This recipe also appears in Woolley (1675a), pp. 113-4; Woolley (1675b), pp. 269-70; and Woolley (1686), p. 141.

Rabisha (1661) adds at the end of his recipe: “The same way may you make your counterseit Leverets of Rabbets; but you must remember to lard them when they are parboyled, if desired” (p. 146).

Rabisha (1661) and Woolley (1675a, 1675b, 1686) add the instruction to roast the levret after this direction.

“[H]ole” in Rabisha (1661) and Woolley (1675a, 1675b, 1686).

“[H]arl” in Rabisha (1661). “Harl” makes more sense as it means “to entangle, twist, or knot together” (OED).

This recipe appears, with minor alterations, as “To roast Leverets, and Rabbets” in Rabisha (1661), p. 103, and as “To Roast a Hare” in Woolley (1675a), p. 147; Woolley (1675b), p. 345; and Woolley (1686), p. 180.

Neither Rabisha (1661), p. 146, nor Woolley (1675b), pp. 353-4, nor Woolley (1686), pp. 184-5, include this final part of the recipe.

“Pungent in taste; also, having strong acid, alkaline, or caustic properties” (OED). The term “sharp” was used in English to describe this flavor since the late fourteenth century.

A Middle English word meaning “a large bundle or package of merchandise, originally of more or less rounded shape” (OED). Here, it is used to refer to the way the puddings are sealed and packaged.

“The remainder, the rest” (OED).

Stuff the tongues “at the butt end” where the meat was cut off.

A very similar recipe appears in Rabisha (1661), p. 146; Woolley (1675b), pp. 353-4; and Woolley (1686), pp. 184-5. Another version also appears in Woolley (1664), p. 86.

Coarse.

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 72; Woolley (1675a), p. 120; Woolley (1675b), p. 284; and Woolley (1686), p. 149.

Pour the broth over the sippets for serving.

Other recipes for fowl in this collection follow similar instructions for removing the skin, mincing the body with additional ingredients, filling the skins again, and then stewing them. See “To boile Capons, Pullets, Chickens, Pigeons, Pheasants or Partridges” (pp. 69-70) and “To boil a Capon or Chicken with divers compositions” (p. 85).

Other recipes for fowl in this collection follow similar instructions for removing the skin, mincing the body with additional ingredients, filling the skins again, and then stewing them. See “To boile Capons, Pullets, Chickens, Pigeons, Pheasants or Partridges” (pp. 69-70) and “To boil a Capon or Chicken with divers compositions” (p. 85).

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 66-8. In thinking about the range of birds listed here, it is helpful to consider the observation made by Thirsk (2006) that in early modern England “every wild bird in the sky was regarded as a source of meat . . . some were firmly associated with class: at the two extremes lay rooks and rook pie for the poor, and at the other, pheasants for the rich” (p. 250).

This serving instruction comes before the recipe itself ends.

Both the “j” and the “e” appear upside down in the text, likely due to a typesetting error.

Particles floating in the water after the process of boiling.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 71-2.

Sic. Likely typesetting error. Should be “lemon.”

Other recipes for fowl in this collection follow similar instructions for removing the skin, mincing the body with additional ingredients, filling the skins again, and then stewing them. See “To boile Capons, Pullets,Chickens, Pigeons, Pheasants or Partridges” (pp. 69-70) and “To boil any Land Fowl, as Turky, Bustard, Pheasant, Peacock, Partridge, or the like” (pp. 87-90).

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 73. A nearly identical recipe, “To boyl a Capon, or Chicken with several Compositions,” appears in Woolley (1675b), p. 343 and Woolley (1686), p. 179.

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 70. A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 124; Woolley (1675b), p. 293; and Woolley (1686), p. 153.

A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 113; Woolley (1675b), p. 269; and Woolley (1686), p. 141.

I.e., “floured.”

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 69. An entirely different and truncated recipe with the same title appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 136; Woolley (1675b), pp. 318-9; and Woolley (1686), p. 166.

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 73. A nearly identical recipe, “To boyl a Capon with Asparagus,” appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 124; Woolley (1675b), p. 291; and Woolley (1686), p. 152.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 72-3.

I.e., “roll.”

