The Accomplisht Cook was first published in 1660 and this is a facsimile of the 1685 edition. Robert May was cook to the aristocracy of Royalist England; born in the year of the Armada; trained by his own father, then by powerful patrons in Paris; before apprenticeship in London with the cook to the Star Chamber. In the course of a long life, working almost exclusively for fellow Catholics and Royalists, he absorbed all the most fashionable tendencies at large in the kitchens of England.

In a cocktail of anecdote and lore, this work combines scientific catalogue of edible marine creatures with recipes drawn from the Atlantic shores.

'Mediterranean Seafood' covers more than 150 species of fish as well as crustaceans, molluscs and other marine creatures and features 200 simple, traditional recipes from countries around the Mediterranean.