Thomas Glonings transcription in Italian can be found by clicking here
You may use/ distribute this version for non-profit use only (scholarly, private use) provided that this header is included. Contact me by email at helewyse@yahoo.com
Recipe numbering follows that given in the original. Recipe titles are given in English.
Items in brackets are most appropriate translation of literal translation to left or additional words added to make sense of the text. .
Items with question marks are guesses based on the most likely translation where I have been unable to find a modern equivalent.
* notes at the end of each recipe are personal observations or in many cases comments on word substitutions/translations.
If you find any mistakes or can give a translation for any of the untranslatable words, please contact me and I will make the appropriate correction and post a thank you on the page.
This translation has been polished. Where there are still questions about translations and appropriate word substitutions the rationale has been indicated. The original rough draft can be found here.
II. Ambroyno (sweet food)
To make ambroyno, take a chicken and chop into serving size pieces
(thighs, drumsticks and four breast pieces, bone in), mince onions finely
and fry in clean lard. Add to the pan sweet and strong spices, and
the following spices cut up small: ginger, cloves and grains of paradise.
Continue to fry the mixture. Grind (see note) whole un-peeled almonds,
with verjuice and saffron. When the hen is cooked pour the almond
mixture over and heat through. For three chickens you would use a
pound of almonds.
* There is some question as to whether it is intended for you
to pour ground almonds over the dish or almond milk. The word used
in the original Italian version is maxenare. This could be translated
as macerare, to macerate or macinare, to grind. In several other
recipes following the instruction to maxenare the almonds the instruction
to temper them with clear water and strain is then given, clearly indicating
almond milk. In others no such instructions are given yet the recipe
then asks you to add the milk to the dish, indicating that maxenare means
to macerate the almonds and extract almond milk. Still other recipes
use maxenare in relation to the grinding of spices or other items.
Given this confusion it may be necessary to use a certain amount of discretion.
III. "Agliata", roasted garlic sauce.
Agliata to serve with every meat. Take a bulb of garlic and roast
it under the coals (substitute an oven in the current middle ages).
Grind the roasted garlic and mix with ground raw garlic, bread crumbs and
sweet spices. Mix with broth, put into a pan and let it boil a little
before serving warm.
IV. Ambrosino good and perfect and such.
If you want to make ambrosino for twelve people take 6 lean capons,
2 pounds of almonds, a pound of currants, 1 pound of dates and a pound
of prunes (*1). Also take 1½ of ginger (no measure is
given in the original but ounces seem more likely than pounds), half a
whole nutmeg, cloves, saffron and half a pound of sweet spices. Take
the capons and cut into seven portions each and fry in the clean lard in
a pan. When the capons are well fried add the saffron rubbed, the
nutmeg that has been chopped finely, the cinnamon broken into pieces, whole
cloves, whole peeled almonds, dates, currants and prunes (*2). Add
a large amount of sweet spices and let it cook a little longer. When
it is cooked reduce the heat or remove from the flame. Take unskinned
almonds, grind (see note) and distemper with a little vinegar, strain the
almonds and add the almond milk to the dish, and add to the sauce spices
and enough saffron. This dish should be sharp and sweet and red in
color. Serve in a bowl with powdered spices over it.
*1 - Brognole is translated in Florio as any prune or damson plum, given
the context it is most likely to indicate prunes.
*2 – The ingredient list for this recipe lists currants and prunes
along with the dates. However, there is no mention of them in the
method. Common sense seems to indicate that the dried fruit is added
to the dish at the same point in the cooking process.
V. Blancmange.
If you want to make blancmange for twelve people, take four pounds
of almonds, one pound of rice, four hens (chickens), two pounds of grease
(lard), a pound and a half of sugar and half a quarter (of an ounce) of
cloves. Peel the almonds, reserve some whole, grind the remainder
and prepare almond milk by soaking with clean water and straining.
Take rice that has been hulled, picked over, washed with hot water and
dried and grind to a fine powder and strain. Take the chickens that
have been cut into pieces and boil them a little. Shred the cooked
chicken meat finely and fry gently in the grease. Meanwhile put most
of the almond milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Mix the reserved,
cold, almond milk with the rice flour and allow it soak. When the
almond milk boils mix it with the soaked rice flour and return to the pan.
Boil the rice flour and almond milk together until it thickens, immediately
add the shredded fried chicken and the fat from the pan. Mix this
mixture frequently to prevent burning and sticking and add the sugar.
When the dish is cooked pour into a bowl to serve. Dress the dish
with rosewater, sugar, the reserved almonds that have been fried and cloves.
This dish should be very white like snow and potent with spices.
VI. Chickens with broth
If you want to make chickens with broth. Take chickens and let
them cook in water. Take skinned almonds, grind and mix with the
chicken broth (*) and mix in rose water and verjuice. Take cinnamon,
ginger and cloves, grind half and chop half of each spice. Add these
spices to the almond broth and boil everything together. To serve,
put the chickens in the broth and make sure that everything is hot.
When you serve put sugar over the bowl and it will be a good dish.
* There is no indication in the text that the ground almonds and chicken broth are strained to make almond milk. Hence you may be leaving the ground almonds in the broth.
VII. Good relish for chickens.
To give a good flavor to chickens. Take pomegranates and squeeze
out the juice. Put into the pomegranate juice good sweet spices.
If it seems too strong, mix dill/anise ground (*), or rose water.
Alternatively use the juice of grated sour apples and juice of good sweet
grapes mixed together with enough sweet spices. If you do not have
grapes put in a little honey and let it boil. The spices should taste
raw, not cooked, don’t allow it to cook too much or the sauce will spoil.
* Anexo could be either aneto – dill or anice/anace/anacio – aniseed, but is most likely calling for the use of aniseed based on two observations. The recipe calls for good sweet spices, which applies more to aniseed than dill, and secondly I have seen little or no use of dill in period Italian recipes but a great deal of use of aniseed.
VIII. Sauce thickened with eggs good with partridge
To make a sauce thickened with eggs for partridge. Take almond
milk, egg yolks, saffron, verjuice and sweet spices. Mix all together
and heat gently until the mixture thickens and it will be good.
IX. Carmeline sauce for capon
If you want to make carmeline sauce with capons for 12 people take
six fat capons and three pounds of almonds. Grind together two ounces
of fine spices, long pepper and nutmeg. Boil the capons until cooked
and chill them. Peel, wash and grind the almonds, then temper the
ground almonds with the broth from the capons (strain off the almond milk).
Set this (almond milk) to boil with a little sharp wine and verjuice, add
enough of the ground spices when this sauce has boiled and take from the
fire. Serve the sauce and the capons in separate dishes. Sprinkle
the best spices that you have over the sauce in the serving bowl.
X. Butter of fresh cheese, etc.
If you want to make butter from fresh cheese to make other dishes.
Take six fresh cheeses and mash them very well. When they are mashed
temper with clear cold water. The fat will rise to the surface, scrape
it off with a knife, and then put it into whatever dish that you would
like, and in tarts if you want and it will be good.
XI Almond butter
If you want to make butter of almond fat to make dishes for Friday
or for lent take three pounds of almonds to make a tart or whatever dish
that you want for 12 persons. And this butter you can use to flavor
tartare (a sort of pie made of soaked bread, almonds and sugar) or other
pies. For when one does not eat meat, take the almonds peel, wash
grind well and stamp with clear water. And when it (the almond milk)
has been well strained and pressed put this milk of almonds to boil.
When it has well boiled pour it over a white cloth (that is presumably
suspended to allow liquid to drain away). When the water has strained
below take good knife and scrape (the butter) from the cloth and put it
on the taiero (trencher see note) and use the butter in whatever dish you
want.
* taiero. - Tagliare is to cut, tovalia is a towel. It could actually be trencher or plate which in Italian is taglière.
XII Broth of eggs pure, good and perfect
If you want to make a pure broth take eggs and beat them and add verjuice
and cold water and enough salt. Take broth that you have cooked your
meat or fish or whatever in, and put it in a pan enough that is large enough
and can be stirred easily and put it gentle heat from the coals, and add
the beaten eggs and mix well so that it does not open (curdle), and then
pour into a serving dish and dust with good spices.
XIII Little broth for fish
Take the fish and boil it, then take parsley and walnuts and the crumb
of bread and grind these all together, and take sweet and strong spices
and let it boil altogether (in the fish broth) and put it over the fish
and it is good, perfect etc.
XIV Ciuiro* (civet) or sauce black to ash gray
for boar
If you want to make a black sauce, take meat that is well roasted/cooked
and beat it to a paste in a mortar, and take the middle (no crusts) of
bread and toast until it is black. Soak this toasted bread in vinegar,
break it up and sieve it well and mix it with the shredded meat.
Add long pepper, grains of paradise and ginger and grind these three things
to a smooth paste. Put the above meat paste a sauce made with vinegar
and with lean broth of the meat, and boil this stew/sauce in a pan.
This sauce should be black and strong with spices and sharp with vinegar.
* Ciuiro is actually a term for a specific style of stew, essentially a civet and may be translated as such.
XV Ciuiro/civet or relish for hind (deer, venison)
etc.
If you want to make meat of hind boiled, you can make the stew of the
meat as in the previous recipe and it is good.
XVI Ciuiro/civet for meat of roebuck or of hare
Boil or roast the meat for the best (result) that you want, etc.
Make it in the same way as that given above for the boar. And if
you put this dish hot you want to put it in the sauce and if you want it
cold mix them (together without heating).
XVII Capons or hens stuffed
If you want to make two capons for 12 persons. Take two fresh
cheeses and 12 eggs and take two ounces of sweet spices, half a pound of
fresh lard and take the capons well washed and skinned and let them boil.
When they are well cooked, strip all (of the flesh off) and pull out the
bones and reserve. And beat the meat with some leaves of parsley,
and mint and marjoram, and of the said spices, and the cheese that has
been well mixed to a paste, and enough of the eggs (to bind the paste).
Of these things make a good batter, fine and soft and well yellow, and
good presence of spices. Take chopped (broken up) these bones and
redress each one for it is according that it nails in part of this batter
(reform the meat paste around the bones). And put each in rashers
of pork and fry in lard. And when they are fried, powder with the
said spices. Take strained egg yolks and whites and spices and saffron,
temper with juice of grapes crushed or with verjuice or with the capon
broth, and of this stuff make a good sauce, and put it to boil. Then
you want to put these bones stuffed in this boiling broth, when it is cooked
serve it in a bowl and the capons in platters. This dish should
be a strong yellow (color) and sour with verjuice. If you want to
make it for more persons or for less take the things of this measure by
same proportion.
