Book Review: 21 French Medieval Cookery Recipes

21 French Medieval Cookery Recipes + 10 Unknown Facts 

About Medieval France: Tasty Medieval French Food

Bad Side:  Poorly edited. Little or no original work (almost all the recipes are modified versions of ones I have online for free).

Good Side:  At least she didn't break any copyright laws.

Conclusion:  Even at $0.99 this isn't worth the money.

Notes:  From reading it I would guess that Bethany Wilson is about 12 years old.  The "Unknown Facts" make my brain hurt.

Plus ça change ...

I came across an image today that I've seen before and mentioned in some of my seminars, so I thought I'd post it here before I lost track of it yet again. It's one of the illustrations from the margins of the Luttrell Psalter (England, 14th c).

British Library Add MS 42130 ("The Luttrell Psalter"), f.157v

Now it could be that the beverage being poured into the funnel is water and the gentleman in blue was very thirsty, but I think it's much more likely that people haven't changed all that much in the past 800 years, and what we're looking at is a couple of bros at a frat party with their beer bong.

On a side note, I particularly like the detail of the beer splashing into the drinker's eyes.

Recipes from the Tudor Kitchen - The Author Responds

[This is an update to my earlier posts about this book]

This morning I received an update from the publisher which included a somewhat gracious "mea culpa" from Mr. Breverton.

In it he stated that the error was on his part and not the publishers. Because of personal issues and a rush to meet a publishing deadline, the attributions for the recipes were inadvertently left out of the file that he sent out, that there was no intention of plagiarism, and that the book will be corrected to indicate where the recipes all came from.

All of that is fine for the issue of plagiarism, and I'm glad to hear that he is correcting the omissions. However it still does not address the issue of copyright infringement. I have asked whether he will be seeking permission from the authors of the recipes for their use, or if he will be completely rewriting the recipes to make them his own work.

Copyright and Transcriptions

Late yesterday I received criticism about placing a copyright notice on the texts I've transcribed from medieval cooking manuscripts and public-domain print editions of medieval documents. I take criticism very seriously, even if I dislike the way it's given. I've always felt that in order to learn I must keep my eyes and ears open.

While I've put much thought and effort into both protecting my own intellectual property as well as ensuring I don't violate the copyrights of others,  it would appear that I failed to completely understand the details of copyright law with respect to this very specialized context.

Copyright is meant to protect creative, original work. Unlike my interpretations of medieval recipes, the very nature of transcriptions means that they have very little content that is actually original – even though there can be huge amounts of work involved (reading Middle English handwriting can be a true bite in the butt).

When I was putting the transcriptions up online, I was focused on the amount of effort I had made to produce them rather than on the amount of original content. That means that, while I was legally within my rights to make use of the public-domain text, the copyright I added to them was essentially unenforceable.

It's worth noting at this point that at no time have I tried to enforce it either. I never asked for royalties or denied permission for use ... not that anyone asked. It would appear that few people, if any, are interested in copying such a work and passing it off as their own. Even if they had, I would have likely just shrugged. After all, how could I prove that they didn't just do their own transcription from the same source.

Which I guess is precisely the point. If I can't enforce the copyright and can't prove infringement then what's the purpose of the notice?

With all of this in mind, I have removed the copyright notices from the works that I have transcribed. I have left the texts up online and will continue to offer more transcriptions in the future for the simple reason that that's part of the whole purpose of MedievalCookery.com – to make the cuisine of medieval Europe more accessible.

Recipes from the Tudor Kitchen - Scavenger Hunt!

[This is an update to my earlier posts about this book]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for being so supportive during this mess. It makes things so much easier to deal with. THANK YOU ALL!

I've taken the time to go through the recipes in the book and list the title, source, first few ingredients, and when possible where the recipe was copied from. I've compiled this into a spreadsheet that can be downloaded from the website. I've only managed to get through the first 136 recipes so far and will be adding to it as time allows.  [Update: the file now contains all 283 recipes]

So far what I've found is that the recipes were culled from a wide range of websites. The greatest number so far are from my own, but that's probably due to the fact that I can spot my own recipes much easier than someone else's. Here are the numbers:

19 - http://medievalcookery.com/
6 - http://www.godecookery.com/
4 - http://greneboke.com/
3 - http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl
2 - http://www.florilegium.org/
1 - http://www.hrp.org.uk/

If you happen to identify where any of the remaining recipes came from, let me know and I'll update the spreadsheet. Note that a preview version of the book is available online at Google books. Not all the content is there, but enough of the recipes are to be useful.

