Cook the past. Taste history.
A curated collection of recipes from medieval manuscripts, Depression-era pamphlets, and Victorian household books, each translated into modern measurements and techniques with notes on the world that shaped every dish.
Browse by Era
Select an era to explore recipes from that period. Each recipe includes the original text, a modernized version, and notes on ingredients and context.
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Historical recipes call for ingredients that are hard to find, no longer produced, or no longer considered safe. This guide covers the most common substitutions used across all recipes on this site.
| Historical Ingredient | Modern Substitute | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rose water | Rose water (available in Middle Eastern grocery stores or baking aisles) | Use sparingly. A little goes a long way in both historical and modern cooking. |
| Sack (sherry) | Dry sherry or medium-dry white wine | Sack was a term for fortified wine from Spain. Dry sherry is the closest modern equivalent. |
| Suet | Vegetable suet or cold butter, grated | Suet is beef fat. Vegetarian suet is widely available. Cold butter works in most baking recipes. |
| Treacle (blackstrap) | Molasses (not blackstrap) | Historical treacle was less bitter than modern blackstrap molasses. Use regular molasses. |
| Mace | Ground mace or nutmeg | Mace is the lacy covering of nutmeg seed. Nutmeg is an acceptable substitute in most recipes. |
| Claret | Dry red wine (Bordeaux or Cabernet) | Claret was the English term for red wine from Bordeaux. Any dry red wine works. |
| Pearl barley | Pearl barley (still available in most grocery stores) | No substitution needed. Look in the grain or soup aisle. |
| Caudle (ale-based drink) | Warm beer mixed with egg and sugar | Use a mild ale. The historical version was a warm, thickened drink given to the sick. |
| Saltpetre | Do not use. Use pink curing salt (Prague powder #1) instead. | Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) is now regulated. Pink curing salt is the safe modern equivalent for preserved meats. |
| Alum | Do not use. Replace with cream of tartar or lemon juice. | Alum was used as a pickling crispener. Cream of tartar serves the same purpose safely. |
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About This Project
Historical recipes are scattered across archives, use obsolete measurements like "a gill of cream" or "butter the size of a walnut," and assume knowledge of techniques like hearth-temperature estimation that most modern cooks never learned. This reference translates those recipes into cups, grams, minutes, and oven temperatures while preserving the character and context of the original.
Each recipe is drawn from a real historical source. The original text is transcribed as faithfully as possible, including archaic spelling. The modernized version is an interpretive translation. We note where ingredients have been substituted for safety or availability, and we explain the social and economic conditions that shaped each dish.
This project is free to use. Recipes are for home cooking, historical reenactment, and educational purposes. Always follow modern food safety practices.
Last updated: 2026