* the first of several complex recipes. The capons are cooked, mashed, made into a paste with herbs and spices, reformed around the bones (which must be the leg bones), wrapped in rashers and fried in lard. These fritters are then finished in a broth made of eggs, spices and a liquid (verjuice, grape juice or stock). The meat is served on a platter and the sauce in a bowl separately.
XVIII. Civet of hare or of other meat.
If you want a good roast, take the hare or other meat that has been
well washed and cut it into pieces and put them to cook, take bread and
toast till it is black, and put it to soak in vinegar, then take onions
and grate well like cheese, then take the meat and the onions and fry well
in clean lard, take its liver and mix well together the bread and the stuff
(liver) and temper with verjuice and with honey, or with cooked grape must
*, and add the spices and boil everything together. When it is well
boiled put it to chill and it will be good and perfect.
* cocto – can be translated as mosto cotto, or cooked grape must. This ingredient can be found in some gourmet stores often called vin cotto. You can use verjuice + honey or vincotto to give you a sweet/acid blend.
XIX Lamb lungs etc.
If you want to cook lungs of lamb, take the lungs and boil them whole.
Then cut them into thin slices, and make sure that each one does not come
apart from the other (i.e. do not slice all the way through. Then
take good herbs and egg yolks and beat them together and fry them in good
strained lard. When the eggs are fried, mix sweet and strong spices
and powder inside the lungs. Then put the herb/egg mixture into the
lungs between each slice. Wrap the whole thing in a caul or membrane,
and put it into a "rocha di cana fessa"* and let it cook, and it will be
good to eat.
* No accurate translation of "rocha di cana fessa" could be found or
inferred from similar words. From examination of close words it may
be possible to guess at some kind of hollow stone or possibly ceramic vessel.
But this is pure conjecture. Close words are:
Rócca – distaff, name also given to a kind of lamp with a high
stand and to a champagne glass.
Ròcca – word of uncertain origin meaning, fort, tower, chimney-pot,
rock, part of the temporal bone.
Ròccia - rock
Cana – hoariness
Canna – botanical term for cane, pipe or straw, the hollow in any round
thing
Fesso – crack, from fendere
XX Lungs of kid, etc.
And if you want to cook entire lungs of kid, take the lungs and boil
them. Then beat them with a mallet. Then take good herbs and
beaten egg yolks and fry them in lard and put them into the (beaten) lungs,
and grind everything together. Add half a fresh cheese and fine spices
and three eggs, and mix everything together. Then one encloses it
well in a caul or net and then puts this thing into a pan (to fry) and
it is good.
XXI Compost good and perfect.
If you want to make compost, take sumac or dried grapes and aniseed,
coriander and tear into this a little ginger. Add vinegar and mix
everything together well making sure to add enough saffron. Then
take turnips or pears and herbs and break them up gently and let them boil
for a little while, then put the relish (vinegar and spices etc) over (the
cooked pears or turnips).
XXII Sprouts of life/health
If you want to make sprouts of life, take the rounded cabbage sprouts
and boil them for a little while. When they are a par-boiled take
them off the heat and strain away all the water. And then fry them
well in plenty of fat. Take verjuice, parsley, water, spices and
salt and mix them well together before putting them on top (of the sprouts),
and let them boil well together. Then take a little marjoram, temper
it with water and put it above (the dish) and it will be good.
XXIII Cisame (Sweet/sour dish) of whichever fish
you want.
Take the fish and fry it. Take onions which have been boiled
a little and chopped finely, and fry them well. Then take vinegar
and water and whole peeled almonds, currants, strong spices and a little
honey and put everything to boil together (with the onions) and put it
above the (fried) fish.
XXIV Maize dish (Frumenty) good and very useful.
If you want to make frumenty, take the wheat berries, and grind/beat
it well until the husk lifts, then wash it well. Put it to boil in
water, but don’t boil it too much, then pour away the water. Then
add inside the fat of whichever animal you wish, and you want to make sure
that you don’t add too much. Add sweet and strong spices, and saffron,
and if you don’t have wheat then you can take rice, and it will be good.
XXV Mushrooms
If you want to make mushrooms, take dried mushrooms and put them to
soak in hot water and wash them well. Then boil them a little and
make them cook how you want and prefer. Then take onions and herbs
and season with strong and sweet spices, and then add the mushrooms and
fry everything together. Take unpeeled almonds and grind them and
then put on top of the mushroom dish, alternatively you can add verjuice
and it needs to be served hot.
XXVI Magnificent Imperial Fritters
If you want to make Imperial fritters, take the whites of eggs and
slices of fresh cheese. Beat them (the cheese) with the white of
the egg, and add a little bit of wheat flour and whole peeled pine nuts.
Take a frying pan with plenty of grease (oil) and put it to boil (heat)
then make the fritters (fry in the fat). When they are cooked sprinkle
them with plenty of sugar and keep them hot, etc.
XXVII Elderflower fritters, etc.
Take elder flowers and put them to soak in water and let them become
very soft, then take out the flowers and grind them well. Add a little
bit of wheat flour and temper with eggs and with the milk in which you
soaked the flowers. Then have a frying pan with enough oil inside
and fry them. When they are cooked cover them with a trivet (to keep
in the heat) and they are good.
XXVIII White Fritters
To make white fritters. Take almond milk and leaven (yeast) add
flour and blend them together and leave them to raise, then make the fritters.
When they are cooked powder with sugar and they are good.
XXIV Apple fritters for lent.
Take apples and peel them, then cut in the way of the host (thin circular
slices). Make a batter of flour with saffron (and presumably water),
and add currants, and put the apples in this batter; then fry them in sufficient
oil for each. Powder with sugar when they are cooked, etc.
XXX Jelly (aspic) of hens or of fish, called "peverada"
(pepper dish) and good.
If you want to make hens or fish in aspic, take the hens and make them
boil until cooked and then fry them. Take toasted bread and put it
to soak in water, add currants and peeled almonds and paste all this together,
tempering the mixture with mature wine and with vinegar. Add to the
bread mixture all the best spices that you might have powdered and boil
this together in the fat in which you fried the hen. And when it
has boiled serve it above the hen which has been well fried.
XXXI Aspic of whatever meat.
If you want to make a good aspic of every meat: from boar meat take
the ears and the feat and every thing, and capons, and partridge, and thrush
and hair, and roebuck (venison) and pheasant. Take these things and
put them to the fire in liquid which is part water and part vinegar.
When they are boiled and the liquid has been well skimmed add mixed spices,
pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and saffron that have not been ground together.
Adding as much of these things (spices) as is necessary according to the
amount of meat. When the meat is cooked enough remove it (from the
broth) until what remains is the ears or feat because they have little
substance. When all these things have been pulled out (of the broth)
powder all the meat with spices. Take the aspic from the fire and
let it rest. Take saffron and temper it with the gelatin broth.
Arrange the meat into whichever vessel you want, which has been lined with
laurel (bay) leaves, and put into it the jelly, and strain the jelly and
the saffron through a sieve. When it (the jelly broth) has been strained
over the meat, take sweet spices and strain with (more of) the same jelly
and put it above, and it should be nice and red. When you are boiling
the meats add salt when at whichever point you wish. And it will
be good and a good jelly.
XXXII Aspic in another way.
If you want to make aspic, take a weight of cinnamon, an ounce of ginger,
an ounce of long pepper, half a quarter (of an ounce) of cardamom, a quarter
(of an ounce) of cloves, half a quarter (of an ounce) of currants, and
half a quarter of an ounce of nutmeg and grind all these things together.
Then take bread and cut off the crust (keep the crumb), take large hazelnuts
which have been toasted in live coals and mix all these things (spices,
bread and nuts) together. Temper the mixture with fine white vinegar,
then put this sauce to boil together. This is good with trout and
lamprey and with every maritime fish, also with meat, and it is good with
capons and hens, etc.
XXXIII Common good fish aspic
To make aspic of fish for 12 people. Take three large tench,
two ounces of strong and sweet spices together and half a quarter (of an
ounce) of saffron for this. Wash the fish well and put it in the
sun for a little while (to dry?), then put it to boil in part water, part
vinegar. When it is well boiled the first things that you add are
the said spices and saffron. Boil everything well closed and very
slowly. When it is cooked pull it (the fish) out and put it to cool.
Have enough laurel (bay) leaves, well washed and powdered with the said
spices. Then put the fish into a vessel, and let the jelly rest.
You can either boil it with saffron or not. When it (the jelly) is
chilled and a little set pour it over the fish, and add enough spices and
it is done, etc.
XXXIV Perfectly good chopped/battered herbs,
etc.
If you want to make perfect and good chopped herbs *. Take peeled
almonds, grind them and strain them (the milk), and take two ounces of
rice which has been ground to flour. And also take the breast of
a capon (cooked) and pull it into filaments. Mix the rice flour with
the almond milk and put it to boil and add the filaments of capon flesh,
and let it boil well. And when you are ready to serve it up, put
sugar above it in the bowl and powder with enough spices. And if
you don’t have rice then add enough almonds that it is good and thick,
etc.
* - There may have been a copying error in this document's past, there probably was a recipe for chopped/battered herbs, unfortunately it was a recipe for blancmange which was actually copied here.
XXXV Herbatella, a herb omelet, etc.
If you want to make a herb dish cooked in a frying pan. Take
mint, sage, parsley, marjoram and every good herb that you may have.
Grind everything together in a mortar with lard and temper with eggs, and
cook it thus in a frying pan with fat.
XXXVI Herb omelet in lent.
If you want to make a herb omelet for lent with oil. Take the
herbs, that is spinach, beet (leaves, or swiss chard), parsley, mint and
marjoram, a little peeled (stems removed) and well washed and put them
to boil. When they are almost cooked strain out the water and then
squeeze it out with your hands, then chop them with a knife, and beat them
with a mallet. Then put them in a pottery pan (pignata) and fry them
with oil and with as much salt as is enough. Then put a little of
the boiling water above, and close the vessel and see that it is well closed,
and pull the pan to the back (of the fire) and let it rest. When
it is ready to go to the table dish it up and powder with spices above.
