Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine by William Carew Hazlitt
W >>
William Carew Hazlitt >> Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 | 11
In the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales," the Cook of London and his
qualifications are thus emblazoned:--
"A Cook thei hadde with hem for the nones,
To boylle chyknes, with the mary bones,
And poudre marchaunt tart, and galyngale;
Wel cowde he knowe a draugte of London ale.
He cowde roste, and sethe, and broille, and frie
Maken mortreux, and wel bake a pie.
But gret harm was it, as it thoughte me,
That on his schyne a mormal had he:
For blankmanger that made he with the beste."
This description would be hardly worth quoting, if it were not for the
source whence it comes, and the names which it presents in common
with the "Form of Cury" and other ancient relics. Chaucer's Cook was a
personage of unusually wide experience, having, in his capacity as the
keeper of an eating-house, to cater for so many customers of varying
tastes and resources.
In the time of Elizabeth, the price at an ordinary for a dinner seems
to have been sixpence. It subsequently rose to eightpence; and in the
time of George I. the "Vade Mecum for Malt Worms (1720)" speaks of the
landlord of The Bell, in Carter Lane, raising his tariff to tenpence.
In comparison with the cost of a similar meal at present, all these
quotations strike one as high, when the different value of money is
considered. But in 1720, at all events, the customer ate at his own
discretion.
Their vicinity to East Cheap, the great centre of early taverns and
cook's-shops, obtained for Pudding Lane and Pie Corner those savoury
designations.
Paris, like London, had its cook's-shops, where you might eat your
dinner on the premises, or have it brought to your lodging in a
covered dish by a _porte-chape._ In the old prints of French kitchen
interiors, the cook's inseparable companion is his ladle, which
he used for stirring and serving, and occasionally for dealing a
refractory _garcon de cuisine_ a rap on the head.
The Dictionary of Johannes de Garlandia (early thirteenth century)
represents the cooks at Paris as imposing on the ignorant and
inexperienced badly cooked or even tainted meat, which injured their
health. These "coquinarii" stood, perhaps, in the same relation to
those times as our keepers of restaurants.
He mentions in another place that the cooks washed their utensils in
hot water, as well as the plates and dishes on which the victuals were
served.
Mr. Wright has cited an instance from the romance of "Doon de
Mayence," where the guards of a castle, on a warm summer evening,
partook of their meal in a field. Refreshment in the open air was
also usual in the hunting season, when a party were at a distance from
home; and the garden arbour was occasionally converted to this kind of
purpose, when it had assumed its more modern phase. But our picnic was
unknown.
ETIQUETTE OF THE TABLE.
Paul Hentzner, who was in England at the end of the reign of
Elizabeth, remarks of the people whom he saw that "they are more
polite in eating than the French, devouring less bread, but more meat,
which they roast in perfection. They put a good deal of sugar in their
drink."
In his "Court and Country," 1618, Nicholas Breton gives an instructive
account of the strict rules which were drawn up for observance
in great households at that time, and says that the gentlemen who
attended on great lords and ladies had enough to do to carry these
orders out. Not a trencher must be laid or a napkin folded awry; not a
dish misplaced; not a capon carved or a rabbit unlaced contrary to
the usual practice; not a glass filled or a cup uncovered save at the
appointed moment: everybody must stand, speak, and look according to
regulation.
The books of demeanour which have been collected by Mr. Furnivall
for the Early English Text Society have their incidental value as
illustrating the immediate theme, and are curious, from the growth in
consecutive compilations of the code of instructions for behaviour at
table, as evidences of an increasing cultivation both in manners and
the variety of appliances for domestic use, including relays of knives
for the successive courses. Distinctions were gradually drawn between
genteel and vulgar or coarse ways of eating, and facilities were
provided for keeping the food from direct contact with the fingers,
and other primitive offences against decorum. Many of the precepts in
the late fifteenth century "Babies' Book," while they demonstrate the
necessity for admonition, speak also to an advance in politeness
and delicacy at table. There must be a beginning somewhere; and the
authors of these guides to deportment had imbibed the feeling for
something higher and better, before they undertook to communicate
their views to the young generation.
