SC - more om Danish cookbook

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Adamantius wrote:

>Grewe also specifically states that one of the manuscripts is in Low
>German, as I recall, but his published work seems to contain the recipes
>only in English. The foods themselves seem to suggest, as has been said,
>a Mediterranean origin: lots of saffron, almonds, garlic, etc., and if I
>remember correctly, Grewe suggests Harpenstreng may have acquired them
>while in medical school in Provence. This might also help explain how
>they became part of an Icelandic "medical miscellany".

I recently asked our foremost culinary historian, Hallgerður Gísladóttir,
about the miscellany (or rather, the cookbook) and this is part of her
reply:

"There are several versions of this manuscript, somewhat spread over Europe.
The oldest preserved version was copied by a monk at Sorø in Denmark, Knud
Juul, in around 1300. The Icelandic version comes to us through a Norwegian
version, now lost. It is written in Norse and is combined with some of
Henrik Harpestreng´s herbal manuscripts in the collection you asked about
(the medical miscellany). It is now stored at the Árni Magnússon Institute.
Hans J. Pedersen at the Danish restaurant museum in Svejbek has adapted
these recipes for the modern kitchen and they have been published in a book
called "Til taffel hos kong Valdimar" (At King Valdemar´s Table)."

Nanna

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