[Sca-cooks] "The Medieval Kitchen"

Johnna Holloway johnnae at mac.com
Fri Nov 7 05:39:35 PST 2008


I did find it mentioned and recommended in the archives so we have 
discussed it in the last two years.

My entry from the article I did for Tournaments Illuminated lists it as

Redon, Odile, Francoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi. /The Medieval 
Kitchen/. /Recipes from France and Italy./ Chicago: University of 
Chicago, 1998. French edition was /Gastronomie au Moyen/ /Age/, 1991; 
German was /Die Kochkunst des Mittelalters./ The American edition is 
translated by Edward Schneider. Available in paperback. 150 14^th and 
15^th century recipes. A favorite of many society cooks.

It has a wide variety of recipes and I think that people find it 
valuable because there's enough variety from which to construct an 
entire feast. Note that it contains just Italian and French recipes. It 
doesn't cover England or Spain for example. Good bibliography. The 
original recipes are also included in a separate section.

I should mention that Sabban and Serventi went on and did two more 
volumes that covered the Renaissance and the 17th century, but those 
volumes have never
been translated into English. I did locate and purchase the French 
editions some years back.

The American volume by the University of Chicago Press is still in 
print. I think Devra carries it, so you could get it from her.

 Johnnae


> We've discussed it here, but the current archives don't cover the 
> period. It's a good reference work with transcriptions and 
> translations of original recipes and adaptations.  In some cases, the 
> adaptations don't precisely follow the original recipe, but a careful 
> reading will show you where they differ.  I use my copy fairly often 
> and I've given a couple as gifts.
>
> Bear
>
>> A friend showed me her copy of "The Medieval Kitchen" at our business
>> meeting this evening. I *think* I remember it being discussed here 
>> but can't
>> find any mention of it in the archives using "The Medieval Kitchen" 
>> in the
>> search function.
>>
>> Help? Hrothny




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