Two fifteenth-century cookery-books: Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55

Austin, Thomas, ed.
London: Oxford University Press, 1964
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CookBk/1:8?rgn=div1;view=toc

Title Page:

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books
EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY
Original Series, No. 91
1888
Price 42s.

COOKERY BOOK I.

FOREWORDS . . . p. vii

HARLEIAN MS. 279, ab. 1430 A.D. . . . p. 1

This cookery book is estimated to have been written between 1430 and 1440. It is divided into three parts, the first headed Kalendare de Potages dyuers (diverse directory/ guide/ list of dishes - 153 recipes); the second part headed Kalendare de Leche Metys (guide to sliced meats - 64 recipes) ; and the third part headed 'Dyuerse bake metis' (Diverse baked meats - 41 recipes). The book includes bills of fare for a number of extravagant banquets.

A bakemeat, from the 15th to the 17th century, meant any food cooked in a pastry crust. It might be filled with anything - meat, fish, fruit, vegetables or custard. A well-known 15th-century collection of recipes, Harleian MS 279, instead of being divided into fish, meat, desserts etc. as we would expect today, is organized into three sections:

Pottages – i.e. wet-cooked food (literally, food cooked in a pot), in all degrees of wetness, from broths through stews and compotes to dishes that would set near-solid when cold, such as pease pudding and jellies.
Lechemeats - i.e. anything dry and solid enough to be served in “leches”, i.e. slices.
Bakemeats : the recipes in this manuscript include what we would now call pies, tarts, pasties and quiches.

• ERRATA and LIST OF DISHES
• Part 1: POTAGES DYVERS (boiled dishes and sauces)
• Part 2: LECHE VYAUNDEZ
• Part 3: HERE BEGYNNYTH DYUERSE BAKE METIS (baked dishes)
• Bills of Fare
  • Banquet for lord King Henry IV, in his coronation at Westminster - 1399
  • Banquet for the aforementioned King nuptuals at Winchester - 1404
  • A Dinner on the Feast of the Holy Trinity
  • Banquet of lord de la Grey
  • Feast of Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln
  • Dinner of John Chandler, Bishop of Salisbury, at his entrance on the episcopate
  • Entertainment given on the 4th of December, 1424, on the occasion of the funeral of Nicholas Bubwith, Bishop of Bath and Wells.
  • festival given by John Stafford, Bishop of Bath and Wells, on the occasion of induction into his Episcopate, September 16th, 1425
  • Feast given at the wedding of the Earl of Devonshire
  • Festival given to King Richard II by the Bishop of Durham, at Durham House, London, on the 23rd of September, 1387 (from beginning of Cookery Book II)
  • Banquet given by John Stafford on being made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1443 (from beginning of Cookery Book II)

COOKERY BOOK II.

HARLEIAN MS. 4016, ab. 1450 A.D. . . .p. 65

• Here Beginnethe A Boke of Kokery. (182 Recipes)

ASHMOLE MS. 1439. SAUCES. . . .p. 108

LAUD MS. 553 (BODLEIAN LIBRARY). . . . p.111

RECIPES FROM DOUCE MS. 55, Ab. 1450 AD. . . . p. 115

GLOSSARY AND INDEX … p. 119