On Food and Cooking

acrid;  mild    yet not insipid;    oily-smooth yet

not greasy.

—   attributed  to  the chef    I   Yin in  the Lü

Shih    Chhun   Chhiu   (Master Lü’s    Spring  and

Autumn  Annals),    239 BCE,    transl. Donald

Harper  and H.  T.  Huang

The Middle Ages: Refinement
and Concentration

We don’t know much about cooking in Europe
between the time of Apicius and the 14th
century, the period from which a number of
manuscript recipe collections survive. In
some respects, sauce making hadn’t changed
much. Medieval sauces often contained many
spices, the mortar and pestle still pounded
ingredients — now including meats and
vegetables — and most of the Roman
thickeners were still used. Bread was most
common, toasted to provide additional color
and flavor, while pure starch was no longer