XXXVII Lean dish or dish with "enula"
Take elecampane (Inula helenium, relative of chicory) peel it and then
grind it with raw pork belly, add fresh cheese and temper with eggs.
Make a (pie) crust, and put it (the filling) into the pan (pie case) and
put some strained grease (oil or lard) and put it to cook (in an oven).
XXXVIII Lasagne
If you want to make lasagne in lent, take the lasagne (wide pasta noodles)
and put them to cook (in water and salt). Take peeled walnuts and
beat and grind them well. Put them between the lasagna (in layers),
and guard from smoke (while reheating). And when they go to the table
dress them with a dusting of spices and with sugar.
XXXIX A perfect and good dish of apples
Take apples, peel them, cut them into quarters and put them to boil;
when they are nearly cooked pour out the water. Then add into them
the fat of whichever meat that you choose (or have on hand) and make them
in the same way that you make gourds. Add good sweet spices and beaten
eggs as you wish.
XL A white and rich "migliaciti" (cake)
If you want to make white cake in the best way that you can for 12
persons. Take enough leaven (fermenting bread dough) that is (for)
about a bread and a half, take water that is a little hot and mix it with
the leaven so that it makes strings (breaks up). Take four fresh,
good fat cheeses, ten eggs, two pounds of fresh lard that has been well
rendered with little smoke and well strained. And when the leaven
is well working put it above flour in quantities of about a dish (scudella
pizola a dish of a specific and constant size), and put in a little water,
and put in the chopped cheese (one of the three) and add the eggs that
you have. Make this batter/dough soft and tender, and put it into
a hot but not too hot "testo" (pie dish designed to cook pies on the fire)
which has been well greased. And scatter above the two cheeses that
you have chopped well, and above it add the hot strained lard that you
have, and put it to cook. And if you want to make for more persons
or for less take the ingredients in the same way.
XLI Cooked, perfected almond dish
If you want to make cooked almond dish for 12 people. Take three
pounds of almonds, and a half a pound of sugar. Peel and wash the
almonds well, grind them and then mix with some clean, strained water.
Put them (ground almonds and water) to boil in a pan, which is big enough
to allow you to stir well (assuming the cooking almonds will need frequent
stirring to avoid scorching). Serve on the plate with sugar.
And if you want to make this for more or less people take these things
(ingredients) in the same proportion.
XLII Mustard and good mustard
If you want to make mustard, take the hot fat which has fallen from
a roasted capon or other meat. Take mustard seeds and grind them
well, when they are well (finely) ground put them to soak in well boiled
water. Then take vin cotto* and mix everything (including the fat)
and let it boil a little together, etc.
For another way to make a delicate mustard. Take split (chopped)
mustard seeds and wash them well with boiling water and temper (mix) them
with vin cotto and add sugar, and powder with (ground) cloves, etc.
* Vin cotto – this reduced grape must syrup can be found in speciality gourmet stores, sold as mosto cotto, saba or cooked wine. It has a sweet, tangy grape flavor.
XLIII Meat (dish) of turnips
Take turnips with small leaves and put them to boil. When they
are just about cooked pour away the water and put in enough (plenty) of
grated cheese and let them boil (cook) together. When they are cooked
and you are ready to serve them put as much of that same cheese over the
plate.
XLIV Malmoma *
If you want to make malmoma for 12 people. Take the things in
the same way that one takes to make blancmange, except that the dish should
be very yellow and sour with (the juice from) bitter oranges or lemons.
And with all those things that one finds in blancmange and for the same
amount of persons similarly.
* - there is no accurate translation for the title of this dish. It is a variant of blancmange, where the dish is made yellow (presumably with saffron) and flavored strongly with the acid juice of bitter oranges and lemons. For blancmange see recipe # V.
XLV Mortarolo (a ground/pasted) dish for twelve
people.
If you want to make a "mortarolo" for twelve people. Take six
hens, 4 fresh strained cheese, eighteen eggs, half a pound of almonds,
one (pound) of dates, half an ounce of whole ginger, a half a quarter (of
an ounce) of cloves and three ounces of pine nuts. Make half a pound
of sweet spices powdered. [Dish one] Take a pork belly and let it
boil until it is well cooked. Take the cheese that you have, some
of the spices, a quantity of parsley, mint and sage and of these things
make a good chopped mixture (with the pork). And when you have a
good chopped mix use it to constitute the middle of either "tortelli" (tortellini)
or "rafioli" (ravioli) *1. Fry them (tortelli or ravioli) in good
fresh strained lard, and when they are fried powder them with spices.
[Dish 2] Take the hens and chop them up and fry them in a frying pan, adding
enough of the previously mentioned spices. When they have fried a
good bit take the peeled whole almonds and put them above the frying (chicken)
and put above (into the frying pan) enough water that they can cook completely
(to cover). [Dish 3] Take the dates and pull forward the nuts, that
is to say the pits within (the date) and wash them well. Then stuff
them well with chopped ginger and cinnamon and cloves and then the dates
are done. Take the mixtures that you have, the hen [dish 2], and
the ravioli and tortelli [dish 1] and the dates [dish 3] and the peeled
pine nuts, and well washed currants. Have a pie pan and put a good
crust on the bottom and another in half (at the top, dividing the pie into
two halves?) and all these said things should be put into it (the pie dish)
in layers and put the crust above and grease it and dress it (the pastry
lid) above with a little good lard that has been strained. Put the
pie to cook with a little heat above with a hot "testo" *2 and make sure
that it gets little smoke. This dish should be yellow and very strong
with spices. To make it for more or less people take these same things
in the same proportions, etc.
To clarify this complicated multistage dish the dishes within the recipe
have been distinguished.
*1 - the distinction between tortellini and ravioli in modern Italian
cuisine is merely one of shape, both indicate a filled pasta dish, one
circular, one square. However, in medieval and renaissance Italy
the difference was more profound. References to tortelli or tortellini
are almost exclusively reserved for descriptions of a filling wrapped in
a pastry of some form which is then boiled or fried. While ravioli
are unwrapped portions of stuffing, something more akin to a quenelle.
The filling might be rolled briefly in flour prior to frying or boiling
but the filling was not encased in a pasta layer.
*2 - A testo is a clay or metal lid which is designed to be placed
over pie dishes resting over coals in the fire. The lid is then loaded
up with hot coals, providing oven like baking in the coals of a fire.
A similar cooking technique used now is the Dutch oven.
XLVI Good and perfect mortadelle, etc. (cooked
liver sausage)
If you want to make mortadelle, take a pork liver and the intestinal
caul or casing. Take the liver and let it boil, when it is cooked
pull it out of the water. Take good herbs, pepper, eggs, cheese and
sufficient salt. Take the liver and these things and mix/grind them
together in a mortar until they are well pasted. Temper (the mixture)
with eggs and a little bit of the cooking water (left) from the liver.
Then take the caul and make the mortadelle (type of rolled sausages or
faggots). And when they (the faggots) are made fry them in good strained
grease. When they are fried send them hot to the table.
XLVII Stuffed eggs
If you want to make stuffed eggs. Take the eggs and put them
to boil and make sure that they are hard cooked. When they are cooked
pull them out (of the hot water) and put them in cold water. Peel
and slice (the eggs) in half and remove the yolk (reserve). Take
the fattest sweetest cheese that you have. Take the best herbs that
you have, peel them (from the stalk) wash and grind them together in a
mortar. When they (the herbs) are well ground take the egg yolks,
the cheese and spices and put them in the mortar with the good herbs.
Grind all these things together to make a fine paste and temper (mix) with
raw eggs until it is good (has the right consistency). Meanwhile
put a frying pan over the fire. Take the egg halves and stuff with
the paste (of egg yolks and cheese) and put them to cook (in the frying
pan). When they are cooked remove from the pan and powder them with
sugar before serving them hot to the table. And if you want to serve
them savory take them (without sugaring them), etc.
XLVIII Good and rich quail pastry
Take the quail and chop it in half. Make a (pie) crust (lining
a pie plate) and put into it (the chopped quail) pine nuts, ground nutmeg
and pieces of lard and then cover it (with more pastry crust). (Cook
the pie) and when it is cooked add (into the pie) muscatel wine and make
it boil (continue cooking for a little while).
XLIX Hen pastry
Hen pastry. Take the hens and chop them up. Make the pastry
crust (line a pie pan) and put inside the hen pieces and add spices and
dried currants and pieces of fresh pork fat. (Cover the pie with
another pastry layer and bake in an oven or testo). And when it is
cooked one should have verjuice and eggs beaten together and put this inside
the pastry and let it boil a little (continue cooking in the oven).
L Pastry of young pigeon
Take the young pigeons and boil them, then either chop them up or leave
them whole as you want. Make the crust of a pastry (line a pie plate)
and put inside the pigeons and sweet spices, pine nuts, slices of lard
and sour wine. When it is time put it (the pie) to cook, and when
it is cooked add to the inside verjuice and it is good and perfect.
LI Optimal pork pastry
Take the meat (pork) and chop it finely, and make the crust (line a
pie plate with pastry) and put this meat inside mixed with finely chopped
onions and powdered ginger. (cover pie with pastry and bake) When
it is cooked, add to the inside a mixture of vinegar, sugar and a little
water, boil it (continue cooking), etc.
LII Good pastry of kid
To make a pie of kid meat. Take the meat and shop it finely and
make the crust (line a pie plate with pastry) and put the meat inside the
pie with powdered cinnamon and slices of fresh pork fat. (cover with
pastry lid and bake) when it is cooked add broth and rose water and let
them boil together (finish cooking in oven).
LIII Good and perfect hens with sumac
If you want to make hens with sumac for twelve people. Take twelve
hens, two pounds of almonds, one ounce between cinnamon and ginger, sloes
(sosine *), half a quarter (of an ounce) of cloves, half a pound of sloes
and a pound of sumac. Take the hens and put them to fry whole in
melted pork fat. And when they are well fried add sweet spices and
whole cinnamon, cloves and ginger and let them fry together. Then
add a little bit of water. Take the well cleaned sumac and put to
soak in fine vinegar. Wash the almonds, grind and mix with water.
