Per cuocere i detti volatili in brodo lardiero. Cap XCCCII, Scappi
, Secondo libro, folio 56.
Spiumati che saranno asciutti, & privi delli loro interiori, taglinosi
loro il capo, & li piedi, & lavinosi con acqua, & vin bianco.
Colisi la detta lavatura per lo setaccio, & pongasi in un vaso di terra,
o di rame con fette di presciutto, & gola di porco, e spetierie communi,
& prugne, & visciole secche, & cime di slavia, & mosto
cotto, o zuccar0, & uva passa, o zibibbo, & nel detto vaso si pongano
i detti volatili, facendo che stiano coperti di brodo, & dapoi turisi
il vaso, & facciasi bollire su le bragie lontano dalla fiamma.
Et cotti che che saranno servanosi con le medesime compositioni sopra.
To cook the said birds in broth flavored with bacon. Scappi,
Chapter 292, 2nd book, page 56.
Pluck them dry and take out the innards, cut of their head and feet
and wash them with water and white wine. Strain the washing liquid
through a sieve and put into a ceramic or copper pan with slices of ham
and pork jowl, common spices, dried plums and cherries, fresh sage leaves,
cooked reduced grape must (saba) or sugar, dried currants or dried sultanas.
Into this pan one adds the said birds, making sure that they are covered
with broth, and then seal the pan, and put it to boil on the coals around
the fire, a long way from flame. And when it is cooked one can serve
it with the same things as given above.
Note: in the recipe above you are told to serve roasted birds with pieces of bread bathed with verjuice, and cooked must (saba) over them.
Minestra d’aliette di pollastro. Epulario pg 25
Si pigliono l’ali de’pollastri, cioè tutta l’alia fino alla
spalle et si lavono et si nettono et si mettono a bollire con prosciutto,
acqua et sale e pepe, quando sono mezze cotte vi si mette erbuccie battute,
agresto sodo, canella et grofani e si servono col brodo con fette di pane
sotto.
Dish of chicken wings. Epualrio pg 25
One takes the wings of chickens, that is all of the wings finishing
at the shoulders, and wash them and clean them and put them to boil with
ham, water salt and pepper. When they are half cooked on adds to
it chopped herbs, boiled verjuice, cinnamon and cloves and one serves with
the broth with slices of bread beneath.
Note: there is no fruit called for in this recipe, but it is more of a soup than the more stew like preparation in the first recipe.
Cockerels boiled with Verjuice. The Neapolitan Recipe collection
pg 182.
They should be boiled with salt pork; when they are half cooked, get
whole verjuice grapes and cut them in half, remove the seeds and put the
grapes to cook with the cockerels; when cooked, add in finely chopped parsley,
and pepper and saffron’ after this is cooked, serve it up with fine spices
on top.
Note: not my translation. This recipe is mostly a stew, but there are common elements that can be used in a prospective recipe.
Piccioni in coppo. Romoli , quinto libro, Cap LII, folio 150.
Pigliate i piccioni domestici teneri & grassi, & quando saran
pelati, voti & levati, serbate i fegati loro, poi tagliate i piccioni
in quattro pezzi, fategli soffriggere con strutto, col grasso d’una rignonata
di vitella col rignone, & battete minutamente ogni cosa con coltelli,
poi mettetegli à soffriggere con i piccioni, & pigliate un pezzo
di sommatta, & fatela bolire alquanto, tagliatela poi in fette, &
mettevela dentro, mettavisi delle prune, zibibi, persiche secche, &
spichi di pere cotogne con un poco di vino, mosto cotto, & agresto,
pepe, garofoli, & pignuoli, & quando saran quasi cotti, farete
un pasticcio alto alla Francese, & mettavisi dietro ogni cosa non molto
brodoso: vi metterete poi di sopra un poco di zuccaro & cannella, &
farete il coperchio, come una crostata, ò pasticcio sfogliato, &
cosi lo cuocerete nel forno che non sia rovente, overo in un fornello di
rame: & perche non ve ne scordaste, mettanvisi dentro i suoi fegatini.
Pigeons in a cup. Romoli, 5th book, chapter 52, page 150.
