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"The imitations of dishes and special presentations assume a deeper, almost philosophical meaning if we consider the theory of Levi-Strauss, according to which the preparation of food constitutes one of the major culture-creating achievements of humanity, the cooking of the raw an act of establishing culture. In these dishes man transcends nature either by transforming the foodstuffs (e.g. cooked peas turned into a hare-roast), or by preparing them in a nobler or more artistic form, as is the case with the special presentations. The chef thus becomes a creator, like the painter who adds symbolism to his depiction of nature, who transcends nature by capturing the meaning given to it by God through his creation of meaning." - Helmut Birkhan, Some Remarks on Medieval Cooking: The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486.

These incredible foods and amazing recipes represent the extremities and heights to which medieval cooking could aspire to, or hope to achieve. Only a cook skilled in the most delicate of carving could successfully dress a peacock in its own feathers and skin, or stitch a cockentrice into being; only an experienced master of the hearth could ever hope to cook a fish in three different ways, in three different colors with three separate sauces, and make it breathe fire as well! A good medieval cook had to not only be concerned with taste and flavor, but with color, imagery, symbolism, and presentation as well. These recipes, all from authentic sources, are the pinnacle at which the finest of cooks expressed their art and craft.

Readers will notice a similarity between some of the recipes, most notably those in the Magia Naturalis and the Cuoco Napoletano, and similar procedures, such as using camphor to make a creature "breathe" fire.

While many of these recipes are capable of being successfully reproduced today, many others contain extraordinarily dangerous ingredients and involve being unnecessarily cruel to animals. A Boke of Gode Cookery must deeply and emphatically state that you MUST NOT attempt to recreate such recipes; these are included for reading enjoyment and research purposes only. All recipes which MUST NOT be reproduced are clearly marked with WARNING followed by a brief explanation.

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A boiled Peacock may seem to be alive - from Magia Naturalis:

Kill a Peacock, either by thrusting a Quill into his brain from above, or else cut his throat, as you do for young Kids, that the blood may come forth. Then cut his skin gently from his throat unto his tail, and being cut, pull it off with his feathers from his whole body to his head. Cut off that with the skin, and legs, and keep it. Roast the Peacock on a spit. His body being stuffed with spices and sweet Herbs, sticking first on his breast Cloves, and wrapping his neck in a white Linen cloth. Wet it always with water, that it may never dry. When the Peacock is roasted, and taken from the spit, put him into his own skin again, and that he may seem to stand upon his feet, you shall thrust small Iron wires, made on purpose, through his legs, and set fast on a board, that they may not be discerned, and through his body to his head and tail. Some put Camphire in his mouth, and when he is set upon the table, they cast in fire. Platina shows that the same may be done with Pheasants, Geese, Capons, and other birds. And we observe these things among our guests.

Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis. <http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html> (June26, 2001)

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A dish of particular colors - from And Thus You Have a Lordly Dish:

Item, a dish that in each part has a particular color is made thus. Roast hens on a spit and do not put them too close together. And when they are roasted make six colors. Make them white thus: take the whites of eggs, put a little flour in it. Make a thick paste. Item, make brown thus: take cherry electuary and mix it with eggs and flour to a brown paste. The yellow make thus: take the yolks of eggs, a little good flour, saffron, and three or four eggs. From that make a paste. Make green thus: take parsley. Put it through a cloth with eggs. Put a little flour with it and make a paste. Black: take flour and eggs; make a paste of them. Add crushed cloves which have soaked overnight in beaten eggs. Put enough in and it will be good black. When you have made these five colors, then baste each hen with its color, and be careful that you don't heat them too much. And when the coloring has dried, then take the hens from the fire and lay them next to other roasts on a platter.

Hansen, Marianne. "And Thus You Have a Lordly Dish: Fancy and Showpiece Cookery in an Augsberg Patrician Kitchen." Medieval Food and Drink, Acta, vol. xxi. Binghamton University: State University of New York Press, 1995.