There is no doubt that the "Babies' Book" and its existing congeners
are the successors of anterior and still more imperfect attempts to
introduce at table some degree of cleanliness and decency. When the
"Babies' Book" made its appearance, the progress in this direction
must have been immense. But the observance of such niceties was of
course at first exceptional; and the ideas which we see here embodied
were very sparingly carried into practice outside the verge of the
Court itself and the homes of a few of the aristocracy.
There may be an inclination to revolt against the barbarous doggerel
in which the instruction is, as a rule, conveyed, and against the
tedious process of perusing a series of productions which follow
mainly the same lines. But it is to be recollected that these manuals
were necessarily renewed in the manuscript form from age to age, with
variations and additions, and that the writers resorted to metre as
a means of impressing the rules of conduct more forcibly on their
pupils.
Of all the works devoted to the management of the table and kitchen,
the "Book of Nurture," by John Russell, usher of the chamber and
marshal of the ball to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is perhaps, on
the whole, the most elaborate, most trustworthy, and most important.
It leaves little connected with the _cuisine_ of a noble establishment
of the fifteenth century untouched and unexplained; and although
it assumes the metrical form, and in a literary respect is a dreary
performance, its value as a guide to almost every branch of the
subject is indubitable. It lays bare to our eyes the entire machinery
of the household, and we gain a clearer insight from it than from the
rest of the group of treatises, not merely into what a great man of
those days and his family and retainers ate and drank, and how they
used to behave themselves at table, but into the process of making
various drinks, the mystery of carving, and the division of duties
among the members of the staff. It is, in fact, the earliest
comprehensive book in our literature.
The functions of the squire at the table of a prince are, to a certain
extent, shown in the "Squire of Low Degree," where the hero, having
arrayed himself in scarlet, with a chaplet on his head and a belt
round his waist, cast a horn about his neck, and went to perform his
duty in the hall. He approaches the king, dish in hand, and kneels.
When he has served his sovereign, he hands the meats to the others.
We see a handsome assortment of victuals on this occasion, chiefly
venison and birds, and some of the latter were baked in bread,
probably a sort of paste. The majority of the names on the list are
familiar, but a few--the teal, the curlew, the crane, the stork,
and the snipe--appear to be new. It is, in all these cases, almost
impossible to be sure how much we owe to the poet's imagination and
how much to his rhythmical poverty. From another passage it is to be
inferred that baked venison was a favourite mode of dressing the deer.
The precaution of coming to table with clean hands was inculcated
perhaps first as a necessity, when neither forks nor knives were used,
and subsequently as a mark of breeding. The knife preceded the spoon,
and the fork, which had been introduced into Italy in the eleventh
century, and which strikes one as a fortuitous development of the
Oriental chopstick, came last. It was not in general use even in
the seventeenth century here. Coryat the traveller saw it among the
Italians, and deemed it a luxury and a notable fact.
The precepts delivered by Lydgate and others for demeanour at table
were in advance of the age, and were probably as much honoured in the
breach as otherwise. But the common folk did then much as many of
them do now, and granted themselves a dispensation both from knife and
fork, and soap and water. The country boor still eats his bacon or his
herring with his fingers, just as Charles XII. of Sweden buttered his
bread with his royal thumb.
A certain cleanliness of person, which, at the outset, was not
considerably regarded, became customary, as manners softened and
female influence asserted itself; and even Lydgate, in his "Stans
Puer ad Mensam (an adaptation from Sulpitius)," enjoins on his page or
serving-boy a resort to the lavatory before he proceeds to discharge
his functions at the board--
"Pare clean thy nails; thy hands wash also
Before meat; and when thou dost arise."
