Pike with Oysters Old Elizabethan
Recipe

To boil a Pike with Oysters
Take a fair Pike and gut it and wash it, and truss it round with the tail in the mouth, then take white Wine, Water and Salt, with a bundle of sweet herbs, and whole Spice, a little Horse-radish; when it boils, tie up your Pike in a Cloth, and put it in, and let it boil till it swims, for then it is enough; then take the Rivet of the Pike, and a Pint of great Oysters with their Liquor, and some Vinegar, large Mace, gross Pepper, then lay your Pike in a Dish with Sippets, and then heat these just named things with some Butter and Anchovies, and pour over it; garnish your Dish as you please

Pike with Oysters Old Elizabethan Recipe
The above Old recipe is taken from for Pike with Oysters 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'

Pike with Oysters 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

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Pike with Oysters Old Elizabethan Recipe

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