" here is misleading. Her book is targeted to every-day cooks and the term "corn" will definitely confuse a lot of people. Corn for the English at the time, and even as late as the 19th century, really meant wheat, not what WE think of as corn today. Modern corn, or maize, is a New World food, and I think she should have done better and either used "wheat" or made it clear that corn in this context is wheat. Again, this bit of knowledge was not alien in 1975. I don't know whether this was due to lack of research and her ignorance of the distinction, or the assumption that people would know what she was talking about; either way, poorly done.
I have had this book for several years and only made one recipe from it, which was inedible despite being made from the modernized recipe, so I don't feel confident enough to give this book any stars just yet.
January 5, 2023
Fascinating, fantastic and really makes you hungry. A lot of fun. And after muddling through the Middle English for a bit, I realised that it's not actually that hard to just read the originals and not bother with the translations. Seriously fun.
May 2, 2018
Interesting assortment of recipes. I'm not sure how well the modern translation of those recipes would work, but it was still neat to read through the originals.
May 8, 2026
A fairly slim (144 page) volume. but well done. The author leads in with a general discussion of food and cooking in the Middle Ages, including terminology, kitchen equipment and dining practices. Focus is largely on the culinary practices of the upper classes (because that's who was writing and being written about at the time). The recipes are well organized, with the original text of the recipe, followed by the same text with spelling/words adjusted into Modern English, and finally an adapted recipe for the modern cook, accompanied by author's notes about any changes that she may have made and why. The recipes are largely from the late 14th Century book "The Forme of Cury" (Manner of Cookery) but all are from the same period. The end of the book includes sample menus, suggested readings, a glossary of ingredients, and sources for ingredients. Since this book came out in 1975, I'm pretty sure the last section may be of limited usefulness. 3 stars.
February 25, 2020
This volume originally came with a box of herbs and spices to encourage actual cooking from the recipes. I made several. Some more successful than others. I was young, and only allowed to experiment in the kitchen as a birthday treat. I was not given permission again. But it started my love and fascination with historic cooking.
I've found a source for the spices and, if I keep my new year's resolution, I will start trying the actual recipes again.
I've found a source for the spices and, if I keep my new year's resolution, I will start trying the actual recipes again.
February 12, 2010
Oh, this is great. How To Baffle, Worry, and Nauseate Your Monarch.
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October 21, 2013Picked this one up after it was used as the source for the River Wars Feast which got rave reviews, especially the Gourds en Pottage.
September 22, 2016
nice book of meadeival cookery!
August 17, 2008
Good for SCAdian recipes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews