Chicken pie and Richard II….

  Richard II was certainly the royal connoisseur of food. His famous book of recipes (well, he didn’t actually write it!) the Forme of Cury, is constantly resorted to as a record of just how well our 14th-century ancestors were provided for when they sat down to eat. How often are we told that they… Continue reading Chicken pie and Richard II….

Richard II enjoyed ravioli….!

    Well, one lives and learns. I quote from this article : “….the first written mention of ravioli was in a 14th-century Tuscan merchant’s recipe and, surprisingly, around the same time in a cookbook written by one of King Richard II’s chefs….” That one book has been enormously influential concerning our knowledge of medieval… Continue reading Richard II enjoyed ravioli….!

Medieval food that looks awful but apparently tastes divine…!

  Well, we know that the people of the medieval period loved their colours. The brighter the better, it seems. But, it also seems that this liking didn’t extend to their food. I found this wonderful article on the British Medieval History Facebook group, and just had to share it here. However, it has to… Continue reading Medieval food that looks awful but apparently tastes divine…!

I’ll Have What She’s Having: A Medieval Christmas Tasting Menu

“Let us consider some of our genuine English culinary assets.  Among the best of them are our cured and salted meats.  Hams, gammons, salt silversides…” So begins one of Elizabeth David’s chapters in “Spices, Salts and Aromatics in The English Kitchen,” a charming book that takes us through centuries of English cookery with its yin… Continue reading I’ll Have What She’s Having: A Medieval Christmas Tasting Menu

Clarissa Dickson Wright and the Art of Medieval Food

  The late Clarissa Dickson Wright is known to the English-speaking countries of the world as one of The Two Fat Ladies – the middle-aged motorcycling cooks who zipped around the English, Welsh and Irish countryside, one at the wheel of a Triumph Thunderbird, the other stuffed into the sidecar wearing what appeared to be… Continue reading Clarissa Dickson Wright and the Art of Medieval Food