Take the sumac and blend (grind) it well with the vinegar in which it was
soaking. When the hens are cooked with the other things, add into
it (the pan) well washed sloes. Take the sumac and strain it, and
do the same for the almonds and throw away the remaining solids.
And add these (two liquids one from the sumac the other from the almonds)
into (the pan) with the chicken. And let them boil together with
the addition of sweet spices, water and salt. This dish should be
very strong with sumac, and with spices and with cinnamon, and sour because
of the vinegar and sumac. When it is well boiled together take it
back (of the heat) for serving. And put the hens under the sauce,
and don’t add anything else to the dish. If you want to make it with
chopped chickens take the ingredients in the same respect.
* - sosine is translated in Florio as a sloe or skeg. Some form
of dried fruit appears to be appropriate. I am unsure if this is
the same fruit that in later period texts is called Lazzarole, lazzerolo
and azzerolo. Fruit of the azarole cherry or Neapolitan medlar, which
is really a species of hawthorn, Crataegus azarolus, also termed Pomo imperiale.
The sosine are mentioned twice, first in the middle of the spices where
no amount is given and then an item later we are told to take half a pound
of sloes. This most likely is the result of scribal error, only one
fruit is mentioned throughout.
LIV Hens in white broth
If you want to make hens in white broth for twelve people. Take
as many hens as you think enough, up to eight, two and a half pounds of
almonds, one and a half ounces of ground white ginger, half a pound of
sugar, and a pound and a half of fresh pig abdominal fat. Take the
hens and boil them, when they are boiled take a quantity of the pork fat
and fry them (in this). When they are fried powder them with ground
ginger, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and a little bit of verjuice, and rosewater
to taste. Let them boil for a little while then take them off (the
heat) to serve. And put the hens in the broth. And when they
go to the table serve the hens sliced, and the dish should be both sweet
and sour.
LV Millet polenta* with verjuice
If you want to make a millet polenta with verjuice. Take millet,
which has been washed free of the husk, peeled and ground. Take two
pounds of peeled ground almonds which have been tempered/mixed with clear
water (and the almond milk strained off). Take three geese and put
them to roast. Put (one half of) the almond milk on the fire, mix
the remainder with the ground millet, then add to the pan and allow to
cook. When it is well cooked take the goose grease and mix it into
the polenta, or use any other fresh fat that you have from pork, and add
a quantity of sugar and sufficient salt (to season to taste). This
dish should be as white as possible. It should be served in a dish
with sugar dusted on top, and the sliced geese served carved with another
sauce. And it (the sauce) should be made as is said (here).
Take the liver of the geese and egg yolks and boil them together, and when
they are cooked grind them in a mortar with fine, good spices, temper/mix
them with the cooking water and with a little bit of vinegar and verjuice,
and cook, this sauce should be a camel/beige color.
*Polenta was not a dish invented by the Italians following the arrival of maize/corn from the new world in the 17th century. There are several recipes, both in this and other cookbooks, where a ground starchy grain (wheat, millet, barley) is cooked to a thick paste with broth/liquid and then served with meats. The introduction of the high yielding corn plant to Italy merely provided a new grain with which to make this ages old Italian staple.
LVI Good and perfect millet with meat
If you want to make millet with meat for twenty people. Take
eight pounds of good pork loin and put it to boil. When it is boiled
chop it well and put it in a pignata* (stew pot). Take thirty six
egg yolks and four fresh cheeses, enough parsley juice, sweet and strong
spices and saffron. And these things should be beaten together and
put into the stew pot, and with this the millet and the ground pork and
cooked together. This dish should be yellow, and to serve on the
plate dust with spices above. And if you want to make it for less
or for more take these same things in the same proportion.
*pignatta – is a specially shaped stew pot, usually made of clay, perfect for slow gentle cooking.
LVII Good stuffed hens
If you want to make stuffed hens for 12 people. Take the hens,
kill them, then pluck them and take out the innards. Then take a
pound of peeled, ground and strained almonds (make almond milk), take in
total eight strained cheeses, good and sweet and twelve eggs. Take parsley
and mint and other good herbs, wash them well and grind/paste them well
with the cheese and three ounces of spices without saffron. Take
the herbs and the cheese and the eggs together and make a paste and temper
it with the almond milk and make a batter in the same way that one makes
for fritters. Then take the hen, well washed and well peeled and
stuff this between the skin and the meat and within, and then one should
seal it well so that the stuffing cannot escape and it will be good.
* There is no mention of cooking method with this dish, however, one has to assume that at this point the hen is roasted, presumably on a spit.
LVIII Marvelous and good walnut bread
If you want to make a bread of walnuts. Take walnuts and peel
and grind them, and take good herbs, a little grated suet, sweet and strong
spices and a little sugar. Put these in a mortar with the walnuts
and make a paste. Then take wheat flour and make a sheet in the way
(that one makes) lasagna, large and wide and thin. Put this (nut)
paste within and knead all this together in the same way that one makes
bread. Take the dough, when it has become soft like a cake, and put
it to cook in the oven, and when it is cooked pull it out and let it cool.
LIX Genuine pepper sauce
If you want to make a pepper sauce for any meat or for fish, take white
flour and apple vinegar and temper (mix) it well to a thin paste, adding
the broth of the meat, or fish if it is a lean day, and put it to boil
with a large amount of spices, that is enough, and if you want it to be
yellow add saffron, and if you want it white, don’t add it (the saffron).
LX Quenelles, that is many good ravioli
If you want to make quenelles, take peeled almonds grind them and add
sugar, and if it is a meat day add it (meat) and mix it well with the almonds.
Then make them in the way of ravioli (small dumpling shapes) and then fry
them in good lard, when they are fried keep them hot (to serve).
LXI A good way for rice
If you want to make rice in the best way that you can, if it is for
twelve people take two pounds of rice and two (pounds) of almonds and half
a pound of sugar. Take the peeled (husked) rice and wash it well.
Take the almonds, peel, wash, grind and temper with clear water and strain
through a sieve (prepare almond milk). Take the rice and put it on
the fire in clean water, when it rises to the boil for the first time,
and is boiling well, strain out the water that it contains and put in the
almond milk. Continue to cook slowly on the coals (off the fire)
and mix carefully so that the rice doesn’t break. When it has soaked
up the almond milk and it is just about cooked add the quantity of sugar.
This dish should be white and simple and when it is cooked powder with
sugar above for serving.
LXII Fried ravioli, etc.
If you want to make fried ravioli for 12 people. Take three pounds
of pork loin, two fresh strained cheese, eight eggs and twelve (20 eggs),
three ounces of dried currants, enough leaves of parsley, two pounds of
fresh sumac and four ounces of sugar. Take the pork loin, boil it
well and chop (batter) finely with the cheese that you have, well washed
and mashed, the well washed currants, the named spices and all these things
(including the eggs). Make a paste to make ravioli, make them small
and subtle and put them to fry in the grease. When they are fried
powder them with sugar and serve them before other dishes from the kitchen
service.
LXIII Fantastic common ravioli with herbs
If you want to make ravioli with herbs or with other things, take herbs
and peel (strip from stalks) and wash well. Put them to boil for
a little time (parboil) and pull them out (of the pan) and squeeze out
all the water. Beat them with a knife (chop) and then in a mortar
(grind). Take fresh strained cheese, eggs and strong and sweet spices
and mix these all well together and make a paste. Then take a thin
layer of pasta, in the way of lasagna sheets, and take a large measure
(spoon) and make the ravioli. When they are made put them to cook
and when they are well cooked powder them above with enough spices and
enough good cheese and they are very good.
* There is no mention here of appropriate cooking technique. The previous ravioli recipes, which were lacking a pasta covering, were all fried. This recipe uses a pasta layer around the filling, the other recipes for pasta (including the lasagne recipe XXXVIII) only contain the instruction to "cook" without specifying the mode. However, later recipe collections (from the 15th and 16th centuries) clearly state that such stuffed pasta, and any other form of pasta, should be cooked in plenty of boiling water with salt. An instruction unchanged through today.
LXIV Ravioli in another way and called "licaproprii"
Take sweet fresh cheese and squeeze out all the water, then mash it
well and temper (mix) with egg whites and add a little wheat flour.
Have melted strained lard and make the "licaproprii" (dumplings/fritters)
with well floured hands. Make them large and round like apples, and
put them to cook slowly and carefully (fry them in the lard), when they
are cooked take them out of the grease and powder them well with sugar
and send them hot to the table.
* - no translation for licaproprii could be found in any source available
to me.
LXV Armored turnips
To make armored turnips, put the turnips to cook in the fire (embers)
and when they are cooked peel them and cut into thin slices. Take
sweet cheese and make thin slices. Between each slice of turnip put
one (slice) of cheese and let them melt well together. If you want
you can put them with a hot lid above and they will be done, then powder
them with sugar, etc.
LXVI Good and perfectly optimal roast in sweet/sour
sauce
If you want to make a roast in sweet/sour sauce. Take a loin
of pork and roast it. Take cooked and raw eggs and grind them together,
add good white wine and vinegar and put it to boil in a pan. Take
slices of the roast and put it to boil in this (sauce) and add chopped
dates and pine nuts and well washed Saracen grapes (specific dried raisin
variety) and spices, and when it is cooked lift it from the fire and it
will be good.
LXVII Perfect strong sauce
If you want to make a perfect strong sauce, take cloves, cinnamon,
ginger, a little cardamom, hazelnuts, peeled by toasting over hot coals,
a little bread crumb and sugar. Grind these things together a little
and mix with vinegar, and this is a good sauce for any roast (meat).
LXVIII Sauce for Capons
If you want to make a sauce for capons, take pure lean meat and put
it to cook. Take chicken livers and put them to cook (fried/boiled?)
and then grind them with cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Then one should
temper the mixture with vinegar and white wine, and with water or if you
want to make this a richer sauce add the drippings from the roast.
Put the sauce to cook and add sufficient sugar and it is done.
LXIX White ginger sauce for capons
If you want to make a white ginger sauce. Take white ginger and
crush the well peeled (root), and add sufficient well peeled (stalks removed)
spinach and sage. Grind these things well together and add sufficient
sugar and temper this sauce with verjuice and with white vinegar.. This
sauce one serves raw (cold) with roasted capons and hens.
