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Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks

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`Pleyn Delit' subtitled `Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks' by Constance B. Hieatt, Brenda Hosington, and Sharon Butler, all Canadian Ph.D. professional historians, is a scholarly book of very old Western European recipes translated into modern English, modern measurements, and readily available ingredients. Unlike several recent books by Francine Segan on recipes of Shakespeare's time and recipes of ancient Greece and Rome, this is a genuinely scholarly book with much less flash and much more exposition on how recipes were translated from an old English more familiar to Chaucer's pilgrims than 21st century foodies.

One can easily wonder what possible use such a book would be to members of the Food Network generation who do not happen to have any interest in medieval studies. How can one possibly appreciate a cuisine with no tomatoes, potatoes, chilis, corn, or string beans? Well, there are a few things a nonscholar foodie can get from this book.

First, it is an excellent source of recipes for entertaining to a Middle Ages theme. I can easily imagine that after a few years of running through food themes from Provence, Tuscany, Asian Georgia, Lebanon, New Delhi, Saigon, Kyoto, Hong Kong, and Kiev, one can suddenly find themselves at a loss for something new.

Second, for the somewhat more adventurous, who happen to have a green thumb or some nearby friendly greengrocers with an eye to the unusual, there is the opportunity to try unusual herbs and greens, some of which the authors cannot imagine why they have fallen out of favor. In an environment where foodies are searching out nettles and pig's jowls, people will be more than happy to find new scavenger hunt targets such as borage and sorrel.

Third, these recipes are generally very easy, which is not too hard to understand, as the job of collecting the ingredients required a lot more work than a quick trip to the local megamart.

Fourth, these recipes are great for people who are very fond of eggs, nuts, old grains, game meats, and `garbage'. `Garbage' happens to mean odd pieces of flesh that are perfectly edible, but with only a small amount of edible meat such as chicken heads and giblets.

Lastly, the old English vocabulary is really funny to modern eyes. The use of `garbage' is just a sample of the fun one can find in the shifts in word meanings that pop up in these recipe and ingredient names.

All of these delights are available in a very nicely inexpensive paperback from the University of Toronto.

Be aware that the recipe translations are not literal, and the authors make no claim to doing literal translations, as they have clearly proclaimed in their subtitle. They often reverse steps, as when vegetables are diced before being cooked rather than after, as specified in the original recipe. And, recipes are written in a modern style in that prep instructions are given with the ingredients rather than in the procedure.

My only objection to this book is in their technique for citing the sources of their recipes. There is no explanation for the method of citing sources, so I assume it is a commonly accepted English / Canadian scholarly tradition, but, as this is a scholarly book with value to non-scholars, I found the method very annoying. Once I caught onto the method, it was still difficult for me, a person trained in various academic arcana, to track down many of the references. If the authors do a third edition, creating a foodie friendly method of references would be a big improvement.

A very nice and very fresh foodie resource for a very reasonable price. If you are willing to slog through a little old English and some scholarly garnishes, you will enjoy this book.

This was my very first medieval-food book. To my amazement, it actually works well as a "mundane" cookbook too. The recipes are presented with the primary source they come from first (translated if the source isn't in at least somewhat-recognizable English), with a redaction following.

Not all the redactions are easy to work with, and sometimes the results are.. well.. uneven (watch out for the sage sauce one that calls for chopped boiled eggs). I suspect that three people making the same recipe would come out with three different dishes. That said, some recipes are just mouthwatering -- a thickened wine sauce for meats went over well at one feast I helped with, and most of the vegetable recipes are tasty and easy to prepare.

A decent bibliography is included with the work, as well as an analysis of period spices and spice mixes. I'd recommend this to anybody interested in medieval cooking -- it dispels a lot of myths and presents a number of dishes that prove that we haven't changed all that much.

Admittedly, this cookbook is not always for the novice. It doesn't tell you how long to cook a roast, for instance. However, if you are into a reenactment hobby (e.g. SCA), definitely get this book and do not get Fabulous Feasts. This book actually gives the source of each recipe so that you can do your own redacting. One of the better easily accessible sources for planning a feast.

