Liber de Coquina

The Liber de Coquina (Latin: The book of cooking/cookery) is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. It survived in two codices from the beginning of the 14th century. Both are conserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris / France.

Contents 1 Description 2 Contents 2.1 Tractatus (part 1) 2.2 Liber de Coquina (part 2) 3 Text 3.1 Manuscripts 3.2 Text Edition 3.3 Digital Versions 3.4 Translations

Description

The text consists of two independent parts cited mostly as Tractatus (part 1) and Liber de Coquina (part 2). The titles are taken from marginal notes by the medieval editor. The authors of either part are unknown. It is believed that the Tractatus has originally been 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

• manuscrits latin # 7131, fol. 94r-99v, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (ca. 1304-1314)
• manuscrits latin # 9328, fol. 129r-139v, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (14th century)

Text Edition

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

Digital Versions

The two parts are available for use for scholarly, private and non-profit purposes at Thomas Gloning’s site:

• http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm
• http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/mul1-tra.htm

Translations

complete Latin-German edition:

• Robert Maier (ed.): "Liber de Coquina - Das Buch der guten Küche", F. S. Friedrich Verlag Frankfurt am Main 2005 ISBN 3-937446-08-7

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