LXX Sour orange relish
To make a sour orange relish that will last for a year, and to serve
with any roast and to make any sauce that you want. Take a heap (tuma)*
of (sour) oranges well washed, good wine and a quantity of salt.
When the oranges are washed cut each one into four pieces. Take the
best wine that you have, a large barrel (barilo)*, and put in these oranges
and a the amount of salt. These will hold cured, without spoiling,
and they are optimally perfect and good.
* A tuma is a specific measure but the actual measurement is uncertain.
In Sicily, where oranges are grown the measure of a tuma varies between
11 and 14 liters.
* Barilo is a barrel of a specific size, which can vary by region.
In Tuscany this measurement is about 45 litres.
Essentially these are brine cured oranges. The amount of salt
is not given in specific measurement but a standard brine curing ratio
of 10% should be a start (that is 10% weight not volume, i.e. for every
liter or 1000g of liquid use 100g of salt).
LXXI Sambugado (elder flower flavored dish) that
is milk with elder flowers
If you want to make Sambugado. Take clean sheep’s milk, put elder
flowers to soak in the milk and leave them to soften and soak for a while
(enough), then strain the milk. For a quarter (quarta) of milk one
wants 12 eggs. Beat the eggs and milk together then put them to boil
* (see below) and protect from smoke.
* A quarta is obviously a liquid measurement but a quarter of what volume?
The most commonly used liquid measurements in other Italian manuscripts
are the barile (45 liters), fiasco (2.25 liters), boccale (1.1 liter),
mezzetta (1/2 liter), quartuccio (1/4 liter). The quartuccio seems
to be the closest measure, however, most modern egg custards are made with
a ratio of 2 whole eggs per pint (a little under ½ liter) of
milk. If 12 eggs were added to half this amount of liquid one would
be making scrambled egg. Thus the modern ratio suggests that the
12 eggs mentioned in this recipe are thickening around 3 liters of milk.
* Whilst the recipe calls for boiling the dish this is not recommended,
egg thickening of any solution occurs just below the boiling point, at
the boiling point what you end up with is a nasty liquid with scrambled
eggs in it. My personal preference is a double boiler, that way the
temperature does not raise too quickly and hit the curdling point.
LXXII Perfect and fantastic Sambugado (elderflower
scented dish) that one serves in platters
If you want to make a sambugado to serve in platters for twelve people.
Take a pan (*pentola) of fresh sheep’s or goat’s milk, a pound of rice,
a pound and a half of lard, three ounces * of sugar, and well mature elder
flowers. Take the milk, that you have strained/sieved and put it
to boil. When it has come to a boil the first thing that you add
is the ground rice, the second the elder flowers, the third the melted
lard and the fourth the quantity of sugar and add tempered saffron *.
This dish should be (served) hot and should be thick, sweet and flavored
well with the flowers.
* A pentola is a pan, unfortunately they come in many sizes so no specific
measurement is given here. However, modern rice pudding recipes use
2 oz of rice per pint indicating that the pan in question probably holds
around 6 pints.
The recipe calls for 3 ounces of sugar then indicates that the finished
dish should be sweet. Modern rice pudding recipes call for 1 ounce
per pint of liquid this amount is half that and may be a scribal error.
But all recipes can be sweetened to taste.
The saffron added to this dish is supposed to be tempered, what this
probably means is that the threads have been broken up and allowed to soak
in warm water for a while so that the color and flavor are rapidly distributed
through the finished dish.
LXXIII Fine spices for all dishes (things)
Take one ounce of pepper, one of cinnamon, one of ginger, half a quarter
(of an ounce) of cloves, and a quarter (of an ounce) of saffron.
LXXIV Sweet spices, enough for many good and
fine things
The best fine sweet spices that you can make, for lamprey pie or for
other good fresh water fish that one makes in a pie, and for good broths
and sauces. Take a quarter (of an ounce) of cloves, an ounce of good
ginger, an ounce of soft (or sweet) cinnamon, and take a quantity (the
same amount of?) Indian bay leaves (*) and grind all these spices together
how you please. And if you don’t want to do more, take these things
(spices) in the same ratio (without grinding) and they will be marvelously
good.
* the glossary at the end of the Arnaldo Forni edition of this book indicates that folio in this recipe refers to malabathrum or Cinnamomum tamala also known as Indian bay leaf. Follow this link for further information.
LXXV Black and strong spices for many sauces.
Black and strong spices to make sauces. Take half a quarter (of
an ounce) of cloves, two ounces of pepper and an (equal) quantity of long
pepper and nutmeg and do as all spices (grind).
LXXVI A most perfect quick stew.
If you want to make a quick stew. Take six hens and fry them
in lard, then take away the lard so that there is not too much. Add
(to the pan and the hens) almond milk tempered with verjuice, minutely
chopped ginger, dates cut into quarters and to add color to this dish saffron
and it will be a good dish.
LXXVII Stuffed shoulder of mutton.
If you want to make stuffing of shoulders of mutton two or four, take
the shoulder of mutton lifted with all the joints (intact) and one needs
two shoulders for twenty people and three for forty people. If one
wants to make it (this dish) for more people or for less take these things
(ingredients) in the same ratio. Take four cauls of mutton, four
spleens (milt) of mutton, six pounds of pork loin, one large pig liver
and it’s caul, twenty fresh cheeses the best that you might have, one (pound)
of dates, a pound of dried currants, half a pound of sugar, half an ounce
of cinnamon, half (an ounce) of whole ginger, and half a quarter (of an
ounce) of cloves. Make half a pound of fine (quality) sweet spices
that are warming (rich with cinnamon) and make half a pound of strong spices.
Take the shoulders and put them whole to boil and let them cook well,
but not so much that the bones separate themselves. Pull them out
(of the cooking water) and take away all the meat, as much as you can.
Chop/beat it well and add much parsley, sage, mint and marjoram if you
have them. To this mixture/batter add salt, and beat, and spices,
one cheese, well chopped fresh or salted lard and as many eggs as is enough
(to bind the mixture). This will be one of the mixtures/batters for
this (dish).
Take the pork loin well chopped/beaten and mix with this six fat (rich
and creamy) fresh cheeses, and add sweet and strong spices and enough well
ground saffron and as many eggs as are enough (to bind the batter).
This is another mixture/batter for this (dish).
Take the pork liver boiled, well chopped and put it into a mortar and
grind it. To this add one large onion, a quantity of cumin, eggs
and cheese and give it enough spices. This mixture/batter should
be firm and make ravioli. Take the pork (liver) caul and they should be
fried in fresh lard and powdered with sugar. This is another mixture/batter
for this (dish).
Take the spleens, well washed and well scraped/scrubbed. One
of these fill with eggs, cheese and good green herbs. The next fill
with cheese, eggs, milk and all the good things you might have that are
white. The third stuff with cheese, eggs and saffron rich spices
so that it is yellow. The fourth fill with the mixture/batter of
mutton that you have. When they are full put them to boil so that
they are cooked.
When they are cooked cut two of them into two large pieces each, and
the other two cut into small pieces of one hand span each. These
should be fried. Take the dates, a pound of dried currants, half
a pound of sugar, half (an ounce) of whole ginger, half a quarter (of an
ounce) of cloves, half a pound of sweet spices and half a pound of strong.
Thus they are powdered the best and make in this way if you want.
* I had difficulty understanding exactly what we were supposed to do with this recipe until I recently came across one of my older translations from a different book for stuffed lamb shoulder (click here to link to recipe). The lamb shoulders are reformed around the intact bones, wrapped in a caul and then re-cooked. So you have three large lamb "shoulders" one each of mutton, pork liver and pork loin. These are the large items all of which are fried. Then we have several small stuffed items, the spleens which are stuffed with the cheese mixtures, and some excess mutton mixture. These are boiled, sliced and fried. Finally the whole is served with sugar, spices and dried fruit on top. If anyone can make more sense of this recipe than I have managed I would love to hear it.
LXXVIII Perfect salted dish of
eel.
Take eels and put them to roast over a pan which contains water, to
collect all the fat which falls from the eel as it roasts. When they
are cooked take strong spices and salt, and mix it with the water and fat,
chop the eels and put them into this sauce, and if you want to add a little
mosto cotto it will give it a good flavor.
LXXIX. Relish for any meat.
To make a sauce also called gratin for any meat or without meat.
Take beaten eggs, almond milk and a little verjuice, add bread, rose water
and broth and blend everything together with sweet spices. Put everything
to boil together and add a little bit of saffron or red sandal wood and
it will be special.
LXXX. Relish for fish.
If you want to make a sauce for fish which everyone calls tasty.
Fry them (the fish) in good oil,. Take currants and mix (grind) them
with verjuice and with vinegar. Take onions, parboil them and then
chop them with a knife, then fry them with this sauce (the currant/vinegar
mix). Add spices which do not contain saffron, and add plenty of
galangal and make sure that the vinegar is not overpowering.
LXXXI. Green sauce for kid and other boiled meats.
Take parsley, ginger, cloves and cinnamon flowers and a little salt,
grind everything together and mix with good vinegar, make it temperate
(keep vinegar moderate) and they won’t want to wait to taste this.
LXXXII. A good sauce for mutton or kid.
The best sauce that one can make if these meats are boiled or roasted.
Take lean meat, which has been well cooked, and grind it in a mortar with
a quantity of parsley sprouts, mint, sage, rosemary and any other good
herbs which you may have, mixing it with the meat. Add cinnamon,
cloves and pepper and temper this sauce with the most fine/quality vinegar
that you have.
LXXXIII. Relish of rue or of rocket
Take the seedlings of rocket, almonds, cooked eggs, sugar, ginger,
nutmeg and cinnamon and mix everything together, and temper with good vinegar.
This is good with any quality meat.
LXXXIV. Perfect relish of the Tartars.
Take peeled garlic cooked in water, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, cloves,
sugar, cooked egg yolks, mix/grind everything together and temper with
vinegar. This is a good sauce for roast pork and other meats.
LXXXV. Relish for boiled or roasted meat.
If you want to make "salomono" take anise seeds, peeled almonds, ginger,
nutmeg and sugar. Mix/grind everything together and temper with vinegar.
This is a good sauce to serve with boiled or roasted mutton.
* salomono – a specific name for this sauce, most resembles salt, a
literal translation would be salted dish.