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 105. A similar recipe for “Olives of Beef Stewed and Roasted” appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 145; Woolley (1675b), p. 338; and Woolley (1686), pp. 176-7. Holme (1688) specifies that “Olives, or Olines of Beef or Mutton” are meat “cut in thin slices, and backt with a Knife; then with a farsing, of sweet herbs, hard liggs [eggs], Beef Suet, or Lard Minced, Spices and Salt strowed or laid, on the slices, and so rolled up, and Roasted or Baked, and served up with a sauce of the Stuffing, Verjuice, and Gravy, and Sugar” (p. 83). Recipes for Beef Olives, considered a comfort food, are still a part of British cuisine today.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 104-5. A nearly identical recipe, “To stew Collops of Beef,” appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 110; Woolley (1675b), p. 262; and Woolley (1686), p. 138.

Doing so would help release the flavor and color of the ingredients and would make them tender.

The same recipe appears in May (1660), p. 104. A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 120; Woolley (1675b), pp. 283-4; and Woolley (1686), pp. 148-9. The French-inspired quality of this recipe emphasizes foreign taste.

The liquid produced from boiling the meat and herbs in claret wine and wine vinegar would have produced the pickle, or brine.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 103-4. Pickling meat was a new fashion of preserving meat at this time. As this recipe suggests, pickling meat involved packing it in earthenware pots or tubs (in this case a barrel) and filling in any gaps with salt. As Thirsk (2006) explains, “meat pieces were lifted only from the top as needed, and the contents as a whole lasted for years . . . by this method no meat was wasted” (p. 245).

Woolley (1675a) includes a recipe for powdering beef, explaining that this technique will help preserve the meat for “2 or 3 Months” (p. 127).

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 103. A similar recipe appears as “To boyl a Chine of Beef powdered” in Woolley (1675b), p. 286 and Woolley (1686), p. 150.

Broom buds were a local alternative to capers, which were imported. See Thirsk (2006), p. 150.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 102-3. Knoppers (2011), pp. 130-1, notes the similarities between this recipe and one in The Queens Closet Opened (1656), p. 45. A different recipe for stewing rump without reference to the French influence appears in Woolley (1675b), p. 350 and Woolley (1686), pp. 182-3.

As this recipe does not indicate that the leg of beef had been previously roasted, the gravy may have been juices from a different piece of meat.

Thickening pottages, stews, and broths with oatmeal was a common culinary practice. See Buxton (2015), p. 116.

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 102. A similar recipe entitled “To make a Broth or Pottage, called Skinck” appears in Rabisha (1661), pp. 40-1. A nearly identical recipe entitled “To make French pottage called Skink” appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 125; Wooley (1675b), p. 294; and Wooley (1686), p. 154. Appearing immediately after Turkish-inspired and Italian-inspired recipes, this French-inspired recipe further reinforces foreign taste.

Coarse.

Thirsk (2006) hypothesizes that this mixture is so unusual that “it may well have instantly been recognized as a new fashion” (p. 117). The same recipe appears in May’s cookbook four years earlier.

I.e., broth not made from salted beef.

I.e., the liquid in which it has been marinating.

I.e., “strew,” meaning “sprinkle” (OED).

It is not entirely clear what it means to “crush” a fillet of beef “well in the wine.” This may be a way of tenderizing the meat, or it may be like the direction in “To stew a Rump” (p. 75) which states, “scotch the meat with your Knife to let out the gravy.” “Scotch” means “slash with a knife” (OED).

I.e., “bowl.”

I.e., “sinews.”

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 101-2. A similar recipe appears in Woolley (1675b), p. 342 and Woolley (1686), p. 178, but both omit the final instructions for Tamara. Knoppers (2011), pp. 129-30, also notes the similarities between this recipe and one in The Queens Closet Opened (1656), pp. 58-9, which includes Tamara as well. Following a recipe for “A Turkish dish of meat,” this dish is yet another foreign recipe in the collection.

Sic. Likely typesetting error. Should be “three.”

Sic. Likely typesetting error. Should be “skim.”

The same recipe appears in May (1660), p. 103. A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 121; Woolley (1675b), p. 285; and Woolley (1686), p. 149. Knoppers (2011), p. 129, also notes the similarities between this recipe and one in The Queens Closet Opened (1656), p. 87. The inclusion of this recipe suggests the Cromwells’ foreign tastes.

