All Manner of Rare Receipts

When François Pierre de La Varenne's cookbook was published in the 1650s, it transformed both French and English cooking. In England, La Varenne's book helped to bring about a transition from medieval-style recipes to more recognizably modern preparations in which the use of flour-based roûx, or sauces, was particularly important. While the English took up French cooking methods, even anglicizing French terms, they continued traditional practices as well. Roasting meat, beef in particular, was central to English cooking, and the roast became renowned as a symbol of English culture.

"Kickshaw" and "hash" are anglicized words adopted from French cooking in the mid-seventeenth century. From quelquechose (something), kickshaw refers to a puff paste dough filled with berries, marrow, kidney, "or any other thing what you like best" (Woolley). Hash describes a common cooking technique (hacher, to hack or slice) for sliced meats, as well as the resulting dish of meat in a sauce.