LXXXVI. Relish candied
To make a candied relish, take bread, roast it then put it to soak
in vinegar. Take cloves, grains of paradise, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg,
cardamom and sugar. Mix/grind everything together and temper with
vinegar and good verjuice and it is done
LXXXVII. Relish
for crayfish or lobster.
Çadelo, that is relish for crayfish or lobster. Take the
crayfish and boil them and pull out the tails, peel them reserve the meat
and grind the shells. Add a little water (to the ground shells) and
strain them. Take a few good herbs, egg yolks and almonds or bread
crumb and grind these well in a mortar (with the shell extract) and temper
with verjuice. Add a little bit of water that it isn’t too sour,
and add sweet and strong spices and oil. Remove the vein from the
tails and put them in the sauce and put them to boil to flavor them.
LXXXVIII. Saracen style sauce
If you want to make a Saracen style sauce, take almonds, currants,
ginger, cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, cardamom, galangal and nutmeg.
Mix/grind everything together and temper with verjuice, this is a good
sauce.
LXXXIX. Relish for all fat meat.
If you want to make a good fat sauce, take the meat and put it to boil.
Then take parsley and fry it in pork fat, then take the meat chopped into
pea sized pieces and fry it with the parsley. Take almond milk and
egg yolks, saffron, verjuice and sweet spices and mix everything together
and pour over this meat. This is also good with an other meat.
XC. Sauce for any meat
Take fennel flowers, not harvested in the evening, then take hard egg
yolks and rosemary. Mix these with the flowers and temper everything
together * and it will be good.
* no tempering liquid is given for this recipe, given the previous
recipes either verjuice or vinegar would be the logical choice.
XCI. The best Carmeline sauce.
To make the best carmeline sauce, take peeled almonds, grind and strain
them (produce almond milk). Take currants, cinnamon, cloves and a
little bit of bread crumb, and mix everything together, temper with verjuice
and it is done.
XCII. Sartramone (?) or sauce for any meat.
To make a good sartramone * for meat or for fish. Take an onion,
boil it than fry it in pork fat, then add well beaten eggs and add sweet
and strong spices, saffron and cloves, and make sure that it is a thick
sauce. This is a good relish for any meat.
* sartramone – the specific name of a dish. The absence of any
liquid in this dish is odd. Currently the recipe appears to make
more of an omelet, fried onions with eggs and spices, than a sauce.
There may be a liquid involved, tempering the eggs with broth may produce
a sauce more reminiscent of a fricassee dish.
XCIII. Sage dish
Take sage and grind it in a mortar and strain the juice out.
Beat eggs with this juice and you can add cheese if you want. Prepare
a cooking pot or pipkin with melted strained fat inside. Put the
pan on the coals and pour the batter into it, mix it very well throughout
cooking until it is thick and cooked and it is a wonderfully good dish.
XCIV Fish tart
Take three large tench or one large eel, three ounces of quality dates,
half a pound of currants, two ounces of peeled pine nuts, two ounces of
sweet and strong spices. Take the tench well washed and cleaned and
split along the back and take all the meat, and grind this meat raw with
a quantity of parsley leaves, marjoram, fine oil, and the spices (and fruits?).
Of this stuffing make sausages as long as ravioli and fry them in oil until
they are well boiled. Take the remaining tench and put it to boil
with parsley, and when it is well cooked grind all save the head, and add
spices, oil and grind everything together (with fruit and nuts).
And of this stuffing make small ravioli with a thin pasta shell, and put
them to fry in oil, and powder above with spices. And this tart one
wants to cook in a frying pan.
* Not so much a tart as a fish dumpling and a fried fish stuffed pasta.
We are left wondering where exactly to use the dried fruit and pine nuts
called for in the original ingredient list. It is not unreasonable
to suspect that they are added to the various stuffing mixtures, in common
with other recipes within this book.
XCV. Herb tart.
If you want to make a herb tart for twelve people, take six large cheeses
and take a large quantity of herbs, that is beet, parsley, spinach and
mint, two pounds of salted lard and eight eggs. Take these well cleaned
and chopped herbs that have been squeezed of their juice (free of liquid,
i.e. dry). Take the cheese and chop it with the coarsely chopped
herbs, and take the lard that has been beaten as well as you can, and take
the eggs that you have and mix all these things together. Put this
mixture between two crusts in a tart pan, and make the crust on top of
this tart yellow. This tart should be fat with lots of cheese and
many herbs. If you want to make it for more or less people take these
same items in the same ratio.
XCVI. Tortellini of enula*, etc.
If you want to make tortellini (stuffed pasta) of enula with broth.
Take capons or take beef meat for twelve people, three pounds of pork loin,
three dry fine cheeses, and three ounces of fine and sweet and strong spices
well yellow. And take the two pennyworth of enula and twenty eggs.
Put the pork loins to boil with the well peeled enula. When it is
well cooked grind the loin and the enula together but don’t add all the
enula. Take the cheese that you have and grind it with the loin and
add the spices and as many of the eggs as you need, and make it so that
it doesn’t taste too much or too little of the enula. Mix everything
together, into a batter and make little tortellini in a yellow pasta sheet.
These tortellini should be yellow and strong with spices.
* - Inula helenium, relative of chicory. The recipe originally calls for capons or beef and then proceeds to ignore them completely. From the first line we know that these pasta are supposed to be served with broth. The intention here may be to cook the capons or beef by boiling, cook the tortellini in the same broth. Whether it is intended to serve the meat with the cooked pasta and the broth is not known.
XCVII. Fantastic crayfish or lobster tart
Take boiled crayfish and pull the flesh from the tails, and take a
quantity of good herbs, and chop all well together and put with them almond
milk, fine spices and currants. And of this batter make a thin tart
between two crusts, and above the filling should be potent with sweet spices
and currants, and the crust should be good and yellow.
XCVIII Most perfect and good mushroom tart
If you want to make a strained mushroom tart, take whole peeled mushrooms
which have been washed well, cut them into large pieces and squeeze out
all the water. Take salted lard, which has been melted and strained
and put the mushrooms to fry in it, add enough water that they don’t scorch.
When they are just cooked take them out of the pan and put into a basin
and mix with them a quantity of cheese and eggs. Put this batter
into a tart pan with a very thin crust, which is also very strong.
The crust should be thin and yellow and the filling strong with spices
with plenty of mushrooms and little eggs, and put it to cook well.
XCIX Elder flower flavored tart
Elderflower flavored tart for twelve people. Take a large pot
of fresh milk curds and take two pounds of fresh loin (of pork?), twelve
eggs, three ounces of sugar and mature elder flowers. Take the milk
curds with the water strained out, the eggs that you have, the pork belly
fat or lard and the elder flowers and mix these things together and put
into a crust. And this tart should be fat and sweet and it is good.
*- where did the loin disappear to. We were asked for a loin and then
the pork belly fat appeared. If you were to view this as a sweet
cheesecake recipe the pork loin obviously has no place. It may be
a transcription error in the original manuscript or the recipe did originally
call for pork fat from the loin.
The "late apresso" which I originally translated just as milk, appears
to be pressed milk, which would make sense given that later we are told
to take it strained of water, in which case it is a form of cheese curd
C Latticed tart for twelve people.
Take the most white flour that you have, in the amount of three pounds,
and take two ounces of sugar, a pound of almonds and thirty six hazel nuts,
half a pound of raisins, twenty five dates, half of a quarter of an ounce
of cloves. Take a good quantity of almond milk, and take the flour
that you have, well mixed with water so that it is thick. Take a
frying pan which is well greased with oil and with this flour make a crust,
and powder it with the sugar and the said spices, add the crushed hazel
nuts, finely chopped dates, well washed raisins and ground cloves and save
a portion of the crust and put it above each part of these things and it
is a tart.
* - another case of missing ingredients. The recipe calls for
a pound of almonds, which is rendered to almond milk, which is mentioned
in the context of the flour, but the flour was mixed with water to a dough
and the almonds are never mentioned again. There is no thickening
agent, but it may be possible that the almond milk is added to the dried
fruit inside the crust. The final instructions regarding the top
crust is confusing. It is not clear whether the pie is completely
covered or just covered with scraps of pastry, like a lattice. The
Italian name of the pie is "balconata" means either balcony, window of
heaven, or window in some senses. So either the pie is heavenly giving
us a window on heaven, or there may be openings on the crust giving us
a window into the pie.
CI Spelt tart, etc.
To make a spelt tart for twelve people, take two pounds of spelt, two
pounds of lard, a quart of sheep or goats milk, six fresh cheeses and ten
eggs. Take the well husked and washed spelt and boil it in water,
when it is cooked strain off the water and mash the cooked grain.
When it is well broken add the well beaten lard, the ground cheese, the
milk and the said eggs and mix everything well together, and put between
two crusts in a hot tart pan. This tart should be very fat and it
is good.
CII Scallion or onion tart etc.
If you want to make a tart of these things, take whichever you want
and boil it well. Take it out of the water and squeeze out all the
water in sieve and then chop them finely. Take fine lard and chop/grind
it well, eggs, fresh cheese, and saffron and mix all these things together
and make the tart.
CIII Cheese and egg tart without lard
Take the cheese and cut it into small fingers, put it into a bowl with
the eggs and enough cheese butter (see recipe X) or fresh butter or fat
without lard and add spices. Make a thin crust and make the pie (with
this filling).
CIV A good ordinary tart
Take pork belly, boil it then grind it well, put it into a bowl add
a little fresh cheese and mix them well together. Add sweet and strong
spices, peeled pine nuts, raisins and saffron and temper the mixture with
eggs. For three pounds of meat one will want five of cheese.
CV Garlic tart
Take garlic cloves, peel and boil them. When they are cooked
put them to soak in cold water and then grind them and add saffron, enough
fresh cheese, beaten lard, sweet and strong spices and temper the mixture
with eggs, add raisins and then make the tart.
CVI Milk tart
Take (hard) cheese and grate it, take eggs, spices and good herbs and
beat everything together with the eggs, temper it with milk. Make
a crust as described above.
CVII Tart of dried gourd
Take the (dried) gourd and boil it, then grind it well with lard, then
put it into a bowl, add three drained cheese, pepper and saffron and make
a paste and temper it with eggs and make the tart.
