Thursday, January 29, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 163 Capons of Hyee Grece Rostyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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163. Capons of Hyee Grece Rostyd
Take a capon of hyghe grece scall hym draw hym at the vent & draw his lyver & his gysere at the gorge & take his lef of grece & percelley & a lytyll ysope & roosemary & a lefe or two of sage & do hem to the grece & hew all to geder & do to hard yolkes of eyron cromyd small & reysons of corauns good pouder saforn & salt medyll thes to gedyr & fas with thes youre capons broch hym loike he be stanch at the vent & at the gorge that the safron go nott out roste hym longe with sokyng kepe the grece that falleth & base hym ther with & kepe hym moyst till thu serve hym forth sauce hym with gyngour as thu doist a nothir.

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This recipe is a match for recipe 98 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To rost capon or gose tak and drawe his leuer and his guttes at the vent and his grece at the gorge and tak the leef of grece parsly ysope rosmarye and ij lengs of saige and put to the grece and hew it smale and hew yolks of eggs cromed raissins of corans good poudurs saffron and salt melled to gedure and fers the capon there withe and broche hym and let hym be stanche at the vent and at the gorge that the stuffur go not out and rost hym long with a soking fyere and kep the grece that fallithe to baist hym and kepe hym moist till ye serue hym and sauce hym with wyne and guingere as capons be.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

The Wagstaff version is missing a few words, along with the option of cooking goose, and seems to be a bit confused.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Another Response

Last night I received another email from Crystal ceder. This one was longer (though it was still "formatted" in one big block of text) and made a number of statements that I think are worthy of discussing.  I have summarized them below:

1. She got the recipes from "an anonymous source" and was not aware they were from my MedievalCookery.com. 
2. A friend of hers sent her the recipes to put together in a book. 
3. She just visited MedievalCookery.com and found my recipes came from "multiple cookbooks" but are published under my name. 
4. I claim the recipes as being my own work. 
5. She has seen the recipes on other sites presented as the work of others. (stated twice)
6. She got "many of those recipes from a friend" 
7. She incorrectly assumed that her friend had the legal rights to the recipes. 
8. The book will be removed. (stated twice)
9. Copyright for cookbooks is complicated. 
10. Recipes aren't usually original, and are versions of other recipes or are original. 
11. She is sorry I think the recipes were taken from MedievalCookery.com. 
12. She wasn't making any money off the cookbook anyways. (stated twice)
13. Her friend may have taken the recipes from other sites. 
14. It's not worth emailing back and forth because she's resolved the issue. 
15. She didn't take the recipes from MedievalCookery.com. 
16. The issue is resolved.

First, having read through all three of her emails multiple times, I must say I'm confused about the origin of her book. Her friend, who is an anonymous source, sent her the recipes to put into a book, that Crystal would sell as her (Crystal's) favorite medieval recipes. Either Crystal has trouble organizing her thoughts or her friend is the invisible type that one makes in childhood.

Next there are the statements that suggest the recipes could have been taken from some other source. How about I provide examples of what makes me think they're from my website and let you decide.

Here is the first recipe in her book ...


... and here is a recipe from my website ...


Here is the second recipe in her book...


... and here is a recipe from my website ...


Note how the ingredients, the instructions, and the color text match up exactly. Also note the words "Emma's Day Tart" in the Ember Day Tart recipe.  Emma is my wife's name in our medieval reenactment group.

I think that's pretty clear.  For all 18 of the recipes in the book there is an exact 1-to-1 correspondence to a recipe on my website, and in all cases the wording of the ingredients, the instructions, and the color text are identical - not similar, not close, but completely the same. Whenever I had a photo to go along with a recipe, that photo is included in the book.

As an aside, here's a portion of the book's introduction ...


... and here's an answer from a Yahoo! Answers page on the question "What did Kings eat in the Medieval Ages?" ...


See the part that I circled in red?  That's the result of Yahoo! erroneously censoring the word "cock". Note that I make no claim that I wrote this text (the poster copied it from a book and noted the source at the end). I just think it's pretty funny for someone to steal an entire book intro and not clean up typos from the source.

