A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. Cookbooks, which are a collection of recipes, help reflect cultural identities and social changes as well as serve as educational tools. [1]
The earliest known written recipes date to 1730 BC and were recorded on cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia. [2]
Other early written recipes date from approximately 1600 BC and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia. [3] There are also works in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the preparation of food. [4]
Many ancient Greek recipes are known. Mithaecus's cookbook was an early one, but most of it has been lost; Athenaeus quotes one short recipe in his Deipnosophistae . Athenaeus mentions many other cookbooks, all of them lost. [5]
Roman recipes are known starting in the 2nd century BCE with Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura . Many authors of this period described eastern Mediterranean cooking in Greek and in Latin. [5] Some Punic recipes are known in Greek and Latin translation. [5]
The large collection of recipes De re coquinaria, conventionally titled Apicius , appeared in the 4th or 5th century and is the only complete surviving cookbook from the classical world. [5] It lists the courses served in a meal as Gustatio (appetizer), Primae Mensae (main course) and Secundae Mensae (dessert). [6] Each recipe begins with the Latin command "Take...," "Recipe...." [7]
Arabic recipes are documented starting in the 10th century; see al-Warraq and al-Baghdadi.
The earliest recipe in Persian dates from the 14th century. Several recipes have survived from the time of Safavids, including Karnameh (1521) by Mohammad Ali Bavarchi, which includes the cooking instruction of more than 130 different dishes and pastries, and Madat-ol-Hayat (1597) by Nurollah Ashpaz. [8] Recipe books from the Qajar era are numerous, the most notable being Khorak-ha-ye Irani by prince Nader Mirza. [9]
In older English works, a recipe was called a "receipt". Both words "receipt" and "recipe" were originally used to mean instructions on how to administer medicine. [10]
King Richard II of England commissioned a recipe book called Forme of Cury in 1390, [11] and around the same time, another book was published entitled Curye on Inglish , "cury" meaning cooking. [12] Both books give an impression of how food for the noble classes was prepared and served in England at that time. The luxurious taste of the aristocracy in the Early Modern Period brought with it the start of what can be called the modern recipe book. By the 15th century, numerous manuscripts were appearing detailing the recipes of the day. Many of these manuscripts give very good information and record the re-discovery of many herbs and spices including coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary, many of which had been brought back from the Crusades. [13]
With the advent of the printing press in the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous books were written on managing households and preparing food. In Holland [14] and England [15] competition grew between the noble families as to who could prepare the most lavish banquet. By the 1660s, cookery had progressed to an art form, and good cooks were in demand. Many of them published their own books, detailing their recipes in competition with their rivals. [16] Many of these books have been translated and are available online. [17]
By the 19th century, the Victorian preoccupation for domestic respectability brought about the emergence of cookery writing in its modern form. Although eclipsed in fame and regard by Isabella Beeton, the first modern cookery writer and compiler of recipes for the home was Eliza Acton. Her pioneering cookbook, Modern Cookery for Private Families published in 1845, was aimed at the domestic reader rather than the professional cook or chef. This was immensely influential, establishing the format for modern writing about cookery. It introduced the now-universal practice of listing the ingredients and suggested cooking times with each recipe. It included the first recipe for Brussels sprouts. [18] Contemporary chef Delia Smith called Acton "the best writer of recipes in the English language." [19] Modern Cookery long survived Acton, remaining in print until 1914 and available more recently in facsimile.
Acton's work was an important influence on Isabella Beeton, [20] who published Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in 24 monthly parts between 1857 and 1861. This was a guide to running a Victorian household, with advice on fashion, child care, animal husbandry, poisons, the management of servants, science, religion, and industrialism. [21] [22] Of the 1,112 pages, over 900 contained recipes. Most were illustrated with coloured engravings. It is said that many of the recipes were plagiarised from earlier writers such as Acton, but the Beetons never claimed that the book's contents were original. It was intended as a reliable guide for the aspirant middle classes.
The American cook Fannie Farmer (1857–1915) published in 1896 her famous work The Boston Cooking School Cookbook which contained some 1,849 recipes. [23]
Formatting a recipe can be done in many different ways but two formats are typical. One typical format displays information in two columns, one for instructions and one for ingredients. The other typical format displays information in a solid block paragraph alternating between the ingredients and instructions. [24]
Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components
Recipe writers sometimes also list variations of a traditional dish, to give different tastes of the same recipes.
Recipe writers may include a narrative before or after the recipe to add to the significance of the recipe. These consist of cultural values or personal stories relating to the dish. [25]
A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. [26]
Sub-recipes are often for spice blends, sauces, confits, pickles, preserves, jams, chutneys, or condiments. [26] Sometimes the sub-recipe calls for the ingredient to be held for several hours, overnight, or longer, which home cooks sometimes find frustrating as it means the main recipe cannot be made in a single session or day. [26] [27] [28] Sub-recipes discovered late and calling for an ingredient the cook does not have on hand means a special shopping trip or trying to find a substitute. [29] [27]
Sub-recipes, and the cookbooks that contain them, are often described as not being targeted at casual cooks. [26] [29] [30] Reviewers have mentioned finding alternate uses for leftover sub-recipes. [26] [29]
Cookbooks including subrecipes include Christina Tosi's Momofuku Milk Bar (2011) [31] [32] and Terry Bryant's Vegetable Kingdom (2020). [33]
By the mid-20th century, there were thousands of cookery and recipe books available. The next revolution came with the introduction of the TV cooks. The first TV cook in the world was Philip Harben with a show on the BBC called Cookery which premiered in June 1946. [34] A few months later I Love to Eat presented by James Beard became the first such program in the US. [34] TV cookery programs brought recipes to a new audience. In the early days, recipes were available by post from the BBC; later with the introduction of CEEFAX text on screen, they became available on television.
