Editing English cuisine (section)

=== Sixteenth century ===

{{See also|Tudor food and drink}}

The [[early modern]] period saw the gradual arrival of printed cookery books, though the first, the printer [[Richard Pynson]]'s 1500 ''[[The Boke of Cokery|Boke of Cokery]]'' was compiled from medieval texts.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|p=29}} The next, ''A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye'', was published sometime after 1545.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} ''The Secretes of the Reverende Maister Alexis of Piermont'' was published in 1558, translated from a French translation of [[Alessio Piemontese]]'s original Italian work on [[confectionery]].{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} The number of titles expanded rapidly towards the end of the century to include [[Thomas Dawson (cook)|Thomas Dawson]]'s ''[[The Good Huswifes Jewell]]'' in 1585, the ''Book of Cookrye'' by "A. W." in 1591, and John Partridge's ''The Good Hous-wives Handmaide'' in 1594.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} These books were of two kinds: collections of so-called secrets on confectionery and health remedies, aimed at aristocratic ladies; and advice on cookery and how to manage a household, aimed at women from more ordinary backgrounds, most likely wives of minor aristocrats, clergymen, and professional men.{{efn|Early modern professionals included doctors and lawyers.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}}}}{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}}

[[File:The Good Huswifes Jewell Frontispiece 1610.jpg|thumb|left|[[Thomas Dawson (cook)|Thomas Dawson]]'s ''[[The Good Huswifes Jewell]]'' was first published in 1585.]]

English tastes evolved during the sixteenth century in at least three ways.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} First, recipes emphasise a balance of sweet and sour.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} Second, [[butter]] becomes an important ingredient in sauces, a trend which continued in later centuries.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} Third, [[herb]]s, which could be grown locally but had been little used in the Middle Ages, started to replace spices as flavourings.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} In A. W.'s ''Book of Cookrye'', 35% of the recipes for meat stews and sauces include herbs, most commonly [[thyme]]. On the other hand, 76% of those meat recipes still used the distinctly mediaeval combination of sugar and dried fruit, together or separately.{{sfn|Lehmann|2003|pp=30–35}} New ingredients were arriving from distant countries, too: ''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' introduced [[sweet potato]]es (from the tropical Americas) alongside familiar medieval recipes.<ref name="Albala2003">{{cite book |last=Albala |first=Ken |title=Food in Early Modern Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4f-l3-KG0LcC&pg=PA169 |year=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-31962-4 |pages=169–170}}</ref>

''[[Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book]]'', compiled in 1604 (and first published in 1986) gives an intimate view of [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] cookery. The book provides recipes for various forms of bread, such as buttered loaves; for apple fritters; preserves and pickles; and a celebration cake for 100 people. New ingredients appear; a recipe for dressing a shoulder of [[mutton]] calls for the use of the newly available [[citrus fruit]]s:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fettiplace |first1=Elinor |editor1-last=Spurling |editor1-first=Hilary |editor1-link=Hilary Spurling |title=Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking |date=1986 |orig-date=1604 |publisher=Viking}}</ref>{{sfn|Dickson Wright|2011|pp=149–169}}

{{blockquote|Take a showlder of [[mutton]] and being halfe Roasted, Cut it in great slices and save the gravie then take [[Claret|Clarret wine]] and [[cinnamon|sinamond]] & sugar with a little [[Cloves]] and [[Mace (spice)|mace]] beatne and the peel of an [[orange (fruit)|oringe]] Cut thin and [[Mincing|minced]] very smale. Put the mutton the gravie and these thinges together and boyle yt between two dishes, wringe the juice of an oringe into yt as yt boyleth, when yt is boyled enough lay the bone of the mutton beinge first Broyled in the dish with it then Cut slices of [[lemon|limonds]] and lay on the mutton and so serve yt in.{{sfn|Dickson Wright|2011|pp=149–169}}}}

[[File:Tudor pies on pewter plates at Hampton Court.JPG|thumb|[[Pie]]s have been an important part of English cooking from Tudor times to the present day.]]

[[Pie]]s were important both as food and for show; the [[nursery rhyme]] "[[Sing a Song of Sixpence]]", with its lines "Four and Twenty blackbirds / Baked in a pie. // When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing" refers to the conceit of placing live birds under a pie crust just before serving at a banquet.<ref name=Cocker>{{cite book |last=Cocker |first=Mark |author2=Mabey, Richard |author2-link=Richard Mabey |title=[[Birds Britannica]] |year=2005 |publisher=[[Chatto & Windus]] |isbn=978-0-7011-6907-7 |pages=349–353}}</ref>{{sfn|Dickson Wright|2011|p=105}}