Image: Attrib. to Gervase Markham · Public domain
The English Huswife
- Year
- 1615
- Era
- 17th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English pre-1800
The English Huswife, by Gervase Markham, set out the duties and skills expected of the mistress of a country household, encompassing cookery, distillation, brewing, dairying, the preservation of foodstuffs, and domestic physic. Frequently issued and bound together with Country Contentments, it became one of the most widely consulted English domestic manuals of the seventeenth century, codifying vernacular recipes and household practice for a gentry and yeoman readership well beyond its initial appearance.
Cooking from this book
Olio (Grand Sallet)
Signature dishAmong the dishes most often linked with Markham's volume is the grand sallet, an elaborate Jacobean composed salad arranged in tiers or rays around a central pickled or preserved centrepiece, dressed with oil, vinegar and sugar and garnished with cold meats, citrus, blanched almonds, raisins and edible flowers. It captures the ornamental, frugal yet abundant spirit of the English housewife's table that Markham sought to codify for the country gentry.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.