[.ca] The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy (ISBN 0226706850)

Nothing new under the sun....:
Over the past 30 years I've been experimenting with different dishes and just when I think I've discovered something new I find out that someone has been doing it for ages..and ages. "The Medieval Kitchen" Recipes from France and Italy" contains wonderful, doable dishes to suit every diet. I don't eat red meat, so I won't be having the 'Stuffed Suckling Pig' or 'Roast Shoulder of Lamb', but with some minor adjustments, I can make the 'Split-pea or Dried Fava Bean Soup', the 'Herb Soup', or 'Winter Squash or Pumpkin Soup.' And, the book contains many lovely desserts and breads. This book was developed by two French historians, Odile Redon and Fancoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi, an Italian historian. Gorges Duby, a well known French historian who specializes in the study of the Middle Ages wrote the forward, and the book was translated by Edward Schneider. The historical sources for the book are listed in a separate 'Bibliography' and the recipes are matched with their original documents in 'Recipes by Manuscript Source' -- just in case you feel the authors omitted something and you want to check it out. The authors make suggestions for substitutions for ingredients that may be hard to find. Since I live in the U.S. I could have a problem finding 'Bitter Orange Juice' for my 'Dover Sole' -- or the Dover Sole for that matter. No problem, I can substitute an American fish of similar texture and lemon juice. If you enjoy cooking and want to experiment, or collect cookbooks and enjoy reading them, or are interested in the history of the Middle Ages, you will want this little book. And, the next time you read one of Sharon Penman's novels, you'll have a better grasp of the dinner menu.

Excellent all the way to the stomach...:
This book is great. I went to a so called medieval banquet one semester. Besides the fact that it was pretty lame, the food stunk. (They gave no atmosphere to the whole thing. It was just a wretched overpriced meal.) All they served was alcohol to drink. Neither my husband nor I drink, so we went dry the whole night. There were a few others like us. Then almost all of the dishes were made with alcohol. And I mean SOAKED in it. Not the kind of meals where most of the alcohol was cooked off. Then the main dish was a skimpy serving of oysters. Needless to say, our palates were not satiated. Those fools really could have used this book. There are tons of MEAT recipes from chicken to hare. There are numerous soups that aren't made with beer. There are desserts besides rim soaked cake. Lo and behold, there is even almond milk for the non-alcoholic. The front of the book has some menu suggestions and the back is great for the historian. There is a fair sized section with the recipes in the original language. It's fun to pick through the old wording. This truly is a wonderful book and the recipes taste great. A must have for anyone who wants to put together a REAL medieval dinner.

A great read, as well as a useful cookbook:
I'm one of those people who "read cookbooks like novels". This is definitely a worthwhile read. And the recipes I've tried have been very good. One of the spice blends that they give has become a staple in my kitchen, the "Sweet spices for many good and fine foods", which I love to use on salmon before cooking. I did make one change (which the authors note many sources recommending) to season "to the taste of the lord" (that's me) -- I changed the bay leaf to dried orange peel. Try it. Another recipe I will definitely make again is the Asparagus with Saffron. My one quibble is that the recipes are almost exclusively French or Italian, with very few from England, and none from any other culture. But, since the authors themselves hail from the first two countries, this is perhaps understandable.

This is a good book for those interested in Medieval Cookery:
I have enjoyed reading this book. Its got lots of information that is very useful to those interested in cooking medieval recipes. The book includes an English translation of the original recipe which can be very helpful when working with medieval recipes. However, I find her modern recipes not quite ready for consumption. They are *almost* what I want but they are bland, never have quite the spicing and flavors I expect. I find that I need to try the recipe once, note my changes in the book and then cook it with the changes for general consumption.

Good food in the middleages, yes indeed!:
Many people wrong have calssified the middleages as that of being a time of barbaracy and lack of refinery. Hence many people refer to it as being the dark ages. Nothing could be further from the truth and with this excellent book, i.e.,The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, we are shown that no barabaric culture could cook these kind of dishes. Read it and maybe it will change your perception.