Main Menu - Misc. - Clothing/Textiles - Medieval Wales - Names - Other Medieval - Publications - Harpy Publications

Cooking from Anthimus

recipe interpretations by Heather Rose Jones, copyright 2005

Anthimus was a 6th century Byzantine Greek who, while serving as an ambassador to the King of the Franks, wrote a cookery treatise that reflects both Byzantine and Frankish tastes. The work is De obseruatione ciborum (On the observance of foods) and the definitive current edition and translation is by Mark Grant.

• Grant, Mark ed. 1996. Anthimus: De obseruatione ciborium -- On the observance of foods. Prospect Books, Totnes. ISBN 0907325-750

I've been working out versions (and variants) of many of the recipes and descriptions in this work and present them here. I have not included the original text or Mark Grant's translations out of respect for his copyright -- if you're interested in digging further, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of his book.

The Collegium Dinner (a collection of dishes served at a dinner after the West Kingdom Fall Collegium, October 15, 2005)

Recipes

• 1. bread
• 2. barley

Meat

• 3. sweet and sour braised beef
• 4. mutton
• 5. lamb and kid
• 6. venison
• 7. fawn and wild goat
• 8. boar
• 9. pork
• 10. suckling pig
• 11. ox
• 12. salted beef
• 13. hare
• 14. "laridum" (bacon or ham)

15. beer and mead

Organ meats

• 16. kidneys
• 17. belly
• 18. sow's womb
• 19. sow's udder
• 20. calf belly
• 21. pig's liver

Birds

• 22. misc. fowl
• 23. chicken
• 24. peacock
• 25. wild fowl
• 26. starlings
• 27. cranes
• 28. partridges
• 29. pigeons
• 30. sparrows
• 31. figpeckers
• 32. duck
• 33. bustard; "isicium" of chicken
• 34. "afrutum" or "spumeum"

Eggs

• 35. & 36. how to boil an egg
• 37. goose eggs
• 38. pheasant eggs; mushrooms

Fish

• 39. misc. fish
• 40. pike; pike "spumeum"
• 41. salmon
• 42. plaice and sole
• 43. eels
• 44. trout
• 45. parr
• 46. sturgeon
• 47. lampreys
• 48. scallops
• 49. oysters

Vegetables

• 50. misc. vegetables
• 51. lettuce, endive
• 52-53. turnips, parsnips, carrots
• 54. asparagus
• 55. celery, coriander, dill, leek
• 56. marrows
• 57. cucumbers
• 58. melons
• 59. orach
• 60. radishes
• 61-63. garlic, onions, shallots

Grains

• 64. various barley dishes
• 65. broad beans
• 66. chick peas
• 67. lentils
• 68. (no #68)
• 69. "fasiolum" beans
• 70. rice
• 71. millet
• 72-73. (no #72-73)
• 74. other pulses

Milk products

• 75-76. milk
• 77. butter
• 78. "oxygala"
• 79-81. cheese

82. wheat flour

Fruits

• 83. quinces
• 84. apples, pears
• 85. misc. stone fruits
• 86. berries
• 87. figs

Nuts

• 88. chestnuts
• 89. hazelnuts
• 90. almonds
• 91. pistachios

Dried fruits

• 92. dates
• 93. figs
• 94. raisins

This site belongs to Heather Rose Jones. Contact me regarding anything beyond personal, individual use of this material.

Unless otherwise noted, all contents are copyright by Heather Rose Jones, all rights reserved.