I go on and on about using research to add texture and layers of realism to writing, and (for me at least) that’s never more relevant than in historicals.
I do historical re-enactment with the Society for Creative Anachronism which is a medieval/renaissance group, and one of the things I am the most into in the SCA is historical cooking. Sarah asked if I would be interested in doing a regular feature on historical cooking, which I jumped on. To start off, I thought we could talk about how to research food and the different levels of accuracy you can strive for.
Later on, we’ll talk about different eras of cooking and try out some recipes and see what my process of trying to make a historical recipe come to life is. Sometimes it works! Sometimes it makes a mess!  SOMETIMES IT IS A DELICIOUS MESS.
A teacher of mine about 15 years ago described the levels of historical cooking to be like this (this is framed around medieval cooking, but the general idea works).
First, there’s Ren Fest level. Turkey legs are not a legit Tudor/Elizabethan/Renaissance street food anywhere, but people like them, so turkey legs it is.
Second is what I call “period-oid.” You at least know what’s New World and what’s not. You have a general idea of what foods were and were not available at the time, but not how the flavor profiles work. So you make bread and beef stew and roast meats, and avoid potatoes and bell peppers and corn, but it’s still from Joy of Cooking. (Nothing is wrong with Joy of Cooking, and I do use it for things like “This recipe says to roast a joint of beef- what temp should I use? what should the internal temp be?” I like not poisoning people.)
Third: you find historical recipes that other people have researched and adapted for modern cooking. There is no shame in this whatsoever. You learn about flavor profiles and how spices get mixed together. You also learn get an idea what some of these words mean (“seethe in broth” = boil in broth). Eventually, you’ll be able to move to-
Fourth: working from historical recipes on your own. This means figuring out proportions and what certain words might mean — and sometimes verbs, too. (Apicius, one of the main sources we have for Roman cooking, tends to give you a list of ingredients, but rarely any verbs to indicate what to DO with them. Good times!)
The final stage is being able to create “period-plausible” recipes on your own that wouldn’t be out of place in that era. These recipes use the proper ingredients, flavor profiles, and methods, even if it’s not a  specific thing we have documentation for in period. It’s a grandmaster level. I’m not there yet, not really.
For general research, my most valuable resource is my Oxford Companion to Food. It gives a short general history of specific foods, how to prepare things, and it’s BIG and impressive and can also be used for home defense. They are currently on the 3rd edition which is over $40, but I have the first and got it for about $10 as a remainder.
I also have History of Food and Food in History ( A ), which are both great at giving a general idea of what food was like and why things were important at different points in history. There are also plenty of books for specific times and cultures- future posts will have more focused recommendations.
One of things the Oxford Companion to Food is great for is helping sort out what the modern equivalent might be. For example, a Roman recipe we’ll be discussing next month has a word that’s translated as “broccoli” or “cabbage” or “small greens” depending on the translator, and the Oxford goes through the history of cabbage and how it evolved during cultivation. Do we have an equivalent that can be found in a typical grocery store? Maybe not. But I can make a few reasonable guesses and try it out!
Now, all sources are not created equal. Some recipe translators aren’t cooks. Some aren’t adventurous and will say things like “I omitted the salt in my version of this because it sounded yucky.” And some sources just didn’t have the resources we have now available to them when they were working. Books that have translations and interpretations from even a few decades ago can be lacking because of the state of American cooking at the time (“there’s this new exotic spice called oregano? It’s super weird?”) and the availability of resources.
There are also groups on the internet of people playing with historical recipes. They can help you with translations, interpretations, if a source is any good or not, ingredient sourcing, and “What the hell is this supposed to taste like?” I have a group in the local SCA people where we meet more-or-less monthly to play around with things.
This will be a regular featured column the first Saturday of each month, and future columns will highlight some of the familiar foods and beverages featured in romance novels. Next month: cabbage. Or maybe broccoli? I’m still not sure. Also some dates. The yummy kind, not the “Hey, Elyse can you please text me that I need to go home right now because this is the most awkward thing ever” kind of date.
Yeah, it’s probably because I took my ambien 3 hours ago but I’ve just realized that our own food, in history, is like a different culture.
I mean, of course it is, just look at the food from the fifties. Only a few decades ago we were eating like this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/which-of-the-barf-tastic-old-food-recipes-is-the-yuckiest#.nodVm8glQ
So, umn, what’s the taste profile on “Chicken Crown” souffle salad?
okay then, off to bed with me.
This sounds fascinating! I love me some food porn but am not an adventurous eater by any means due to weird food intolerances (seriously, who cant eat garlic or anything in the allium family). I’m curious if you could discuss what is a common taste profile for the ancient Romans. Is it at all similar to modern day Italian or Mediterranean food?
Great! You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this. I find historic food and its preparation fascinating. I wander around a lot in 18th and 19th center cookbooks but hesitate to actually try the recipes. Maybe I will.