Other precepts follow. He was not to speak with his mouth full. He
was to wipe his lips after eating, and his spoon when he had finished,
taking care not to leave it in his dish. He was to keep his napkin as
clean and neat as possible, and he was not to pick his teeth with his
knife. He was not to put too much on his trencher at once. He was not
to drop his sauce or soup over his clothes, or to fill his spoon
too full, or to bring dirty knives to the table. All these points of
conduct are graphic enough; and their trite character is their virtue.
Boiled, and perhaps fried meats were served on silver; but roasts
might be brought to table on the spit, which, after a while, was often
of silver, and handed round for each person to cut what he pleased;
and this was done not only with ordinary meat, but with game, and even
with a delicacy like a roast peacock. Of smaller birds, several were
broached on one spit. There is a mediaeval story of a husband being
asked by his wife to help her to the several parts of a fowl in
succession, till nothing was left but the implement on which it had
come in, whereupon the man determined she should have that too, and
belaboured her soundly with it. At more ceremonious banquets the
servants were preceded by music, or their approach from the kitchen
to the hall was proclaimed by sound of trumpets. Costly plate was
gradually introduced, as well as linen and utensils, for the table;
but the plate may be conjectured to have been an outcome from the
primitive _trencher_, a large slice of bread on which meat was laid
for the occupants of the high table, and which was cast aside after
use.
Bread served at table was not to be bitten or broken off the loaf,
but to be cut; and the loaf was sometimes divided before the meal, and
skilfully pieced together again, so as to be ready for use.
INDEX.
Acton, Eliza, 171
Addington, Surrey, 232
Aigredouce, 57
Albans, St., Abbey of, 208, 233-4
Ale, 183, 205
--Cock, 152
--Elder, 152
--Kentish, 205
Alfred and the cakes, 54
Al-fresco meals, 253-4
Alfric, Colloquy of, 57
Amber puddings, 29, 83
Angelica, 135
Anglo-Danish barbarism, 3
Anglo-Celtic influence, 52
Anglo-Saxon names of meats, 181
Animal food, 8-9, 34
Anthropophagy, 5-7
Apicius, C., 12
Apuleius, 65
Arms and crests on dishes, 42
Arnold's Chronicle, 61
Arthur, 56, 182, 184-5
Ashen-keys, pickled, 143
Asparagus, 84
Assize of ale, 205
Australian meat, 172
Babies' Book, 257
Bacon, Lord Keeper, 251
Bag pudding, 184-5-6
Baker, 28, 197-8
--Parisian, 197-8
Bakestone, 35, 211
Banbury cake, 29, 83
Bannock, 33
Banquet, order of a fourteenth century, 43
Barba, M., 15
Bardolf, a dish, 57
Bardolph, 245
Bartholomew de Cheney, 232
--St., Hospital of, at Sandwich, 236
Battalia pie, 109
Beef, powdered, 187
--Martlemas, 183
Beer, 26-7, 204-5
--composition of the ancient, 205
Bees, wild, 8
Bellows 213, 215
Birch wine, 204
Bit and bite, 218
Blackcaps, 85-6
Bolton, Charles, Duke of, 82
Book of St. Albans, 61
Books of demeanour, 256
Branderi, 211
Brass cooking vessels, 211
Brawn, 187
Bread, 8, 25-6, 195-7, 262
Britons, diet of the, 8