Recipes from the Tudor Kitchen - Update 2

[This is an update to my earlier posts about this book]

Amazon.com was reasonably quick in responding and removing the book (both print and ebook) from their website. For those who also have recipes online which may have been copied, I will be posting a list of the recipes that Breverton included. At this point it seems to be a bit of a moot point as the book is no longer available through the largest of distributor, but I am quite curious as to exactly how much of the content was non-original.

More interestingly, I received an email this morning from the publisher, Amberley Publishing. It was politely worded and essentially said the following:

1. They have worked with Mr. Breverton for a long time and think it would be very unlikely for him to have copied the material without permission.

2. They are waiting to hear from Mr. Breverton as to where the material came from, or at least let them know it was an accident. 

3. Because of the contracts they use, it's the author's responsibility to clear permissions for all content. 

4. They think Mr. Breverton should discuss the matter directly with me and leave them out of it.

5. They will get back to me shortly.

This is about what I expected, though it would have been nice if they pulled the title from their own catalog as well.

More as things go.

(Stolen!) Recipes from the Tudor Kitchen - an Update

[This is an update to my earlier post about this book]

My polite inquiry to the publisher was not answered, so I was forced to be a bit more assertive on this matter. The first thing I did was spend the $20 to get an ebook copy of the text. I then went through the recipes one by one looking for those that looked familiar.

Of the recipes that Breverton included, at least 19 were taken directly from my website. In some places the occasional word was changed, but my (admittedly strange at times) wording is still clear. For those playing at home, here is a list of those recipes with the ebook location and a link to the version on MedievalCookery.com:

Rapes in Potage - Baldrick's Turnip Broth (Location 1723)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/pottage.html

To Bake a Gammon of Bacon (Location 1871)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/bacon.html

Mawmeny - Chicken Stew (Location 1984)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/mawmeny.html

Capon Stue - Chicken Stew (Location 2339)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/caponstew.html

Meat Pyes (Location 2363)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/pyes.html

Pygge Y-Farsed - Stuffed Piglet, Goat, or Sheep (Location 2658)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/piglet.html

A Dishe of Artechokes (Location 3197)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/artechokes.html

Divers Sallets Boyled - Sweet-Cooked Salad (Location 3221)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/diuers.html

Compost (Location 3245)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/compost.html

A Tart of Ryce - Rice Pudding Pie (Location 3909)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/ricetart.html

Tostee - Ginger Syrup Toasties (Location 3955)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/tostee.html

A Dysschefull of Snowe - Strawberries on Snow (Location 4071)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/strawberries.html

Peach Tarte - Any Fruit Pie (Location 4438)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/peachtart.html

Gyngerbrede - Honey Ginger Bites (Location 4572)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/gyngerbrede.html

Cruste Rolle - Henry VIII's Crackers (Location 5584)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/crusterolle.html

Poudre Douce - Sweet Powder Two Ways [second version] (Location 5709)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/douce.html

Poudre Fine - Fine Powder (Location 5730)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/fine.html

Sobre Sawce - A Sauce for Freshwater Fish (Location 6095)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/sobre.html

Buttered Beere Another Way (Location 6986)
http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/butterbeer.html

In addition to those, I have found four more that were taken from Kristen Wright's website (Greneboke.com):

To Bake a Mallard - Duck in Tudor Sauce Pie (Location 3044)
http://greneboke.com/recipes/bakedmallard.shtml

Buttered Wortes - Buttered Cabbage and Leeks on Bread or Toast (Location 3336)
http://greneboke.com/recipes/wortes.shtml

Tart of Prunes - Damson Pie (Location 4001)
http://www.greneboke.com/recipes/prunetart.shtml

Leach of Almonds - Almond Pudding (Location 4185)
http://www.greneboke.com/recipes/almondpudding.shtml

Nasty-grams have been sent out, so I expect the ebook version to be dropped within the next day or so. We'll see if / how the publisher responds.

