The Tradition of Goose-Eating in Medieval and Early Modern England
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/SH.60.2017.02.05Keywords:
goose, recipe, tradition, Michaelmas, goose fairAbstract
Although geese had been known in Britain for a long time, they were not among the most commonly prepared dishes. An analysis of the early cookery books that were published up to the seventeenth century leads to the conclusion that goose was not a common meat recommended for cooking. The paper presents a selection of goose recipes from various periods.
References
Manuscripts:
Essex Record Office D/DP A13.
Public Record Office, Chancery Misc. 4/8B.
Wellcome Western Ms. 5650.
Primary sources:
[A.W.] (1591). A Book of Cookrye. London: Early English Text [microfilms reel 1613:9].
Anonymous (1594). The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin. London.
Austin, T. (ed.) (1888). Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55. London: N. Trübner & Co.
Boorde, A. (1870). A Compendious Regiment or a Dietary of Health. In F.J. Furnival (ed.), Andrew Boorde’s Introduction and Dyetary with Barnes in the Defence of the Berde.
Caesar, Gaius, Julius (1869). Commentaries on the Gallic War. Bk. V. Trans. W.A. McDevitte & W.S. Bohn. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Cogan, T. (1584). The Haven of Health. London.
Digby, K. (1910). The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened. Ed. A. Macdonell. London: P.L. Warner.
Elyot, T. (1541). The Castel of Helth. London.
Forby, R. (1830). The Vocabulary of East Anglia. London: Nichols.
Frere, C.F. (ed.) (1913). A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye. Cambridge.
Hale, T. (1758). A Compleat Body of Husbandry. Vol. 2. London.
Harrison, W. (1994). The Description of England. London: The Folger Shakespeare Library and Dover Publications.
Homer (2004). The Odyssey. Trans. A.S. Kline. Bk XIX. Retrieved from http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Odyssey19.htm [accessed 25.06.2015].
May, R. (1685). The Accomplisht Cook or, The art & mystery of cookery. London.
Morris, R. (ed.) (1862). Liber cure cocorum. Berlin: A. Asher & Co.
Moxon, E. (1764). English Housewifry. London. Retrieved from http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book1764moxon.htm [accessed: 7.08.2014].
Parsons, P. (1771). Newmarket: or, An essay on the turf. Vol. 2. London: R. Baldwin and J. Dodsley.
Pegge, S. (ed.) (1780). The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery. Containing, amongst other grave and weighty matters, a parallel ... between Newmarket races, and the Olympic games... London: Nichols.
Pliny the Elder (1855). The Natural History. Trans. J. Bostock & H.T. Riley. London: Taylor and Francis.
Raffald, E. (1997). Experienced English Housekeeper, 1769 facsimile reprint [East Sussex: Southover Press].
Redstone, V.B. (ed.) (1931). The Household Book of Dame Alice de Bryene. Ipswich: The Ancient House.
Renfrow, C. (ed.) (2002). Liber cure Cocorum, A Modern English Translation with Notes, based on Richard Morris’ transcription of 1862. Retrieved from http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/parallel.html#q22 [accessed: 24.07.2014].
Rundell, M.E. (1807). A New System of Domestic Cookery: Formed Upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families. Philadelphia: Benjamin C. Buzby.
The School of Salernum: Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum (1920). Trans. J. Harrington. New York: Paul B. Hoeber.
Tusser, T. (1878). Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. Eds. W. Payne & S.J. Herrtage. London.
Secondary sources:
Andrews, T. (ed.) (2000). Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, [Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO].
Brears, P. (2008). Cooking and Dining in Medieval England. Trowbridge: Prospect Books.
Buckland, R. & Guy, G. (2002). Goose Production. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 154. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Burton, K. & Ripperger, H. (1951). Feast Day Cookbook. New York: David McKay Company. Retrieved from https://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/FSTDAY.TXT [accessed on 15.07.2015].
Dawson, M. (2009). Plenti and Grase. Trowbridge: Prospect Books.
Green, M. (1992). Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London: Routledge.
Hammond, P.W. (1993). Food and Feast in Medieval England. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing.
Hartley, D. (1954). Food in England. London: Futura Publications.
Hieatt, C.B. (ed.) (2008). A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes. Vol. 5. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TVMA-EB.5.112558
Homans, G.C. (1941), English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674182370
Kuropatnicki, A. (2012). Food and Drink in the Household of English Nobility in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Procurement, Preparation, Service and Consumption. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego.
Lankester, E.R. (1915). Diversions of a Naturalist. London: Methuen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.27697
Madge, S. & Burn, H. (1988). Waterfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Power, E.E. (1922). Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Renfrew, J. (2001). Food and Cooking in Roman Britain. London: English Heritage.
Roud, S. (2006). The English Year. London: Penguin Books.
Serjeantson, D. (2002). Goose Husbandry in Medieval England, and the Problem of Ageing Goose Bones. Acta zoologica cracoviensia, 45 (Special Issue), pp. 39-54.
Spencer, C. (2003). British Food. An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History. London: Grub Street.
Tannahill, R. (1973). Food History. New York: Stein and Day/Publishers.
Vickers, A. (2002). The New Nation. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Wilson, C.A. (1973). Food and Drink in Britain. From the Stone Age to Recent Times. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Websites:
BBC (2005). History of Goose Fair. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2005/09/15/goose_fair_history_feature.shtml [accessed: 23.07.2014].
Gilligan, M. (2014). Sick of Turkey? Try this Christmas Roast Goose Recipe. Irish Central. Retrieved from http://www.irishcentral.com/culture/food-drink/gilligans-gourmet-christmas-roast-goose-136182238-237744661.html [accessed: 24.07.2014].
GreatCookingToday.com (2015). Ancient Recipe’s in Modern Times. Retrieved from http://greatcookingtoday.com/ancient-recipes-in-modern-times.php [accessed: 7.08.2014].
Middle English Dictionary (2013). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED18294 [accessed: 7.07.2015].