-- Northern and Southern, 16
Brittany, 3
Broach or spit turner, 236-7
Broom-buds, pickled, 144
Broth, 3, 23
Bun, 28
Butler, ancient duties of the, 234
Butter, 198
Caerleon, 183
Caesar, evidence of, 9-11, 16, 17
Cakes, 35, 127-32
Calais, 194
Calves, newly-born
--removal of, from the mother, while in milk, 8
Cannibalism, 5-6
Carps' tongues, 13
Carving, terms of, 12
Castelvetri, 199
Caudles and possets, 132-4
Caviary, 199-200
Charlet, 23
Chaucer, G. 246, 251
Chaworth's (Lady) pudding, 29
Cheesecakes, Mrs. Leed's, etc., 29, 127, 191
Cheeses, 125-7
Chimney, kitchen, 210
China broth, 84
China earth, 220
Christmas, 27
Clare Market, 14
Cleikirai Club, 168
Clermont, B., 159-61
Coals, 215-16
Cobham, Lord, 194
Cockle, 195
Colet, Dean, 249
College wine, 240
Colonial cattle, 172
Condiments, 29-31, 198, 214
Confectioner, 28
--master, 37
Confectionery, 28
Conserves, 134-42
Cook, 201, 229-30
--master, 231-3
Cookery-books, lists of, 67-9, 79-81
--with the names of old owners, 71
Cook's-shops. 245-9
Cooking utensils, great value of, 222
--lists of, 223-7
Cooper, Joseph, 72-3
Copley, Esther, 164
Copper, art of tinning, 217
Cornish pasty, 185
Coryat, Thomas, 222
Court, the ancient, 231
Cows, 8-9
Crab-apple sauce, 215
Creams, 123-4
Cromwell, Oliver, 73-5
--his favourite dishes, _ibid._
Cuisine bourgeoise of ancient Rome, 7
--English, affected by fusions of race, 10
--Old French, 18-19
Cuisinier Royal, Le, 14-15
Curds and cream, 191
Danish settlers, 9
Danish settlers, their influence on our diet, 9
Deer-suet, clarified, 44
DelaHay Street, 37
Deportment at table, gradual improvement in the, 261
Dishes, lists of, 23-4, 200-1
--substituted for trenchers, 219
--different sizes and materials of, 227
--mode of serving up, 261-2
Dods, Margaret, 167
Dripping-pans, 225, 228
Dumplings, Norfolk, 192
Earl, Rules and Orders for the House of an, 39-42
East-Cheap, 246-48
Eating-houses, public, 245-50
Ebulum, 151
Edward III., 222
Eggs, 23
--buttered, 13
Elizabeth, Queen, 190
Endoring, 198
English establishment, staff of an, 39
Ennius, Phagetica of, 6
Epulario, 66
Etiquette of the table, 255-63
Fairfax inventories, 7, 218
Falstaff, 248
Farm-servants' diet, 191
Feasts, marriage and coronation, 47-9
Finchmgfield, 217
Fireplace, 211, 213
Fish, cheaper, demanded, 33
--on fast-days, 48
--considered indigestible, 64
--lists of, 19-21, 23
--musical lament of the dying, 23
Fishing, Saxon mode of, 19
Florendine, 103
Flowers, conserve of, 136
Forced meat, 191
Forks, 222-4
Foreign cookery, 28-30
--Warner's strictures on 29-30
Form of Cury, 55
Forster, John, of Hanlop, 65
Fox, Sir Stephen, 34
Francatelli, 162
French establishment, staff of a, 36
French Gardener, the, 69-70
Fricasee, 23
Fruit-tart, 186
Fruits, dried or preserved, 134-42
Frying-pan, 222
Frying Pan Houses at Wandsworth, 211
Furmety, 64
Galantine, 58
Galingale, 251
Game, 17, 43-4
Garlic, 214
Gilling in Yorkshire, 218
Gingerbread, 131
Ginger-fork, 222
Glass and crystal handles to knives and forks, 222
Glasse, Mrs., 154-6
Glastonbury Abbey, 205
Glazing, or endoring, 48, 198
Gomme, G.L., 16
Goose, 100
