The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened

by Kenelm Digby

Newly edited with Introduction; Notes; and Glossary by Anne MacDonell

Genres: Nonfiction, 17th Century, Cooking, Reference, Food and Drink, Elizabethan Period, Cookbooks

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1669

About the author

Sir Kenelm Digby was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist.

Digby published in 1638, A Conference with a Lady about choice of a Religion; in 1644 he published together two major philosophical treatises, The Nature of Bodies and On the Immortality of Reasonable Souls; in 1661, Discourse Concerning the Vegetation of Plants. Digby is known for the publication of a cookbook, The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Knight Opened, but it was actually published by a close servant, from his notes, in 1669, several years after his death. It is currently considered an excellent source of period recipes, particularly for beverages such as mead.

Reviews

[Robert Burr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a cookbook written by George Patton or Mike Hoare and you have some sense of this work by Sir Kenelm Digby, scholar, poet, Royalist soldier, mercenary, secret agent, and gourmet. The seventeenth century style makes things difficult for modern cooks used to exact measurements and lacking, say, chunks of ambergris (though there are several good books out there which update some of Digby's recipes), but entirely worth it for the anecdotes, blatant name-dropping, and generally chatty style. Digby is also unusually exact in some of his preparation instructions, so the reader gets a pretty good idea of how a seventeenth century cook got things done. Highly recommended.

[Jelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully comprehensive 17th-century recipe collection that offers the reader an insight into late medieval cookery (and drinking, since nearly half of the recipes are for mead making). Many recipes are remarkably recognisable today. Moreover, due to the detailed instructions and extensive ingredient lists, the adventurous home cook could easily recreate many of these dishes. Has anyone tried the dressed lampreys yet?

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection or recipes, particularly relating to mead.