SC - A question for the group

[Bonne]

Betty Cook wrote:

> There is also Elinor Fettiplace's Cookbook--commercially published, I think
> originally early 17th c. 

Having had it out of the library for bus ride reading until yesterday, I'll
put in:

The bulk of it was written in one hand and dated 1604.  By that year, Lady
Fettiplace had been married and accumulating recipes a decade or more, and you
could assume some had come from relatives and so date back a bit further. Some
recipes duplicate what I see referenced from other books.  Prince Bisket and A
White Bisket, for instance.  Blancmange and some custards, an unsweetened
date/custard pie, which was very good, once we adjusted to it not being
dessert as we eat it today. The bulk of the recipes are for preserves, jams
and various sweets.  Not a lot of meat dishes, though some sauces. Not a lot
of vegetable dishes. Not a lot of soups.  Some medical treatments.   The book
does not have every recipe from the manuscript, I don't beleive. (It's back at
eh library, so I can't double check what was said about that.)

About a quarter of the book was added later in various inks and hands.  These
bits might be as new as the early 1800's.  Trouble is, usually nothing in the
text indicates which grouping a recipe comes from.  I know of one noted in the
introduction as being in the later hand, but that isn't mentioned when the
recipes appears in the text.  Neither does she say it is as part of the 1604
group in the text.  But if you've skipped the introduction you'll go happily
along thinking you are using a recipe that is most likely pre-1600, when you
might not.  How much that bothers you depends on you.

Bonne

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