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2.78 AVERAGE
2.78 AVERAGE
I didn't take to Markham. This is just an excerpt book, and it was more than enough for me. I found his voice rather patronising, little-mr-know-it-all and holier than thou. This writer/poet/soldier wrote a book in the 1600s advising women on how to be good housewives and how to go about all their business.
There aren't any full bodied recipes here so I don't know if you could use it for any cooking inspiration, and there weren't any ideas or hints that made me think, wow, I've got to try that. As you'd expect, there's a lot of meat in here, including things we don't really eat these days - various wild birds for example; and all kinds of offal. I was also surprised by how much spice and herbs appear and are used. I suppose we have this reputation as English food being really bland and nothing to get excited about until recently. But perhaps things weren't so bad in the good old days. With historical insights like this into the past, I am always sobered up by just how much time anything takes, when you're reading the descriptions. There were no mod cons or shops to buy anything. The good English housewife (who did all this and more whilst being a good Christian, always in good humour etc so as not to annoy her husband) was making her own food, beer, bread, cheese, distillations for medicinal purposes, gardening, growing everything from scratch. Couple that with that which isn't in the book - children, laundry (which would have taken days), it's a wonder she ever got a couple of hours sleep every day. Laundry doesn't come up in this little book, but I'm still very thankful for my washing machine.
There aren't any full bodied recipes here so I don't know if you could use it for any cooking inspiration, and there weren't any ideas or hints that made me think, wow, I've got to try that. As you'd expect, there's a lot of meat in here, including things we don't really eat these days - various wild birds for example; and all kinds of offal. I was also surprised by how much spice and herbs appear and are used. I suppose we have this reputation as English food being really bland and nothing to get excited about until recently. But perhaps things weren't so bad in the good old days. With historical insights like this into the past, I am always sobered up by just how much time anything takes, when you're reading the descriptions. There were no mod cons or shops to buy anything. The good English housewife (who did all this and more whilst being a good Christian, always in good humour etc so as not to annoy her husband) was making her own food, beer, bread, cheese, distillations for medicinal purposes, gardening, growing everything from scratch. Couple that with that which isn't in the book - children, laundry (which would have taken days), it's a wonder she ever got a couple of hours sleep every day. Laundry doesn't come up in this little book, but I'm still very thankful for my washing machine.
Usually I like books like this, old cookery/housewifery instructions. But I never got caught up in this one.
Written in the 17th century, this is an insight into a time when it was expected wives would be seen (in the kitchen) and (their opinions) not heard. Starting with a section on how housewives have to be chaste in thought, dress and demeanour, the book moves on the recipes. None of this is going to be of much use to the modern cook, as many of the ingredients discussed are quite foreign, and there are references to objects and techniques we just don't have or use now (there is a glossary to help you out if you really want to give it a try) but as a historical document this is quite interesting.