The scroll was written in late Middle English on vellum and contains about 200 recipes with many of the same recipes as Ancient Cookery. The Forme of Cury may have been written partly to compete with Le Viandier of Taillevent, a French cookbook created around the same time. This supports the idea that banquets were a symbol of power and prestige for medieval lords and kings. The name The Forme of Cury was given by Samuel Pegge, who published an edition of the manuscript in 1780 for the curator of the British Museum, Gustavus Brander. The name has come to be used for almost all versions, although they differ from each other. It is one of the best-known medieval guides to cooking.
Approach
In the preamble, the authors explain the recipes are meant to teach a cook how to make both common dishes as well as unusual or extravagant banquet dishes. They also note that the recipes were written with the advice of the best experts in medicine and philosophy. Compared with another major book of medieval cuisine, Le Viandier, The Forme of Cury uses much more sugar; about 31 percent of the recipes use sugar, compared with only 6 percent of recipes from the Viandier. The Forme of Cury is the first known English cookery book to mention certain ingredients such as cloves, olive oil, mace and gourds. Many recipes contain what were at the time rare and valuable spices, including nutmeg, caraway, ginger, pepper and cardamom. There are recipes for preparing many different types of animals, including whale, crane, curlew, heron, seal and porpoise. There are about 10 vegetable recipes, including one for a vinaigrette salad, which indicates influence from Portugal and Spain, as French cooks rarely used vegetables at that time. There are also several pasta dishes, evidence of Italian influence. Some recipes in The Forme of Cury appear to be influenced by the Liber de Coquina, which had contributions from Arabic cuisine. For example, the recipe for mawmenee corresponds to the Arabic mamuniyya. The confectionery-like payn ragoun confirms the connection with Sicily, as it uses the Arab technique of cooking in soft ball syrup.
The Café at the Rylands, in Manchester's John Rylands Library where the manuscript is kept, cooked Tart in Ymber Day, Compast, Payn Puff, Frumenty and Gingerbrede, accompanied by Piment, for invited guests in 2009.
