Image: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
Das Buch von guter Spise
- Year
- c.1350
- Origin
- Germany · Europe
- Language
- German
- Category
- Medieval European
Das Buch von guter Spise, compiled anonymously around the middle of the fourteenth century within the Würzburg circle, ranks among the earliest cookbooks written in the German vernacular. Preserved as part of a manuscript miscellany associated with the protonotary Michael de Leone, it gathers roughly ninety-six recipes drawn from courtly and patrician kitchens, offering rare insight into the ingredients, spicing, and culinary vocabulary of late medieval Germany.
Cooking from this book
Hühner in Galantine (Spiced Chicken in Jellied Broth)
Signature dishAmong the most emblematic preparations in this fourteenth century Würzburg collection is a chicken dish set in a spiced, gelled broth perfumed with ginger, pepper and saffron. It captures the manuscript's character beautifully, marrying the courtly German taste for richly seasoned meats with the period's fascination for aspic and visual presentation. As one of the earliest surviving cookery texts in the German vernacular, the book lends this dish particular historical resonance for modern readers.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
