Food and drink
Make Emily Dickinson’s Black Cake with The SugaChef
Padua Player, The SugaChef, shares his recipe for a black fruit cake inspired by own of Emily Dickinson’s own recipes.
Fat Rascals: In the Kitchen with John Tufts
After playing Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, actor John Tufts wrote a cookbook, Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare’s Table. He shares how to make a pork pasty inspired by Titus Andronicus and the 17th-century chef Robert May.
The turkey’s journey from the Atlantic to the early modern Islamic world
Follow the turkey on its fascinating journey from America to Europe to the Mughal and Ottoman empires, through early modern trade networks.
The early modern precursor to turducken: Adapting an old recipe to make mini pies
Learn about the early modern precursor to turducken. Think a huge turkey pie with duck but no chicken. Then, make your own mini turkey pies using this adapted recipe for modern cooks from the Folger collection.
Before the Thanksgiving turkey came the banquet peacock
Lavish dinners—and the cookbooks and instruction manuals for how to execute them—were popular during the Renaissance, and they emphasized the art of food, in addition to—and at times, over—its taste. Peacocks were thus an ideal banquet food because their colorful…
Roast joint of mutton: A recipe from ‘Fat Rascals’
John Tufts is an award-winning actor and the author of “Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare’s Table,” a cookbook featuring over 150 authentic recipes straight out of Shakespeare’s plays. Here, he shares his recipe for a roast joint of mutton, inspired…
Eggs in moonshine and spinach toasts: Two early modern recipes for a sweet breakfast
Even though the combination of eggs and sugar along with butter and flour forms the cornerstone of baking, the idea of poaching eggs in sweet wine, or adding sugar to your scrambled eggs, might seem heretical to many. But this…
Knots, cookies, and women's skill
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
An anonymous early modern cookbook in the Folger collection has two turkey and stuffing recipes: one made with oysters, and one without, reflecting the foods available at the original Thanksgiving meals. We adapt the oyster-less recipe for modern kitchens.
Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own
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
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
Food historian and The Great British Baking Show winner Mary-Anne Boermans writes about piecing together 17th-century manuscript recipes for Taffety Tarts.