Presumably, this lear is poured over the dish at the end.

The number of items used to garnish the meat may indicate that there was not much meat present in the dish to begin with and that the appearance of it needed to be enhanced. The list of garnishes in Woolley’s version of this recipe (1673) ends at “barberies.”

The fact that this recipe calls for oranges is again at odds with Elizabeth’s thriftiness as expounded by the writer of the introduction, who notes that while Oliver had a penchant for the fruit, after the Anglo-Spanish War (1654-1660), this commodity was scarce and therefore expensive in England, and Elizabeth refused to pay for it (pp. 37-8).

Adding egg yolks at the last moment was a typical way to thicken the broth of dishes. See Thirsk (2006), p. 51.

Other recipes for fowl in this collection follow similar instructions for removing the skin, mincing the body with additional ingredients, filling the skins again, and then stewing them. See “To boil a Capon or Chicken with divers compositions” (p. 85) and “To boil any Land Fowl, as Turky, Bustard, Pheasant, Peacock, Partridge, or the like” (pp. 87-90).

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 68-9. Nearly identical versions also appear in Woolley (1675a), p. 124; Woolley (1675b), p. 292; and Woolley (1686), pp. 152-3.

Other recipes for fowl in this collection follow similar instructions for removing the skin, mincing the body with additional ingredients, filling the skins again, and then stewing them. See “To boil a Capon or Chicken with divers compositions” (p. 85) and “To boil any Land Fowl, as Turky, Bustard, Pheasant, Peacock, Partridge, or the like” (pp. 87-90).

Although it is unclear, in this context, “fearce” seems to mean either “pierce,” “flay,” or “pluck.”

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 68.

This recipe is one of ten in the cookbook for capons, a popular dish with Cromwells – and also routine at banquets and enjoyed by all sorts of individuals in the period. However, in the introduction, the writer notes a peculiarity with capons at Cromwell’s court: “it was a great Mode, and taken-up by his Court party to roast half Capons, pretending a more exquisite tast and nutriment in it, then when dressed whole and entire” (pp. 38-9). There is no indication in this recipe itself (or any of the others) that these are half capons rather than whole ones, calling into question the writer’s insistence on Elizabeth’s frugality.

This instruction assumes that the cook will remove the guts after the cocks and larks have been boiled.

The biscuit, eggs, and heat thicken the milk.

A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), pp. 128-9; Woolley (1675b), p. 302; and Woolley (1686), p. 158. A variant form of this recipe appears as “To make a Florendine, or Made-dish of Apples” in Rabisha (1661), p. 35.

The biscuit, eggs, and heat thicken the milk.

This recipe appears in a form nearly identical to this one in Woolley (1675a), p. 115; Woolley (1675b), p. 237; and Woolley (1686), p. 143. A similar recipe also appears in Rabisha (1661), p. 29. Rabisha’s version of the dish calls for musk. As in the “Punnado” recipe immediately above, the Cromwell cookbook leaves out the musk included in Rabisha’s dishes.

Rabisha’s recipe continues, “And infuse or rube the bottom of your dish with Musk: You must add Salt to this, and the above-mentioned” (p. 33).

I.e., “roll.”

This recipe appears with a few variations in Rabisha (1661), p. 33. A similar recipe appears in The English and French Cook (1674), p. 416. Coles (1677) defines “Panada -do.,” a Spanish word, as “meat made of Crums of bread and currants boiled.” “Meat” here means "food." Punnado appears to be a type of boiled bread pudding. Its association with Spanish cuisine once again suggests the Cromwells’ foreign tastes.

Elizabeth employs these religious Protestant women in her household because women “of breeding and quality” who would usually serve in a monarch’s household do not want to work for her.

Oliver Cromwell’s great-great-grandfather had been a brewer. Cromwell himself was not, but in satirical writing of the time that wanted to emphasize his lowly origins, he was depicted as one. The author here suggests that Elizabeth considered brewing her own beer in Whitehall Palace, but found a cheap beer available in London and served that (instead of wine).

Elizabeth employs these religious Protestant women in her household because women “of breeding and quality” who would usually serve in a monarch’s household do not want to work for her.

