Book Review: The Tudor Cookbook: From Gilded Peacock to Calves' Feet Pie Paperback, by Terry Breverton

Available for pre-order from Amazon US 

and Amazon UK

Terry Breverton has clearly enjoyed bringing together over two hundred and fifty recipes from surviving records of the Tudor period. 

He suggests this is a splendid starting point for the adventurous cook - although some are a little alarming by modern standards, such as the secret of how to make a pie from which live birds emerge to delight the diners. (The origin of the nursery rhyme, four and twenty blackbirds.)

This little book is packed with fascinating details of authentic Tudor food. I was intrigued to learn how wide-ranging and exotic many of the ingredients were, showing the extent of medieval global trade. 

There is a useful list of references at the end, although I would have also liked to see an index. I will keep this on my bookshelf as a useful reference book, rather than as a source of recipes.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Terry Breverton was born in Birmingham in 1946 to Welsh parents, and brought up in Wales before attending universities in England. He worked in over twenty countries before moving to acadaemia, lecturing in Milan, Bologna and Wales before escaping into full-time writing. A Fellow of the Institutes of Consulting and of Marketing, he has given the prestigious Bemis Lecture in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and has spoken twice at the National Festival of Wales in America and Canada. He has been awarded the Welsh Books Council's 'Book of the Month' five times. You can find Terry on Facebook. 

(A review copy of this book was kindly provided by Amberley Publishing)