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Recipes

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Knots, cookies, and women's skill
knotts cookies
Shakespeare and Beyond

Knots, cookies, and women's skill

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

A plate of beautifully baked cookies is a wonderful thing. It is a welcoming gesture for guests, it signifies a holiday or a special meal, and it is a demonstration of a baker’s skill at making something pleasing to the…

Much Ado About Stuffing: Recreating an early modern stuffing recipe
cutting open to the turkey and stuffing
Shakespeare and Beyond

Much Ado About Stuffing: Recreating an early modern stuffing recipe

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Author
Elisa Tersigni Jack Bouchard Julia Fine Michael Walkden

Photo credit: Brittany Diliberto, Bee Two Sweet Today, turkey and stuffing are central fare on the holiday table. But turkeys weren’t even known in England until the 1520s, when they were introduced by explorers returning from the Americas. Turkey was…

Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own
marmite food memory
Shakespeare and Beyond

Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own

Posted
Author
Julia Fine

In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio grabs a leg of roast mutton and throws it to the ground. Doing so, he exclaims, “it engenders choler, planteth anger,/ And better ‘twere that both of us did fast.” As food…

Savoring the seasons and Lettice Pudsey’s fritters
Fritter on a plate
Shakespeare and Beyond

Savoring the seasons and Lettice Pudsey’s fritters

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

Food is intimately connected to climate and season. It was for Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and it is for us today. Beautiful, local produce is once again available in the northeast now that spring is turning into early summer. In…

Taffety Tarts: How Folger manuscript recipes helped a 17th-century pastry make it into the Oxford English Dictionary
Taffety tarts
Shakespeare and Beyond

Taffety Tarts: How Folger manuscript recipes helped a 17th-century pastry make it into the Oxford English Dictionary

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Author
Mary-Anne Boermans

Food historian and The Great British Baking Show winner Mary-Anne Boermans writes about piecing together 17th-century manuscript recipes for Taffety Tarts.

Seed cake inspired by Thomas Tusser
seed cake
Shakespeare and Beyond

Seed cake inspired by Thomas Tusser

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

See a 17th-century recipe for seed cake inspired by the farmer poet Thomas Tusser. Ingredients include rosewater, caraway seeds, and sherry.

Citrus and sugar: Making marmalade with Hannah Woolley
marmalade
Shakespeare and Beyond

Citrus and sugar: Making marmalade with Hannah Woolley

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

Hannah Woolley’s 17-century recipe for marmalade captures the flavors of exotic citrus with the preservative power of sugar, which had only recently been made widely available to upper- and middle-class British people.

Akara from Africa: Black-eyed pea fritters, inspired by Hercules
akara
Shakespeare and Beyond

Akara from Africa: Black-eyed pea fritters, inspired by Hercules

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Author
Amanda Herbert

Learn more about black-eyed peas’ place in the early modern world and enjoy this akara recipe inspired by Hercules, a chef enslaved by George Washington.

British Beef, French Style: Robert May's Braised Brisket
Robert May's brisket. Recipe developed by Marissa Nicosia. Photo by Teresa Wood.
Shakespeare and Beyond

British Beef, French Style: Robert May's Braised Brisket

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

British beef cooked in a French style: Marissa Nicosia shares an early modern recipe for brisket from “The Accomplisht Cook,” by 17th-century English chef Robert May.

The "American Nectar": William Hughes's hot chocolate
Shakespeare and Beyond

The "American Nectar": William Hughes's hot chocolate

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Author
Marissa Nicosia

The perfect post for a winter’s day: Marissa Nicosia shares an early modern recipe for hot chocolate, associated with 17th-century author, botanist, and pirate William Hughes.

Savory biscuits from a 17th-century recipe
Savory Cogs Biscuits. All photography by Brittany Diliberto. www.beetwosweet.com
Shakespeare and Beyond

Savory biscuits from a 17th-century recipe

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Author
Elisa Tersigni Jack Bouchard

Interested in adding variety to your Thanksgiving dinner? Try this modernized 17th-century recipe for savory biscuits based on a manuscript in the Folger collection.

In the spirit of Oktoberfest: Food, drink, and changing times in early modern Europe
Hartmann Schopper. Panoplia omnium… 1568. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare and Beyond

In the spirit of Oktoberfest: Food, drink, and changing times in early modern Europe

Posted
Author
Jack Bouchard

As October comes to an end, we celebrate food, drink, and culture in the German cities of Shakespeare’s day, including the creation of beer and wine and the harvest festivals each fall, marked by our modern-day tradition of Oktoberfest.

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