Elizabeth Cromwell charitably employs poor ministers’ daughters in spinning and sewing for her family. The author compares this to prostituting young women in a seraglio, or harem, in order to denigrate Elizabeth’s charity.

Protestant dissenters.

In the original sense, women who spin yarn from wool.

A long, confusing sentence. Cromwell avoided fancy French food, either because he was afraid of being poisoned or else because he had a “Masculine Appetite.”

Upstarts who suddenly rose in rank were called “mushrooms,” because mushrooms can appear suddenly overnight.

Mrs. Cromwell’s Cookery Book (1983) tentatively identifies this as Katherine Stuart, Lady d’Aubigny, who was imprisoned for an attempt to free Charles I from prison. It may also refer to delicate or dainty foods (“cates”) bought in Oxford (OED).

Elizabeth Cromwell continues such frugal practices as keeping cows and making butter, which would be unbecoming for a queen.

An obsolete term for a servant (OED).

“Food, provisions” (OED).

Feasts, banquets (OED).

A long, confusing sentence. Cromwell avoided fancy French food, either because he was afraid of being poisoned or else because he had a “Masculine Appetite.”

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a Roman consul who conquered Macedonia and celebrated a spectacular triumph in 167 BCE. The quotation in Latin is a translation of a passage in Plutarch’s life of Aemilius Paulus, possibly by way of the Anthologia, sive florilegium of Josephus Langius (1631).

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a Roman consul who conquered Macedonia and celebrated a spectacular triumph in 167 BCE. The quotation in Latin is a translation of a passage in Plutarch’s life of Aemilius Paulus, possibly by way of the Anthologia, sive florilegium of Josephus Langius (1631).

Elizabeth Cromwell has divided up the large rooms of the palace into small rooms that the author compares to booths at the fair. The author suggests that Elizabeth Cromwell was afraid of the ghosts of the royal families who previously lived there and felt guilty about her husband’s usurpation of their place.

Elizabeth Cromwell has divided up the large rooms of the palace into small rooms that the author compares to booths at the fair. The author suggests that Elizabeth Cromwell was afraid of the ghosts of the royal families who previously lived there and felt guilty about her husband’s usurpation of their place.

The Council of State was the executive of the Barebones Parliament, a governing assembly formed after the dissolution of the Rump Parliament in 1653. Their first meeting was not at Westminster, but in Whitehall. Cromwell took up permanent residence in Whitehall and Hampton Court when he became Lord Protector at the end of that year (DNB). Whitehall had been the primary residence of English monarchs since 1530. (It was destroyed by fire in 1698, and today only Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House survives.)

The Council of State was the executive of the Barebones Parliament, a governing assembly formed after the dissolution of the Rump Parliament in 1653. Their first meeting was not at Westminster, but in Whitehall. Cromwell took up permanent residence in Whitehall and Hampton Court when he became Lord Protector at the end of that year (DNB). Whitehall had been the primary residence of English monarchs since 1530. (It was destroyed by fire in 1698, and today only Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House survives.)

The Levellers were a radical Protestant movement in seventeenth-century England. They believed in popular sovereignty, equality, and religious freedom. Although they fought with Cromwell in the New Model Army, they had more radical goals and their leaders were removed from the army and arrested. But by May, 1649, they were no longer a force that Cromwell had to contend with.

The Levellers were a radical Protestant movement in seventeenth-century England. They believed in popular sovereignty, equality, and religious freedom. Although they fought with Cromwell in the New Model Army, they had more radical goals and their leaders were removed from the army and arrested. But by May, 1649, they were no longer a force that Cromwell had to contend with.

Her hood is disparagingly compared to military fortifications.

Her hood is disparagingly compared to military fortifications.

During the Civil Wars, Parliament appointed committees in each county to levy taxes to pay for their war efforts. The Cromwells were associated with Cambridge (for which Oliver Cromwell was the MP) and Huntingdon (where the Cromwell family had lived). Elizabeth is accused of extracting money and goods from these counties in the manner of a parliamentary committee. The language then shifts to imply that she demanded these goods as religious offerings to herself.

During the Civil Wars, Parliament appointed committees in each county to levy taxes to pay for their war efforts. The Cromwells were associated with Cambridge (for which Oliver Cromwell was the MP) and Huntingdon (where the Cromwell family had lived). Elizabeth is accused of extracting money and goods from these counties in the manner of a parliamentary committee. The language then shifts to imply that she demanded these goods as religious offerings to herself.

