To Roste Lobsters Take two fair Lobsters alive, wash them clean, and stop the holes as you do to boil, then fasten them to a Spit, the insides together; make a good fire, and strew Salt on them, and that will kill them quickly, bast them with Water and Salt till they be very red, then have ready some Oysters stewed and cut small; put them into a Dish with melted Butter beaten thick with a little water, then take a few spoonfuls of the Liquor of the stewed Oysters, and dissolve in it two Anchovies, then put it to the melted Butter, then take up your Lobsters, and crack the shells that they may be easie to open
Roste Lobsters Old Elizabethan Recipe The above Old recipe is taken from for Roste Lobsters is written in totally different way to today's recipe books!
There were no lists of ingredients - these were included as part of the text
Food and ingredient measurements were extremely basic - quantities were not often specified!
Temperature control was difficult and therefore not specified!
Cooking times were vague - and left to the cook to decide!
It was assumed that the reader would already have some knowledge of cooking
The History of the Recipe Book
Some of the language might be referred to as 'Olde English'
The art of cooking and the recipe was passed verbally from one generation to the next
The first printed book ever to be published in English was in 1474!
Most Elizabethan women were unable to read!
The idea of a Recipe Book was an entirely new concept
The first Recipe Books to be printed in England which included many old Elizabethan and Medieval recipes were called:
1545 - 'A Propre new booke of Cokery'
1588 - 'The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her kitchen'
1596 - 'The Good Hyswife's Jewell'
1610 'Mrs. Sarah Longe her Receipt Booke'
Roste Lobsters Old Elizabethan Recipe The above Old recipe is taken from the book by Hannah Woolley (1622-1675) printed at the White Lion in Duck-Lane, near West-Smithfield, London in 1672 entitled:
The Queen-like Closet OR RICH CABINET Scored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS FOR Preserving, Candying and Cookery
Roste Lobsters Old Elizabethan Recipe
Ingredients for Roste Lobsters - an Old Elizabethan Recipe
