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Comments for On Adapting Historical Recipes

Posted on March 2019 
by Stephen Schmidt 
  • Barbara Ketcham Wheaton says:
    March 15, 2019 at 1:21 pm

    When my database (The Sifter) is up and running, I would love to work with you on how to coordinate inputting.

    Reply
    • Stephen Schmidt says:
      March 15, 2019 at 1:47 pm

      That sounds like a great idea, Barbara!

      Reply
  • David Friedman says:
    March 17, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    I am curious as to your reason for thinking that hippocras was “syrupy sweet.” Le Menagier’s recipe has quantities for all of the ingredients. When I first made it I found it too sweet and too spiced, so reduced the quantities. Then someone pointed out that, while the sugar and spice are by weight, the wine is a quart by Paris measure. It turned out that the Paris quart at the time was almost two of our quarts, so in getting the concentration to taste I had actually gotten it back to about the original ratio of sugar to wine.

    That raises another point worth mentioning–units of quantity. Medieval Islamic recipes, which unlike European recipes quite often give quantities (by weight), use the ratl and uqiya, commonly translated as pound and ounce. But there are twelve uqiya to a ratl, like our troy system, not sixteen, as in the more common modern system.

    I also disagree with your suggestion that one should deliberately change quantities to fit modern tastes–for two reasons. The first is that I don’t do that and end up with food people like. The second is that I don’t see the point of cooking from early cookbooks if you are then going to modify the recipe to be more like what moderns are used to.

    Reply
  • Historical Food Fortnightly #12 If They'd Had it... : To Make Cheesecakes - HISTORICAL FOODWAYS says:
    March 5, 2021 at 6:02 pm

    […] 1. An earlier version of this post claimed that the recipe, and the manuscript, were 18th century North American, but, in fact, it was complied in England around 1675. At some point the book made its way to Martha Washington. By then, most of the recipes were outdated and out of fashion. See Stephen Schmidt, “On Adapting Historical Recipes,” https://www.manuscriptcookbookssurvey.org/on-adapting-historical-recipes/ […]

    Reply
  • La difficulté d’adapter des recettes historiques - Nepalilm says:
    April 10, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    […] mémoires peuvent tout simplement ne pas être utilisables. L’écrivain Stephan Schmidt de Enquête sur les livres de cuisine manuscrits soulève l’exemple de l’auteur Marie Kimball qui a écrit « The Martha Washington Cook […]

    Reply
  • The Difficulty Of Adapting Historic Recipes – Happy Treats Online says:
    April 10, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    […] recipes as they seem in diaries and memoirs might merely not be usable. Author Stephan Schmidt of Manuscript Cookbooks Survey raises the instance of creator Marie Kimball who wrote “The Martha Washington Cook dinner […]

    Reply
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