Tyrants were often depicted as indulging in excessive eating and drinking, and this satiric cookbook struggles to make the Cromwells’ reputation for moderation in diet appear to be a negative quality. Oliver Cromwell only drinks a lot as a treatment for kidney stones.

Tyrants were often depicted as indulging in excessive eating and drinking, and this satiric cookbook struggles to make the Cromwells’ reputation for moderation in diet appear to be a negative quality. Oliver Cromwell only drinks a lot as a treatment for kidney stones.

According to English theories of geohumoralism, people who lived in southern European countries like Italy and Spain were quick to anger and prone to violent revenge, as English revenge tragedies reveal. This passage seems to be thinking of a play like Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (set in Italy) or the classical stories of Tereus and Procne or Thyestes and Atreus where people are chopped up, cooked, and served for dinner as an act of revenge.

According to English theories of geohumoralism, people who lived in southern European countries like Italy and Spain were quick to anger and prone to violent revenge, as English revenge tragedies reveal. This passage seems to be thinking of a play like Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (set in Italy) or the classical stories of Tereus and Procne or Thyestes and Atreus where people are chopped up, cooked, and served for dinner as an act of revenge.

This recipe appears in May (1660), p. 66. A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 142; Woolley (1675b), p. 331; and Woolley (1686), pp. 172-3.

The recipes in Woolley (1675a), Woolley (1675b), Woolley (1686), and The Compleat Cook (1694) do not include these final recommendations to boil onions and currants with the sauce or to rub garlic on the bottom of the dish.

Adding egg yolks at the last moment was a typical way to thicken the broth of dishes. See Thirsk (2006), p. 51.

As this recipe does not indicate that the woodcocks or snipes have been previously roasted, the gravy may have been juices from a different piece of poultry, beef, or mutton.

This recipe appears in May (1660), pp. 65-6. A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 128; Woolley (1675b), p. 301; and Woolley (1686), p. 157. Another version of the recipe appears in The Compleat Cook (1694), pp. 50-1.

A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 121; Woolley (1675b), p. 285; and Woolley (1686), p. 149. It also is preceded by the recipe for boiled perches that precedes this one. A very similar recipe appears as “Another way” (following and referring to a recipe titled “How to stew or boyl Eels”) in Rabisha (1661), p. 114.

Rabisha’s version of this recipe lacks white pepper, and includes oysters.

Rabisha (1661) says to season your pan “as aforesaid,” referring to the previous recipe for boiled carps which involves a complexly-seasoned white wine sauce (pp. 109-10).

A nearly identical recipe appears in Woolley (1675b), p. 284; and Woolley (1686), p. 149. They are followed by the recipe for boiled eels that also follows this one in the text here. A very similar recipe appears in Rabisha (1661), p. 110. A simpler recipe that omits some ingredients and the instructions to “boyl them up very quick, and flea them on both sides” appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 121.

This recipe appears in nearly identical form in Woolley (1675a), p. 122; Woolley (1675b), pp. 287-8; and Woolley (1686), pp. 150-1. A more complex but largely similar recipe appears as “To dress a Codds head the best way” in Rabisha (1661), p. 112. Rabisha’s version of the recipe includes additional ingredients (cockles, crab, white wine, nutmeg) and more involved techniques (adding drawn butter, frying the bay leaf garnish).

Rabisha (1661) specifies that the Coffin be made of “good hot Butter Paste” (p. 65).

Rabisha (1661) specifies that the pieces should be “as long as your finger” (p. 126).

The version of this recipe in Woolley (1675a, 1675b, 1686) turns these participles into active verbs.

This recipe appears in nearly identical form in Woolley (1675a), p. 130; Woolley (1675b), p. 305; and Woolley (1686), p. 159. A very similar recipe appears in Rabisha (1661), p. 126.

Rabisha’s version calls for “drawn butter” and adds “give it one boyl up, and dish up your Eel with your lear over it” (p. 119).

This recipe appears in nearly identical form in Rabisha (1661), p. 119; Woolley (1675a), p. 141; Woolley (1675b), pp. 330-1; Woolley (1686), p. 172.

