This gorgeously illustrated volume began as notes on the collection of cookbooks and culinary images gathered by renowned cookbook author Anne Willan and her husband Mark Cherniavsky. From the spiced sauces of medieval times to the massive roasts and ragouts of Louis XIV's court to elegant eighteenth-century chilled desserts, "The Cookbook Library" draws from renowned cookbook author Anne Willan's and her husband Mark Cherniavsky's antiquarian cookbook library to guide readers through four centuries of European and early American cuisine. As the authors taste their way through the centuries, describing how each cookbook reflects its time, Willan illuminates culinary crosscurrents among the cuisines of England, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. A deeply personal labor of love, "The Cookbook Library" traces the history of the recipe and includes some of their favorites.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Our Library Acknowledgments Introduction: The World in a Cookbook Antiquity through the Middle Ages Feasts and Fasts CORMARYE Spicy Roast Pork BROUET DE VERJUS ET DE POULAILLE Chicken in a Spiced Broth POUDRE FINE Fragrant Spice Powder JANCE Sauce Jance SAUPIQUET Sour and Spicy Sauce for Fish The Fifteenth Century The First Printed Cookbooks FRICTELLA EX SALVIA Sage Fritters with Saffron DREYERLEY ESSEN VON EINE VISCH Salmon in Disguise YPOCRAS Spiced Red Wine ZU MACHE EIN KRAPFFEN TEIG Pigeon or Apple Dumplings HERICOQ DE MOUTON Spiced Lamb Stew MON AMY Fresh Cheese Mold The Sixteenth Century Culinary Expansion POTACCIO ALLA ITALIANA Spiced Stew with Chestnuts POUR FAIRE GELLEE DE COINGS Quince Jelly PAN'UNTO CON PROUATURA FRESCA Fresh Cheese Crostini with Rose Water PER FARE TORTA DI CAROTE & D'ALTRE RADICHEper & ALTRE MATERIE A Pie of Carrots and Other Roots HOW TO BAKE ORENGES Orange Dumplings TO MAKE A SALLET OF ALL KINE OF HEARBES Green Salad with Herbs POUR FAIRE TOURTES GENEUES VERDES Spinach and Cheese Tart with Mint The Seventeenth Century Distinctive Voices Spiced Chicken with Red Wine, Vinegar, and Bacon GALLINA MORISCA Apple Pancakes TO MAKE APPLE PUFS Asparagus in Cream and Herbs ASPERGES A LA CREME Luxury Bread and Brioche PAIN BENIT & BRIOCHE Apple Cider Syllabub AN EXCELLENT SYLLABUB An English Hot Pot ANOTHER HOTCHPOT Breast of Veal in Pastry TO MAKE A PASTY OF A BREAST OF VEAL Strawberry Ice PER FARE ALTR' ACQUA DI FRAVOLE The Eighteenth Century Enlightened Cooking Fried Artichokes with Bacon and Cream ARTICHAUX FRITS Rich Seed Cake with Caraway and Cinnamon A RICH SEED-CAKE, CALL'D THE NUMN'S CAKE Chocolate Cream with Lime CHOCOLATE CREAM Yorkshire Christmas Pie of Five Birds A YORKSHIRE CHRISMAS-PYE Spit-Roasted Fillet of Beef with Herbs and Mushrooms FILLET DE BOEUF A LA GENDARME Lemon Sorbet, Juniper Sorbet, and Coffee Ice Cream DES GLACES Sherry Potato Pie A RICH POTATOE PUDDING Pot Roast of Beef with Red Wine TO ALAMODE A ROUND The Early Nineteenth Century Celebrity Epicures Pickled Lemons with Allspice, Ginger, and Mustard PICKLED LEMONS Squash and Apple Pudding A CROOKNECK OR WINTER SQUASH PUDDING Spit-Roasted Quail with Bay Leaf CAILLES AU LAURIER Apple Soufflé SOUFFLES PARISIENS AUX POMMES DE REINETTE Epilogue: Toward the Modern Cookbook Afterword: Collecting Cookbooks, by Mark Cherniavsky Notes Bibliography General Index Recipe Index