On Middle Dutch culinary manuscripts

There are three major culinary manuscripts written in Middle Dutch. All three date from around A.D. 1500, and, as fate will have it, all three are to be found in Gent. Two of these manuscripts are conserved in the University Library of Gent, the third in the Royal Academy of Gent. These texts are the material for a study on Middle Dutch culinary texts I am working on at the moment. On this site there are new editions, based on the manuscripts themselves. The editions are diplomatic, with translations in modern Dutch and English.

Copyrights of these diplomatic editions and their translations belong to Christianne Muusers. Please do not copy anything without crediting the source.

Manuscript UB Gent 1035, "Wel ende edelike spijse" (Good and noble food).

This manuscript has been edited in 1872 under the title "Keukenboek" (kitchen book) (Keukenboek, uitgegeven naar een handschrift der vijftiende eeuw, C.A.Serrure (Maatsch.der Vlaemsche Bibliophilen, X) Gent, 1872.). The manuscript itself bears the much nicer title "Desen bouc leert wel ende edelike spijse te bereedene tetene" (This book teaches [one] to prepare good and noble food to be eaten) in short "Wel ende edelike spijse" or "Good and noble food". 
The 1872 edition by Serrure can be found here.

Manuscript KANTL Gent 15, no title. This edtion is still in progress.

This manuscript is a convolute consisting of 4 parts. Three parts contain culinary recipes, the fourth medical recipes. The three culinary parts have been edited in print in 1986: The first part: W.L. Braekman, "Een belangrijke middelnederlandse bron voor Vorselmans’ Nyeuwen Coock Boeck (1560)" ("An important Middle Dutch source for Vorselmans’ Nyeuwen Coock Boeck (1560)"  . In: Volkskunde 87 (1986) pp. 1-24. The second and third part: W.L. Braekman, Een nieuw zuidnederlands kookboek uit de vijftiende eeuw (A new cookbook from South Netherland from the fifteenth century). Scripta 17, Brussel, 1986.

Manuscript UB Gent 476, no title. Not yet started.
Because this manuscript has fairly recently seen an edition in print, the diplomatic edition of this text will be the last to appear. Edition: Ria Jansen-Sieben en Johanna Maria van Winter, De keuken van de late Middeleeuwen. Een kookboek uit de 16de eeuw, bezorgd en van commentaar voorzien door Ria Jansen-Sieben en Johanna Maria van Winter. (De kitchen from the late Middle Ages. A cookbook from the 16th century, edition and commentary by Ria Jansen-Sieben and Johanna Maria van Winter) Uitg. Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, 1989, herdruk/reprint 1998.

Digital editions on other sites can be found on the links page.

This page was last updated on 19-07-09. (day-month-year)

All text and pictures of dishes are the intellectual property of Coquinaria and should not be reproduced without permission and acknowledgement.