The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-02-17
$50
COOKERY In The PAST.
"eood Cheers" Great Feasts, Live

SOOu OlGGl , SIGdE CdSISt Live
Roasted Fowl and Odd Recipes
In his book Good Cheer" F. W.
lakewood approaches his subject both
from the historic and the picturesque
side, taking UP fasting and feasting,
festivals and cookery Of all ages and
nationalities. He discusses the in1u-
ence of dietary upon health and char
acter and he treats the gourmets, gour-
mands and epicures, says the New
York Sun
In his chapter on cook books he
says that the Oldest treatise Of the cul-
mary art of England was written in a
mixture of Latin and Norman-French
by Archbishop Neckham at about the
close of the 18th century.
Another book of recipes, The Noble
Boke of Cookery" is a manuscript in
the library of the Earl of Leicester, at
Holkham. 1t dates from 1867. The
recipes were written in the Anglo
French of the period This book gives
as its first bill of fare the menu OF "a
fest of King Henry the Fourth to the
Heralds and French men when they
jousted in Symthefiel5e" This feat. TIE
author remarks, must have held before
1413. Poultry and game held import
ant places in each of it's three courses.
At the installation of George Neville
as Archbishop of York in 1869 sixty
two cooks were employed to prepare
the feast. After an amazing quantity
of meat and game, with no mention
of vegetables, a record of the time
says there were served on this oc-
casion 400 tarts, 5000 dishes of jelly,
400 cold custards and 1000 hot Gus
tards. A thousand walters were EN-
ployed and the sixty-two cooks had at
their command SIS kitchen assistants.
Such was the luxury and magnific-
ence of an English prelate of the 18th
century!
In commenting on the diet of the
18th century Mr. lakewood says:
There was not wide range or gar
den stuff used at the tables of this
period. Cabbage, cane beans, peas,
parsley sage, 'neetilles, sorrel, mint
'onyons,' leeks, rosemary and the in
evitable saffron contain the list. But
as If to make up for the lack of green
vegetables the medieval cook was
profuse in the use of spices, for very
few dishes escaped a liberal sprinkling
of ginger, cloves, mace or cinnamon.
Sugar, honey and currants were usual
ly mixed in fish and savory dishes.
Milk and butter seem to have been so
seldom used that we may infer they
were scarce articles"
The reason given for this is that
COWS We're i'll fed, and so yielded very
little more milk than their calves
needed. There were, it seems, many
months in the year when our 10Th
century ancestors did not make but
ter
The recipes, or seer ts,' as they are
termed, given in old books on cookery
are said by their chronicler to be too
barbarous in most cases for transcript
ton. AS a hint of their character he
quotes directions from musty old vol
ume on How to roast and eat a goose
alive so that it would shrek when be-
ing carved-very pleasant to the be-
holder; how live lampery was to
be fried, boiled and roasted at the
same time, and how a living fowl
futtering in agony, turned the spit
upon which it was roasting.
In the Complete Cook, belonging
to the period of Charles l, recipes for
the dressing of fish are given in the
daintiest of terms. But" the author
remarks, "the most noticeable thing
about these recipes is the nicely and
punctilliousness of the language EN-