Take domestic pigeons that are tender and fat, and when they are plucked,
cleaned and washed, keep their livers. Cut the pigeons in four pieces
and put them to fry with lard. Take the suet fat from veal kidney
with the kidney chop these things together with a knife, then put them
to fry with the pigeons. Take a piece of salted pork belly, boil
it sufficiently and then cut into slices, and put it in with the other
ingredients. Put within prunes, raisins, dried peaches and bits of
quince pears with a little bit of wine, cooked grape must, verjuice, pepper,
cloves and pine nuts. When it is half cooked make a high pastry in
the French style, and put everything within, but not too much broth, and
dust it above with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon. Make the lid
as you would a “crostata” or layered pie. And thus you cook everything
in an oven that is not too hot, or in a mini oven (one that works on a
fire) of copper, and so that they don’t scorch (overcook), add into it
at this point it’s livers.
Note: I have to admit I hate the way he writes recipes, the organization is terrible. However, while this is not a soup it is a bird cooked with a lot of fruit.
Starne alla Pollacca. Romoli, quinto libro, Cap LVII, folio 152.
Quando le Starne saran cotte arroste, pigliate de’dattili, prune damaschine,
zibibi, fatgli bollire con vin rosso, sugo di melagrane forti, & mosto
cotto, mettetevi del pepe, cannella, & garofoli. Quando saran
ben cotte, aprite alle Starne il petto & le coscie, & cosi calde,
mettasene una per piatto, & di sopra i dattili, & le prune stufate
con cannella, ò zuccaro di sopra. Potrete con simil modo cuocer
le Beccacie, Piccioni di ghianda, Tortore, & Palombelle.
Polish style Partridge. Romoli, 5th book, chapter 57, page
152.
When partridge has been cooked by roasting. (For a sauce) take
dates, damask plums, raisins and put them to boil with red wine, strong
sour orange juice and cooked grape must, add to this pepper, cinnamon and
cloves. When this is well cooked, open the breast and the legs of
the partridge and thus hot put one per plate. Above each put the
dates and the plums which have been stewed, with cinnamon or sugar on top.
In the same way one can cook fig pecker, pigeons, turtle doves and doves.
Cosi si preparano i polli. Bockenheym , 16.
Prendili e puliscili bene come si fa solitamente e falli bollire.
Quindi farciscili con uva passa, zafferano e altre spezie dolci e servili
con prezzemolo. E sarà per i nobili.
Note this is an Italian translation of the Latin given below.
Si prepara pullos. Recipe eas, et munda bene ut moris est, et
fac eos bulire. Et tunc mitte intus uva passa, cum zapharano, et
aliis speciebus dulcibus; et mitte petrocilinum ad scutellam. Et
erit pro nobilibus.
This is how one prepares chicken.
Take and clean well as one normally does and put it to boil.
And make it with currants, saffron and other sweet spices and serve with
parsley.
XVII, Affare Romania Libro A, Anonimo Meridionale
Affare romania suffrigi li pulli con lardo et con cipolle et trita
le agmandole non mondate et destempera collu suco del pomo granato acre
et dolce ben forte colando, et mictice poca de acqua de zuccaro et spezie,
et fa bollire poco colli dicti pulli, et mesteca con cucchiaro de ligno
et mictice spezie desopra. Se tu non ai agmandole, mictice ruscio
de ova. Se tu non agi mela granate, fa brodo verde con herbe.
17,To make Romania.
To make romania fry the chicken with lard and with onions and chop
unpeeled almonds and temper them with sour and sweet pomegranate juice
and strain them well, and mix a little water with sugar and spices and
put this to boil for a little with the said chicken, and mix well with
a wooden spoon and put mixed spices above. If you don’t have almonds
add egg yolks. If you don’t have pomegranate, use a broth that is green
with herbs.
Note: the older the recipes get the harder it is to find soup like dishes
and dishes with both fruit and chicken.
Correction posted 7/10/05.
Many thanks to Urtatim for the correction. I originally had the
recipe translated as "To make in the Romanian style". She pointed
out that: This is not "Romanian style". It is just "Romania", the name
of a common dish in Arabic cooking, and refers to the pomegranates in the
sauce - "rumman" = pomegranates, where the Arabic name of the dish is Rummaniya.
There's an essay on this in "Medieval Arab Cookery" by Maxime Rodinson
titled "Romania and other Arabic Words in Italian", pp. 165-182. Other
dishes in the Italian corpus from Arabic cuisine, as noted by Rodinson,
are Lomonia (with limon = lemon, from an Arabic dish, laymuniya), and Sommachia
(with sumac, from a common Arabic dish, Summaqiya).
