A History of Food in 100 Recipes

A History of Food in 100 Recipes
William Sitwell

The ingredients, cooks, techniques and tools that have shaped our love of food.We all love to eat and most of us have a favourite ingredient or dish. In today's world we can get the food we want, when we want it, but how many of us really know where our much-loved recipes come from, who invented them and how they were originally cooked? In this book William Sitwell, culinary expert on BBC2's 'A Question of Taste' and editor of Waitrose Kitchen magazine, takes us on a colourful, whirlwind journey as he explores the fascinating history of cuisine.This book is a celebration of the great dishes, techniques and above all brilliant cooks who have, over the centuries, created the culinary landscape we now enjoy. Any lover of fine food who has ever wondered about the origins of the methods and recipes we now take for granted will find A History of Food in 100 Recipes required reading. As well as shining a light on food's glorious past, there are contributions from a glittering array of stars of British cuisine, including Marco Pierre White, Delia Smith, Heston Blumenthal, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.In an incisive and humorous narrative, Sitwell enters an Egyptian tomb to reveal the earliest recipe for bread and discovers the greatest party planner of the Middle Ages. He uncovers the extraordinary and poetic roots of the roast dinner and tells the heart-rending story of the forgotten genius who invented the pressure cooker. And much, much more.

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William Collins

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Text © William Sitwell 2012

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Source ISBN: 9780007412006

eBook Edition © January 2015 ISBN: 9780007412013

Version: 2015-02-24

For Laura

Contents

Cover (#u8de7b6bc-9343-5649-96fd-f194a1f078ad)

Title Page (#u25745a73-d5fb-51fb-9cbf-df75f203cf85)

Copyright (#u2028ccff-04ab-5adb-9667-d31e7f41c53b)

Dedication (#u5d9d2b1b-9981-58bd-a2a0-8b904346fb86)

Introduction

A note on the recipes

1 – Ancient Egyptian bread, 1958–1913 BC

2 – Kanasu broth (Meat and vegetable stew), circa 1700 BC

3 – Tiger nut sweets, circa 1400 BC

4 – Fish baked in fig leaves, 350 BC

5 – To salt ham, 160 BC

6 – Roast goat, 30 BC

7 – Another sauce for fowl, AD 10

8 – Honeyed cheesecakes, circa AD 200

9 – Congee, AD 636

10 – Dried fish, circa AD 800

11 – Manchet bread, circa 1070

12 – Pasta, 1154

13 – Rummaniyya (Meatballs in pomegranate sauce), 1250

14 – Pear of pies, 1379

15 – Erbolate (Baked eggs with herbs), 1390

16 – Green porray, 1392

17 – Party planning, 1420

18 – Muscules in shelle (Mussels in white wine sauce), 1440

19 – Lese fryes (Cheese tart), circa 1450

20 – Ravioli for non-Lenten times, 1465

21 – For to bake quinces, 1500

22 – Hippocras jelly, 1530

23 – Turkey tomales, circa 1540

24 – Hot chocolate, 1568

25 – To prepare a thick broth called zabaglione, 1570