600-Year-Old Cookbook Released Digitally

This Thanksgiving, try some 600-year-old recipes created by King Richard II's chefs.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on September 23 2008

If you’re sick of having meatloaf for dinner, how about a meal of blank mang (a recipe including meat, milk, sugar, and almonds) and mortrews (ground spiced pork), with a warm glass of mead to wash it down?

You won’t find these recipes in Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook –these dishes and more than 200 other rare recipes are part of a culinary compilation assembled by the master chefs for none other than King Richard II, back in 1390.

The book, Forme of Cury, is one of 40 rare ancient manuscripts about to get the digital treatment, thanks to the University of Manchester’s John Rylands University Library. Other notables in the collection include an early version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and two epic poems by John Lydgate.

Though the manuscripts have been in the library’s collection for years, the physical texts “are inherently fragile, and until now access to them has been restricted by the lack of digital copies,” the library’s director, Jan Wilkinson, told the Telegraph. “Digitisation will make them available to everyone.”

So if you’re searching for dinner inspiration, why not go back about 600 years? If it was good enough for a king, it should be good enough for you –and after all, retro never goes out of fashion.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History,

Liked this? You'll love these, too:

Five Surprising Foods That Boost Immunity

Try these foods to avoid getting a fall cold or flu. Read More
Time-Tested Treatments to Cure the Common Winter Cold

If you want to get over your February cold, try some of these natural remedies for defeating your disease. Read More
Six Once-Forbidden Foods that Aren’t so Bad for Us

Researchers have found that these foods are less sinful than we thought, and in some cases, can actually provide health benefits. Find out what makes these “bad” foods not so bad after all. Read More
Stanislav Petrov: The Man Who Saved the World by Doing Nothing

When an alarm announced that the United States had launched missiles at the Soviet Union, Stanislav Petrov could have pushed the red button to start a full-scale nuclear war. Luckily for all of us, he didn't. Read More
Ten Healthy Summer Foods That Won’t Break the Bank

From our friends at Divine Caroline, here are ten great suggestions for healthy and budget-friendly summer fruits and veggies to incorporate into your diet. Read More