Crabbe or Lopster boiled

PERIOD: England, 15th century | SOURCE: Harleian MS 4016 | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: Crab or lobster served with vinegar

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

Crabbe or Lopster boiled. ¶ Take a crabbe or a lopster, and stop him in þe vente with on hire clees, and seth him in water, and no salt; or elles stoppe him in þe same maner, and cast him in an oven, and bake him, and serue him forth colde. And his sauce is vinegre.

- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

Take a crab or a lobster, and stop him in the vent with on her claws, and boil him in water, and no salt; or else stop him in the same manner, and cast him in an oven, and bake him, and serve him forth cold. And his sauce is vinegar.

INGREDIENTS:

• Fresh crab or lobster
• Red wine vinegar

Boil or bake a fresh crab or lobster until done; serve cold with vinegar as a dipping sauce.