CVIII Fresh bean tart
Take the beans and cook them with pork belly, then grind the beans
in a mortar and chop the pork belly with a knife. Add the best spices
that you have, and add plenty of cheese, so that it is half or third of
the total batter, and mix in aged lard and make the tart and it is most
perfect.
* the beans in question here are probably fava beans, which existed
in Italy before the importation of new world beans.
CIX Optimally good fresh fava bean tart
King Manfredo tart of fresh favas. Take the favas and peel, then
cook them in good milk, strain them and take cooked pork belly and chop
it finely with a knife, then mix the favas and meat together. Take
sweet and strong spices and saffron and put it into a bowl (with the meat
and fava mixture) and add good fresh cheese and make a paste. Then
make the tart and put this batter into the pastry, and in the middle and
on top put slices of sweet fat cheese etc.
* - I believe that it is intended that you make layers within the pie,
put half the pie filling in, layer the cheese on top, put the other half
of the filling and top with more cheese before the final pie crust is added.
CX Good and optimal French tart
Take pork shoulder meat, both lean and fat and mince it well with a
knife, mix in sweet and strong spices and temper it with eggs. Make
the tart and add saffron on top and cook it well .
CXI Good and fantastic Manfreda tart
Take chicken gizzards and liver, and pork belly and grind them well
together with a knife, then add pepper and fry them together in a pan.
Take them out and let them chill before adding eggs, make a crust, then
put it in a pan and cook it enough.
CXII Good parmesan tart
Parmesan tart for twenty five people. Take eight pounds of pork
loin, twelve fresh cheeses and hard (dried) cheeses, twenty six eggs, half
a pound of sweet spices, six chickens and four capons.
Boil the pork loin well and when it is cooked chop it and chop with
it a quantity of mint and parsley. Take six fresh cheeses and twenty
four eggs add this to what you have already (the chopped pork) and as much
chopped salted lard as is enough, and spices and enough saffron, and make
this into a good yellow paste.
Take two fresh cheeses, and egg whites and grin them together and make
nine white ravioli with a pasta crust.
Take two fresh cheeses and one hard cheese, mint and parsley and grind
them together and make twelve green ravioli.
Take four cheeses and cut them into nice slices across.
Take the chickens, clean them, and from each part of the cleaned chickens
make two (see note), and put them to fry in melted strained salted lard,
with spices.
Have one (pound) of dates dusted with cinnamon and ginger and cloves
Boil the ravioli in water and when they are cooked take them out and
powder with sweet spices. Layer everything in the pie with a crust
above. And this pie should be yellow and fat with lard and strong
with spices. You can make if for more or less people. If you
make it in a tart pan of copper it needs little heat, and in a terracotta
tart pan it will need more heat.
* A complicated tart recipe that is easy to lose track of the different
stuffings. The different paragraphs were introduced to keep track
of the various mixtures. I am not sure if the chickens are bone in
or bone out. The Italian word smembrare can mean to dismember, to
gut or to carve. Hence each chicken may be cut into breast, legs
and wings, and then the breast and legs are again cut in two. Alternatively
it is only the breast meat that is cut into two, fried and strips of chicken
are fried to layer in the pie. No order is given for the layering
of the pie although originally there was probably a set order for the layering
of all items.
CXIII Hungarian tart for twelve people
Take a good fat capon and a large pork loin, two large onions, half
a pound of sweet and fine spices, three pounds of fresh grease that isn’t
salted, and take as much flour as it takes to make three loaves of bread,
the best that you have. Chop the capon and the pork loin into small
pieces, and do the same with the onions, put all these things to fry in
a good quantity of the fresh pork belly fat, adding the said sweet spices,
enough saffron and a little salt. When everything is well fried add
a beaker of water and allow it to cook to completion. Take the flour
and blend it well with fresh salted water and knead it very well.
When it is well kneaded take a tinned copper tart pan and grease it well
with the fresh lard that you have. Take the well mixed dough and
roll it out very thinly, layer the pastry in the tart pan, brushing with
lard between each layer until there are twelve layers. Then put the
capon batter and the other things in a single layer in this tart, and put
several more sheets in layers, well greased with lard between each one
and make a crust above the tart like a package (?). This tart should
be given a little heat below and a good fire on top to cook it. To
make it for more or less people take the ingredients in the same ratio.
* The final instruction to make the top crust like a "vardia" is difficult.
There is no translation for vardia. The florio dictionary indicates it
may be an alternative form of Guardare – to look. Which could mean
the crust above is arranged for looks. Another alternative is an
alternative spelling of fardo which means package.
CXIV Romanian tart
To make a Romanian tart for twelve people. Take six chickens
and four fresh or dried cheeses, twelve eggs, thirty dates, a pound of
raisins, and one of sloes, half an ounce of whole cinnamon, half an ounce
of ginger, half a quarter of an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of saffron,
two ounces of peeled pine nuts and four ounces of yellow sweet spices.
Take the well washed chickens and cut them into pieces, then fry them in
melted, strained lard, and add sweet spices when frying them. Take
the fresh cheese you have and make as many ravioli as you can and boil
them in water. When they are cooked powder them with fine spices.
When the chicken pieces are fried enough add a measure of water, and when
they are nearly finished cooking add a cut and strained cheese, eight eggs,
cinnamon, cloves, peeled pine nuts, well washed raisins, the spices and
enough saffron. Guard the pan from taking too much heat, until everything
is well cooked. Put a thin crust in a tart pan and put the chicken
and the ravioli and everything inside in layers, and put a thin yellow
crust on top. This tart should be given little heat while cooking,
otherwise the crust will blend with the filling.
CXV Good tortellini made like white fritters for
lent.
To make white tortellini for twelve people. Take a pound of almonds,
a quarter (of a pound) of hazel nuts and half a pound of sugar. Take
the well peeled almonds and hazel nuts and grind them together and mix
in enough of the sugar to make a paste, this batter is used to make the
fritters, and make them small. Take flour and saffron and blend them
with water so that it is a soft, yellow dough, and wrap the tortellini
in this and fry them in good oil. When they are cooked dust them
with sugar and send them to the table before the other dishes.
CXVI Most perfect good Lenten tortellini made
like white fritters
Take a quantity of good well boiled gourd and grind them with well
peeled almonds, add a quantity of well ground good herbs and good oil.
And of these things make a batter and make small tortellini (as above)
and fry them in oil then powder them with sugar and it is done.
CXVII Dish made with finely chopped ingredients
To make a chopped dish. Take leek whites and put them to boil
whole, then chop them with a knife until they are well cut. Then
fry them with the fat from whichever meat you have cooked. Take bread,
grate it and put it to soak in hot water. Take a piece of meat and
chop the meat and the soaked bread together with a knife. Then take
beaten eggs, and enough saffron, and mix them together with the meat, and
put this in with the fried leeks with enough spices and it will be good.
* The name of this dish "tredura" literally means chopped, it is most
similar to a hash. Where everything is fried together in the pan.
CXVIII Dish to make a good stomach (to settle
the stomach or to stimulate the appetite)
Take quince, boil them then peel them and grind them. Take almond
milk and mix with the quince paste and put this to cook. When it
is cooked add a little sweet spices and enough sugar.
CXIX A lemon flavored dish
To make this dish for twelve people. Take six fat chickens, six
capons, three ounces each of fine spices, almonds and fine sugar, twenty
five dates, twelve juicy oranges and half a pound of prunes. Take
the chickens that you have and put them to boil, when they are cooked take
a pound of melted and strained lard and put the chickens to fry, dusting
them with the said spices. Mix these with the sugar and the almonds
which have been washed and ground with the skimmed, strained chicken broth.
Put this to cook in a pot, and at the start of the boil add a quantity
of the said spices and add the well washed prunes, each cut in half, and
then add soaked saffron. When this dish starts to boil add the capons
and the oranges and make sure that it is strong with spices and sweet with
sugar. And serve the capons on a plate and the sauce in a bowl.
* I think that the sauce is made with the boiled then fried chickens,
almonds and sugar, the capons which are more tender are simply boiled in
the sauce and served separately.
CXX Cooked wine
To make cooked wine (or wine must), take red wine, the finest that
you have, and good honey. Put them to boil together with a quantity
of cinnamon buds, and boil until it is reduced by a third. And for
every four beakers of wine you will need a beaker full of honey.
CXXI Gourds
To cook good gourds. Take the dried flesh and let it boil well
in oil, but not too much. Take peeled almonds, grind them and put
them with the gourds and make it white, or if you want yellow, and add
raisins to it.
* I have a suspicion that the almonds here may be made into almond
milk and that milk added to the gourds to cook.
CXXII Fantastic chicken with fennel
Chicken with fennel for twelve people. Take twelve chickens and
six small capons prepared like hens. Take the chickens and fry them
in melted and strained lard. Take fennel roots and parsley, well
washed and fry these with the chickens. Add to the frying chickens
three ounces of fine spices. When everything is well fried pour out
most of the lard, so that there isn’t too much in the pan, and add enough
water and vinegar so that the everything is covered. When they are
cooked take eighteen egg yolks and the livers from the chickens and grind
everything together with spices and saffron, a quantity of verjuice and
vinegar. Take out the cooked roots and discard them, to the chicken
add the egg and liver mixture and put it to boil. This dish should
be yellow and strong with spices and should have a flavor of fennel.
Serve the chicken on a carving dish and the sauce in a bowl.
CXXIII Chickens with fennel in another way.
Take the chickens and dismember then, put them to boil but not too
much then fry them in lard. Take almonds and fennel seed and grind
everything together and temper with the boiling water from the chickens.
Then serve them in bowls and add sweet spices.
* so much remains unanswered, do we strain the almond milk from the
ground almonds or simply add everything to the frying chickens or is this
intended to be served as a sauce with the boiled and fried chickens.
It could be interpreted either way, however given the preceding recipes
I would suggest that it is intended to finish cooking the chicken in the
almond/fennel mixture.
CXXIV Very good chickens cooked like carp is
cooked.
Take the chickens and let them boil, then cut them in half and fry
them in lard. Take raisins and grind them with verjuice and vinegar
and with the chicken broth. Chop parboiled onions and fry them with
this sauce, and add spices that don’t contain saffron and add enough galangal.
This dish should not be too vinegary.
* Again the instruction to add the cooked chickens to the sauce is
overlooked. However when carp is seasoned with a vinegar sauce the
sauce is either poured over the fried fish or the fried fish is added to
the sour sauce and cooked for a brief time. Either method would work
here.
