Because I enjoy trying new things, my favorite yearly competition is Atlantia’s Persona Pentathlon. The rules are simple – 5 items in at least 3 categories, all related to a specific persona – but the scope of putting together that many items for a single event makes it a challenge.
In 2007, my entry was inspired by one of its five components – a translation of Le Recueil de Riom. This cookbook was written by an anonymous author in 1466, and I have chosen to conjecture that it was written by a cook, rather than by someone merely interested in food. This would not be unusual; other cooks of the 14th and 15th century wrote down their works (for instance, Maistre Chiquart, head cook to the Duke of Savoy at the turn of the 15th century, wrote an eloquent description of the items needed to produce a feast.) Given this persona, my entry deals almost exclusively with food. Though I didn’t win, I did receive a Silver Nautilus.
The entries are as follows:
- Le Recuil de Riom – A Translation of a 15th Century French Cookbook. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only English translation that has been prepared of this work.
- A calligraphed copy of Le Recueil, in French. This was done in a similar scale and hand to the original manuscript.
- Haricot of Lamb - – This dish was based on recipe 20, Ung haricot de mouton, from Le Recueil.
- A Subtlety. This dish was found not in Le Recueil, but in a contemporary edition of Le Viandier du Taillevent, which shares several recipes with Le Recueil.
- A survey of Cameline Sauces. Cameline sauce was one of the most popular sauces in the medieval French corpus, and was found in various forms. It could even be purchased at a sauce vendor. These sauces, however, varied significantly though they shared a name – I have included several variations that may have been used by the anonymous cook.
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