Here's the real irony: Breverton listed MedievalCookery.com among the "Useful Websites" ...

... of course he doesn't say it's one of the ones "Of particular excellence and endeavour". Maybe he only steals from sites he's not impressed with. If so then the folks lower down on the list might be concerned too.

I'll post more if / when things progress.

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 69 Kokeneye

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[69.] Kokeneye
Tak fleysch of hennys & of capouns & lene of pork & hew the ton with the tother & onyons mynced in the broth.

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I could not find any other versions of this recipe. The text cuts off abruptly in the manuscript, with the last word written by itself near the center of the bottom margin, so it could be that there was more and that the full recipe might resemble something from another book. As it is, the few ingredients and the title offer little help.

One possibility is the recipe for "comyne sewe" from Liber. It starts similarly (albeit with veal instead of poultry) and the title is close enough to be a copyist error, but there are enough differences that any similarities could just be a coincidence.

For comyne sewe. ȝiff þou wylle make a comyne sew, Vele and motun and porke þou hew On smalle gobettis. put hom in pot With mynsud onyouns, ful wele I wot, And powder of Peper þou kast þerto. Coloure hit with safroune or þou more do, And drawȝe alyoure of browne crust eke To alye þis sew þat is so meke.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 68 Maumene

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[68.] Maumene
Tak fyggys & reysings & lese hem & grind hem & good melk of almaundys & braun of capouns & of hennys nouth outhr in yche grounden for that sal ben the colour than do there to ginger clowes gelofres & greyn de parys & sugre & salt.

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There are a large number of recipes for mawmeney, including the versions in Liber and Noble. While the ingredients and instructions vary widely from source to source, the Crophill version appears to be the only one that includes figs and raisins.

For to make momene. Take whyte wyne, I telle þe, And sugur þerto ryȝt grete plenté. Take, bray þo brawne of aȝt capon. To a pot of oyle of on galon, And of hony a qwharte þou take. Do hit þer to as ever þou wake, Take powder þo mountenaunce of a pownde, And galingale ginger and canel rownde, And cast þer to, and styre hit. þenne Alle in on pot sethe hit, I kenne.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

To mak mamony, tak whit wyne and sugur then bray the braun of viii capons with a gal on of oile and a quart of hony put ther to poudur of pepper galingalle guingere and canelle and stirre it welle and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 67 Perre

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[67.] Perre
Draw soden perys thorow a sarce so hem in a vessel to freysch broth tak sugre & hony & do ther to freysch gres tak of capouns & of hennys grynd saml & meng with al kepe it wel fro brennyng kele it & lye it charge it with yelkys of eyren.

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This recipe appears to be unique in medieval English sources. There are a couple of contemporary German recipes that include both pears and poultry, but they both differ widely in terms of the rest of the ingredients and instructions.

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 66 Browet of Lamprouns

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[66.] Browet of Lamprouns
Lye it with bred force it with poudre of peper & galingale.

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While recipes for lampreys show up in many medieval English cookbooks, there aren't many. The recipes for brewet of lampreys in Liber, Noble, and Forme of Cury all seem to me more closely related to each other than to the Crophill version.

Lamprayes in browet. Take lamprayes and scalde hom by kynde, Sythyn, rost hom on gredyl, and grynde Peper and safrone. welle hit with alle, Do þo lampreyes and serve hit in sale.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

To mak a Lampry in bruet tak a lampry and skald hym and rost hym on a gredirn then grind pepper guingere clowes and saffron and sethe it well and put pepper in the lampry and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

XI - FOR TO MAKE LAMPREYS IN BRUET. They schulle be schaldyd and ysode and ybrulyd upon a gredern and grynd peper and safroun and do ther'to and boyle it and do the Lomprey ther'yn and serve yt forth.  [Forme of Cury (England, 1390)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 65 Brewet of Elys

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[65.] Brewet of Elys
Lye it with bred force it with poudre colour it with saffron.

