A squee-worthy book online

[jducoeur]

Thanks to Cindy Renfrow for forwarding the link to a new edition of the Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook (PDF, a Meg or two), the book I usually refer to as "the Manuscrito Anonimo". This is my *very* favorite of all period cookbooks -- in addition to having vast numbers of really good main dishes, it has extensive sections on drink syrups and desserts. It is edited by Cariadoc, and is basically a reorganized version of Charles Perry's translation. This version takes the previous edition, cleans up the English a bit and organizes the book into more logical chapters; the end result is definitely not a simple translation any more, but it's a damned useful-looking edition for working in this particular cuisine (13th c. Muslim Spain, IMO the best food of SCA period).

Highly recommended: the previous editions are probably the most-used cookbook in our substantial collection, and this looks easier to find your way around in...

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's a fantastic presentation.

It's not my favorite book of all time (that's _Libellus De Arte Coquinaria_, for the early inklings of civilised dining,) but it's a heavily used resource here.

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

You know, it STILL has a lot of my wording in it....

Thirty years ago Cariadoc recruited a variety of volunteers, including me, to translate sections of the thing from Huici Miranda's Spanish translation, with high school Spanish teacher Elise Fleming (ska Alys Katherine) editing and proofreading. After the whole thing had been translated, merged, and published in Cariadoc's cookbook collection, Charles Perry went through it comparing with the original Arabic to fix "cascading errors", but wherever there were no such errors, he left the wording intact. So probably 20% or so of this edition is my translation....

[jducoeur]

Fair point; sorry to short you and the other volunteers...

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't think you were shorting anybody. The editor's preface doesn't mention anybody by name except Charles Perry; however, she includes in an appendix David's explanation of how the document came to be, with appropriate credits.