King Richard II's recipe book goes online

The Forme of Curry was written in 1390 in middle english containing over 200 recipes used in the royal court. It is an extremely rare manuscript that the library of Oxford are about to digitally copy and put online for all to see. Luckily for you, I've found a great text only version of this book and surprisingly, middle english isn't that hard to read - not as bad as Beowulf at least. Here's a recipe for cooking geese: (seems the middle aged people loved a hot pot):

GEES IN HOGGEPOT [1]. XXXI.

Take Gees and smyte hem on pecys. cast hem in a Pot do þerto half
wyne and half water. and do þerto a gode quantite of Oynouns and
erbest. Set it ouere the fyre and couere [2] it fast. make a layour
of brede and blode an lay it þerwith. do þerto powdour fort and serue
it fort.

The Introduction to the book written in 1780 made some great observations of what our Anglican ancestors ate around roman times:

The Aborigines of Britain, to come nearer home, could have no great expertness in Cookery, as they had no oil, and we hear nothing of their butter, they used only sheep and oxen, eating neither hares, though so greatly esteemed at Rome, nor hens, nor geese, from a notion of superstition. Nor did they eat fish. There was little corn in the interior part of the island, but they lived on milk and flesh [11]; though it is expressly asserted by Strabo that they had no cheese [12]. The later Britons, however, well knew how to make the best use of the cow, since, as appears from the laws of _Hoel Dda_, A.D. 943, this animal was a creature so essential, so common and useful in Wales, as to be the standard in rating fines, &c. [13].

More interestingly is the sheer range of exotic spices available to the royal court. Here's a sauce that uses galangal, a spice that really only became widely known here with the interest in Thai cooking:

SAWSE MADAME. Take sawge. persel. ysope. and saueray. quinces. and peeres [1], garlek and Grapes. and fylle the gees þerwith. and sowe the hole þat no grece come out. and roost hem wel. and kepe the grece þat fallith þerof. take galytyne and grece and do in a possynet, whan the gees buth rosted ynowh; take an smyte hem on pecys. and þat tat [2] is withinne and do it in a possynet and put þerinne wyne if it be to thyk. do þerto powdour of galyngale. powdour douce and salt and boyle the sawse and dresse þe Gees in disshes and lay þe sowe onoward.

Which in modern english reads: Take sage, parsley, hyssop and savoury, quinces and pears, garlic and grapes, and stuff the geese with them. Sew the hole so that no grease comes out, and roast them well, and keep the dripping that falls from them. Take galyntyne [sauce or jelly of meat juices] and grease and add to a posset; when the geese be roasted enough, take and smite [cut] them into pieces, and that which is within and add to a posset and put wine in it if it be too thick. Add powder of galingale, powder-douce and salt, and boil the sauce and dress the geese in dishes and put the sauce on them.) If you love food and history, grab a coffee and spend half an hour skipping through the text version of this amazing book. Once again in the introduction there's an amazing detail of the various spices used at the time, the entry for sugar shows just how intricate the trade routes were back in the middle ages:

Sugar, or Sugur [103], was now beginning here to take place of honey; however, they are used together, No. 67. Sugar came from the Indies, by way of Damascus and Aleppo, to Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and from these last places to us [104]. It is here not only frequently used, but was of various sorts, as _cypre_, No. 41. 99. 120. named probably from the isle of Cyprus, whence it might either come directly to us, or where it had received some improvement by way of refining. There is mention of _blanch-powder or white sugar_, 132. They, however, were not the same, for see No. 193. Sugar was clarified sometimes with wine [105]. Spices. _Species_. They are mentioned in general No. 133, and _whole spices_, 167, 168. but they are more commonly specified, and are indeed greatly used, though being imported from abroad, and from so far as Italy or the Levant (and even there must be dear), some may wonder at this: but it shouid be considered, that our Roll was chiefly compiled for the use of noble and princely tables; and the same may be said of the Editor's MS. The spices came from the same part of the world, and by the same route, as sugar did. The _spicery_ was an ancient department at court, and had its proper officers. As to the particular sorts, these are, Cinamon. is the Italian _Canella_. See Chaucer. We have the flour or powder, No. 20. 62. See Wiclif. It is not once mentioned in Apicius. Macys, They are used whole, No. 158. and are always expressed plurally, though we now use the singular, _mace_. See Junii Etym. Cloves. No. 20. Dishes are flourished with them, where we have _clowys gylofres_, as in our Roll, No. _Powdour gylofre_ occurs 65. 191. Chaucer has _clowe_ in the singular, and see him v. Clove-gelofer. Galyngal, 30. and elsewhere. Galangal, the long rooted cyperus [106], is a warm cardiac and cephalic. It is used in powder, 30. 47. and was the chief ingredient in _galentine_, which, I think, took its name from it. Pepper. It appears from Pliny that this pungent, warm seasoning, so much in esteem at Rome [107], came from the East Indies [108], and, as we may suppose, by way of Alexandria. We obtained it no doubt, in the 14th century, from the same quarter, though not exactly by the same route, but by Venice or Genoa. It is used both whole, No. 35, and in powder, No. 83. And long-pepper occurs, if we read the place rightly, in No. 191. Ginger, gyngyn. 64. 136. alibi. Powder is used, 17. 20. alibi. and Rabelais IV. c. 59. the white powder, 131. and it is the name of a mess, 139. quare whether _gyngyn_ is not misread for _gyngyr_, for see Junii Etym. The Romans had their ginger from Troglodytica [109].