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A Goose roasted alive - from Magia Naturalis:

A Goose roasted alive. A little before our times, a Goose was wont to be brought to the table of the King of Arragon, that was roasted alive, as I have heard by old men of credit. And when I went to try it, my company were so hasty, that we ate him up before he was quite roasted. He was alive, and the upper part of him, on the outside, was excellent well roasted. The rule to do it is thus. Take a Duck, or a Goose, or some such lusty creature, but he Goose is best for this purpose. Pull all the Feathers from his body, leaving his head and his neck. Then make a fire round about him, not too narrow, lest the smoke choke him, or the fire should roast him too soon. Not too wide, lest he escape unroasted. Inside set everywhere little pots full of water, and put Salt and Meum to them. Let the Goose be smeared all over with Suet, and well Larded, that he may be the better meat, and roast the better. Put the fire about, but make not too much haste. When he begins to roast, he will walk about, and cannot get forth, for the fire stops him. When he is weary, he quenches his thirst by drinking the water, by cooling his heart, and the rest of his internal parts. The force of the Medicament loosens and cleans his belly, so that he grows empty. And when he his very hot, it roasts his inner parts. Continually moisten his head and heart with a Sponge. But when you see him run mad up and down, and to stumble (his heart then wants moisture), wherefore you take him away, and set him on the table to your guests, who will cry as you pull off his parts. And you shall eat him up before he is dead.

Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis. <http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html> (June 9, 2001)

WARNING : To recreate this recipe would involve the cruel treatment of a living animal; please do not consider such an act.

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A young Pigeon with his bones pulled out - from Magia Naturalis:

A young Pigeon with his bones pulled out. You shall take out his bones thus. Put a young Pigeon, his Entrails taken forth and well washed, for to lie a night in strong Vinegar. Then wash him well, and fill him with spices and Herbs, and roast him or boil him, as you please. Either way you shall find him without bones.

Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis. <http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html> (June 9, 2001)

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3 Recipes for Cockentrice - from Harleian MS. 279. Leche Vyaundez:

.xxviij. Cokyntryce. - Take a Capon, & skald hym, & draw hem clene, & smyte hem a-to in the waste ouerthwart; take a Pigge, & skald hym, & draw hym in the same maner, & smyte hem also in the waste; take a nedyl & a threde, & sewe the fore partye of the Capoun to the After parti of the Pigge; & the fore partye of the Pigge, to the hynder party of the Capoun, & than stuffe hem as thou stuffyst a Pigge; putte hem on a spete, and Roste hym: & whan he is y-now, dore hem with yolkys of Eyroun, & pouder Gyngere & Safroun, thenne wyth the Ius of Percely with-owte; & than serue it forth for a ryal mete.

Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

Gode Cookery translation : Cockentrice - take a capon, scald it, drain it clean, then cut it in half at the waist; take a pig, scald it, drain it as the capon, and also cut it in half at the at the waist; take needle and thread and sew the front part of the capon to the back part of the pig; and the front part of the pig to the back part of the capon, and then stuff it as you would stuff a pig; put it on a spit, and roast it: and when it is done, gild it on the outside with egg yolks, ginger, saffron, and parsley juice; and then serve it forth for a royal meat.

- from Douce MS. 55:

Cockentrice. Capitulum lxiiij. - Scalde a capon clene, & smyte hem in-to the wast oueretwarde, and scaude a pygge, and draw hym, & smyte hym in the same maner; and then sewe the forthyr parte of the capon and the hyndyr parte of the pigge to-gederys, and the forther parte of the pygge and the hyndyr parte of the capon to-gedyr; then draw the whyte & the yolkes of eyren, and cast ther-to, and svette of a schepe, and saffron, & salt, and pouudre of gyngeuere, and grated bread; and melle all to-gedre with thyn honde, and putt it in the cockentrice, and putt it on a spite, and roste hem; and endore hem with yolkes of eyren, and pouudre of gyngeuere, and saffron, and ioissh of persely or malves, and draw hem, and endore hem all abowte in euery perty of hym.

Gode Cookery translation : Cockentrice - scald a capon clean, and cut it in half at the waist, and scald a pig, and drain it, and cut it in the same manner; then sew the front part of the capon to the back part of the pig; and the front part of the pig to the back part of the capon; then take slightly beaten eggs, sheep suet, saffron, salt, ginger, and grated bread, and mix all together with your hands, and put it in the cockentrice, and put it on a spit, and roast it; and gild it with egg yolks, ginger, saffron, and parsley or mallows juice, and let it be clean and gilded all over.

Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

- from Forme of Cury:

183 Cokagrys. Take and make the self fars, but do therto pynes & sugur. Take an hold rostr cok; pulle hym & hylde hym al togyder saue the legges. Take a pigg and hilde hym fro the myddes dounward; fylle him ful of the fars, & sowe hym fast togeder. Do hym in a panne & seeth hym wel, and whan thei bene isode: do hem on a spyt & rost it wele. Colour it with yolkes of ayren and safroun. Lay theron foyles of gold and siluer, and serue hit forth.

Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). London: For the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Gode Cookery translation : Cockentrice: make the previous stuffing, but add pine nuts & sugar. Take a capon (an "old rooster") and cut it in half at the middle. Take a pig and cut in half at the middle. Fill them full of the stuffing and then sew them together. Place in a pan and boil until somewhat cooked; then place on a spit and roast well. Color it with egg yolks and saffron. Cover with gold & silver foil, then serve.

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Cooking without fire - from B. L. Additional 32085:

A quire char saunz fu. E issi enseigne coment l'en quira char saunz fu. Pernez un petit pot de terre e la coverture de meimes la terre, e ke il seit lee cum le pot est; e puys pernez un autre pot, ke seit fet de meymes la terre cum l'autre, e la coverture cum l'autre, e ke il joyngnent bien au potz, e ke le pot seit plus profund ke l'autre de cync deis e en viron de treis; e puys pernez char de porc e de gelynes; e puys festes couper en beu mosseus, e pernez bons especes e metez dedenz, e du sel; e pernez le petit pot, en ki la char est, e le metez en le grant pot; e si metez debeu cel, si le coverrez od la coverture e estopez le de moille terre tenaunte, ke nule chose ne pussee isser; puys pernez de chauz nient esteynt, si metez en le grant pot ewe tut pleyn, mes gardez ke nule ewe ne entre en le petit pot; si lessez estre en pees cinc lyuee de veie ou set; e puys overez vos potz, e si troverez vostre viaunde bien e bel quyt.

Cooking without fire. Instructions for cooking meat without fire. Take a small earthenware pot, with an earthenware lid which must be as wide as the pot; then take another pot of the same earthenware, with a lid like that of the first; this pot is to be deeper than the first by five fingers, and wider in circumference by three; then take pork and hens and cut into fair-sized pieces, and take fine spices and add them, and salt; take the small pot with the meat in it and place it upright in the large pot; cover it with the lid and stop it with moist, clayey earth, so that nothing may escape; then take unslacked lime, and fill the large pot with water, ensuring that no water enters the smaller pot; let it stand for the time it takes to walk between five and seven leagues, and then open your pots, and you will find your food indeed cooked.

Hieatt, Constance B. and Robin F. Jones. "Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British Library Manuscripts Additional 32085 and Royal 12.C.xii." Speculum vol. 61, issue 4 (Oct. 1986): 859-882.

WARNING : Do not attempt to recreate this recipe, as lime is highly caustic and potentially dangerous; it should never be used in cooking.

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Coqz Heaumez - from Le Viandier de Taillevent:

196. Coqz Heaumez. Mettez cochons rostir, et poulalaille comme coqz et vielles poulles, et quant le cochon sera rosty d'une part et la poulaille d'autre convient farsir la poullaille - sans escorcher, qui veult; et la convient farsir de paste batue aux oeuf; et quant ell'est doree la convient mettre a chevauchons sur le cochon, et fault ung heaume de papier colle et une lance fichie a la poittrine de la dicte poullaille, et les fault couvrir de fueil d'or ou d'argent

pour les seigneurs, ou de feul d'estain blanc, vermeil ou vert.

196. Coqz heaumez: Helmeted Cocks. Roast piglets and such poultry as cocks and old hens; when both the piglet and the poultry are roasted, the poultry should be stuffed - without skinning it, if you wish; it should be (glazed) with an egg batter. And when it is glazed it should be seated astride the piglet; and it needs a helmet of glued paper and a lance couched at the breast of the bird, and these should be covered with gold-or-silver-leaf for lords, or with white, red or green tin-leaf.

Scully, Terence. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

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Jungen hirs horn - from The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486:

Wildu machen ein guet essen, so nim eines Jungen hirs horn, vnd senng ez sawber, vnd sewd ez, vnd stoz ez, vnd nim das horn vnd wein vnd honig vnd lezelten, vnd sewd ez vnder ein ander. Ez sol nur dez horns swais sein, vnd der ist guet.

If you wish to prepare a good meal, take the antlers of a young stag, singe them until they are clean, boil them, chop them up, and add wine, honey, and gingerbread, and boil all the ingredients. Only the antler extract is important, and that is good.

Note: the author of Some Remarks on Medieval Cooking: The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486 says of Jungen hirs horn that "a similar delicacy is mentioned in the Handworterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens as a remedy against all sorts of feverish ailments."

Birkhan, Helmut. "Some Remarks on Medieval Cooking: The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486." Food in the Middle Ages. A Book of Essays. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995.

