These books and Internet links are a guide to recipes for foods from the Middle Ages. If students have a hard time interpreting the recipes, they can be adapted using a modern version of the recipe. A few things to keep in mind:

1. use basic ingredients - cream, butter, lard, cheddar cheese, dry cottage cheese, olive oil, buttermilk, eggs, oats, oatmeal, wheat flour

2. use honey instead of sugar

3. do not use ground meat - meat should be chopped

4. use basic vegetables - potatoes, carrots, turnips, radishes, cabbage, dried beans, peas, leeks, onions

5. do not use corn or tomatoes

6. use meats such as game (venison, squirel, etc.), pork, pork hocks, bacon, chicken, beef, heart, tongue, gizzards, tripe

7. use fish - baked or boiled - pickled herring

8. use use fruit juice or cider

9. use old fashioned bread - the hard, crusty type

10. use homemade noodles instead of macaroni

11. pies, tarts, jams and jellies are great

12. use herbs in cooking - basil, marjoram, dill, garlic, onion or leek, mint, sage, rosemary, parsley, watercress, salt and pepper, cinnamon, saffron

13. use currants, figs, prunes or other dried fruit

14. almonds were very popular

Dawson, Imogen. Food & Feats in the Middle Ages. Parsipany:New Discovery Books, 1994.

Black, Maggie. The Medieval Cookbook. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1997

Dowden, Anne Ophelia. A Chronicle of Herbs. New York: William Collins Publisher, Inc. 1979.

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/most_honorable_feast.html - To Prepare a Most Honorable Feast - Expecting a lot of people for dinner? These guidelines should help.

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/recipes/pig_out.html - How to Pig Out -"Oculis Exciditis Porcus Dimidius Facti, or How to Pig Out with 130 of Your Closest Friends."

http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/huen.htm - A Boke of Gode Cookery - Excellent site on recipes from the Middle Ages. Also a section on Medieval recipes for beginners.

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html - Medieval and Renaissance Food Homepage - Feasts and individual recipes.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical - Historical Recipes of Different Cultrues - Roman, Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes

http://www.bahnhof.se/~chimbis/tocb/recipes/recipe.htm - Recipes A-L and on to M-Z - Medieval recipes in alphabetical order by name.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~roy/sca/flame/peace/3.html - Herbal Lore - Herb gardens and uses of herbs.

http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/Town/Food/FoodTable.html - Food of the Renaissance - Recipes for breads, cheese and egg dishes, soups, meats, vegetables, staples and desserts.