Several years ago, due to have an abiding interest in both cooking and the Middle Ages, I was given this book. I already had To The King's Taste and Fabulous Feasts. Of the three, I recommend Fabulous Feast above all.

Pleyn Delit is a decent cookbook, but several of the recipes are poorly written and must be read three or four times before you get an inkling of what order you must do things in. Some of my friends have become amused with time as each of us created one or another dish independently from each other to wildly varying results.

The support material is decent, but not as extensive as Fabulous Feasts. The recipes are numerous enough and some are quite tasty; sometimes even "period" versions appear for you to compare to the modernized recipe. This book was written first by historians, secondly by cooks. That being said, you can have a lot of fun with this book, just be very, VERY careful when ready the recipes or you may well end up with soup instead of pie filling.

Pleyn Delit offers a great variety of simple to medium hard recipes that can be adapted to your current menu or replace it if the ambition is there. The recipes are tasty and well-explained. Some ingredients are hard to find but for the most part replacement items are named. With this book, I've concocted complete medieval meals as well as odds and ends for special occasions while increasing the depth of my family's usual menus.

This is easily a must-have for anyone who looks to prepare a feast in proper medieval style. The writing is well done, the recipes are succulent, and accessible too! The original text side-by-side with the modern text sets you up to make similar translations for yourself.

If there was one book to get on the subject of medieval cooking, it would be this one. It's a selection of recipes from western Europe in the late Middle Ages, mostly French and English (there is a lot of Middle English in this book, and for the most part it's not that hard to read, though much of it is not in the somewhat familiar Chaucer dialect), with a smattering of Italian and even Middle Eastern. For each dish, the original recipe (translated into modern English if not already in middle English) is given along with commentary and a modernized recipe. The authors helpfully point out such things as transcription errors (i.e. a recipe for Sauce Cameline that lacks the critical ingredient of cinnamon) as well as providing an extensive bibliography showing the original sources of each recipe in the book.

It seems that this book is quite popular among Ren Faire and SCA geeks, so if you want some good medieval recipes to start you off, this is the one to buy. It's got a few weaknesses -- despite an extensive bibliography, there is a lack of deep historical background in the book, and there is a heavy emphasis on British recipes that might strike one as a bit odd. It's not the be-all, end-all of medieval cookbooks, but overall, it's a good start, and more than sufficient if you just have to whip up something for the Ren Faire next weekend.

I have a degree in medieval/Renaissance studies from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and have been eating, and serving to my friends, medieval and Renaissance food for over 30 years. Pleyn Delit is a staple of any serious historian's or chef's library, as it contains well-researched comprehensive recipes representative of both England and the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although I consume neither meat nor poultry, I strongly recommend the Grete Pyes, in which mushrooms can easily be substituted for beef or poultry. A very dear foodie friend agrees with me that this pie is, indeed, great, especially as it is just sweet enough! The recipes are perfect for historical reenactment from the 1300's - 1940's, but the food is so good and nourishing that it is for everybody, and not just for historians!

Pleyn Delit is not only for food scholars and historical interpreters and hobbiests, it is for the laymen of the kitchen. There are recipes in this book that would please the modern palette. Mounchelet is a wonderful stew that normally calls for veal, however I use a regular beef and everyone I serve it to loves it. I leave out the egg thickener and the vinegar.

It is an easy introduction and recommended for anyone who wishes to try something different.

Try ravioli in a chicken stock.

Food for the soul and the mind.

Finally a decent medieval cookbook I can recommend in addition to internet sources. As a person who announces the date, time and place for monthly medieval feasts and who participates in these feasts, I always try to give participants decent sources and recipes for the food preps used in the Middle Ages. Pleyn Delit provides a wealth of useful recipes, all quite tasty, though our modern palattes might require some re-adjusting. The recipes are easy to follow, and this book makes my life as a medieval feast planner much easier.
I hope the authors will expand on the recipes in the future.

Sandra Jones Ireland (avid SCA participant and an excellent cook/baker, feast planner), Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada