'Ffor to cutte an egge of a feelde. These adventurous essays are at the cutting edge of their field. They recover the recipes for cooking, craft, astrology, medicine and magic, in English, French and Latin of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They turn in detail to their origins in manuscript material texts, to learn how recipes were read in late medieval England. At the same time, they challenge ways of reading today, for genres often dismissed as non-literary. These essays find that recipes not only prompt other acts of creativitydomestic, scientific and artistic; they are themselves full of verbal craft and immaterial imaginings. As well as offering discoveries about the medieval recipes, the chapters themselves are like diverse recipes or models for making practical writing into something serious and delightful. This book joins the current effort to expand and explode the canon of writings from medieval England.' Professor Daniel Wakelin "The arguments are in general very well presented for the general and specialised readers of the book it is the first of its kind considering the recipe text as the point of departure for the analysis of recipe culture, and will surely become a landmark and a compulsory primary source for future approaches to the topic." Professor Javier Calle-Martín Overall, Recipes and Book Culture in England, 1350-1600 offers a thorough and illuminating examination of recipe compilations as artifacts reflecting the imagination, practicality, and daily life of medieval England. The chapters are referential and illuminating, collectively filling a critical gap in our evaluation of domestic literary culture. While some material could challenge a lay reader, scholars across medieval studies, history of the book, material culture, food history, and the history of science will find immense value in its meticulous research and insightful analysis. This book is an essential contribution set to stimulate significant future research. Jessica Legacy, H-Net Reviews
