As a writer of medieval-style fantasy novels, I anticipated learning lots of useful new tidbits from these two Country Press offerings. Those hopes were, while not entirely dashed, not entirely met, either; but perhaps I’m only quibbling. Read on and judge for yourself. . . .
Beginning with Tony Foxworthy’s Customs in Kent, first in a series of books by Mr. Foxworthy “dealing with county customs”:
It’s a simple, slim little book, with an interesting cover image of a pair of Siamese twin sisters from the year 1100; their story is told inside, in the chapter titled “Biddenden Dole”. The information in the book is interesting in its own right and all the more so to a writer; it’s rich with good stories about customs and how they’ve changed between their founding and the modern day. The problem lies in the writing. It’s dry and slightly clunky, relying more on simple fact telling than any narrative style. The photos and illustrations, all grayscale, are often washed out or blurred, and overall tend to be hard to decipher; many look like copies of old newspaper photos. As a resource, this is undeniably a good and important record of customs that are often in danger of being lost in the modern age. I’d recommend it to anyone willing to plow through a dry and difficult text in search of good information; not so much for someone wanting an interesting and entertaining read.
Moving on to Dick Richardson’s The Sussex Recipe Book, this volume is only slightly heavier than the last, and has a number of eighteenth century engravings reproduced within for illustrations. These are, overall, clear and quirky works, and add a nice touch to the book. The recipes themselves are divided into three sections: “The Arundel Household Book”, “Susannah Stacey’s Household Book”, and “Miscellaneous Recipes From Other Sources.”
The names of the recipes are occasionally odd or amusing: “The Duke of Grafton Puding”, “To Mace Orange Marmalett”, and “Jump Upon Betty”, for example. There is also a great selection of “extras”: “Directions to Servants”, “Ornaments For Grand Occasions”, “Necessary Knowledge” (which covers items such as repairing broken china, “Curious Manner of Making Eggs Larger Than That of an Ostrich”, and turning paper transparent), that really give a feel for the times being written about.
My only real complaint with this book was that the author chose to maintain the original spelling of each household book — which, not surprisingly, has absolutely no standardization. One page says “marmalett” and the following “marmelade”; there is “soop” and “soup” treading upon one another’s spoons, so to speak; and it took me some time to suss out what “plumes” were. (Plums.) Standardized spelling, while it might have taken away from the authenticity of this book a bit, would have made it considerably easier for modern readers to understand — and perhaps to try a few of the recipes themselves. Most of them offer precise enough measurements for the experienced cook to work with, and this volume is definitely going on my cookbook shelf. I want to try some of these, when I have time!
I’d recommend this book to those interested in culinary history — it’s fun and intriguing, and carries with it a vibrant sense of what life was like when these recipes were developed.
(Country Books, 2008)
(Country Books, 2005)
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