Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook

From a non Shakespeare view this is an amazing cookbook well worth the price. It has beautiful pictures of the food, a bit of story, easy to read and make recipes (for the intermediate cook) and best of all they TASTE good. Delicious in fact. Does it appeal the the Shakespeare fan? Well as much as a movie based on the author does. Not everything springs from Shakespeare's prose, not everything is exactly from the time period BUT and this is a big BUT this is a usable, beautiful cook book that has a bit of historic flare. To be fair to the Author the title does say for the contemporary cook. I would buy this as a gift with out need for a second thought pros - good recipes that tastes, nice pictures, good layout Cons - Big book not exactly made for the average NY apt counter top So beautiful I feel guilty about getting it dirty(got over that quickly) Not for the historian just the history inspired.

I am having a wonderful time with this cookbook. Not only are the recipes tasty and unique, but the book also helps prepare Renaissance-themed parties. Some of the ingredients are specialty ingredients, so finding them can be a chore unless you order online. I also found some at our local health food store. If you are on the hunt for one-of-a-kind recipes, purchase this book!

I bought this book for my husband, who loves Shakespeare's works, history and cooking. This book is perfect for anyone with those passions (especially all together). A bit of history is included throughout, along with original recipes gleaned from Renaissance texts. Quotes from the Bard's plays are peppered about, before each recipe, etc., and most of the recipes have been beautifully photographed, just another way to whet the appetite. The recipes are fun, do-able, a little different, yet not so far out there that you'd never try them. And in the back are suggestions for parties, invitations and so on. A delight for fans of cooking, cookbook collectors and for bibliophiles with taste.

When I opened this book, I did not expect I would have any interest in actually preparing any dishes from it. Rather, I was looking for some insight into the history of cuisine in England around 1600. I was pleasantly surprised to find things which are really interesting to cook.The book does not strictly cover meals mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, however, it is liberally seasoned with quotes from the Bard's plays making reference to foodstuff and spirits. The recipes are taken from cookbooks of the period which are enumerated in the very good bibliography. The volumes of this period were published from between 1560 through 1650 and all but one (Italian) are written in English and appear to be directed to the English housewife rather than the court of Elizabeth or James.The biggest surprise is the prevalence of sweet ingredients in almost all savory dishes. If not sugar itself, then sweetness from fresh or dried fruit. The book even states that the English of the period had a serious sweet tooth. The complement to this tendency is the appearance of savory ingredients such as spinach in sweet desserts.Another common theme in the cuisine of the period was the use of pastry crusts. They used it with just about everything. The remnants of this method can be found in dishes such as beef Wellington, savory pies, and cooking fish in a pastry crust. The method of making pastry crust may be a little unusual to the casual baker, but it is in fact based on a French technique used today for incorporating butter. Instead of cutting in the butter with forks or a pastry cutter, it is `smeared' into the dough with a kneading type of motion using, of course, very cold butter. It would be interesting to know how butter was kept cold in summer.It is not surprising that the most pervasive foreign influence was not French, but Italian. Note, for example, that one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, `The Taming of the Shrew' was based on a 17th century Italian style of comedy. Tomatoes and chili peppers are totally absent, as they had not even been adapted in Italy yet, but artichokes, cardoons, asparagus, capers, mint, peas, parmesan cheese, and flat leaf parsley are all common. Citrus fruits, both local and from the Mediterranean are very popular. The fact that relations between England and France were probably very cool at this time, and the fact that England was rapidly developing a world wide trading network, especially with the Mediterranean and the Levant explains the popularity of food from that region. It is also likely that French cuisine had not yet achieved the preeminant position it has today and the cuisines and products of Italy, Portugul, and Spain were probably a common trade for English products.One of the more interesting historical aspects was the fact that many vegetables popular in this cuisine were brought to England by the colonists and soldiers of the Roman Empire. Carrots, turnips, and onions head the list in this category.It may be surpr

Francine Segan's Shakespeare's Kitchen is a beautiful book filled with fascinating snippets of history and intriguing recipes. I orignially bought it as a gift but couldn't part with it. It does make an excellent gift too! I highly recommend this book for serious cooks, history buffs and for people who just want to enjoy meals with flavors that are delightfully different.