The later version of this recipe in Woolley (1675a, 1675b, 1686) does not mention spoiling the taste. However, Rabisha’s earlier version of this recipe advises “besides it will spoyl your paste” (p. 35).

The pin facilitates placing the gooseberries without disturbing the surface of the cream, thus keeping the dish neat and attractive.

“Clear” here does not mean transparent but rather free of impurities.

Rabisha (1661) begins “First preserve your Gooseberries (as you are taught in the Book of Preserves)” (p. 31).

This recipe appears, with minor variations, in Rabisha (1661), p. 31; Woolley (1675a), p. 125; Woolley (1675b), p. 295; and Woolley (1686), p. 154.

Rabisha’s recipe does not include barberries nor parsley, but rather advises adding “the fat of your Pot if it be pure, unto your drawn Butter and Vinegar,” to pour over the dish as a sauce (p. 61).

Rabisha (1661) calls for turnips, cauliflower, and carrots rather than giving options as in this recipe (p. 61).

Rabisha (1661) specifies “blancht” rather than “skinn’d” (p. 61).

This recipe appears, with minor variations, as “To Boyl Udders and Tongues” in Rabisha (1661), p. 61. Though relatively mild in flavor, this dish would be texturally complex and eye-catching.

This entry is actually two different recipes for sorrel-based green sauce. This annotation highlights the first recipe.

This recipe also appears, with wording variations, in Woolley (1675a), p. 116; Woolley (1675b), p. 275; and Woolley (1686), pp. 144-5.

Rabisha (1661) ends this recipe slightly differently: “they must be cut out very thin round wayes, and put them in your dish with Oyle and Vinegar, and serve them for a Sallet for the second course, or for a Collation before you drink” (p. 66).

A nearly identical recipe appears in Rabisha (1661) as “To make Polony Sassages to keep all the year” (p. 66). Although Woolley does not include this precise recipe, she offers a similar one titled “To make Polonian sausages” in Woolley (1675a), p. 126; Woolley (1675b), p. 297; and Woolley (1686), p. 155. Woolley’s recipe likewise indicates that they can keep for a full year and be used in salads. Her recipe is spiced hotter than Rabisha’s and Cromwell’s. “Polony” is a variant of “Bologna,” a type of reddish sausage typically made of pork mixed with other meat (OED).

Rabisha (1661) continues, “I have made rich Sassages of Capons and Rabbits, and could shew a receipt for it; but none so savoury as those of Pork, by reason that Sage and Pepper is not so suitable to the nature of the other; so tye up your Sassages in links, and keep them for your use” (p. 67).

This recipe, with minor wording differences, appears under the title “Another way for Sassages” (p. 67) in Rabisha (1661) and as “To make Sausages” in Woolley (1675a), p. 120; Wooley (1675b), pp. 282-3; and Woolley (1686), p. 148.

This recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 116; Woolley (1675b), p. 275; Woolley (1677), p. 79; and Woolley (1686), p. 144, with minor wording differences.

Knoppers (2011) comments that the note on this dish that it is one of Elizabeth Cromwell’s habitual meals indicates her lower class status, stating that a marrow pudding is “not one of the delicacies one would expect on a courtly, much less royal, table” (p. 127).

This recipe also appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 115; Woolley (1675b), pp. 272-3; Woolley (1686), p. 143. An extremely similar recipe, nearly identical in terms of ingredients but differing in wording, also appears in The Young Cooks Monitor (1683), p. 30.

Pricking the sausages prevents them from exploding while boiling.

This recipe for hog liver sausage appears, with slight variations, in Woolley (1675a), pp. 127-8; Woolley (1675b), pp. 299-300; and Woolley (1686), pp. 156-7. It is followed by the previous recipe for a white pot. The ingredients and steps involved in preparing this dish are similar to those found in the Cromwell recipe “To make a Pudding of Hogs Liver another way” on pp. 116-16 (64 r / 64 v).

As in the previous pudding recipe, the dish is finished after cooking by decorating it with embellishments. This decorative dish does not conform to the image of Elizabeth Cromwell as excessively rustic and déclassé.

I.e., “floured.”

This recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 128; Woolley (1675b), p. 300; Woolley (1686), p. 157. In all three Woolley editions this recipe is preceded by the following recipe for liver puddings.

