To the King's Taste: Richard II's Book of Feasts and Recipes Adapted for Modern Cooking

From the fourteenth-century court of Richard II, "the best and royallest viander of all Christian kings", come forty of the most entertaining and delicious recipes of medieval England, all delectably adapted for modern cooking by the author. Based on a medieval manuscript cookbook commissioned by Richard II, the 'Fourme of Cury (Manner of Cookery)', one of the earliest extant recipe collections in Middle English, To the King's Taste reveals much of the lust for grandeur and exoticism characteristic of the good king's court, where chroniclers report ten thousand guests dined daily on delicacies prepared by three hundred chefs. The recipes themselves include the finest samplings from every course of the king's feast, from the Brie Tart, the great grandfather of our quiche, to Sweet Measure, a golden dish of capon cooked in milk and honey, to Lombardy Custard, a rich and delicate dried fruit custard that still makes a wonderful dessert five centuries after its development. To the King's Taste also has a glossary of terms, a comprehensive index, a list of sources for ingredients, marvelous black-and-white illustrations throughout from original woodcuts of the period, and an introduction that describes the extravagant preparations involved in a typical medieval feast. The author, Lorna J. Sass, holds a doctorate in medieval literature from Columbia University. She is the author of four historical cookbooks, including To the Queen's Taste (EDlizabethan), Dinner with Tom Jones (18th Century), and Christmas Feast from history, which won a prestigious Tastemaker Award. She is a consultant, a syndicated food columnist, and a popular lecturer on the history of gastronomy.