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Puddyng of purpaysse - from Harleian MS. 279:

.xl. Puddyng of purpaysse. Take þe Blode of hym, & þe grece of hym self, & Ote-mele, & Salt, & Pepir, & Gyngere, & melle þese to-gederys wel, & þan putte þis in þe Gutte of þe purays, & þan lat it seþe esyli, & not hard, a good whylys; & þan take hym vppe, & broyle hym a lytil, & þan serue forth.

Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

Gode Cookery translation : Pudding of porpoise. Take the Blood of him, & the grease of him self, & Oatmeal, & Salt, & Pepper, & Ginger, & mix these together well, & then put this in the Gut of the porpoise, & then let it boil easily, & not hard, a good while; & then take him up, & broil him a little, & then serve forth.

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Rechhawbt - from The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486:

Wildu machen ein gut essen von eim rechhawbt, so sewd ez, daz prat da von vall, vnd daz hack. Dar zu mach ein gehackt von fleasch, vnd misch ez vnder einander, vnd nim dann die hirren pain, dy zway. Do tun daz hiren ein, vnd vmblasch sy mit eyne plat von ayren, vnd daz gehack slach vber dy andern pain, vnd prat sy dann, vnd wurcz sy dann, vnd versalcz nicht, vnd wen sy gepraten, so gib sy pratnew, oder mach ein ziseindel dar vber, oder In pfefferlein, etc.

If you wish to make a good dish from a roe's head, simmer it until the meat falls off the bones. The meat is then chopped to a mousse. Mix it with other chopped meat. Then take the two brain bones, arrange the deer brain between them and cover them with an omelette. Cover the other bones with finely chopped meat. Then spice the dish and roast it, taking care not to add too much salt. Serve the roe's head with a ziseindel or a light pepper sauce.

Birkhan, Helmut. "Some Remarks on Medieval Cooking: The Ambras Recipe-Collection of Cod. Vind. 5486." Food in the Middle Ages. A Book of Essays. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995.

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Redressed Peacocks which Seem Living; and How to Make them Breathe Fire through their Mouth - from Cuoco Napoletano:

You should first kill the peacock with a feather, driving it upon its head, or else drain its blood from under its throat as with a pig; but it is better to take out its tongue and then to slice it under its body - that is, from the top of its breast to its tail - slicing only the skin and removing it gently so that it is not damaged; when you have skinned it, pull the skin back right up to the head, then cut away the head, which will remain attached to the skin; do the same with the legs, and likewise the tail, taking out the leg bones so that the iron will make the peacock stand up will not be seen; then take the skinned carcass and set it to roast stuck with lardoons, or else baste it with grease often enough that it will not burn, and stick it with whole cloves, and fill it with the Piglet stuffing but without garlic; cook it gently so its neck does not burn; if the neck should get too much heat, cover it with a damp cloth; when it is cooked, take it down and redress it in its skin, whose inside you have coated with spices, salt and cinnamon. Then, when you have put its skin back on, get an apparatus of iron driven into a large cutting board and shove this iron through its feet and legs so it cannot be seen; in this way the peacock will be standing so that it will seem to be alive.

And to make it breathe fire through its mouth, get a little camphor with a little fine cotton-wool around it and put this into the peacock's beak and soak it with a little aqauvita or else with a little fumey old wine that is volatile; when you want to serve it, set fire to the cotton-wool: in this way it will breathe fire for a long time. To make it more magnificent you can cover the peacock with gold leaf and then cover it with its skin.

The same can be done with pheasants, cranes, geese and other birds.

Scully, Terence. Cuoco Napoletano. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection : (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Buhler, 19) : A Critical Edition and English Translation. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.

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That flesh may look bloody and full of Worms, and so be rejected - from Magia Naturalis:

By Smell-feasts. Boil Hares blood, and dry it, and powder it. Cast the powder upon the meats that are boiled, which will melt by the heat and moisture of the meat, that they will seem all bloody, and he will loath and refuse them. Any man may eat them without any rising of his stomach. If you cut Harp strings small, and strew them on hot flesh, the heat will twist them, and they will move like Worms.

(A smell-feast is a derogatory term for an unwelcome dinner guest. The title of the recipe may be read as That flesh may look bloody and full of Worms, and so be rejected By Smell-feasts.)

WARNING : modern harp strings are synthetic & inedible, and also will not react to heat as described in this recipe. Medieval harps would have used strings made of organic material.

Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis. <http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html> (June26, 2001)

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To Cook a Chicken in a Carafe - from Cuoco Napoletano:

In the morning take a chicken that was killed the night before and skin it without hot water so the skin does not tear, then eviscerate it and from that spot begin the skinning, pulling it back up to the neck; then cook the meat without the skin; when it is cooked, take the breast and grind it up thoroughly with a little cheese, parsley, marjoram and other fragrant herbs, and mix this into the chicken breast and grind it all again with a little cloves, pepper, cinnamon, saffron and a little veal fat; and mix everything together, adding in two eggs; make this mixture a little on the soft side. Then get a carafe big enough to hold a chicken or capon, and see that the mouth of the carafe is rather wide; then stuff the chicken skin and sew it where you cut it; stick its feet into the carafe and have its neck stick out of the neck of the carafe - for, before inserting the skin, you should make sure that the carafe will be big enough to hold the whole of the stuffed skin; if it is big enough, stuff the chicken through its neck which will be sticking out of the neck of the carafe, but do not overstuff it; then tie up the neck and let the chicken swell to take up the space in the carafe; then settle the chicken properly in the carafe by means of a stick; fill the carafe with slightly salted water, and set the carafe to boil inside a cauldron or else gently by the fire - but it would really be better to fill a cauldron with water and boil it, and then, or before it boils, to set the carafe in it; it will be cooked in an hour's time; send if off to be served, leaving to those whose job it is the weighty problem of carving it up.

Scully, Terence. Cuoco Napoletano. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection : (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Buhler, 19) : A Critical Edition and English Translation. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.

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To Cook a Fish in Three Ways and Styles - from The Vivendier:

To Cook a Fish in Three Ways and Styles, that is, boiled, roasted and fried. Wrap the tail up to one-third of length of the fish with a piece of linen soaked in salted water, and cook it by roasting, bringing the fire to bear evenly beneath the middle third. Then get very hot fresh butter or oil and, when your fish is well roasted and cooked - but be careful that the fire doesn't touch the third at the fish's head: put a tile or piece of cloth over it - then take your fish straight away along with your hot oil or butter in a pot and fry it well up to that third. And colour it with gold or silver or blue, with its mouth open and breathing fire. Serve it as an entremets, the boiled part with Green Sauce, the roasted with orange juice and the fried with Cameline.

Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

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To cook a Pigeon and make it be without bones - from Cuoco Napoletano:

Get a pigeon and clean it well, then set it to steep - I mean, immerse it - in strong vinegar for twenty-five hours; then wash it well and make a stuffing for it of cheese, eggs, spices and raisins, and mount it on a spit or roast it; in this way you will find it has no bones.

Scully, Terence. Cuoco Napoletano. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection : (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Buhler, 19) : A Critical Edition and English Translation. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.

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To make a Chicken be Served Roasted - from The Vivendier:

To make a Chicken be Served Roasted. Get a chicken or any other bird you want, and pluck it alive cleanly in hot water. Then get the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs; they should be beaten with powdered saffron and wheat flour, and distempered with fat broth or with the grease that drips under a roast into the dripping pan. By means of a feather glaze and paint your pullet carefully with this mixture so that its colour looks like roast meat. With this done, and when it is about to be served to the table, put the chicken's head under its wing, and turn it in your hands, rotating it until it is fast asleep. Then set it down on your platter with the other roast meat. When it is about to be carved it will wake up and make off down the table upsetting jugs, goblets and whatnot.

Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

WARNING : To recreate this recipe would involve the cruel treatment of a living animal; please do not consider such an act.

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To make a re-dressed boar's head - from And Thus You Have a Lordly Dish:

Take a head, large or small. Boil it in water and wine, and when it is boiled make sure that the bones all stay together next to one another. And remove all the meat from the bones of the head. Strip the skin carefully, the white part from the meat and chop the other meat from the boar's head very small. Put it in a pan. Spice it well with pepper, ginger, and a little cloves, nutmeg, saffron, and let it get very hot over the fire in the broth in which the head was boiled. Next take the boiled head and lay it in a white cloth and lay the skin under it on the cloth. Then spread the chopped meat all around on the head and cover it with the flayed skin. And if you have too little meat from one head, then take it from two and cover the head entirely as if it were whole. Next, pull the snout and the ears out through the cloth. Also, pull the teeth together again with the cloth, so the head is held together while it is still warm, and let it lie overnight. In the morning cut the cloth from around the head. In that way it will stay whole. Then serve it with a cold farce made with apples, almonds, raisins. Thus you have a lordly dish.

