All Gode Cookery Selected Sites of the Month for 2003

JANUARY 2003

Cote du Ciel Birthday Feast
by Michelle Rogerson

The Shire of Cote du Ciel is the Logan, Utah chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and their 2002 birthday feast featured a delightful menu of period & suitable SCA foods prepared by Michelle Rogerson. The shire's birthday feast webpage presents the entire dinner with recipes, links, and notes.

http://www.cs.usu.edu/~watson/coteduciel/feast.htm

FEBRUARY 2003

Mead Made Complicated
by Mathieu Bouville

Mead Made Complicated is an amazing website that needs to be seen (and fully explored) by all those who love & appreciate mankind's oldest alcoholic drink. Suitable for both beginner & expert mead makers, or the mead connoisseur, MMC's online menu features information on Equipment, Recipes, Problems, the Science behind mead making, Fermenting ideas, Tasting, Resources, Glassware, & Commercial Meads, along with an interactive quiz, PDF files, & a glossary.

http://www.meadmadecomplicated.org/

MARCH 2003

Coquinaria.nl
by Christianne Muusers

Coquinaria.nl is the work of Christianne Muusers, a Dutch culinary historian, & includes her translations of three Middle Dutch culinary manuscripts.

As Christianne says in her website, "There are three major culinary manuscripts written in Middle Dutch. All three date from around A.D. 1500, and, as fate will have it, all three are to be found in Gent. Two of these manuscripts are conserved in the University Library of Gent, the third in the Royal Academie of Gent. These texts are the material for a study on Middle Dutch culinary texts I am working on at the moment. On this site there are new editions, based on the manuscripts themselves. The editions are diplomatic, with translations in modern Dutch and English."

Completed so far is her edition & translation of UB Gent 1035, "Wel ende edelike spijse" (Good and noble food). Two other editions & translations, KA Gent 15 & UB Gent 476, are still in progress.

Medieval Dutch culinary manuscripts are rare & unique; Coquinaria.nl is an invaluable resource for all food historians and a welcome addition to the canon of knowledge currently available.

http://www.coquinaria.nl/kooktekst/index.htm

APRIL 2003

Prospect Books: The History of English Cookery
A Glossary of Cookery and Other Terms

Prospect Books presents an online accumulation of the glossaries compiled from six English cookery texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1661), Sir Kenelm Digby, The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie, Kt., Opened (1669), John Evelyn, John Evelyn, Cook (The cookery manuscript of John Evelyn, late 17th century), Richard Bradley, The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director (1736), Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), and William Ellis, The Country Housewife’s Family Companion (1750). Also included is Elizabeth David’s glossary to John Nott’s Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary (1726). 

http://www.kal69.dial.pipex.com/gloss.htm#glossary

MAY 2003

Medieval Food, Fact and Fantasy
by Louise Smithson

Louise Smithson is a dedicated, serious scholar of historical food & cookery. As she explains, this website "was prepared for a school renaissance day.  It is intended as a simple, short document that dismisses some of the myths common about medieval food.  It would also be suitable for public demonstrations.  It certainly does not discuss all aspects of medieval food and eating as that would be a whole book, but it does touch on the major points." Here Louise discusses many of the misconceptions of medieval food, including the notion that spices were used to disguise the taste of rotten food, and presents a comparison table of available foodstuffs from both the 20th and the 16th centuries.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mkcooks/RenaissancedayinLeipsic.htm

JUNE 2003

SCA Food and Feasts Yahoo Group

From the group's Yahoo website:

"It is hoped that members, no matter where they live, will find open discussion in the areas of food and feasts in the SCA. If you are looking for recipes to serve at feasts, ask here. If you have questions about hall setup, meal serving, menu planning or any aspect of feast cooking in the SCA, just ask. Discussion is not limited to historically documented recipes."

