All Gode Cookery Selected Sites of the Month for 2000

JANUARY 2000

U.S. News: Few had Forks
by Linda Kulman

This U.S News cover story from August 16, 1999 examines the food and feasting of Y1K, making this site an interesting read in the first month of Y2K. Originally featured in a special issue of U.S. News & World Report dedicated to the year 1000, Linda Kulman's brief report talks about the basic foodstuffs of a thousand years ago and how the diet recommended by Dark Ages physician was not necessarily the diet followed by the early medieval population. From this page you can link to other U.S. News Y1K articles on Cosmology, Sexuality, Fashion and Clothing, Zoology, Monastic Gardens, Japanese Court Life, Life in the Year 1000, and Apocolypse Then (End of the World Fears in the Year 1000).

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/990816/diet.htm

FEBRUARY 2000

Experiment in Building an Anglo-Saxon Style Oven
by Mark Beadle. With illustrations by Colin Levick. Article updated by Roland Williamson.

For anyone interested in REAL Medieval cooking, this is a mustered account of the recreation of an Anglo-Saxon stone and clay oven by members of Regia Anglorum, a British organization dedicated to Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman, & British living history. In this appealing article will be found photographs of reconstructed ovens, instructions for building and use, and the author's personal account of his research and recreation. This is an inspiring site for all those who treasure authenticity, in the kitchen and out.

http://www.regia.org/ovens.htm

MARCH 2000

A Compendium of Common Knowledge
by Maggie Secara

If the history and culture of the Elizabethan era intrigue you, then Maggie Secara's Compendium is a delightful website in which to obtain intimate, useful knowledge of what daily life was like during the reign of Elizabeth I. Written originally as a guide for participants in California's Renaissance faires, the site is composed of what Secara calls "fact bites," tight, concise pieces of information that run the full scope of Tudor society: Services and Occupations, Games, Money, Religion, Weddings & Betrothals, Shopping in London, Clothing and Fabrics, Forms of Address for Non-Nobles, Children & Childhood, Heirs & Inheritance, & Naming the Baby are just a few of the MANY subjects contained within. Five pages will be of particular interest to food historians: What We Eat, Food & Your Life Style, More of What We Eat, Snack Foods, & Dinner at Cowdray House, 1595.

http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html

APRIL 2000

The Bors Hede
by Roger Shell

Here is perhaps the most unique dining experience in the Northwest USA: The Bors Hede Restaurant, designed after a 14th century inn and located in Camlann Medieval Village, an educational center based on Medieval English rural life located in Carnation, Washington. Let the staff of the Inn tell you about the Bors Hede themselves:

MAY 2000

The Medieval Garden of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church
by Klaus Neubner & Lionel Spearman

Visit a Medieval German Garden in the USA! The Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Greenwood, South Carolina and horticulturist Klaus Neubner have recreated as authentically as possible a late Medieval German garden as would have been in existence during the time of Martin Luther. Neubner visited the former Monastery Vessra, now Hennebergisches Museum in Thuringia, where a medieval garden has been reconstructed and applied what he learned there in the construction of this beautiful and meditative labyrinth of flowers, herbs, fountains, and other garden accouterments. The site features photographs, information of Medieval gardens, and even a virtual tour. A stunning website!

http://www.ilconline.org/Gardenphoto.shtml

Thank you, Jim, for giving this award to our Lutheran Church. I copied your message, added your home page and the places of referral to us and posted it on the church bulletin board. Lionel Spearman, a congregation member and IS wizard, designed our page. We get about 60 hits a day, over half are for the garden and 40% of these are referrals from godecookery.com. Some stay as long as 10 minutes. I am a retired horticulturist from Park Seed Co. and have a lot of fun taking care of the garden with my friends.

Best Regards, Klaus Neubner.

JUNE 2000

The Geoffrey Chaucer Page - Meals & Manners
by L. D. Benson

Here is page designed to help you understand the meals and manners of the Middle Ages, especially during the time of the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, who lived during the latter half of the 14th century. This page is part of Harvard University's exceptional Chaucer website, The Geoffrey Chaucer Page, and contains information on Feasts, Table Manners, & links to websites concerning Life and Manners in the more General Sense. Also included are excerpts from period sources, such as Feasts in 1387 and 1443, Expenditures of the Aragonese Embassy, The Duenna's Advice on Table Manners, the Latin Verbanitatis (intended originally for young monastics), & The Little Childrenes Little Boke. Well done!

http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/lifemann/manners/

Thank you very much for the recognition you have given my web site. I visited Gode Cookery and found it very interesting indeed. I shall visit it again.

