I used to think I was a fairly adventurous cook.  I’m willing to try new things, especially if they’re nutritious and wholesome... you know, the kinds of things people used to eat.  But I’ve found a recipe I really couldn’t do.

The above text is real.  It’s from a cookbook published in London in 1732 called The Country Houſewife and LADY’S DIRECTOR in the Management of a HOUSE and the Delights and Profits of a FARM. I found it while writing a research paper on how language in cookbooks mirrors development of the English language.  The book has a lot of simple, wholesome and basic recipes.  And then there are a few like this that made me do a double-take. 

Sure, it’s a wholesome recipe.  I bet wild snake meat’s good for you, and the rest is just vegetables.  If you live in, er, viper territory, you could make this a foraged and local meal.  What’s not to like?  (she asked, as she backed carefully out of the kitchen.)

But somehow --- and maybe this is just me --- the idea of eight live hissing vipers staring up at me from the cutting board just doesn’t appeal.  Nor does the idea of skinning a snake alive; I actually like snakes.  I also really don’t like giving them motivation to bite me, and if I were a viper in this situation, I’d feel pretty motivated.  Plus, as Wikipedia helpfully tells us about vipers, “All have relatively long hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom.” 

I think I’ll pass.

So... what’s the oddest recipe you’ve ever seen?  And would you make it at home?

And here, for the curious, is the full recipe.  The letter ſ (not an f) is actually an early version of s.  I love the line about “if they are pretty large.”  I would have started that sentence with “Rethink your decision to make this soup...”

Viper-Soup, 1732

TAKE Vipers, alive, and skin them, and cut off their Heads ; then cut them in pieces, about two Inches in length, and boil them, with their Hearts, in about a Gallon of Water to eight Vipers, if they are pretty large.  Put into the Liquor a little Pepper and Salt, and a Quart of White Wine to a Gallon of Liquor ; then put in ſome  Spice, to your mind, and chop the following Herbs, and put into it:  Take ſome Chervill, ſome white Beet-Cards or Leaves, ſome Hearts of Cabbage-Lettuce, a Shallot, ſome Spinach-Leaves, and ſome Succory.  Boil theſe, and let them be tender ; then ſerve it up hot, with a French Roll in the middle, and garniſh with the raſpings of Bread ſifted, and ſlices of Lemon.

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