The Cookbook Collector

Let me start by saying that, although I deal in old books, I am no reviewer.  I will tell you if I liked a book or hated it (although hate is rare, I'm a very kind reader).  But the deconstruction of books is not in my nature. Keeping that in mind, I just finished a good book-The Cookbook Collector~ by Allegra Goodman. It's the story of  two dramatically different sisters, one a CEO of a rising Tech Company, the other a dreamy philosophy student who works to save the redwoods. Jess, the philosophy student, works in a  store that sells rare books.  And while I enjoyed the story of their lives and loves, what put me over the moon was the bookstore and it's acquisition of a large collection of rare cookbooks from the 1500's forward.  A few samples of the text that has me in such a dither:

To make a tarte of strawbereyes, wrote Margaret Parker in 1551, take and strayne theym with the yolkes of four egges, and a little whyte bread grated, then season it up with suger and sweete butter and so bake it.

                                                  


Truss them..., lard them, boil them quick and white.  This, Jess read, was how to prepare rabbits.

                                                                         

Cut your woodcocks in four quarters and put them in a sauce-pan; but remember to save the entrails.

                                                                                                                       


Now, I am on a quest for cookbooks; thinking of food in the most sensual way.  It's quite wonderful.  I don't know that I will find cooking guides from Renaissance Europe but there will be some treasures, I'm sure.  I'll be passing some of them along to you. Bring your appetite.