Liber Cure Cocorum

Liber Cure Cocorum is an English cookbook dating from around the year 1430 and originating from County of Lancashire.[1] Unusually for a cookbook, the recipes are written in rhyming verse.

Text

It was first printed from a transcript made by Richard Morris in 1862 from a text in the Sloane Manuscript Collection (No.1986, British Museum, now British Library),[2] found as an appendix to the "Boke of Curtasye". It is written in a Northern English dialect of the 15th century, probably not much earlier than the time of Henry VI.[3] The author titles his work "The Slyghtes of Cure", or, in modern English, "The Art of Cookery".

Content

The poem treats a great variety of dishes under the headings of potages, broths, roasted meats, baked meats, sauces and 'petecure', including the earliest references to several dishes, including haggis and humble pie.

Sample recipe

Lamprayes in browet.	Lampreys in broth.
Take lamprayes and scalde hom by kynde, Sythyn, rost hom on gredyl, and grynde Peper and safrone; welle hit with alle, Do þo lampreyes and serve hit in sale.[4]	Take lampreys and scald them by kind, Then, roast them on griddle, and grind Pepper and saffron; boil it withal, Add the lampreys and serve it in hall.[5]

References

1. Albala, Ken (2006). Cooking in Europe, 1250-1650. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313330964.
2. Wight, C. "Details of an item from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
3. Morris, Richard, ed. (1862). Liber Cure Cocorum (PDF). Berlin: A. Asher & Co. p. iii. OCLC 784119183. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
4. Morris 1862, p. 25.
5. Renfrow, Cindy (2002). "Liber Cure Cocorum: Parallel Transcription/Translation". pbm.com. Retrieved 2024-10-20.

External links

• Liber Cure Cocorum Online Text, with modern translation, Published for the Philological Society by A. Asher & Co., Berlin 1862
• Online text --- By Morris, Richard, ed., 1833-1894; Philological Society (Great Britain) Published 1862
• Liber Cure Cocorum PDF - By Morris, Richard, revised edition