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There are recipes for brewet of eels in both Liber and Noble, though the ingredients differ and the instructions have significantly more detail than the Crophill version.

To mak eles in bruet tak eles culpond and boile them with mynced onyons padley and saige and draw it with whit bred and wyne put ther to pouder of pepper canelle and salt and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

For a brothe of elys. Fyrst flyghe þyn elys, in pese hom smyte, Put hom in pot, þagh þay ben lyte, With clene water. þen take þou schalle Alle powder of peper, coloure hit with alle With safroune and alyed þenne With floure, and cast alle in, I kenne, At þe fyrst boylyng þat may falle Soth hote, and serve hit in to þe halle.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 64 Brewet Sechz

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[64.] Brewet Sechz
Hew moton & chykenys on morcellis & sethz hem with onyons & percely.

-=-=-

This snippet of a recipe does not have a match in either Liber or Noble. There are other recipes for "Brewet Sec", but they all seem to be related in name only.

Browet sek. Sweet broth, grape verjuice, ground parsley put therein, cloves, mace, cubebs; in times of chicks after Easter; and it will have the taste of good spices, saffron cooked therein with parsley in the broth; color, yellow.  [MS Royal 12.C.xii (England/France]

Cxiij - Bruette saake. Take Capoun, skalde hem, draw hem, smyte hem to gobettys, Waysshe hem, do hem in a potte; thenne caste owt the potte, waysshe hem a-ȝen on the potte, and caste ther-to half wyne half Brothe; take Percely, Isope, Waysshe hem, and hew hem smal, and putte on the potte ther the Fleysshe is; caste ther-to Clowys, quybibes, Maces, Datys y-tallyd, hol Safroune; do it ouer the fyre; take Canelle, Gyngere, tempere thin powajes with wyne; caste in-to the potte Salt ther-to, hele (Note: Cover) it, and whan it is y-now, serue it forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 63 Powmes Dorre

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[63.] Powmes Dorre
Tak good farsure & mak balles do hem in a panne of clene water boyle hem alityl tyl they begynng to swelle than tak hem up & ley hem on a boord to dreyen tak yelkes of eyren of swenge hem wel ther inne & let hem dreyen do hem on a spite & rost hem & in the rostinge powre on [f.28v] the yelkys of eyren flawme hem with grees serve hem forth with frytur.

-=-=-

There are versions of pommes dorry in both Liber and Noble, but neither is a close match for the Crophill version. This may not be surprising given the wide amount of variability for the recipe in medieval English sources.

For powme dorrys. Take porke and grynde hit rawe, I kenne, Temper hit with swongen egges. þenne Kast powder to make hit on a balle. In playand water þou kast hit schalle To harden, þenne up þou take, Enbroche hit fayre for goddes sake. Endore hit with ȝolkes of egges þen With a fedyr at fyre, as I þe kenne. Bothe grene and rede þow may hit make With iuse of herbȝ I undertake. Halde under a dysshe þat noȝt be lost, More honest hit is as þou wele wost.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

To mak pomes tak and grind raw pork and temper them with swonge egges caft ther to good poudurs and [quere, rolle omitted?] it in a balle and lay it in boillinge water to hardyn then tak it up and endore it with yolks of eggs and ye may make it grene or red with juce of erbes and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

XLII - FOR TO MAKE POMMEDORRY. Tak Buff and hewe yt smal al raw and cast yt in a morter and grynd yt nozt to smal tak safroun and grynd therewyth wan yt ys grounde tak the wyte of the eyryn zyf yt be nozt styf. Cast into the Buf pouder of Pepyr olde resyns and of coronse set over a panne wyth fayr water and mak pelotys of the Buf and wan the water and the pelots ys wel yboylyd and set yt adoun and kele yt and put yt on a broche and rost yt and endorre yt wyth zolkys of eyryn and serve yt forthe.  [Forme of Cury (England, 1390)]

xix - Pome dorres. Take Fylettys of Raw porke, and grynd hem wyl; do Salt and pouder Pepir ther-to; than take the Whyte of the Eyroun andthrow ther-to, and make hem so hard that they mow ben Rosted on a Spete; make hem round as an Appil: make fyre with-owte smoke; then take Almaunde mylke, and y-bontyd (Note: Bolted, sifted) flour, do hem to-gederys; take Sugre, and putte in thin (Note: Thine) bature; then dore hem with sum grene thing, percely or ȝolkys of Eyroun, to-geder, that they ben grene; and be wyl war that they ben nowt Browne; and sum men boyle hem in freysshe broth or they ben spetid; and whan they ben so boylid, then they must ben sette an kelid, and than Spete hem, and dore hem with ȝolkys of Eyroun y-mengyd with the Ius of haselle leuys.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 62 Char de Marchaunt