The moderator of the group also says:

"It has been three years since I did the SCA-wide Feast Survey and I still receive comments and inquires about it. The site is for anyone who wants to exchange SCA feast recipes (most of my recipes are in quantities of 25-50 - some for servings of 100). It is not just for the authenticity cook, but for those that cook along the ambiance lines also. Experienced and new feast cooks welcome. ALL feast and food questions and comments are 
welcome."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCAFoodandFeasts/?yguid=127109165

JULY 2003

SCA Potluck Recipes
by Joan Schraith Cole

A selection of tasty recipes compiled by Joan Schraith Cole for an Introduction to Medieval Food Class, presented September 14, 2002 at the Midlands Newcomer Seminar. Although the majority of recipes are Anglo-Norman 14th and 15th century, other cultures and time periods are included - including some "oldies" that are not perfectly authentic.

The recipes included feature a variety of foods in separate categories: Finger Foods and Dips; Sauces for Boiled/Roasted Meats; Sops, Pottages, Brewets, Civets; Savory Pies and Tarts; Casseroles and Other Savory Dishes; Vegetable Dishes and Salads; Sweets; & Staples.

AUGUST 2003

A Medieval Feast
by Carissa Thomas

Excerpt from the site:

"With the exception of rare outdoor feasts all medieval meals were held in the great hall. With high vaulted celings and a large floor space, the great hall could hold large amounts of people without it feeling cramped. In the early days, the floors were covered with rushes, and the walls were often quite bare, using suits of armor and an occasional banner for
decoration. In the later half of the medieval era, the floors were left uncovered, and the walls hung with rich tapestries providing for a more elegant look. The hall was lit with a soft light which came from either candles, the fire or, if the castle was fortunate enough to be able to incorporate these, windows. Sometimes, to give the illusion of light, the walls were painted with outdoor scenery, as if the diners were sitting just outside the castle..."

SEPTEMBER 2003

Kookhistorie
by Marleen van der Molen-Willebrands

Marleen van der Molen-Willebrands writes to Gode Cookery:

"My website offers three transcriptions of historical Dutch cookery books from 1514, 1593 and 1669. Only some recipes are in English and two introductions. It might be interesting for your readers."

OCTOBER 2003

Dining at Dar Anahita
by Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint 'abd al-Karim al-Fassi

Dining at Dar Anahita, also known as the Dining Niche, is devoted to food the author Anahita has cooked for various SCA feasts and potlucks. Currently the site contains recipes for three feasts - a medieval Persian feast, a mostly 16th century German feast, and a mixed European feast with English, Spanish, and Italian recipes. Also included are recipes from medieval al-Andalus and medieval and Renaissance Italy, links to Middle Eastern food sites, and other culinary information.

NOVEMBER 2003

Common Herbs In Roman Cooking According to Apicius
by Lisa Holcomb-Blair

From the website:

"The Romans used a varied assortment of herbs in their cooking. Many common herbs, such as parsley, garlic, and coriander, were grown locally. Other herbs, including pepper and ginger, were imported over great distances and were quite expensive. From the translations of Apicius, we can derive a substantial list of herbs used in Classical Roman cookery..."

The author separates Apicius' herbs into two categories: common herbs and exotic & imported herbs, with an addendum on the latter. Included is a bibliography and a listing of online resources.

DECEMBER 2003

Amanda's Medieval Christmas
by Lady Amanda of the Hall of Hallay

Here is a step-by-step guide to celebrating Christmas in a medieval manner. The host, Lady Amanda, leads the reader through a wealth of information on Yule in the Middle Ages, with advice on decorations, music, food (recipes provided), entertainment, gifts, and even bathtime, just to name a few.

Lady Amanda says on her website, "People complain that Christmas is ‘too commercial’ and ‘too tacky’. This is sadly true if you go for a ‘contemporary’ Christmas. But if you leap back nine hundred years, you’ll find yourself with a Christmas full of class, the simpler pleasures of the Middle Ages reminding one that one doesn’t have to throw themselves ‘round Kwik-Save on Christmas Eve in order to have a good day! Having a medieval Christmas is easier than you think; simply follow my step-by-step guide, and you won’t go far wrong."