Hansen, Marianne. "And Thus You Have a Lordly Dish: Fancy and Showpiece Cookery in an Augsberg Patrician Kitchen." Medieval Food and Drink, Acta, vol. xxi. Binghamton University: State University of New York Press, 1995.

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To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted - from The Vivendier:

To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted, whether on the spit or in the platter. Take the neck of your chicken and bind it at one end and fill it with quicksilver and ground sulphur, filling until it is roughly half full; then bind the other end, not too tightly. When it is quite hot, and when the mixture heats up, the air that is trying to escape will make the chicken's sound. The same can be done with a gosling, with a piglet and with any other birds. And if it doesn't cry loudly enough, tie the two ends more tightly.

Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

WARNING : Quicksilver (mercury) is highly toxic and should NEVER be handled, let alone be used in cooking. This recipe should never be recreated using that ingredient.

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To Make Two Pigeons of One - from Cuoco Napoletano:

Skin a pigeon without water - and be careful not to rip its skin - and then remove the entrails; and reverse the whole skin so carefully that it remains whole; where the skin is torn, sew it; then make a stuffing for it as I said above, and with a needle sew up again wherever you have inserted the stuffing, and boil it; set the other one, that is, the skinless carcass, to roast or to boil; if roasted, get a little grated bread and salt and, when the carcass is half cooked, spread this salt and bread together over it; get an egg yolk and beat it well, and baste the pigeon with a feather so as to give it colour, and this way it will look as if it has not been skinned; and so one pigeon will seem to be two.

Scully, Terence. Cuoco Napoletano. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection : (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Buhler, 19) : A Critical Edition and English Translation. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.

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Tourtes parmeriennes - from Le Viandier de Taillevent:

197. Tourtes parmeriennes: Parmesan Pies. Take mutton, veal or pork and chop it up sufficiently small; then boil poultry and quarter it -- and the other meat must be cooked before being chopped up: then get fine powder and sprinkle it on the meat very sensibly, and fry your meat in bacon grease. Then get large open pastry shells -- which should have higher sides than usual and should be the size of small plates -- and shape them with crenellations; they should be of a strong dough in order to hold the meat. If you wish, you can mix pine-nut paste and currants among the meat, with granulated sugar on top; into each pastry put three or four chicken quarters in which to plant the banners of France and of the lords who will be present, and glaze them with moistened saffron to give them a better appearance. For anyone who does not want to go to such expense for poultry, all he has to do is make flat pieces of pork or of mutton, either roasted or boiled. When the pies are filled with their meat, the meat on top should be glazed with a little beaten egg, both yolks and whites, so that this meat will hold together solidly enough to set the banners in it. And you should have gold-leaf or tin-leaf to glaze the pies before setting the banners in them.

Scully, Terence. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

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Trojan Hog - from Magia Naturalis:

Trojan Hog. The ancient Gluttons invented, how a whole Ox or Camel should be set on the table, and diverse other creatures. Hence the people had a tale concerning the Trojan Hog. So called, because he covered in his belly, many kinds of living creatures, as the ancient Trojan Horse concealed many armed men. Macrobius reports, 3. Lib. Satur., that Cincius in his oration, where he persuades to put the practise Fannius his law, concerning moderation of expense, did object to the men of his age, that they brought the Trojan Hog to their tables. Collers of Brawn and the Trojan Hog, were forbidden by the law of regulating expense. The Hog was killed, as Dalachampas translates it, with a small wound under his shoulder. When much blood was run forth, all his Entrails were taken out, and cut off where they began. And after that he was often well washed with Wine, and hung up by his heels, and again washed with Wine. He is rolled in Musk, Pepper. The the foresaid dainties, namely Thrushes, Udders, Gnatsnappers, and many Eggs poured unto them, Oysters, Scallops, were thrust into his belly at his mouth. He is washed with plenty of excellent Liquor, and half the Hog is filled with Polenta, that is, with Barleymeal, Wine, Oil, kneaded together. And so he his put into the oven, with a Brass pan set under. And care must be had to roast him so leisurely, that he neither burns, nor continue raw. For when the skin seems Crup, it is a sign all is roasted, and the Polenta is taken away. Then a Silver platter is brought in, only Gilded, but not very thick, big enough to contain the roasted Hog, that must lie on his back in it, and his belly sticking forth, that is stuffed with a diversity of goods. And so is he set on the table.

Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis. <http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html> (June 9, 2001)

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