As to Crystal's repeated claims that she's seen the recipes on other websites, and the implication that I've stolen them from other sites, there is a possibility of the former but not of the latter. I have been very careful to get permission and give credit any time MedievalCookery.com is hosting recipes written by someone else.

I have come across situations where my recipes have been posted to recipe-sharing websites. When that happens I have sent copyright violation notices to the site and had the recipe removed. Occasionally I'll receive a request to reprint a recipe, but in those cases I always require full credit and a link to the original be provided.

To be fair, there are parts of the recipes on my website that are someone else's work, and which will often show up all over the web. Those parts are the original source material I based my work upon, all of which were published hundreds of years ago and are now in the public domain. It is interesting to note though that I always identify where the source material came from - it's an important aspect of research that allows others to evaluate how closely I've re-created the medieval dish. Take a look back at those screen shots. See the part that's marked "Source:"?  Do you see the same thing in Crystal's book?

I'll be writing another blog post soon about medieval recipes, copyright, and public domain sources (this post is already way too long) that will address Crystal's statements on the subject. Maybe she will read it. Hopefully she won't copy it into a book.


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 162 Fylets of Porke Endoryd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

162. Fylets of Porke Endoryd
Rost fylets of porke endore hem with the same bature as thu dedist chikenes turnyng about on the spite & serve hem forth.

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This recipe is a match for recipe 97 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To dight felettes of pork tak and rost felettes of pork and endor them with the same bater ye did the chekins and rost them and serue them.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

That being said, the instructions from the Wagstaff version are actually much closer to those in the following recipe from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.
ffelettes of Porke endored. Take ffelettes of porke, and roste hem faire, And endore hem with the same batur as thou doest a cheke as he turneth aboute the spitte, And serue him forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

Monday, January 26, 2015

Julie Smith Responds!

I just received two short emails from Crystal ceder [sic] (a.k.a. "Julie Smith" ?), and as I suspected, she doesn't seem to think she did anything wrong.

Update:  I originally posted the entire text of Crystal's emails, but after checking on the copyright laws regarding emails I decided that doing so was iffy in both legal and ethical terms. So I've replaced the content of her messages in this post with the gist of the communication.

-=-=-

Subject: no subject
From: Crystal ceder
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2015 12:43 pm 
[Crystal stated that she received the recipes by email from "a friend" and created the medieval cookbook as a favor for her. She also seemed to feel that she was being punished unfairly. She then went on to say that my recipes would be removed from the cookbook when her account was reinstated. Note that I never asked Amazon to block her account, but only that the book be removed from their catalog. Finally, Crystal stated that I copied some of the recipes from other sources, but did not go into specifics.]

-=-=-

Subject: RE:
From: "Daniel Myers"
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2015 1:30 pm 
Hi Crystal, 
I'm really curious which of the recipes you think aren't mine. I still
have the copy of your ebook, and the ingredients and method for every
single recipe were taken directly from my website. Please let me know
which sources you think the recipes came from as they may also be
violating my copyright. 
The fact that you did this for a friend does not make any difference.
The fact that someone emailed something to you does not make it
copyright free, and presenting the work of others as being your own is
plagiarism. 
Regards, 
Daniel Myers
MedievalCookery.com

[a list of recipes from her cookbook and my corresponding web pages followed - they can be seen in my previous post on this matter]

-=-=-

Subject: no subject
From: Crystal ceder
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2015 12:46 pm 
[Crystal's second email took the form of a brief postscript to the first. She said she'd looked through my website and that many of my recipes were stolen from other "medieval cookbooks". Again she did not provide specifics. She then implied that I was being hypocritical for saying what she did was wrong.

-=-=-

Subject: RE:
From: "Daniel Myers"
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2015 1:34 pm 
Hi again, 
I'm very surprised to hear you say that. Can you provide an example of
which recipe you think is stolen?  
What made your situation wrong was that you plagiarized by presenting
someone else's work as your own and that you violated copyright laws by
including copyrighted material without permission. 
Regards, 
Daniel Myers
MedievalCookery.com

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 161 Chikenes Endoryd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

161. Chikenes Endoryd
Scall chykenes draw out the brest bone with thy fynggers save the flesch & the skyn hole rost hem till tham be therow then endore hem with yolkes of ayron when the endoryng ys save & hard let hem rost no more endore kydes in the same maner.