This recipe appears in Woolley (1675a), pp. 117-8; Woolley (1675b), pp. 277-8; and Woolley (1686), p. 146.

I.e., “yolks.”

The cook creates a pattern of circular shapes of different colors and textures inside the pie. The flavors likewise connote both variety and balance.

In the context of a bride pie, on which this dish appears to be modeled, this ingredient was sexually suggestive. See Pennell (1994), p. 134.

This recipe, with minor alterations, appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 141; Woolley (1675b), p. 329; and Woolley (1686), pp. 171-2. This dish is similar to the elaborate “Bride Pie” described in May (1660). Though not as embellished as May’s version of the dish, both recipes are sweetened and complexly-spiced pies with a lambstone, sweetbread, and veal filling. For an image of his bride pie’s layered floral shape, see May (1660), p. 218. Bride pie was one of the featured dishes at Frances Cromwell’s wedding in 1657. See Goldstein (2015), p. 780.

The recipe essentially calls for the cook to reassemble the pig that has been disassembled.

It appears that the aim here is to leave the eggs somewhat runny.

Incorporating citrus flavors into Scotch Collops was apparently a common practice. May (1660) mentions oranges and lemon as possible additions in his recipe for “Scotch Collops of a Leg or Loin of mutton otherwayes” (p. 63); his instructions for “Other hashes of Scotch Collops” recommends a sauce made of “juyce of an orange, and nutmeg” which is then “run … over” with butter and lemon (p. II), and in his recipe for “Other Hashes or Scotch Collops of any Joint of Veal” recommends a sauce of “beaten butter, with lemon, gravy, and juyce of orange” (p. II).

Woolley (1664) offers a recipe “To make Scotch Collops, either of Beef, Veal, or Mutton” that also recommends dissolving anchovies in an acidic liquid (in this case, lemon) to make a sauce for the dish (p. 66).

Capers are also among the ingredients May (1660) recommends “for variety” (p. 63).

Sic. Likely typesetting error. Should be “pound.”

I.e., add the sausages and oysters to the pan.

Oysters are among the ingredients May (1660) recommends “for variety” in his recipe for “Scotch Collops of a Leg or Loin of mutton otherwayes” (p. 63).

The implication appears to be to add the nutmeg and thyme to the eggs.

Recipes for Scotch Collops are found in numerous recipe books. May (1660) includes four recipes for the dish (pp. 62-3, II). This particular recipe appears, with slight wording variations, in Woolley (1675a), p. 117; Woolley (1675b), pp. 276-7; and Woolley (1686), p. 145. Knoppers (2007) argues that portraying Cromwell as favoring heavy, rustic recipes like this one are meant to suggest her lower-class tastes (pp. 487-8).

These final steps balance out what is otherwise a heavy meal with a sharp, fresh salad garnish. Salads were becoming more and more in vogue in England due to the increasing incorporation of continental culinary styles, which favored salads much more than English cooking traditionally had done.

A feature of early modern cooking was the move from cooking food in a large pot over a fire to the innovation of the side hearth, which allowed the cook to hang multiple vessels over the fire at once. See Buxton (2015), p. 118.

Early modern cooking, guided by the dietary theory of Averroës and Galen, often balanced sweet and savory flavors as this dish does here in order to create humorally balanced, and therefore temperance-promoting, dishes. See Albala (2002), pp. 88-91.

The suet here appears to function to bind the herbs, nutmeg, and shallot together for stuffing into the mutton.

This recipe also appears in Woolley (1675a), p. 114; Woolley (1675b), p. 271; and Woolley (1686), p. 142. Like those preceding and succeeding it in this cookbook, it shows a foreign influence.

Puddings were often served with a sauce, frequently butter-based.

Tying ingredients into a cloth bag and then boiling them was a typical method of preparing pudding. Oddly, Cromwell’s recipe does not direct the cook to boil the dish.

A standard combination of spices typically found in contemporary puddings.

The reference to the use of lean beef here is consistent with the author’s depiction of Elizabeth as a thrifty cook. This recipe makes use of less-desirable cuts of meat by dressing them up with fats and spices.