--giblets, 190
Grampus, 21
Grape, English, used for wine, 203
Greece, Ancient, 5
Greek anthropophagy, 6-7
Greene, Robert, 242
Hamilton, Duke and Duchess of, 221
Hare, 17
Harington family, 42
Hen, threshing the fat, 62-3
Henry II., 245
--III., 194, 205
--IV., 47
--IV. and V., 47
--VII., 21, 204
--VIII., 241
Hill, Dr., 156-8
Hippocras, 204, 241
Holborn and the Strand, suburbs of, 215
Home-brewed drink, 192
Hommes de Bouche, 15
Hops 27
Hospitality, decay of, 189-90
Inns, want of, in early Scotland, 32-3
--and taverns in Westminster, rules for, 250
Italian cookery, 28, 198
--pudding, 85
Italy, the fork brought from, 222
Jack, the, 237
Jacks, black, 190-1
Jigget of mutton, 34
Joe Miller quoted, 13
Johannes de Garlandia, 214
Johnson, Dr., 156-9
Johnstone, Mrs., 167-8
Jumbals, 128
Junket, 64
Jussel, a dish, 23
Kail-pot, 212
Kettle, 182
Kitchens, 206
--furniture of, 213-14
--staff of the, 230
Kitchener, Dr., 165-6
Knives, 224, 226
Ladies and gentlemen at table, 221
Landlord and lawyer, exactions of, 189-90
Land o' Cakes, 33
Laver, 229
Leveret, 17
Liber Cure Cocorum, 59-60
Liqueurs, 241
Liquids, storage of, 201
Loaf of bread, 196
--sugar, 194
Lombards, 248
London cooks famous, 250
Lord Mayor of London, 20
Lord Mayor's Pageant for 1590, 33
Lucas, Joseph, his Studies in Nidderdale, 11
Lumber pie, 110
Luncheon, 243
Luxury, growth of, 41-2, 187
Lydgate's Story of Thebes, 24
--"London Lickpenny," 247
Malory's King Arthur, 183
Manuturgium, 218
Maple-wood bowls, 228-9
Marinade, 102
Marketing, old, 40
Marlborough cake, 129
Marmalade, 139
Maser, 228-9
Massinger quoted, 13
Master-cook, 41, 214, 231-3
--ancient privileges of the, 231-3
Meals, 191, 238-54
--in the Percy establishment, 35
Meats and drinks, 193, 205
Menagier de Paris quoted, 18
Merenda, a meal, 241-2
Metheglin or hydromel, 64, 204
Middleton, John, chef, 82, 84-6
Milk, 8, 201
Modern terms for dishes first introduced, 24
More, Sir Thomas, 249
Morsus, 218
Morton, Cardinal, 23
Moryson, Fynes, quoted, 31-2
Mulberries, 137-8
Mushrooms, 199
Music to announce the banquet, 262
Mustard, 214
Nasturtium-buds, pickled, 142
Neckam, Alexander, 17, 18, 51, 53
Nevill, Archbishop, 48, 240
Newcastle coal, 216
New College pudding, 113
Nidderdale, 11, 212
Noble Book of Cookery, 60-1
Norfolk dumplings, 192
--yeoman, 192
Norman cuisine, 3, 44-6
--influence on cookery, 45
Normandy, 3
Nott, John, chef, 82
Oatmeal, 187
Oblys, 196
Odysseus, 6
Odyssey, 6
Olio, 85
--pie, 109
Omelettes, 24
Orders and Ordinances of Lord Burleigh as steward of Westminster, 250
Ordinaries, London, 252
--Parisian, 253
Oriental sources of cooking, 7
Oxford, 240
Oxford cake, 83
Parisian cook's-shops, 253
Partridges not recommended to the poor, 64
--187
Passage, a game, 248
Pastry, 23
Peacocks. 13, 48
Pelops, 6
Pepper, 214
Peter of Blois, 205
Peterborough Abbey, 216
Pewter, utensils of, 247-8
Phagetica of Ennius, 6
Pheasants, 13
Pickles, 143 _et seq._
Piers of Fulham, 22, 187, 241
Pies, 23, 109-10, 191
Pig's pettitoes, 191
Ploughman (husbandman), 188
Plovers, 187
Pockets, 102
Poloe, 107
Polyphemus, 6
Pome de oringe, 198