Cheers, Larry Benson

JULY  2000

The Making of an Apple and Orange Tart
by Gretchen Miller

Gretchen Miller, an experienced and accomplished Medieval & Renaissance cook currently living in Pittsburgh, PA explains how to prepare an Apple & Orange Tart as found in the Elizabethan cookbook The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her kitchen (1588). Gretchen not only offers a comprehensible and functional recipe for the modern cook, but even includes an Elizabethan recipe for pie pastry, so that your Apple & Orange Tart will be as tasty and as authentic as possible. The site includes the original Elizabethan receipts and bibliographies. A delicious recipe!

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/org/Medieval/www/src/docs/apple-orange-tarte.html

AUGUST 2000

A Spring Celebration of Platina's On Right Pleasure and Good Health
by Denise Wolffe

Here is the menu for a dinner based entirely on Platina's On Right Pleasure and Good Health, a Medieval treatise on food and diet which is invaluable today as a source for information on the nutritional ideals of the Middle Ages. Direct quotes from Platina fill this simple yet effective page; thirteen different dishes & foods are presented along with cooking explanations & notes on health and physical being. A concise and very informative site.

http://www.ostgardr.org/cooking/andrea.platina.dinner.html

SEPTEMBER 2000

A Feast Prepared at Pennsic XXIX
by Hauviette d'Anjou

As a compliment to last month's Selected Site, here is another feast menu based on the writings of Platina and presented as a dinner for members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. This menu, for a feast in celebration of friendship, was designed to create as closely as possible a meal that would have been served in the month of August at a royal encampment in the 15th C. in Italy. The menu, with accompanying recipes, contains over a dozen items and the article features information on  Bartolomeo Sacchi (Platina), the Four Humours Philosophy, & the Ceremony of Handwashing. Some of the recipes, which are well documented and handsomely presented, include:
Omellette; a Sweet Pomegranate drink; Peaches in Sweet Wine; Date Pie; Roast Beef and Olives; & a Sugar Paste
Dragon. The page finishes with a complete bibliography and a listing of cited web sources. A well researched and enjoyable site.

http://mkcooks.homestead.com/Article6.html

OCTOBER 2000

Tallyrand's Culinary Fare - History of Cooking
by Chef Jos Wellman

This site, by New Zealand chef and professional tutor Jos Wellman, is "a chronological frame of events throughout history that have a direct or indirect influence on food, wine and related topics." In this continually updated work, Wellman examines what he calls the "full range of culinary techniques: preparing raw and cooked foods for the table; final dressing of meats, fish, and fowl; cleaning and cutting fruits and vegetables; preparing salads; garnishing dishes; decorating desserts; and planning meals." His introduction to the History of Cooking presents the evolution of cooking from B.C. up to and including the 7th century A.D.; Part I features the evolution of cooking from the 8th century through the 14th century; Part II focuses on the 15th century through the 17th century; and Part III, IV, and V are devoted to the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries. For the interested reader, information such as "1279 - the first 'official' mention of pasta; when a notary's inventory of inheritance mentions 'a basket full of macaroni'" will be both enlightening and amusing. An A+ to the chef!

http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/6454/history.html

NOVEMBER 2000

Shakespeare's Food Poesies
by Patricia G. Solley

Here is, as the opening words of this page state, "An alphabetical garden of the Bard's esculent poesies;" or, in other words, here is a site which contains all of the references to food in Shakespeare's writings. "This informal survey of Shakespeare's use of food in his writings reveals much, I think, about Renaissance literary convention, about the Elizabethan table, and about Shakespeare himself," says Patricia Solley. "Food largely stands for itself, a palpable and not at all symbolic thing suggesting larger concepts." Solley lists the Bard's foods alphabetically with links from the individual letters; the original quotes from Shakespeare's writings are featured for each item, along with information on that particular foodstuff. And the information presented is vast and detailed - the page on FISH, for example, is worthy of being a website in and of itself. This is truly an excellent site, especially for anyone interested in learning about Elizabethan cooking.

http://www.soupsong.com/ibard.html

DECEMBER 2000

Candlegrove's Ancient Origins of the Holidays - Saturnalia
by Teresa Ruano

Before the holiday of Christmas, there was the ancient festival of Saturnalia, a celebration where Romans feasted, gave gifts, and decorated their homes with greenery. Teresa Ruano's award-winning website on the ancient origins of contemporary holidays gives an overview of this pre-cursor to our modern Christmas, from its beginnings in Egypt up to the time of Constantine. Included is a recipe for a traditional Twelfth Day Cake, which is used to choose the King of the Bean, the mock ruler of Saturnalia and its related festivals. Merry Christmas!

http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html