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

[62.] Char de Marchaunt
Tak good moton hew it on gobets & set it in a pot tak brod peper & percely grynd hem to gider tempre hem up with bred than do ther to salt & welle it.

-=-=-

This recipe is one of the few cases where there is a match in Noble without a corresponding one in Liber.

For To Mak Charmarchaunt. Tak restes of motton choped and put them in a faire pot and set them on the fier with clene water and boile it welle then take parsley and saige and bete it in a mortair with bred and draw it up to the brothe and put it in the pot with the flesh and let it sethe to gedure and salt it and serve it furthe.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 61 Farsure For Soper

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

[61.] Farsure For Soper
Tak hard eyren soden & hew hem smal tak percyle & sauge & hew it smal do ther to & do it in the chikenys.

-=-=-

Like the previous recipe, the only close match for this one is from Ancient Cookery.

Farsure for chekins. Take the zolkes of harde egges, and bray hom smal, and take fauge and parsel and hew hit smal, and medel (mingle) hom wel togedur, and do therto raisynges of corance, and pouder of canel, and pouder of ginger, and do into the chekyns, and parboyle hom, and roste hom, and do as I faide tofore.  [Ancient Cookery (England, 1425)]

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 60 Farsure

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

[60.] Farsure
Tak freysch pork soden hew it smal tak yelkes of eren & meng with al fprce it with poudre swete it with sugre do ther to maces qwibebis & clowes al hole colour it with saffron do it in the chykennys than boyle hem & tak hem up rost hem with gres if it be nede.

-=-=-

The closest match for this recipe appears to be the following one from Ancient Cookery.

Farsure for chekyns. Take fressh porke, and fethe hit, and hew hit smal, and grinde hit wel; and put therto harde zolkes of egges, and medel hom wel togedur, and do therto raifynges of corance, and pouder of cancl, and maces, and quibibz (cubebs), and of clowes al hole; and colour hit with saffron, and do hit into the chekyns; and then parboyle hom, and roste, and endore (baste) hom with rawc zolkes of egges, and fiaume hom if hit be nede, and serve hit forthe.  [Ancient Cookery (England, 1425)]

(Stolen?) Recipes from the Tudor Kitchen

A friend posted a link to a review for a cookbook of Tudor recipes that I hadn't seen yet, so I was understandably excited to check it out. Then I found something disturbing. The review included some recipes from the cookbook ... and two of them were mine.

I was not asked for permission to use the recipes, and from what I can tell no credit was given, so I sent off a quick note to the publisher to see what's what and what can be done.

But of course my mind couldn't leave it alone. The review included eleven recipes, and it seemed unlikely that a random selection of eleven recipes from a cookbook would just happen to include the two that were taken from my website .... unless of course more than just those two were copied from elsewhere on the internet, and I only recognized the fact because I wrote them.  So I took another look.

The following recipes are listed in the review:

Salmon Sallet for fish days
Roast capon (Spice roast chicken)
Salmon Rostyd in sauce (Grilled salmon in wine sauce)
To fry whitings (Fried whitefish in apple or onion sauce)
Steamed asparagus spears in orange sauce
Compost (Cold spiced vegetables in wine and honey sauce)
Sweet potatoes in rose and orange syrup
Egges in moneshyne
Tostee (Ginger syrup toasties)
A dysschefull of snowe (Apple puree in snow)
Smartard (Sweet cottage cheese fritters)

There's also another review that includes just two recipes:

A Dysschefull of Snowe – Strawberries on Snow
Steamed Asparagus Spears in Orange Sauce

This makes for 12 different recipes (the steamed asparagus shows up in both reviews).

