A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye
A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye is a book of recipes, seasons for meat and listing of courses and dishes for service on fish days and non-fish days written for women running their own households by an unknown author. The text was published in London and survives in three editions: 1545 (held at the University of Glasgow), 1557-1558 (held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge) and two later editions, one of 1575 (held in the British Library). It is a relatively small volume, beginning with a list of meats and their seasons, followed by a listing of dinners and suggested dishes for service for both flesh and fish days. After this comes a list of 49 recipes mostly covering meat dishes and pies, though there are a small number of sweet dishes, including “A tart of Bourage Flowers”, “pye of aloes” and a “tart of Marygoldes, Primroses, or Cowslips”.
The book is important as it is one of the first cookery books in English aimed at a more general reader and also at a more female audience who might not have cooked before. As result the recipes are fuller than their medieval equivalents, with indications of amounts for ingredients and cooking times.
This website relies on the author’s understanding of the original manuscripts.