CXXV To make smoked yellow sausage
Take twenty five pounds of pork, which is not that from the neck nor
from the leg, but is the meat from the meat from the ribs or the shoulder,
otherwise take twenty pounds of meat and five pounds of fat, which is the
same thing. Take more or less dependent on how much you want to serve.
Chop everything well with a knife, then have fifteen ounces of white cheese
and fifteen ounces of salt from Sardinia or two pounds of salt from Chiogga,
and six ounces of red pepper. Make sure that the salt and the cheese
are finely chopped and mixed well into the batter. Stuff the intestines
and let them rest for two days, more if the weather is cold and clear,
more is better. Then put them to smoke. You can also add to the batter
saffron and spices, as much as you feel is appropriate.
* The recommendation for meat types is based on the fat content
of the meat. Essentially the cuts of shoulder and ribs are very fatty
and no extra fat is needed. If the leaner cuts of leg, collar and
loin are used the recipe recommends that you take 20 pounds of these meats
and 5 pounds of pork fat.
CXXVI Tart from Lavagna for twelve people
Take six chickens, six fresh or dried cheeses, eighteen eggs, two pounds
of lard, a little saffron, a good quantity of parsley, a little mint and
a little sage. Put the hens to boil, and when they are well cooked dismember
them (remove the bones). Take the cheese which has been washed and
ground, and a quantity of lard as much as you want, and the eggs and mix
them together with this stuffing so that it is neither too firm nor too
soft, and add soaked saffron threads to the mixture. Put everything
between two sheets of pastry and put it to cook in a pan and make the tart.
And make the crust green with the said herbs, and fat but without spices
and it will be good, most perfect and optimal. Etc.
* the chickens are either jointed, mixed with the batter and baked,
or the meat from the chickens is ground with the other ingredients to make
a pie filling. Lavagna is a town on the Levant river, however the tart
was named to celebrate the ascent of Sinibaldo Fieschi, count of Lavagna
to the papal throne. This information was obtained from "Italian cuisine
a cultural history. Alberto capatti & Massimo Montanari. 2003
Columbia University Press."
CXXVII To candy fresh almonds, peaches*, walnuts
that are perfect, neither too hard nor too soft etc.
Take the said items, peel them and put holes in them, the walnuts want
six holes each, the peach pits six, the almonds four. These should
be put in water, the water should be changed every day until the nuts are
sweet, then boil them in water, the walnuts should be boiled for half an
hour, the peach pits and almonds from when they start to boil for a quarter
of an hour. Then put them to dry in the shade and in the wind in
a fruit basket under a lattice for three days, the peach pits and the almonds
for two. Then fill each hole with gloves, cinnamon and ginger.
Then let them boil in honey for the time it takes to recite six "Our Fathers".
Take them out of this honey and boil them in fresh honey until that honey
is cooked. Then powder fine spices above the honey and put them in
a closed pharmacy pot in the sun for the space of five days. The
peach pits should be made the same way except that they should be boiled
in the first honey until it is cooked, there is no need to change them
to fresh. Note that the almonds will not last past the middle of
April in a hot location, because their skin will become too hard.
* May be peach pits rather than fresh peaches, this would be in keeping
with the grouping with other nuts and the similar treatment.
CXXVIII To make little cakes of Monaco
Take eggs that have been beaten well with a little salt, take as many
eggs as you want with the wheat flour that want to make the said items.
Paste the flour together with the beaten eggs without water. If you
want honey, for each ten eggs you want a good spoon of honey, if you want
them with sugar instead for each eggs you will want an ounce of sugar.
The dough should be worked very well, and made immediately and have in
mind that they should be cooked immediately so that they don’t catch either
wind or sun because immediately they will spoil. They should be cooked
in a tart pan that doesn’t heat the little cakes too much, and thus you
cook them one at a time, making sure that the terracotta pot isn’t greasy,
make sure it has been well cleaned if it was greased.
* - what I do know about little cakes is that they were a very popular
bread type item served up until the 16th century at least. Ciambelle
di Monaco, little cakes of Monaco are referred to frequently in the menus
of Scappi. Indications are that they are round cakes, which could
be either like a bracelet, i.e. loops of dough, or solid more like a bread
bun. For ten eggs there is just a little sugar, but we aren’t given
an amount of flour to make these, so it will be a challenge to redact this
recipe.
CXXIX To candy gourds in two ways.
Take firm gourds just after flowering, and peel them, and cut each
into two pieces, then boil in water until they are tender. Have ready
nine vessels filled with cold water, put the gourds into the first, then
immediately into the second, then the third, then the fourth ending at
the ninth vessel when the gourds should be nice and cold in the water.
Then put the gourds to dry in an airy place, without sunlight for three
days. Then put them to boil for a little in honey, take them from
this honey and put them into pan with more fresh honey and boil until they
are cooked. If you want to make them more delicate, put sugar to
boil with the honey. Have in mind that when the said gourds are done,
that is cooked, put them in a glazed bowl and set them in the air until
all the honey is dried, and then you can store them wherever you ant.
It will take perhaps fifteen days to dry the honey and they should be protected
from the sun. If you want to make this in another way, put them in
a bowl and every day pour over boiling water, and every day one changes
the water for eight days. Then one puts them to boil until they are
tender and make them in the same way as the others, except that one does
not have to put them in the cold water in the nine vessels.
CXXX To make a good and delicate dish of oranges
Take the peel of the oranges, and cut into as many pieces as you want,
and clean the insides well (free of white pith). Soak the peels for
fifteen days in water, then put them to boil in an excess of water until
they are tender. Let them dry for three days then put them in honey
which you will boil for three days (bring the honey to a boil and leave
the peels overnight). Then you will give the honey a short boil and
change it. To that honey one will add the peels with spices.
First the spices are mixed into the skimmed honey, then the whole is boiled
until the honey is well cooked. Then you will leave the peels a number
of days in the air without sun to dry.
CXXXI To make a chopped orange dish in another
way
Make this dish the same as that above, except that one does not change
the honey and the orange peels should be finely chopped with a knife, then
cooked in the honey. Bear in mind that they should be cooked so much
that the honey is almost hard. It needs a very slow and temperate
fire to cook the peels together with the honey and it is done.
CXXXII Candied "apio" and paradise apples that
are ready immediately, and grated they can be made as you like.
Take apples and peel them, then grate them, watch that there isn’t
seeds inside the grated apples, and let them dry for two days. The
juice that comes from the apples leave with them, and stain the grated
apples, and for every three pounds of apples add three pounds of honey
and let the apples sit in the honey for two days. Then put them to
boil, always mixing carefully until the honey is cooked. Have in
mind that the spices should be added when the candy is nearly cooked and
candied, such as for quinces. Then spread the candy over a table or over
a wet stone. Make them in the way of a large sheet, less than a half
a finger high. Leave them to cool and make rolls of small pieces
of the candy and put them to rest on a dish lined with bay leaves below
and then above, and build them up layer by layer. And if you want
to add spices between each layer it will be very good. Bear in mind
that it will need to boil for at least an hour and perhaps for two, always
mixing well and protected from smoke.
CXXXIII To make a good and fantastic quince
marmalade
Take the quinces, peel them and boil them in plenty of water, and cook
them until they fall. Take a basin with a hole in it or a cheese
grater and grate them finely until you have collected all that is good,
and make sure that none of the seeds get into the grated quince.
Keep this grated quince for three days in an airy location before you add
the honey, then for every pound of the grated quinces you want three pounds
of honey. Put these to boil together, when the honey is cooked add
fine spices. And if you want to add to the mixture, put in the boiling
mixture a little sugar, for each three pounds of quince marmalade you will
need six ounces of sugar in replacement of the spices. When it is
cooked spread it over a table bathed with fresh water. Spread it
in the same way as a large sheet of pasta, less than half a finger in height.
And roll them like one does wafers, and put them into a pharmacy jar with
spices and with laurel leaves. That which is not for invalids should
be boiled for two hours until it is done and while cooking it should be
mixed constantly. This quince marmalade should be continually mixed
while cooking with a flat wooden stirrer. Etc.
CXXXIV To make a healthy and good dish of enula.
Take as much enula as a large egg, and twice as much of pork belly.
Put the pork belly to cook then chop it well with a knife then grind in
a mortar. In the same way cook the enula, and when it is cooked grind
it. Take two good cheeses and six or seven eggs and make a paste
and put this to fry in a pan with grease and it will make a healthy dish.
And if you want to add a beaker of milk it will be a dish fit for an emperor.
If you don’t have fresh pork belly take veal or bull brains that are good
put keep in mind that this should be made with fine spices and sugar so
not to spoil.
*Inula helenium, relative of chicory
CXXV A good dish
Take flour, eggs, grated cheese and spices and grind them together
in a mortar. Then form into claws as long as a finger with your hands,
put them to cook by boiling. And over the dish (of these dumplings)
powder spices and cheese and serve them hot. And if you want to make
(here ends the document).
* notes at the end of each recipe are personal observations, comments on word substitutions/translations, and indications on how the recipe may be interpreted.
References used were:
An Italian Dictionary, By Alfred Hoare, M.A. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press 1925. This was a much more useful dictionary than many modern ones as it gave archaic, obsolete and dialect forms of verbs and spellings and referred to the modern italian spelling, often giving etymological basis for the words.
A dictionary Italian & English, Formerly compiled by John Floria and since his last edition, anno 1611, augmented by himselfe in his life time with many thousand words and tuscan phrases. Now most diligently revised, corrected and compared with la Crusca and other approved dictionaries extant since his death and enriched with many considerable editions. Printed by T. Warren for Fa. Martin, Fa. Allestry and the Dicas, and are to be sold at the signe of the Bell in S. Pauls Church-Yard. MDCLIX.
Many thanks to Johnna Holloway for pointing me to this dictionary it cleared up many obscure phrases, being compiled before the Italian language was standardized.
Testi antichi di gastronomia. Libro di Cucina del secolo XIV A cura di Ludovico Frati. Ristampa anastatica dell’edizione di Livorno, 1899. Arnaldo Forni Editore.
Thanks to Mary Fisher for proof reading the final document and finding all the typographical errors and spelling mistakes that were overlooked.