SC - Salami and Garlic

[Jennifer Conrad]

>  Platina, Mary Ella Milham "Platina : On Right Pleasure and Good
Health"
> 1998, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, v.168> 
If you have to get just one translation -- this is the one to get.  Good
translation, lots of notes on both the translation, and background
comments.  There is a long introductory section giving a history of the
work and the author and some discussion of Italian foods and foodways in
the time of Platina. The table of contents tells you what page to find
the recipes on.  I believe the work is indexed as well (I didn't
actually check when I had a copy in hand), and I believe there is a
bibliography.  On the downside, there are no facsimiles,although printed
Latin text is included. 

toodles, margaret >>

I have both the Falconwood Press edition of Platina, and the new Milham. 
Milham is definately the one to buy.  It's far more expensive, but
Platina is a serious and important addition to the serious cook's
library.

It has an index of the names he mentions, _Index Nominum Proprium_,and an
index to the introduction.  It does not have an English index to the
recipes, and I have placed a colored plastic paper clip at the beginning
of each 'book' which lists its contents.  There is _Index Verboram
Medicorum et Culinariorium_,  which are the Latin terms for the terms  of
medical matter required by the series, with the addition of all edible
foodstuffs and the dishes concocted from them.  That works if your Latin
is good--mine isn't.  i.e., 'sampsa 2.13' means that you can find the
term sampsa in book 2, number 13.  You can then go through the lengthy
number 13, looking for sampsa, and trying to figure out from the English
version on the facing page what the word means.  I stick with my paper
clips.

It is handy to have the little Falconwood Press version with the Table of
Contents in the beginning, and I use the two books together.  I'm also
more likely to take the Falconwood into the kitchen, and keep the Milham
clean in the 'library'.

As to accuracy, I expect that the Milham is quite accurate, but have not
cross referenced them with other examples, say from _Medieval Kitchen_.

Regards,

Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

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