which used to signalise certain political
events, such as the coronation of a monarch
or the enthronement of a primate ; the mode
of living has grown more uniform and con-
sistent, since between the vilain and his lord
has interposed himself the middle-class Eng-
lishman, with a hand held out to either.
A few may not spend so much, but as a
people we spend more on our table. A
good dinner to a shepherd or a porter was
formerly more than a nine days’ wonder ; it
was like a beacon seen through a mist. But
now he is better fed, clothed and housed
than the bold baron, whose serf he would
have been in the good old days ; and the
bold baron, on his part, no longer keeps
secret house unless he chooses, and observes,
if a more monotonous, a more secure and
comfortable tenor of life. This change is of
course due to a cause which lies very near
the surface — to the gradual effacement of
the deeply-cut separating lines between the
orders of society, and the stealthy uprise of
the class, which is fast gathering all power
into its own hands.
COOKERY BOOKS.
PART 1.
THE first attempt to illustrate this branch
of the art must have been made by
Alexander Neckam in the twelfth century ;
at least I am not aware of any older treatise
in which the furniture and apparatus of a
kitchen are set forth.
But it is needless to say that Neckam
merely dealt with a theme, which had been
familiar many centuries before his time, and
compiled his treatise, “ De Utensilibus,” as
Bishop Alfric had his earlier “Colloquy,” with
an educational, not a culinary, object, and
with a view to facilitate the knowledge of
E 2
52
Cookery Books.
Latin among his scholars. It is rather in-
teresting to know that he was a native of St.
Albans, where he was born in 1157. He
■died in 1217, so that the composition of this
work of his (one of many) may be referred to
the close of the twelfth century. Its value is, in
a certain sense, impaired by the almost com-
plete absence of English terms ; Latin and (so
called) Norman-French being the languages
almost exclusively employed in it. But we have
good reason indeed to be grateful for such
a legacy in any shape, and when we consider
the tendency of ways of life to pass unchanged
from one generation to another, and when
we think how many archaic and (to our
apprehension) almost barbarous fashions and
forms in domestic management lingered with-
in living recollection, it will not be hazarding
much after all to presume that the particulars
so casually supplied to us by Neckam have
an application alike before and after.
A student should also bear in mind that,
from the strong Anglo-Gallic complexion of
our society and manners in early days, the
accounts collected by Lacroix are largely
Cookery Books.
53
applicable to this country, and the same
facilities for administering to the comfort
and luxuries of the table, which he furnishes
as illustrative of the gradual outgrowth from
the wood fire and the pot-au-feu among
his own countrymen, or certain classes of
them, may be received as something like
counterparts of what we possessed in Eng-
land at or about the same period. We keep
the phrase pot luck ; but, for most of those
who use it, it has parted with all its meaning.
Page 16
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
which used to signalise certain political events, such as the coronation of a monarch or the enthronement of a primate ; the mode of living has grown more uniform and consistent, since between the vilain and his lord has interposed himself the middle-class Englishman, with a hand held out to either.
A few may not spend so much, but as a people we spend more on our table. A good dinner to a shepherd or a porter was formerly more than a nine days’ wonder ; it was like a beacon seen through a mist. But now he is better fed, clothed and housed than the bold baron, whose serf he would have been in the good old days ; and the bold baron, on his part, no longer keeps secret house unless he chooses, and observes, if a more monotonous, a more secure and comfortable tenor of life. This change is of course due to a cause which lies very near the surface — to the gradual effacement of the deeply-cut separating lines between the orders of society, and the stealthy uprise of the class, which is fast gathering all power into its own hands.
PART 1.
THE first attempt to illustrate this branch of the art must have been made by Alexander Neckam in the twelfth century ; at least I am not aware of any older treatise in which the furniture and apparatus of a kitchen are set forth.
But it is needless to say that Neckam merely dealt with a theme, which had been familiar many centuries before his time, and compiled his treatise, “ De Utensilibus,” as Bishop Alfric had his earlier “Colloquy,” with an educational, not a culinary, object, and with a view to facilitate the knowledge of
E 2
Cookery Books.
Latin among his scholars. It is rather interesting to know that he was a native of St. Albans, where he was born in 1157. He ■died in 1217, so that the composition of this work of his (one of many) may be referred to the close of the twelfth century. Its value is, in a certain sense, impaired by the almost complete absence of English terms ; Latin and (so called) Norman-French being the languages almost exclusively employed in it. But we have good reason indeed to be grateful for such a legacy in any shape, and when we consider the tendency of ways of life to pass unchanged from one generation to another, and when we think how many archaic and (to our apprehension) almost barbarous fashions and forms in domestic management lingered within living recollection, it will not be hazarding much after all to presume that the particulars so casually supplied to us by Neckam have an application alike before and after.
A student should also bear in mind that, from the strong Anglo-Gallic complexion of our society and manners in early days, the accounts collected by Lacroix are largely
Cookery Books.
applicable to this country, and the same facilities for administering to the comfort and luxuries of the table, which he furnishes as illustrative of the gradual outgrowth from the wood fire and the pot-au-feu among his own countrymen, or certain classes of them, may be received as something like counterparts of what we possessed in England at or about the same period. We keep the phrase pot luck ; but, for most of those who use it, it has parted with all its meaning.