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''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
English cooking, the book adds herbs, especially
parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, ...
and
thyme Thyme () is the herb (dried aerial parts) of some members of the genus ''Thymus'' of aromatic perennial evergreen herbs in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are relatives of the oregano genus ''Origanum'', with both plants being mostly indigenous ...
.
Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
is used in many of the dishes, along with ingredients that are uncommon in modern cooking like
violets Violet identifies various plant taxa, particularly species in the genus ''Viola'', within which the common violet is the best known member in Eurasia and the common blue violet and common purple violet are the best known members in North America ...
and
rosewater Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume. Rose water is also used to flavour ...
. The book includes recipes still current, such as
pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying wit ...
s,
haggis Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an ...
, and salad of leaves and flowers with
vinaigrette Vinaigrette ( , ) is made by mixing an oil with a mild acid such as vinegar or lemon juice (citric acid). The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can also be used as a marina ...
sauce, as well as some not often made, such as mortis, a sweet chicken pâté. Some dishes have familiar names, such as
trifle Trifle is a layered dessert of English origin. The usual ingredients are a thin layer of sponge fingers or sponge cake soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, a fruit element (fresh or jelly), custard and whipped cream layered in that orde ...
, but different ingredients from those used today. The ''Jewell'' is the first English cookery book to give a recipe for
sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoot ...
es.


Context

The
Elizabethan age The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
represented the period of transition from Medieval to modern. Cookery was changing as trade brought new ingredients, and fashion favoured new styles of cooking, with, for example, locally grown herbs as well as imported spices. Cooking came to be seen as a subject in its own right, rather than being part of medicine or books of "secrets". Little is known of the book's author, Thomas Dawson, beyond the bare fact that he published several books on cooking including also his 1620 ''Booke of Cookerie''. Such books were becoming available to a wider audience than the aristocratic households of the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, hence the "huswife" of Dawson's title.


Book


Overview

''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' gives recipes for making fruit tarts using fruits as varied as apple, peach, cherry,
damson The damson () or damson plum (''Prunus domestica'' subsp. ''insititia'', or sometimes ''Prunus insititia''),M. H. Porche"Sorting ''Prunus'' names" in "Multilingual multiscript plant names database, University of Melbourne. Plantnames.unimelb.ed ...
, pear, and
mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...
. For stuffing for meat and poultry, or as Dawson says "to farse all things", he recommends using the herbs thyme, hyssop, and parsley, mixed with egg yolk, white bread, raisins or barberries, and spices including cloves, mace, cinnamon and ginger, all in the same dish. A sauce for pork was made with white wine, broth, nutmeg, and the herbs
rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name ''Rosmari ...
,
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
, thyme, and
marjoram Marjoram (; ''Origanum majorana'') is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted mar ...
. Familiar recipes include
pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying wit ...
s, which were made with cream, egg yolks, flour, and a little
ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bala ...
; the cook was directed "let the fire be verie soft, and when the one side is baked, then turn the other, and bake them as dry as ye can without burning."
Blancmange Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with ...
appears as "Blewmanger", made of cream, eggs, sugar and rosewater.


Approach

The recipes are written as goals, like "To make a Tarte of Spinadge", with instructions to achieve the goal. Quantities are given, if at all, only in passing, either with vague phrases like "a good handful of persely and a few sweet hearbs", or as "the yolks of 4 hard
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
es". Cooking times are given only occasionally, as "let them seeth a quantitye of an houre". Directions as to the fire are given where necessary, as "boyle it in a chafing dish of coales" or "with a fyre of Wood beate it the space of two houres". The recipe for a salad with a
vinaigrette Vinaigrette ( , ) is made by mixing an oil with a mild acid such as vinegar or lemon juice (citric acid). The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can also be used as a marina ...
dressing runs as follows (from the 1596 edition): This recipe is taken up by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
, which calls it "Stourhead herb and flower salad."


Contents

The 1596 edition is structured as follows:Dawson, 1596–97 * Order of meat how they must be served at the Table, with their sauces for flesh daies at dinner. * A Booke of Cookerie (39 double pages) * Approued pointes of Cookerie / Approued pointes of Husbandrie / Approued Medicines for sundry diseases * The table of the book following gathered according to euery folio throughout the whole Booke ndex ;Part II (1597) The 1597 edition of Part II is structured as follows: * A Booke of Cookerie (72 single pages) * The Booke of Caruing and Sewing (38 single pages, not numbered) ** Tearmes of a Caruer ** (The book of Caruing) ** How to make Marchpaine and Ipocras


Illustrations

The book is illustrated only with a frontispiece. In the 1610 edition this has six kitchen scenes, including a three-legged pot over an open fire, cordials being distilled, a bread oven, and pots and roasts on a spit over a fire.


