sauce- pans, a large dish (pewter), two large platters (pewter), a vessel for mixing sauces, a hand-mill for pepper, and an instrument for reducing bread to crumbs.” The- 12 Biukmasters Cookery. monks of St. Swithin, we find, made a formal com- plaint to the king that the abbot had ordered the withdrawal of three out of the fourteen courses usually served at dinner. Fourteen courses at dinner show a very advanced cooking. The clergy, both regular and secular, kept excellent tables, and were given to hospitality — no one was turned from the door without a meal. A Venetian gentleman who visited England in 1500, says, “The English are great epicures, and by nature very avaricious ; they indulge in the most delicate fare themselves, but give their household broth, coarse bread and beer, and cold baked meat, which, however, they allow them in great abundance.” The monks of Canterbury, except on special days and seasons set apart by the church, had seventeen courses daily, besides dessert, dressed with all sorts of flavours and sauces which pleased the taste. The entertain- ments given to the poor by the nobles and prelates at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, diffused a taste and desire among all classes for good living. It would perhaps be a good thing if the poor and the noble met more frequently at the same table, for men do not proceed from rude habits of life except by con- tact with a higher civilization. The barons imitated what they had seen in the palace, and the yeomen and humbler classes, so far as they were able, imitated the example of the barons. Then, as now, only in a more powerful degree, the aristocracy influenced the life and habits of other classes, but the rapid develop- ment of a moneyocrac.y has broken the chain, and I doubt if the food of the agricultural labourer in Buck- inghamshire is so abundant or so well cooked as it Early English Food and Cooking. 1 3 ' was in the reign of Henry VII., when almost every peasant had his pig and cow, with plenty of milk and right of common. Before the Reformation the people of England were celebrated for good living, hospitality, and abundance of food. The roast beef and plum pudding of old England, which are our standard national dishes, are as old as the hills. “For what are your soups and your sauces, Compared to the beef of old England ? And, oh ! the old English roast beef ! ” The yeoman and peasant lived on cabbages, fish, cheese, butter, soup, pork, rye bread and milk ; the barons and ecclesiastics on roast beef, venison, game, fish, soups of the most varied kind, and meat bathed in delicious sauces, and wines. Long before France attained any distinction, English cooking was the best cooking in the world. With the Reformation a great change took place. Vegetables, soups, and fish, were regarded as popish food ; and the making of soup and the cooking of fish generally fell into disuse and larger quantities of meat occupied their place. We know that “ The monks of Chertsey made good broth * On Fridays when they fasted.” With the breaking up of the monasteries and large establishments, cooks opened inns and hotels and the art of cooking gradually declined ; and in the reign of * There are a large number of recipes for fast-day or vegetable soups in the Liber Cure Cocorum, of about the time of Henry VI. H Buckmastcrs Cookery .

AI-modernized reading of the original text

saucepans, a large dish (pewter), two large platters (pewter), a vessel for mixing sauces, a hand-mill for pepper, and an instrument for reducing bread to crumbs.” The- Buckmaster's Cookery. monks of St. Swithin, we find, made a formal complaint to the king that the abbot had ordered the withdrawal of three out of the fourteen courses usually served at dinner. Fourteen courses at dinner show a very advanced cooking. The clergy, both regular and secular, kept excellent tables, and were given to hospitality — no one was turned from the door without a meal. A Venetian gentleman who visited England in 1500, says, “The English are great epicures, and by nature very avaricious ; they indulge in the most delicate fare themselves, but give their household broth, coarse bread and beer, and cold baked meat, which, however, they allow them in great abundance.” The monks of Canterbury, except on special days and seasons set apart by the church, had seventeen courses daily, besides dessert, dressed with all sorts of flavours and sauces which pleased the taste. The entertainments given to the poor by the nobles and prelates at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, diffused a taste and desire among all classes for good living. It would perhaps be a good thing if the poor and the noble met more frequently at the same table, for men do not proceed from rude habits of life except by contact with a higher civilization. The barons imitated what they had seen in the palace, and the yeomen and humbler classes, so far as they were able, imitated the example of the barons. Then, as now, only in a more powerful degree, the aristocracy influenced the life and habits of other classes, but the rapid development of a moneyocracy has broken the chain, and I doubt if the food of the agricultural labourer in Buckinghamshire is so abundant or so well cooked as it Early English Food and Cooking. 1 3 ' was in the reign of Henry VII., when almost every peasant had his pig and cow, with plenty of milk and right of common. Before the Reformation the people of England were celebrated for good living, hospitality, and abundance of food. The roast beef and plum pudding of old England, which are our standard national dishes, are as old as the hills. “For what are your soups and your sauces, Compared to the beef of old England ? And, oh ! the old English roast beef ! ” The yeoman and peasant lived on cabbages, fish, cheese, butter, soup, pork, rye bread and milk ; the barons and ecclesiastics on roast beef, venison, game, fish, soups of the most varied kind, and meat bathed in delicious sauces, and wines. Long before France attained any distinction, English cooking was the best cooking in the world. With the Reformation a great change took place. Vegetables, soups, and fish, were regarded as popish food ; and the making of soup and the cooking of fish generally fell into disuse and larger quantities of meat occupied their place. We know that “ The monks of Chertsey made good broth * On Fridays when they fasted.” With the breaking up of the monasteries and large establishments, cooks opened inns and hotels and the art of cooking gradually declined ; and in the reign of * There are a large number of recipes for fast-day or vegetable soups in the Liber Cure Cocorum, of about the time of Henry H Buckmastcrs Cookery .

Buckmaster's cookery