Ancient recipes were not exactly made to the standards of modern ones— The Forme of Cury is all but nonsense unless the reader is already familiar with the ingredients, techniques, and completed dishes it contains. The vagueness of the recipe makes it clear that the intended audience is people already trained in the art of cookery. People who read this recipe are expected to figure out the optimal quantities of each ingredient, exactly which herbs to include, the correct cooking dishes, and the correct cooking time on their own. The recipe also calls for several expensive ingredients, which make it clear that this recipe is intended for the kitchens of the wealthy, and its recipes are intended to impress wealthy diners. The master cooks of King Richard II are not interested in sponsoring literacy in their discourse, at least not in writing. This cookbook is intended for chefs who have already acquired the discourse and are experienced enough to be working for someone as important and powerful as a king.
This recipe is in many ways representative of all medieval recipes— the recipe does not start with a list of ingredients, but instead introduces each ingredient in the body of the recipe as it becomes relevant. The recipe also doesn’ t specify the quantities of any of the ingredients, the size of any of the dishes used in cooking, or the time needed to cook the dish. The milk needed for the recipe is specifically“ good cow’ s milk,” which nowadays would be implied. Several of the herbs used as seasonings are no longer in common use(“ hyssop” and“ savory,” which are both members
of the mint family and have largely been replaced in modern cooking by other, similar, but easier to acquire herbs) or are not specified(“ other good herbs”). The recipe calls for capons, which are castrated roosters that would have been expensive and rare at the time, and would almost certainly be replaced by a chicken in modern cooking. Instructs the cook to color the dish with saffron, a common element of medieval dishes included because it was extremely expensive( and, relatively speaking, still is) and the yellow color it provides would serve as a reminder to anyone eating the dish of the king’ s wealth and power.
40 TEMPO MAGAZINE— SPRING 2025