Medicines

Dawson's recipes included medicines, some of which involved
sympathetic magic Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence. Similarity and contagion James George Frazer coined the term "sympathetic magic" in ''The Golden Bough'' (1889); Richard Andree, however, a ...
. The ''Good Huswife's Jewell'' described "a tart to provoke courage in either man or woman", calling for the brains of male sparrows. Torn sinews are healed by taking "worms while they be nice", crushing them and laying them on to the sore "and it will knit the sinew that be broken in two".


Editions

* First edition, Edward White, 1585 * Second edition, Edward White, 1596 ::---reprinted 1996, Southover Press, with introduction by Maggie Black * Third edition, Edward White, 1610 A book called ''The Second Part of the good Hus-wiues Jewell'' was published by Edward White in 1597.


Reception

The celebrity chef
Clarissa Dickson Wright Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright (24 June 1947 – 15 March 2014) was an English celebrity cook, television personality, writer, businesswoman, and former barrister. She was be ...
comments on Dawson's
trifle Trifle is a layered dessert of English origin. The usual ingredients are a thin layer of sponge fingers or sponge cake soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, a fruit element (fresh or jelly), custard and whipped cream layered in that orde ...
that it differs from the modern recipe, as it consists only of "a pinte of thicke Creame", seasoned with sugar, ginger and rosewater, and warmed gently for serving. She notes, also from the ''Good Huswife's Jewell'', that the Elizabethans had a strong liking for sweet things, "richly demonstrated" in Dawson's "names of all things necessary for a banquet": Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2011) ''A History of English Food''. London: Random House. . Page 147 The culinary historian Alison Sim notes that "the closest the Tudors came to
sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through ...
were sponge-like biscuits", which could be raised with eggs or with yeast; the "cracknels" in the ''Jewell'' were boiled before baking, being put into boiling water where they would sink and then rise to the top. Sim notes that Dawson's "fine bisket bread" had to be beaten for two hours. The culinary historian Ken Albala describes the ''Jewell'' as an "important cookbook", and observes that it is the first English cookery book to give a recipe for
sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoot ...
es (which had arrived in Europe after Columbus's voyages), while also listing "old medieval standbys". He comments that there are several pudding recipes, both savoury and sweet, including
haggis Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an ...
. He notes, too, that it gives instructions for the
marzipan Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imitat ...
figures "so beloved on the Elizabethan banquetting table." The culinary historian Stephen Mennell calls the ''Jewell'' "more distinctively English" than the ''Boke of Kervynge'' and the '' Boke of Cokery'' from earlier in the century. It, like
Gervase Markham Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (ca. 1568 – 3 February 1637) was an English poet and writer. He was best known for his work '' The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman'', first publishe ...
's ''
The English Huswife ''The English Huswife'' is a book of English cookery and remedies by Gervase Markham, first published in London by Roger Jackson in 1615. Markham's best-known work, it was a bestseller of its time, going through nine editions, and at least two ...
'' of 1615, was aimed at a more general audience, not only aristocrats but "housewives", which Mennell glosses as "gentlewomen concerned with the practical tasks of running households". Hence the book could treat not only food but medicines, dairy-work, brewing, and preserving. The historian Joanna Opaskar notes that the Elizabethans used what "may seem odd ingredients today", such as
rosewater Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume. Rose water is also used to flavour ...
and
violets Violet identifies various plant taxa, particularly species in the genus ''Viola'', within which the common violet is the best known member in Eurasia and the common blue violet and common purple violet are the best known members in North America ...
, and that Dawson provides a recipe for salmon with violets, the recipe calling for slices of onion with violets, oil, and vinegar. She also notes that sugar was included "in almost every kind of dish", as well as spices that we would use in "sweet rather than savory dishes."


Notes


References

''Page references to Dawson are from the 1596 edition; each folio or double-page spread has a single number, so there are twice as many actual sides as numbers.''


External links


Gode Cookery PDFs
including ''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' 1596 and ''The Second part of the good Hus-wiues Jewell'' 1597 *
Good Huswifes Jewell 1596
' (.txt) {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Huswifes Jewell 1585 books English cuisine Early Modern cookbooks