[Sca-cooks] Cut-Off Date for Cookery Books?
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Wed Jan 29 06:08:21 PST 2014
While a source text may have a date of publication, the contents of that
text actually predate the publication date. In the case of a cookbook, the
real question is when were the recipes created. A case in point is Martha
Washington's cookbook, an 18th Century text, where the oldest identifiable
recipe in the collection dates to the mid-16th Century (if I remember Hess's
commentary correctly), suggesting that the book is a generationally iterated
collection of recipes accreting new recipes with each iteration.
The biography of the author might represent a better determination of
"period" than the date of publication. Markham and Murrell were
Elizabetheans, who gained their skills prior to 1600. Digby and May did
not.
I am less sanguine on the post-1650 recipe mentioned in a pre-1600 context,
unless there is evidence supporting a lack of change. Recipes evolve.
While I have used a later dated recipe to fill in for a "period" dish, I try
to document the facts as I know them and let others form their opinion.
Bear
> Greetings! I'm having a discussion with someone about using cookery books
> which were printed after 1600 and whether they can be considered "period"
> or not. We're specifically focused on recipes for confections and
> banqueting items (aka "desserts").
>
> If we are being anal and fussy, then 1600 is a hard date and several of
> the books that contain the most recipes for sweets don't fit: John
> Murrell, "A delightful daily exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen" (1621);
> Gervase Markham, "The English Housewife" (1615); Kenelm Digby, "The Closet
> of Sir Kenelm Digby" (1669); Robert May, "The Accomplisht Cook"
> (1660/1685).
>
> Would you accept cookery books as "period" up to 1625?
>
> What about those after 1650?
>
> Would you accept a post-1650 recipe if it was for a dish that was
> mentioned pre-1600 but the recipe was 1660 and there was no other recipe
> available?
>
> Alys K.
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list