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This recipe is a match for recipe 96 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To mak chekyns endort tak chekyns and skald them and tak out the brest bone and saue the skyn hole then rost them till they be enoughe and endore them with yolkes of eggs and when the endoringe is stiff let them rost no more also ye may rost kidde and endore them in the same manner.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

There is also another version in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.
Chike endored. Take a chike, and drawe him, and roste him, And lete the fete be on, and take awey the hede; then make batur of yolkes of eyron and floure, and caste there-to pouder of ginger, and peper, saffron and salt, and pouder hit faire til hit be rosted ynogh.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

The instructions in Wagstaff and Noble for removing the breast bone and saving the skin are unusual. I suppose removing the skin might help the batter stick, but why save the skin whole and why remove the breast bone?

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 160 Chikenes Farsyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

160. Chikenes Farsyd
Scall chikens breke the skyne at the necke byhynd & blow hym at the skyn a ryse fro the flesch draw hem chop of the heddys wesch hem take farsure of fat porke sodyn pekyd & hewyd small with yolkes of eyron & hard yolkes cromyd small safron & salt do to gedyr & fasse youre chikens ther [f.74r] with by twyne the flesch & the skyn & blonge hem in hote broth then make hem smoth with thy the safron lye undyr the skyn then perboyle hem a lytyll & rost hem yf wilte endore hem & serve hem forth or els serve hem as they ben.

-=-=-

There is a related recipe in Ancient Cookery.
Farsure for chekyns. Take fressh porke, and fethe hit, and hew hit smal, and grinde hit wel; and put therto harde zolkes of egges, and medel hom wel togedur, and do therto raifynges of corance, and pouder of cancl, and maces, and quibibz (cubebs), and of clowes al hole; and colour hit with saffron, and do hit into the chekyns; and then parboyle hom, and roste, and endore (baste) hom with rawc zolkes of egges, and fiaume hom if hit be nede, and serve hit forthe.  [Ancient Cookery, (England, 1425)]

The Wagstaff recipe seems slightly confused, so this might be a combination of two or more recipes. The use of the word "plunge" ("blonge") instead of parboil is a bit strange.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 159 The Syde of a Dere of His Grece


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

159. The Syde of a Dere of His Grece
Wesch hem do a wey the felets do hem on a broch scorch hem ovyr twarte & aghenne crosse wyse in the same maner of losyngys in the flesch syde rost hym take hym redde wyn poudyr of gynger poudyr of pepyr & salt & bast hit till hit be thorow have a chargeour under neth & kepe the fallyng & bast hit ther with a gene then take hit of & smyte hit as the lyst & serve hit forth.

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This recipe is a match for recipe 95 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
The sid of high grece tak and wesche it and do away the feletes put them on a broche and stoche them out whart and crose wyse in the manner of lesenges of the flesshe sid rost them then tak red wyne pouder of pepper and salt and boille it till it be enoughe and set a plater under to kep that fallithe and baist it ther with against the fyere then tak it of and smyt it as ye list and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

The odd thing about the Noble version is that it completely omits any reference to deer or venison in the title.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Theft by Cut and Paste

I don't understand people.

What makes someone think that it's acceptable to take a bunch of copyrighted stuff from the internet and use it to make an e-book to sell on Amazon.com?

They have to know what they're doing is wrong, don't they?  I mean, part of the process of e-publishing involves checking a box that says you have the rights to publish the submitted material. Are they too dumb to understand the basic concept of intellectual property and copyright?

In this particular case, Royal Kitchen: medieval recipes, by julie smith consists almost entirely of recipes and images copied directly from my website.  The "author" didn't even take the time to edit the material. Cut, Paste, Published!



