I am filled with geeky excitement! I just received a neat book in the mail. It was found by an acquaintance's mother (thanks to Laureen and her mom!) at a rummage sale - and of all things, it's a late 19th century Swedish cookbook. Here's what the first page says:
Gustafva Björklunds
Kokbok för Husmödrar
innehållande beskrifningar öfver
mer än 2000 anrättningar.
(Jemte 100 anvisningar för tillredning af Svamprätter.)
Med 106 gravyrer.
Obviously this isn't medieval (misses the mark by a scant 400 years or so), but still it's filled with awesome - in fact, 512 pages of Swedish awesome. The last recipe (Tätmjölk) is numbered 2081! I plan on transcribing the book to text (or more likely HTML given the number of letters like å and ö) and eventually translating it to English.
Oh, as best I can tell the text on the title page translates to something like:
Gustafva Björklund's Cookbook for Housemothers, containing observations and more than 2000 recipes. (Plus 100 instructions for making Mushroom dishes.) With 106 engravings.
Gustafva Björklund's Cookbook for Housemothers, containing observations and more than 2000 recipes. (Plus 100 instructions for making Mushroom dishes.) With 106 engravings.
Oooh, that sounds fantastic! I love that it specifically points out the abundance of mushroom dishes. I'm extra curious about those since I was just wondering what to do with a large container of mushrooms the other day. I made a soup, which, while not very creative, was quite tasty.
ReplyDeleteThat translation is correct :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm into old Swedish cookbooks myself (as I am Swedish and live in Sweden). I have a handful, which I use quite often in my daily cooking.