Timothy Stanley

"Chefs searching for an authentic medieval way to roast a porpoise can now look up the recipe online," the BBC reported yesterday. The John Rylands Library on Deansgate is a stunning cathedral to learning in Manchester. It also holds a number of quirky manuscripts which occasionally gain a bit of media attention. Such was the case with a fifteenth century cookbook compiled by master chefs of King Richard II. It seems the British love affair with "cury" goes back even farther than thought. If you've a way to access it, here's a link to the digitized copy of the book available on Eighteenth Century Collections Online via Gale.