Image: Paul van Somer I · Public domain
A True Gentlewoman's Delight
- Year
- 1653
- Era
- 17th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English pre-1800
A True Gentlewoman's Delight, first issued in 1653, is an English receipt book attributed to Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent, and published under the initials W.J. Combining culinary recipes with preserves, confectionery, and household preparations, it circulated widely in the mid seventeenth century and went through numerous editions, exemplifying the aristocratic manuscript tradition entering print and shaping domestic cookery literature during the Commonwealth and Restoration periods.
Cooking from this book
Manus Christi
Signature dishAmong the most emblematic offerings in this celebrated Stuart-era compilation is Manus Christi, a glittering cordial sweetmeat of boiled sugar enriched with rosewater and finished with delicate leaves of gold. Prized as much for its restorative virtue as for its courtly splendour, it captures the dual character of the Countess of Kent's book, which moved easily between the still-room and the sickroom. Its presence here helped fix the dish in the English gentlewoman's imagination for generations.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
