Zompist Bboard Again

I vaguely remember but can not find again: two cookbooks, one from medieval France and another from medieval Andalucia (or another then-Muslim territory). The recipes from the Andalucian book are still current in Europe but the French ones aren't. I can't remember the exact names or where I found them. Does anybody else know? It was mayube even here. Thanks in advance.

No idea about the Andalusian one, but the other one you have in mind is probably the Ménagier de Paris: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... texteImage

The recipes start on page 125. They're surprisingly spicy -- lots of ginger. A few are unusual, there are recipes for bear, porpoise or swan.

Tell you what, I think I'll try one of their chicken recipes this weekend.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:11 am The recipes start on page 125. They're surprisingly spicy -- lots of ginger. A few are unusual, there are recipes for bear, porpoise or swan.

I wonder how many times the porpoise recipe has actually been put into action...

Not quite what you asked for, but there's also The Forme of Cury from the reign of Richard II, which might be of interest. Apparently it is currently being digitised and made available online.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 12:10 pm

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:11 am The recipes start on page 125. They're surprisingly spicy -- lots of ginger. A few are unusual, there are recipes for bear, porpoise or swan.

I wonder how many times the porpoise recipe has actually been put into action...

It seems eating porpoise or dolphin was relatively common before the 20th century, if you could get some of course.

Thank you for your answers!

The French book may have been the Ménagier de Paris that Ares Land mentioned or Le Viandier de Taillevent which found via the Forme of Cury. Via the Wikipedia translations and categories, I found my way to Kitāb al-Ṭabikh fī al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus fī ʽAṣr al-Muwaḥḥidīn, li-muʽallif majhūl, which appears to have been Andalucian one. I haven't managed to recover the original text where I had read about their comparison though. My memories are overly vague: I can not quite remember if it is was on paper or online, or in French or English.

FWIW, the Catalan Llibre de Sent Soví predates the Menagier by almost a century. Many of the recipes made it into the much better-known Llibre del Coch, which contains a recipe for cooking cat. (All I really remember of it is the advice not to eat the head because it will make you insane.)