SC - Re: Help-Scottish recipes

[Michael F. Gunter]

Cariadoc wrote:
>
>By the late sixteenth century there are printed recipe collections in
>England, so it is possible there is evidence of one of them being
>known in Scotland. But it sounds like a hard problem, given how
>narrow the window is between the earliest English printed cookbooks
>(anyone know exactly when that is? I don't) and the end of our period.


I suppose that depends on how you define a cookbook. According to The Oxford
Companion to Food (which devotes almost 2 pages to pre-1700 English
cookbooks), the first printed book relating to cookery is probably a Noble
Boke of Cokery (1500) followed by The Book of Kervynge (1508); however A
Proper Newe Booke of Cookerye (1575 or earlier) is probably the first book
that focuses on cookery itself, and was closely followed by several others.

The earliest printed Scottish cookbook was written by a Mrs McClintock and
pbulished in 1736. F. Marian McNeill´s The Scots Kitchen is probably the
best source for old and traditional Scottish recipes, with lofts of history
thrown in.  (Which reminds me - ít has been on my "must have" list for quite
some time, so now I´m off to search for a copy of the original edition.)


Nanna