[Sca-cooks] Questions about cookbooks for "novice/intermediate" cooks

[Johnna Holloway]

Ok there are a number of ways to approach this question. 

You can narrow the search down to a country or timeframe. That will
then dictate which authors or manuscripts/books are of interest and then you can search
to see if the books are in print or not or online. (Or you can consult a handy bibliography. see below***)

Or do you want cookbooks which are labeled "medieval" or "Renaissance" and contain both original
and redacted or working recipes? These books often feature recipes from a number of
sources. Many are old standbys and used copies can be had for very little money.

What languages do you read? Do you need only English language materials? Also decide how much you want to spend because
this is not an inexpensive hobby. European titles are very expensive these days, and s/h can be just nuts!

Or you can just use a source like medievalcookery.com and search there for online works. Or use Mistress Elizabeth's and Duke 
Cariadoc's Miscellany online at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html

You can of course purchase a copy of their collection at Amazon under the title 
How to Milk an Almond, Stuff an Egg, and Armor a Turnip: A Thousand Years of Recipes

***My major cookery bibliographies (which are awaiting re-publication by a certain noted culinary guild) are arranged by
country. They list for instance both the manuscripts and printed books, which are online, which are in facsimile etc. I've also written a number of guides for Tournaments Illuminated on The Elizabethan Era Feast #184, 21-24 and The Essentials Or Culinary Sources You Should Know About published Fall issue #156 2005 and even one on  Subtleties and Sotleties: A Survey of Splendid Foolishness Spring 2007 #162. Those might be of help.

Lastly as a professional librarian with a collection of some 10,000 volumes collected over 40 years, I can of course point you to individual titles if I have a better idea
of interest and scope. You can of course skip purchasing many titles and ask at your local library or interlibrary loan
titles until you discover what it is that you want or would like.

Johnnae




On Sep 9, 2013, at 7:41 PM, Mandy McCleary wrote:

> Greetings!
> 
> I've been cooking "ethnic" feasts for several years, but am now starting to
> cook more period recipes.  Bear once told me "If you can cook middle
> eastern, you can cook period" As I read through the Florilegium, and
> through posts on here, I see several period authors cited, but I don't know
> what the titles of the books are or if they are in print.
> This leads me to a list of questions.  If someone was going to buy "period"
> cookbooks, what would you recommend they buy?   What out of print books
> would you recommend they keep an eye out for?  What period cookbooks are
> available online?
> 
> Auria of Golias
> Outlands