So here's the thing, you want to see exactly what's in this book? No problem. Here, I'll give it to you for free:
Introduction 
Blancmanger 
Ember Day Tart 
Cormarye 
Pegions Stewed 
Mawmeny 
Pety Pernauntes 
Chike endored 
Rice Lombard 
Pigge or Chiken in Sauge 
Onion and Parsley Salad 
Pynade 
Quynces or Wardones in Paast 
Applemoyse 
A Dishe of Artechokes 
Peach Tart 
To Make Pyes 
Humbles of a Deere 
Conserve of Orenges

Other than four short sentences added at the end of the intro, that's the entire book.  Hey!  I just saved you $3.99.

I won't post the link to Amazon though because it would be pointless. They tend to pull down stuff like this pretty quickly after being notified.


[Update - 1/19/2015:  I just got an email from Amazon saying that the book in question is being pulled from all of their websites. - DMM]

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 158 Venyson Rostyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

158. Venyson Rostyd
Take feyre felets cut a wey the skyn perboyle hem that they be styffe thorow lard hem with salt put hem in small brothes rost hem yf hit be nedd thu may baste hem take hem cut hem in brodd leches ley hem in dysches strew on poudyr of gyngour & salt do with buttes of venyson in the same maner & serve hem forth.

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This recipe is a match for recipe 94 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To rost venison tak feletes of venyson bound and cutt away the skyne and parboile it and let it be throughe stiff then lard it with salt and put it on a smale broche and rost it and if it be ned leche it abrod in leskes and lay them in a dysshe and strow on pouder of guinger and salt, and ye may do with buttes of venyson in the same manner.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 157 Vele Rostyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

157. Vele Rostyd
Take fayre brestys of veele perboyle ham lard hem rost hem & serve hem forth.

-=-=-

There is a closely related recipe in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.
Vele rosted. Take faire brestes of vele, And parboyle hem, And larde hem, And roste hem, And then serue hem forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

It is odd that, given the long run of 12 duplicated recipes in the same sequence, this short entry was left out of A Noble Boke off Cookry.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 156 Kyd Rostyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

156. Kyd Rostyd
Take a kyd slit the sknyn at the throte & seke the veyne in both sydes of the gorge & cut hit in two slit hit in both sydes & put both the furthir leggys & the hyndys ther yn to gedyr in both the sydes a lyttyl pryke the vont to gedyr perboyle hym lard hym serve hym forth with sauce gyngour.

-=-=-

This recipe is a match for recipe 93 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To rost a kyd tak and slit of the skyn at the throt and seche for the vanys on bothe sides the gorge and cut them and slit them and put there in bothe the forelegs and the hinder leggs bothe sides eliche and prik them and parboile hem and rost them and lard them and serue them with sauce guinger.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

There is also a related recipe in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.
Kede rosted. Take a kydde, and slytte the skyn in the throte, And seke the veyne, and kut him, and lete him blede to deth; and fle him, And larde him, And trusse his legges in the sides, and roste him, And reyse the shuldres and legges, and sauce hit with vinegre and salte.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

While the instructions in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books seem a bit clearer, I find it interesting that it calls for vinegar and salt instead of ginger sauce.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 155 Woodcok Rostyd


Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

-=-=-

155. Woodcok Rostyd
Sle hym as a snyte pull hym drye or els breke his backe & kepe his scull hole draw hym as a snyte put his byll thorowgh his thyes rost hym reyse his leggys & his whyngys as of a henne & no sauce but salt.

-=-=-

This recipe is a match for recipe 92 from A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To rost a wodcok tak and sley him as a snyet and pulle hym dry or brek his bak but kep his skull hole and drawe hym as a snyt and put his bille through bothe hys sides then rost hym and raise his leggs and his wings as a hen and no sauce but salt.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

There is also a related recipe in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.
Wodekok. Take a wodecok, and sle him as the plouer; pul him dry, or elles breke his bakke, And lete the sculle be hole; drawe him, And kutte of his winges by the body, and turne vp the legges as thou doest of a crane; put his bill thorgh bothe his thighes; roste him, And reise his legges And his winges, as thou doest of all maner of other clouen fote fowle.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]