Liber de Coquina explained

Liber de Coquina
Author:	Unknown
Pub Date:	13th–14th century

The Liber de Coquina ("The book of cooking/cookery") is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. Two codices that contain the work survive from the beginning of the 14th century. Both are preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France.^[1]

Description

The text consists of two independent parts, mostly cited as Tractatus (part 1) and Liber de Coquina (part 2). The titles are taken from marginal notes by the medieval editor. While the identity of both the authors is unknown, it is believed that the Tractatus was originally written by a French author and the Liber de Coquina by an Italian author from the Naples area.

Contents

Tractatus (part 1)

• wine compositions
• poultry and meat
• fish
• dishes for the rich
• legumes, eggs, leeks and gravy

Liber de Coquina (part 2)

• vegetables
• poultry
• pastry
• fish
• compositions of many ingredients

Text

Manuscripts

• Latin manuscript 7131, fol. 94r-99v, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (ca. 1304-1314)
• Latin manuscript 9328, fol. 129r-139v, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (14th century)^[2]

Text edition

• Marianne Mulon: "Deux traités inédits d'art culinaire médiéval", Bull. philol. et hist. année 1968, vol 1, p. 369-435^[3]

Digital versions

The two parts are available at Thomas Gloning's site:

Tractatus de modo preparandi et condiendi omnia cibaria

• https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/mul1-tra.htm

Liber de coquina ubi diuersitates ciborum docentur

• https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm

Translations

Complete Latin-German edition:

• Book: Robert Maier. Liber de Coquina: Das Buch der guten Küche. 2005. Friedrich. 978-3-937446-08-0.

Italian translation of the Tractatus:

• Enrico Carnevale Schianca (ed.): "Tractatus de modo preparandi et condiendi omnia cibaria", Appunti di Gastronomia n. 26, Condeco s.r.l. Editore, Milano 1998

See also

• Medieval cuisine
• Le Viandier – a recipe collection generally credited to Guillaume Tirel, c 1300
• The Forme of Cury – a royal collection of medieval English recipes of the 14th century, influenced by the Liber de Coquina
• Apicius – a collection of Roman cookery recipes

Notes and References

1. Book: Alberto Capatti. Massimo Montanari. Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History. 13 August 2013. Columbia University Press. 978-0-231-50904-6. 189–.
2. Book: Terence Scully. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection: (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Bühler, 19) : a Critical Edition and English Translation. registration. 2000. University of Michigan Press. 0-472-10972-3. 38–.
3. Book: Andreas Speer. Andreas Speer. Lydia Wegener. Wissen über Grenzen: Arabisches Wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter. 1 January 2006. Walter de Gruyter. German. 978-3-11-019431-9. 365–.