The first Internet Usenet newsgroup dedicated to cooking was net.cooks created in 1982, later becoming rec.food.cooking. [35] It served as a forum to share recipes text files and cooking techniques.
In the U.S. in 2008, there was a renewed focus on cooking at home due to the late-2000s recession. [36] Home cooking in the U.S. was similarly inspired in the early 2020s during the coronavirus pandemic. [37]
The abundance of multimedia in modern food recipes allows for recipes to be more accessible to home amateur chefs. [38] The accessibility of cookbooks online further helps home cooks improve their skills and understand the cultural identities cookbooks have. [39]
Television networks such as the Food Network and magazines are still a major source of recipe information, with international cooks and chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson and Rachael Ray having prime-time shows and backing them up with Internet websites giving the details of all their recipes. These were joined by reality TV shows such as Top Chef or Iron Chef, and many Internet sites offering free recipes, but cookery books remain as popular as ever. [40]
Espagnole sauce is a basic brown sauce, and is one of the mother sauces of classic French cooking. In the early 19th century the chef Antonin Carême included it in his list of the basic sauces of French cooking. In the early 20th century Auguste Escoffier named it as one of the five sauces at the core of France's cuisine.
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of ingredients and ideas from the Americas, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration.
Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine hachis Parmentier, is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. The terms shepherd's pie and cottage pie have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in medieval England, with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote the first recipe for a dish called "Christmas pudding".
Macaroni and cheese is a dish of macaroni pasta and a cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce.
Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs, where the whites and yolks have been stirred, whipped, or beaten together, then heated so that the proteins denature and coagulate, and they form into "curds".
A soufflé is a baked egg dish originating in France in the early 18th century. Combined with various other ingredients, it can be served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler, which means to blow, breathe, inflate or puff.
Pilaf, pilav or pilau is a rice dish, usually sautéed, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere to each other.
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, also published as Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book, is an extensive guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, edited by Isabella Beeton and first published as a book in 1861. Previously published in parts, it initially and briefly bore the title Beeton's Book of Household Management, as one of the series of guidebooks published by her husband, Samuel Beeton. The recipes were highly structured, in contrast to those in earlier cookbooks. It was illustrated with many monochrome and colour plates.
Eliza Acton was an English food writer and poet who produced one of Britain's first cookery books aimed at the domestic reader, Modern Cookery for Private Families. The book introduced the now-universal practice of listing ingredients and giving suggested cooking times for each recipe. It included the first recipes in English for Brussels sprouts and for spaghetti. It also contains the first recipe for what Acton called "Christmas pudding"; the dish was normally called plum pudding, recipes for which had appeared previously, although Acton was the first to put the name and recipe together.
Steak and kidney pudding is a traditional British main course in which beef steak and beef, veal, pork or lamb kidney are enclosed in suet pastry and slow-steamed on a stovetop.
Hodge-podge or hotch potch is a soup or stew, usually based on diced mutton or other meat, with green and root vegetables. It is familiar in different versions in Britain and North America and is particularly associated with Scotland.
Nikólaos Tselementés was a Greek chef and cookbook author of the early 20th century. He is considered one of the most influential cookery writers of modern Greece, specialising in both Greek and French cuisine.
Veal liver and bacon is a dish containing veal liver and bacon.
Modern Cookery for Private Families is an English cookery book by Eliza Acton. It was first published by Longmans in 1845, and was a best-seller, running through 13 editions by 1853, though its sales were later overtaken by Mrs Beeton. On the strength of the book, Delia Smith called Acton "the best writer of recipes in the English language", while Elizabeth David wondered why "this peerless writer" had been eclipsed by such inferior and inexperienced imitators.
The Good Huswifes Jewell is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in Medieval English cooking, the book adds herbs, especially parsley and thyme. Sugar is used in many of the dishes, along with ingredients that are uncommon in modern cooking like violets and rosewater.
Leeds University Library's Cookery Collection is one of the five Designated collections held by the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. It comprises an extensive collection of international books, manuscripts and archives relating to food, cooking and culinary culture.
China chilo is a dish of stewed mutton from 19th-century English cuisine. Stewed with onions, peas and lettuce, the mutton is served in a dish surrounded by a border of rice. Scholars believe the term China in the name alludes to this oriental ingredient, but the meaning of the term chilo remains a mystery. The dish is said to be based on a Chinese dish that 19th-century sailors described upon their return from the China Seas. Food historians speculate whether creative Victorian cooks substituted lettuce for bok choy and peas for bean sprouts.
Curry, a spicy Indian-derived dish, is a popular meal in the United Kingdom. Curry recipes have been printed in Britain since 1747, when Hannah Glasse gave a recipe for a chicken curry. In the 19th century, many more recipes appeared in the popular cookbooks of the time. Curries in Britain are widely described using Indian terms, such as korma for a mild sauce with almond and coconut, Madras for a hot, slightly sour sauce, and pasanda for a mild sauce with cream and coconut milk. One type of curry, chicken tikka masala has become widespread enough to be described as the national dish of the United Kingdom.
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