SC - A Dilemma on what to cook for Dinner-HELP!

[Decker, Terry D.]

"Decker, Terry D." wrote:
> 
> I believe you will find polenta is used to describe cereal grains cooked
> drier than a puls and often shaped into loaves.  Apicius gives a recipe for
> wheat polenta and Cato (IIRC) gives one for barley.
> 
> There is a 29 year window when maize could have been used in Leonardo's
> lifetime.

I've got it at 27 years, between 1492 and Leonardo's death in 1519. Not
to quibble, though. I just had to think about that window and what it
represents: the span between 1492 and Leonardo's death, which makes it
seem a bit unlikely that this recipe dates from 1492 or '93. ("Leonardo!
We've just discovered maize! What are _you_ gonna do now???") 
 
> I don't recall any references to Leonardo and maize, although if it had been
> available his experimental bent would probably have made him one of the
> first to use it.  I would say the connection is probably apocryphal.

Yes, it's quite likely Leonardo would have pulled a Parmentier and left
some record of championing the new food source.
 
> As for the maize, it may have been in use in Italy early in the 16th
> Century.  It was probably imported by the Venetians who were the major
> traders between Spain and Turkey.  It was certainly known by the end of the
> 16th Century.

So what we seem to be left with is that it _could_ be maize, but might
not be. Do we have a date for the Codex Romanoff? It occurs to me that
if an unusual grain were intended, Leonardo might have specified
"polenta from maize" or some such, but then it might be covered by a
shrug and the perhaps-not-very-necessary advice "use whatever grain you
normally make polenta out of".

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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