[Sca-cooks] The Secretes of Reverende Maister Alexis of Piemount

[johnna holloway]

With regard to this question--

There are in fact in 4 volumes of this work.
How do I know this?
I own the entire set of course in facsimile.

So yes I can send you a pomander recipe-- given the details of what
exactly or which one it is that you want. There are several scattered
throughout the volumes.

I realize that most people don't know anything about Alessio or the fact
that the work includes a set of culinary recipes embedded in the text.
To remedy that situation, earlier this fall,
I submitted an article on the set for TI and Serve It Forth entitled:
Alessio and the Secretes of Cookery.

 "One of the most overlooked Elizabethan texts is the work commonly
known as The Secretes of the Reuerende Maister Alexis of Piemont.
Volumes featuring Alessio and his "secretes" were the hot bestsellers of
the 16th century. The original volume was printed in Italy in 1555.
Historian William Eamon notes that by the year 1600, at least seventy
editions had been published, and it could be read not only in the
original Italian, but also in Latin, French, English, German, Dutch,
Spanish, and Polish. "

It was also included in my bibliography and I discussed the author and
the volumes at my session on Elizabethan cookbooks at the Known World
Bards and Cooks in October.

Johnna Holloway    Johnnae llyn Lewis


Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
Does anyone have a copy of this book?  I just discovered today
> that it has some information that will be very useful for
> documentation in an A&S display this Saturday.>
> If someone *does* have the book, would you be willing to email me
> the text of the recipe for making a pomade?  The OED quotes a> tiny snippet in the entry for "pomatum", but I'd love to have the> complete recipe.
>