Kitchin-Physick
- Year
- 1676
- Era
- 17th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English pre-1800
Kitchin-Physick, compiled by Thomas Cocke and first issued in 1676, is an English treatise on diet and the medicinal virtues of common foods. It belongs to a long tradition of regimen literature that treated the kitchen as an extension of the apothecary, advising readers on the humoral qualities of meats, herbs, and drinks. Such works document the close intertwining of cookery and physic in seventeenth century English domestic practice.
Cooking from this book
Barley Water
Signature dishFew preparations capture the spirit of Cocke's 1676 treatise quite like a simple barley water, the quintessential English kitchen-physick. Sitting at the crossroads of nourishment and remedy, this mild grain infusion was prescribed for fevered patients, weak stomachs and convalescents of every age. Its presence here reflects the book's central conviction that the cook's hearth and the apothecary's shelf were one and the same, with everyday foods serving as gentle medicine.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