Poor, diet of the, 181_et seq._
--relief of the, 244
"Poor Knights," a dish, 29
Pope, Alex., 210
Porcelain, 219
Pork, 18, 54
Porpoise, 20-1, 200
Porte-chape, 253
Potato, 65
Pot-au-feu, 53
Pot-hook, 225
Pot-luck, 53
Poudre-marchaunt tart, 251
Poultry, 17, 44
Powdered beef, 187
--horse, 30
Puddings, 23, 113 _et seq._
Pulpatoon, 108
Quinces, 138-9, 141
Rabbit, 17
Radish-pods, pickled, 144
Raisin-sauce, 215
Rasher, 23
Rear-supper, 239, 242
Receipts of eminent persons, 85,
--Early, 98-153
Religious scruples against certain food, 9
Rents, excessive, 189-90
Roasting-spit or iron, 217
Robert, Master, and his wife Helena, 208, 234-5
Romans, culinary economy of, 7
--obligation to Greece, 7
Roses, conserve of, 65
Rundell, Mrs., 161
Rush, Friar, 237
Russell's Book of Nurture, 258
Salt, 214
--, fine, 228
--cellar, 218
Sandwich, Kent, 236
Saracen sauce, 58
Saucepan, 216
Sauces, 29-31, 214-15
Sausage, 23
Saxon influence on diet, 9
Scotland, want of Inns in, 32-3
Scots, the, 11, 33, 168
--their early food, 11
--their poverty, 33
Scott, Sir Walter, 167-8
Scottish cookery, early, 30-2
Secret house, keeping, 26, 49,190
Shakespeare, W., 242
Shrewsbury cakes, 85
"Sing a song of sixpence," 66
Smith and his Dame, a tale, 215
Smith, E., Preface to her Cookery Book, 1736, 89-97
--select extracts from the work, 98-153
Soap, 226
Song of the Boar's Head, 241
Soups, 23
Soyer, Alexis, 169-72
Spanish influence on cookery, 66
--Armada, 190
Spice with wine, 204
Spinach, 84
Spit-turner, 236
Spit, turning the, a tenure, 217
Spoons, 218, 222-4
Spread-eagle pudding, 114
Spruce-beer, 203
Squire, functions of the, at table 259
"Squire of Low Degree," 259
St. Albans Abbey, 208
St. John's College, Cambridge, 202
Stanton-Harcourt, 210
"Store of house," 187
Subtleties, 47-8
Sugar, 193-5
Swan, 106
Swinfield, Bishop, 4
Sykes, Colonel, 220
Syrups from flowers, 112
Table-cloth, 218
Table-furniture, 231
Tansies, 122
Tart, fruit, 186
Tea caudle, 134
Temse, 35
Tiffany cakes, 35
Tillinghast, Mary, 77
Tinder-box, 216
Tom Thumb, 54, 182, 186
Touchwood, Peregrine, Esquire 168
Towel, 218
Trencher, 197, 218, 219-21
--Posies on the, 220
Tripe, double, 106
Tripod, 181, 211-13
Trivet, 225
Trumpet, dishes brought into the hall to the sound of, 262
Tureiner, 103
Tusser, Thomas, 62-3
Ude, Louis Eustache, 167
Utensils, 12, 17, 206, 208 _et seq._, 225-8
--treatise on, by Alex. Neckam, 17, 51
Vegetable diet, 183
Venison, 43-4, 198
Venner, Tobias, 63-6
Viard et Fouret, MM., 14-15
Village life, early, 36
Vocabularies, primary object of, 51-2
Wafery, 244
Wandsworth, 211
Warham, Archbishop, 48
Westminister, 249-50
Westphalia hams, 104
Whale, 20
Whetstone cakes, 127
Whey, 205
White grease, 58
Whittinton, Robert, 249
Wigs, 121
William I., 3, 27
--III., his posset, 132
William of Malmesbury, 16
Wines, 145-53. 202-4
--lists of, 203-4
Wolsey, Cardinal, 21
Wood-Street cake, 85
Wormwood cakes, 130
--wine, 204
Wotton, Sir Edward, 194
Yeoman, diet of the, 182 _et seg._,_243
--bad state of the, 189-90
Yorkshire, 12
Young Cook's Monitor, the, by M.H., 75-7
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 | 11