Per far suppa di diversi frutti freschi libro III, pg 157,
cap CCLX
Piglisi la visciola, o marasca fresca, spiccata del zevolo, & facciasi
cuocere con poco vino, & zuccharo, cannella, & butiro, percioche
fa il sugo da se; & come si vedrà la visciola, o la marasca
crpata, si caverà, & si porrà in piatti con fette di
pane brustolito soffritto nel butiro sotto. Le persiche duraci che
non siano troppo mature si monderanno, & si taglieranno in fette, &
si faranno cuocere nel sugo della vixciola, o marasca con un poco di vin
bianco, zuccaro, cannella, & garofani, & come saranno cotte, però
non disfatte, se ne farà suppa nel medesimo modo delle visciole.
Le prugne apertore non troppo mature, come saranno mondate con l’acqua
calda, o senze, si partiranno in due pezzi. Le damascene & d’altri
sorti si lascieranno intiere, & si sarà levar loro il bollo
con vin bianco, zuccaro, & cannella, & si servirammo in piatti
con fette di pane brustolite, & soffrite sotto, & la decottione
sopra. In questo modo si possono accommodar le lazzarole, & l’abicoccole.
To make broth of various kinds of fresh fruit
Take sweet or sour cherries that have been pitted and put them to cook
in a little wine, sugar, cinnamon and butter. They will release juice
from themselves, and when one sees that the cherries are starting to break
apart take them off (the heat). Serve them in plates with slices
of bread that have been toasted by frying in butter. Hard peaches
that are not too ripe one peels and then slices. Let them cook in
the juice of cherries with a little white wine, sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
When they are cooked, but not disintegrated one makes the dish on sops
the same as for cherries. Apertore plums that are not too mature,
can be peeled with hot water or not, one cuts them in two pieces.
The damask plum and other kinds one can leave intact, and one will lift
their boiling (juice) with white wine, sugar, cinnamon, and one serves
them in plates with fried bread beneath and the sauce above. In this
way one can also prepare Neapolitan medlars or apricots.
Apertore –a specific variety of plum, unknown.
Lazzarole also called lazzerolo and azzerolo. Fruit of the azarole
cherry or Neapolitan medlar, which is really a species of hawthorn, Crataegus
azarolus, also termed Pomo imperiale
Per far suppa di Pere moscarole, & diverse altre pere, &
di Mele appie, & Cotogni. cap 259, folio 157, terzo libro.
Piglinosi le pere moscarole, & nettinosi del lor fiore, & faccianosi
trarre un bollo nell’acqua, & dapoi si facciano cuocere con vino, &
zuccaro pesto, & garofani, & cannella intieri. Et le pere
bergamotte, & riccarde faccianosi brustolire, & dapoi levisi loro
la scorza con vin caldo, in modo che rimangano colorite, & faccianosi
cuocere intere, o in fette, come le pere moscarole, & si puo ancho
far trarre loro un bollo nell’acqua dapoi che saranno brustolite.
Le mele appie, le quali son molto piu tenere delle pere, brustoliscanosi,
& cuocanosi nel modo sopradetto intere o tagliate in fette. Le
mele ruggine vogliono piu cuocitura delle appie, però nel cuocerle
tengasi l’ordine, che si tiene nelle pere bergamotte, & come saranno
cotti li sopradetti frutti, habbianosi fette di pane brustolite, &
accommodate in piatti, & ponganosi sopra li frutti con la decottione.
Nel medesimo modo si possono ancho cuocere i cotogni.
To make soup of “moscarole” pears and many other pears, and “appie”
apples and quince.
Take “moscarole” pears, and clean them from their flowers, and give
them a quick boil in water, and then one puts them to cook with wine and
beaten sugar, cloves and whole cinnamon. And bergamot pears and fuzzy
pears one should toast/grill, and then peel the skins with hot wine, in
the way that they keep the color, and cook them whole or in slices like
“moscarole” pears, and one can also give them a quick boil in water after
they have been toasted. “Appie” apples, which are much more tender
than pears, toast them and cook in the above said way, whole or in slices.
“Ruggine” apples need more cooking than “appie”, however in the cooking
keep the same order that one has for bergamot pears. And when all
the above said fruit are cooked, have slices of toasted bread laid out
in plates, and put above the fruit with the syrup. In the same way
one can also cook quince.
Note: the items in quotation marks are names for specific varieties of the said fruit. Modern equivalents are unknown.
Translations done by Lady Helewyse de Birkestad, CW, November 2003. You may use/ distribute this version for non-profit use only (scholarly, private use) provided that this information is included. Contact me by email at helewyse@yahoo.com.
References
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Scappi, B. (1981). Opera : (dell' arte del cucinare). Reprint.
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