The Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient English Cookery

One of the oldest surviving English-language cookbooks, this fascinating work was originally compiled in the late fourteenth century by the master cooks at the court of Richard II. It contains nearly 200 recipes for the preparation of everyday dishes as well as elaborate banquets. Here we find roasts, stews, jellies and custards alongside dishes that call for highly prized spices or animals such as curlews and porpoises. This 1780 transcription, from the manuscript then belonging to Gustavus Brander and now in the British Library, was made by the Anglican clergyman and antiquary Samuel Pegge (1704-96). Ordained in 1730 and elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1751, Pegge briefly discusses in his preface the history of cooking since antiquity, while his annotations to the text elucidate the medieval vocabulary. Among related items forming an intriguing appendix are rolls of provisions from the time of Henry VIII.