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A Big Pancake

Another recipe from the 1547 Kuenstlichs und nutzlichs Kochbuch by Balthasar Staindl. This one looks like an ancestor of the Dutch baby. A risen (auffgangens) Reindellxiii) Make it this way: Take eight eggs and much more good cream than eggs. … Continue reading

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It’s that apple (or onion) sauce again

Another pair of recipes in Balthasar Staindl’s 1547 Künstlichs und Nutzlichs Kochbuch describes a kind of sauce that we find again and again in sixteenth-century sources under different names. To make apple gescherb xlvi) Slice apples and fry them in … Continue reading

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How to be a fourteenth-century cook

I have not had much time over the past fewdays, and with whast time there was, I allowed myself to be sidetracked. As a result, there is again no recipe from Staindl’s cookbook, but instead a brief excerpt from Konrad … Continue reading

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Battering and Frying Quinces

We have already amply demonstrated that Renaissance German cooks were very fond of dipping things in batter and frying them. The apple slices that we passed over yesterday seem to have been the most popular kind, and various versions occur … Continue reading

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Black Fruit Tart

Today, we return to Balthasar Staindl’s 1547 Kuenstlichs und Nutzlichs Kochbuch to assemble a recipe he spreads out over several pages. We find it tacked on to casual instructions on how to fry apples (a common process, apparently): To fry … Continue reading

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A Treasure Hoard of Kitchenware

My gratitude for everyone’s patience as the intervals between posts lengthen; I was miserably sick these past days, but still managed to do one thing I wanted to, which was go to Berlin to deliver a gift and go to … Continue reading

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Raisin Soup

Another recipe from Balthasar Staindl’s 1547 Kuenstlichs und Nutzlichs Kochbuch. A simple soup, but an expensive one: To make raisin soup xxxii) Take raisins, pick them over nicely, and pound them in a mortar so they become quite soft (gantz … Continue reading

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Sort of a Cake

This is another recipe from Balthasar Staindl’s Kuenstlichs und Nutzlichs Kochbuch of 1547. It is interesting for the instructions it gives and because it illustrates the pitfalls of familiar words: Egg koechlen (cake) v) Take twelve eggs and one grated … Continue reading

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Parti-Coloured Dishes

Here’s yet more sixteenth-century kitchen gadgetry from Balthasar Staindl’s 1547 Künstlichs und Nutzlichs Kochbuch: A parti-coloured muoß in bowls of four or six colours xxiiii) Make it this way: Take a tinned mould (sturtz) that can be put together in … Continue reading

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Jelly Eggs in Lent

Here is another recipe from Balthasar Staindl, and it illustrates once more just how prolifically gadget-minded Renaissance cooks could be: xxiii) Item make eggs in Lent this way: Have a wooden mould made, or one of another material, that consists … Continue reading

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