The first thing I noticed is that they seem to be an odd mix of US and UK measurements. The author is from Wales, and in the intro of his book (available in preview on Amazon.com) he says he did this because the over-sixty crowd is "more acquainted" with the US (non-metric) measures. Huh. I could understand having them all one way or the other, but a mix of the two seems odd.

I started to do some web searches, and it looks like MedievalCookery.com isn't the only place recipes were taken from.

Salmon Sallet for fish days - [Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan]
Compost (Cold spiced vegetables in wine and honey sauce)  -  [MedievalCookery.com]
Tostee (Ginger syrup toasties) - [MedievalCookery.com]
Smartard (Sweet cottage cheese fritters) - [The Foody UK and Ireland]
A Dysschefull of Snowe – Strawberries on Snow - [MedievalCookery.com]

Some of the recipes have edits, possibly in an attempt to disguise their origins or circumvent copyright law, or possibly because an editor didn't like the original wording, but in each case the source of the recipe is still quite clear.

This means that of the dozen recipes from the book that were featured in interviews, almost half can be found online with a quick search. This is not good.

A Copyright Public Service Announcement

It looks like another cookbook has been published which contains recipes copied from the MedievalCookery website, so I thought I'd take some time to clear up some potential confusion over the internet as a whole, recipes, and copyright.

First let me point out that just because something is freely available on the internet does not mean that you copy it and use it as you will.  For example, I have a recipe online called Tostee.

It's a nice little recipe, and while it didn't take me too long to work out, it's still my work. I place a certain amount of value on my work, even the small stuff, and therefore would like to receive compensation and credit whenever it's reproduced. To remind people of this I even added this bit at the bottom of the web page:

That's a copyright notice (note that the page would still be copyrighted without it) and a link to a "Terms of Use" page that essentially says, "Don't steal my work. Ask permission for use." What it means is that it is a violation of copyright laws to copy the page and publish it as your own work.

Now here's the interesting part. There are portions of this recipe that actually could be used without permission. For example, the page contains the original source of the recipe, which is a manuscript from the fourteenth century.

That original manuscript is in the public domain. You can copy and paste and publish it to your heart's content and nobody's lawyers will send you a nastygram about it. You can even read through it and work out a modern version of the recipe ... which is exactly what I did. If I found out someone else did that I'd say, "Good job! Do another one!" Really. I'm quite enthusiastic about people working out modern versions of medieval recipes.

The tricky part is the chunk of the recipe above that.

That part of the recipe is my original work. If you use that part in your cookbook without permission then I'll be rather cranky, especially since I don't make it all that difficult to actually get permission.

Oh, and if you use that part without permission and change a word or two, that still counts as copyright infringement and I'll still get cranky.

There is one weird bit to copyright law however, and that has to do with this bit of the recipe:

Technically, a simple list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted, so you might be able to get away with using this part as well. However, the wording of the individual items and the order they're given in is still covered by copyright law, so it's really not a good idea to use it without permission either.

So remember: if you want to use something from someone's website, ask first! If they're like me then the odds are pretty good they'll let you.

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 59 Charlet Aforce

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[59.] Charlet Aforce
Tak cow melk & eyren & swenge hem to gidre & colour it with saffron tak freysch pork hew it smal do it ther to kast it in a panne boyle it wel & stire it vyn & with ale set it don than ley it on a canwas presse out the wyth tak almaunde melk colour it with saffron lye it with [f.28r] amydon force it with poudre of ginger & galingale.

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While there are a number of versions of this recipe in other sources, the closest match is from Noble.

To mak charlet forced tak cowe mylk and yolks of eggs draw throughe a stren and bet it to gedur then tak freshe pork smalle hewene and cast all to gedure in a pan and colour it with saffrone and let it boile till it be on a crud then take it up and lay it on a clothe upon a bord and presse out the whey then tak the mylk of almondes or cow creme and sett it on the fyere put ther to sugur and colour it depe with saffrone then leshe out the crud and couche it in dishes and pour out the ceripe and cast on sugur and canelle and serve it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]