by Francine Segan Introduction by Patrick O'Connell Photographs by Tim Turner Saturday, May 8, 2004 "It was hard to miss the peacock in the ballroom of the Pierre Hotel…but the main attraction on Monday night…was the food, all updated versions of Elizabethan recipes by Francine Segan, author of Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook (Random House, 2003) and the culinary advisor for the evening." April 2, 2004 "Ms. Segan, like some historically minded chefs and cookbook authors, is willing to sacrifice some authenticity for popular appeal. In a recipe for Cornish game hens with sage she instructs readers to use an oven rather than boil the meat in a cheesecloth. She also substitutes marjoram for the herb hyssop, popular in the Tudor era but hard to find in the U.S. these days. Sometimes it takes more than switching a few spices to save a dish from the culinary compost heap. In her recipe for "courage tart," a sweet-potato-and-apple pie widely used as an Elizabethan aphrodisiac, Ms. Segan excluded sparrow brain. And she decided against a chapter on how to cook "head of beast."
	©2006 Francine Segan. All rights reserved.