Forme of Cury
The Forme of Cury (The Method of Cooking, cury from Old French queuerie, ‘cookery’) is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most famous in the form of a scroll with a headnote citing it as the work of “the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II”. The name The Forme of Cury is generally used for the family of recipes rather than any single manuscript text. It is among the oldest extant English cookery books, and the earliest known to mention olive oil, gourds, and spices such as mace and cloves.
This website relies on the author’s understanding of the original manuscripts, as well as references the following:
Pegge, Samuel. The Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient English Cookery: Compiled, about AD 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
