Welcome to The Forme of Cury Recipes Home Page

Welcome to Celtnet's The Forme of Cury (The Method of Cookery) Recipes and Modern Redaction Recipes Page — This page brings together all the recepes on this site redacted (updated) from the 1390 Medieval Manuscript The Forme of Cury (The [Proper] Method of Cookery). All recipes are given both in their original Middle English form, as updated English versions and as a modern redaction that and cook today could follow so that you, too, can prepare classic Georgian fare at home. Below I also provide a brief history of the manuscript. I am making my way through the entire recipe collection and as soon as they are added to my site they will be available here. (For the recipe list scroll down.) Enjoy...

The Forme of Cury (The [Proper] Method of Cookery)

This represents the earliest recipe collection in English. The original version seems to have been a roll dating to the late 14th century (circa 1377 to 1391), attributed to the chief master cooks of King Richard II. Various versions exist, though it seems that two copies 'A' and 'B' were made from an original version.

The 'B' version, as exemplified by the University of Manchester's English MS 7 (containing 194 recipes and bound in book form and dating from about 1420), held in the John Rylands Library and British Library Additional MS 5016 (containing 196 recipes), which is the version copied by Pegge.

It is likely that the recipes were dictated by the Master Chefs of the royal household to scribes as the dishes were prepared. It should be remembered that the master chefs of Medieval kitchens were more like circus ringmasters than modern chefs, in that they directed proceedings as the meal was prepared, rather than being directly involved in the food preparation themselves.

The name Forme of Cury was the name given by Samuel Pegge to the entire collection of recipes. And though this phraseology does occur in the MSS it is not known what the roll was originally called.

The introduction to the work states that the roll is intended to show a cook how to prepare everyday dishes (Common pottages and common meats for the household, as they should be made, craftily and wholesomely), as well as grander dishes that are more highly spices or more spectacular in their character and which were intended for banquets (urious potages and meetes and sotiltees for alle maner of States bothe hye and lowe).

For the first time we also see references to olive oil and spices sourced from the spice islands.

This is the first time that the entire volume has been presented on the web, and it comes with a side-by-side modern English version. I am also working on redacting all the recipes for the modern cook.

The version presented here is a diplomatic version based on Samuel Pegge's 1791 version (the Frontispiece of which is shown here) and the University of Manchester's manuscript (images of which are on the web) [a single recipe, the first recipe in the collection For to make gronden benes is shown here].

It's this site's aim to provide the original text of all the recipes in The Forme of Cury along with updates to modern English and to provide the modern cook with a current redaction of the recipe. You can also find more recipes from the Medieval period in this site's Medieval recipes page.

On the left-hand menu you will find links to each and every section of The Form of Cury (the originall was a single roll and has been broken down here for easier navigation), or you can go directly to the table of contents.

Below are the sections of the original text, as presented on this site:

Table of Contents	Forme of Cury part 4
Forme of Cury part 1	Forme of Cury part 5
Forme of Cury part 2	Forme of Cury part 6
Forme of Cury part 3	Forme of Cury part 7