I’m super excited about this column! I’m in the SCA, too, and it totally makes sense to me that there are all these intersections of hobbies/interested and romance readers! Knitting and romance? Cooking and romance? Yay!
There was an interesting piece in The Telegraph here about recreating the Duke of Wellington’s Waterloo banquet, including recipes.
Looking forward to this column! For anyone who is interested in food history – have you watched “The Supersizers Go…” (or, The Supersizers Eat…”)? It’s the perfect show for food history nerds! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242512/
RHG, from the depths of An Tir’s feasthalls, I salute thee!
I’m really looking forward to this. I was in SCA but also did a lot of independent research on the Middle Ages as part of my accidental cultural history major. Some of my favorite recipes came from a 15th Century butler’s notebook that I stumbled across in my college library and copied the hell out of. Some of the recipes are very complicated and some have ingredients that are hard to find and there are never any measurements so it’s all guesswork. But since I learned to cook from a grandmother who was all “put in enough of this until the batter looks like this and hey, let’s try adding something different this time and see how it comes out” I enjoy that kind of thing. I still use a chicken fricassee recipe from that book on a regular basis as it’s one of my family’s favorites (one of the few things my husband will eat with any consistency now) and even adapted it for camping. Looking forward to trying some new old recipes from RHG!
this sounds really interesting! I’m looking forward to reading the next entries. 🙂 you guys always have such fascinating ideas at the Pink Palace of Bitchery!
My two favourite things… Books and cooking. I’m just as likely to curl up with a romance book as I am a cookbook! Looking forward to this!
CABBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!! OMG, I love me some cabbage. I have three kinds of sauerkraut sitting in my fridge right now. I would gladly read any number of cabbage recipes.
Francesca, I just read the article you posted. That pain de gibier is essentially an 1800s version of a savoury Jello mold, isn’t it?
What a great idea! I love reading about food and cooking, even though I don’t cook AT ALL.
Looking forward to this column! The history of food is so interesting and, for the most part, our assumptions about what people ate are often so wrong.
@Lynnd – I had no idea that oregano was a relatively recent addition to American cooking until I read RedHeadedGirl’s column, so I’m curious about what I’ll learn next!
I have always been fascinated by what people ate, when, where and why.
In 1975, Better Homes and Gardens published their enormous Heritage Cook Book, which tells the story, they say, of our culinary history beginning with corns, beans and squash of the Native American tribes. I have no idea if it’s accurate, and it’s OK with me if it’s not, because the stories, pictures and recipes are so interesting. In broad strokes, they describe what each wave of invaders/settlers brought with them (in Florida, the Spanish introduced saffron, wine and olive oil, forex) or made do with (I have not tried the opossum stew).
So I’m eager to read this new column and look forward to all things culinary.
This sounds great. I have a modern version of a historical Russian cookbook and the fascinating thing (aside from the suggestion that you cook your calf’s brains with a silver kopeck coin) is the whole food culture was different. The church calendar was divided into feast days and fast days and there were so many fast days that what we think of as Russian cuisine — laden with sour cream and butter — was actually feast day cuisine eaten about one quarter of the year.
Apparently the imported French chefs of the Tsarist-era nobility complained about how hard it was for someone not used the the tradition to make an elegant meal for a party with fast day cuisine, since there were so many fasts that they didn’t stop social life.
SAO: Silver is known to have anti-bacterial properties, so cooking brains with a low value silver coin would theoretically ensure that any infection or contamination was not passed on to the eater.
Some of the early teaching cookery books assume a level of basic incompetence from their readers and they can be invaluable for determining details such as if your oven is ready to use. They also tell you how to know if an item is done without the use of a thermometer. Most of us are dependent on timers and controls to cook on a stove or in an oven.
Everything I’ve learned about food history was likely learned by watching Good Eats. Love AB on there!
Francesca, thank you for the link. I have recently started collecting Historic Recipes on Pinterest. I collect cookbooks such as, To the King’s taste, Richard II’s book of feasts by Lorna J Sass. I am so looking forward to this column historical cookery is so much fun!
Very cool! My dad used to cook for SCA events, and I have fond memories of the food he used to make (and the entertainment value for a 9-year-old of eating everything out of a bread trencher).
I first became interested in this topic when I read a book by Krista Ball on food accuracy in historical and fantasy books. It was fascinating and fun. Have you read it, What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17365093-what-kings-ate-and-wizards-drank?ac=1
Greetings from Tir Ysgithr! Our Cooks’ Guild meets once a month to exchange food and recipes. Unfortunately I don’t have time to play right now due to too much RL interference, but your column made me homesick.
There is a free Kindle version of A Form of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery for anyone who wants to try to negotiate recipes with weird spellings and no additional help. Um, no curry recipes included.
Lady Columba de Palomares
I’m not a member of SCA but have always been interested in historical cooking. One website I love is –the guy who runs it has been perfecting medieval cooking for over 30 years. I’ve made several recipes and all turned out, at the very least, interesting.
It should be A Boke of Gode Cookery but I effed the HTML up, sorry.