This recipe appears, with minor spelling alterations, in various editions of The Accomplisht Ladys delight, here cited as Woolley (1675a), pp. 119-20; Woolley (1675b), p. 282; and Woolley (1686), p. 148. While there are many similarities between these editions, there are also significant textual complications and divergences, as well as persistent authorship questions. Ezell (2013) calls this “a bibliographer’s nightmare” (p. 160). She further explains: “When one actually opens the copies of the two 1675 editions of The Accomplisht Ladys delight found at the Bodleian, not only is one presented with two different author portraits, but one also finds two slightly different prefaces by ‘T. P.’ and books with significantly different contents” (p. 169). Subsequent editions of The Accomplisht Ladys delight were published by Benjamin Harris in 1677 and by Sarah Harris in 1684, 1685, and 1686. Some of these editions may have been pirated, whereas others may have been more closely affiliated with Woolley herself.

Dutch cuisine was perceived as excessively fatty, particularly in the use of dairy fats. This association is behind the stereotypical depiction of Dutch characters as overweight on the stage, as in the play A Larum for London, or the Siege of Antwerp (1602). Similarly, in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff describes himself as “more than half stewed in grease, like a Dutch dish” (3.5.100-1). The first three recipes presented in this collection are given foreign origins (the following two are listed as French and Scotch, respectively).

The word “rare” frequently appears in recipe books, most often indicating that a recipe is of an uncommonly high quality, as in the subtitle of Woolley’s The Queen-Like Closet; or, Rich Cabinet Stored with All Manner of Rare Receipts (1670).

“To please, gratify, delight” (OED).

Charles III, Duc di Crequi was a French nobleman, and Lorenzo Mancini was an Italian nobleman who served at the French court and was married to the sister of Cardinal Jules Mazarin.

Ahab is depicted as a corrupt king of Israel in the Old Testament Book 1 Kings.

Thomas Pride, army officer and regicide (DNB).

A pregnant woman. Pregnant women were thought to crave apricots. See John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, 2.1.65-7.

Hoisted. Meteors were thought to be composed of fatty vapors given off by soil and drawn up into the sky by the heat of the sun, which then ignited them before they fell back down to earth in flames.

A failed plot led by Miles Sindercombe to assassinate Cromwell in 1657.

“Dealing out or distribution of gifts; esp. of food or money given in charity” (OED).

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I.e., “jackdaw,” meaning a kind of crow; also a word for a greedy, hoarding person (OED).

Water stairs, or watermen’s stairs, were stairs that led into the Thames where watermen would pick up and drop off the passengers they ferried across the river.

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Deduction.

Philip Jones was a politician and army officer who was made comptroller of Cromwell’s household in 1657 (DNB).

The Roman emperor Vespasian supposedly said this (“the smell of money is sweet, whatever the source”) when criticized for a tax on public latrines.

I.e., “kitchen stuff,” meaning “waste produced in cooking food; esp. fat that has melted and dripped from meat during roasting . . . Frequently with reference to the sale of this fat as a waste product, e.g. as tallow for candles or soap” (OED). Elizabeth Cromwell is so cheap that she begrudges the kitchen staff this commonly allowed practice, which had been permitted by Queen Henrietta Maria.

“Paying of attention, attendance” (OED).

Juvenal, Satires, 11.138-41.

Latin for “carving schools.”

Carving meat was taken very seriously. There were carving schools that taught people how to do it using wooden models of joints of meat.

“A diminution, a lessening” (but perhaps also playing on the word’s military sense as “a line of defense”) (OED).

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As Lord Protector, Cromwell waged the Anglo-Spanish War against Spain (1654-1660). He attacked Spanish territories in the West Indies.

That is, Elizabeth Cromwell claimed that she returned the peas because they were too rich, fancy, and expensive rather than because she was too cheap to pay what they were worth.

A silver or gold coin bearing the imprint of a crown (OED). Worth 5 shillings (less than an angel).

“Gold coin issued in England between 1465 and 1642, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon” (OED). Worth 10 shillings.

This story takes place in the summer after Oliver was made Lord Protector in December of 1653.

“Traffic, trade; buying and selling, dealing” (OED).

A low cart without sides used for carrying heavy loads: esp. that used by brewers (OED). The author compares the ladies of Cromwell’s court to rolling barrels.