SC - Cookbooks

[Philip & Susan Troy]

James and/or Nancy Gilly wrote:

> Looking for opinions and commentary on the following cookbooks (some of
> which, I'm sure, have already been discussed here, but....):
> 
>      The Medieval Cookbook  (Maggie Black)

Not familiar with that one.

>      All Manners of Food

Stephen Mennell is the author, IIRC. Excellent and informative, but I 
never really thought of it as a cookbook.

>      The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages  (Terence Scully)

Again, excellent. Everything Scully does is a marvelous work of
scholarship. However, the man can't cook, in my opinion, and for all the
fine detail he discusses in his translations of Taillevent or Chiquart,
little of that detail is observed in his redactions, which are, to me,
just a cut above the dread Dr. Cosman. Not that he garnishes with red
licorice whips, mind you, or makes frumenty from Grape-Nuts, but I did
say a cut above. This is more applicable to the next named volume,
though... . All in all "The Art of Cookery...etc." is a better book than
the next one on the list. I'd buy both anyway, though.

>      Early French Cookery  (D Eleanor Scully & Terence Scully)

Again, full of useful information, but don't actually cook from it. I
found the fact that the original recipes are given, in medieval French,
but not translated directly, except in the form of redactions that are
obviously rather liberal in their interpretation, to be quite maddening.
Often I found myself wondering whether something was an instruction from
the original recipe, or something Scully had made up. Not being a
scholar in the field of medieval French, it was frustrating, to say the
least. However, his information about medieval foodways, the development
of period cookery trends, humoural medicine, and even (or especially)
his fictional account of a couple of days in the life of a generic
medieval chef, named Chiquart but based equally on Taillevent and
others, makes the book worth the price of admission in spite of its
obvious shortcomings. 

>      Fast and Feast  (Bridget Ann Henisch)

Very useful stuff. Again, this is more of a book about cooks and
cookery, and about eating habits, rather than a cookbook.

For those with unlimited disposable income, I'd say get 'em all.
Otherwise, start with Mennell, the first Scully book mentioned, and
Henisch. 

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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