SC - Green peanuts (Was The top 10 icks list)

[CorwynWdwd@aol.com]

Other places where there are references to Maestro Martino are in Scully's "The Art
of Cooking in the Middle Ages" and Santich's "Original Mediterranean Cooking".  I
don't have the books in front of me at the moment, but I believe they pretty much go
along with what you indicate Wilson saying.

Kiri

Lorix wrote:

> I had initially written the following in response to a thread by Ann & Les
> Shelton.  I figured it only got one reply because I hadn't changed the subject
> line . . . and after writing my message, I got kinda interested in what the more
> well-read list members might know about the following assertion re Platina put
> forward by Anne Wilson . . .
>
> I was having a flick thru a book by Anne Wilson called "Great Cooks and their
> Recipes, From Taillevent to Escoffier".  In it, she discusses a cook called
> Maestro Martino, former cook to 'the Monsignor' the Chamberlain & Patriarch of
> Aquileia.  I had not previously heard of Martino but basically, it is him that
> is supposed to be the source of Platina's recipes . . .
>
> Now for those with far greater resources than me (and heaps more scholarship,
> this may not be a surprise ;-)
>
> Aquileia is located in  Northerner Italy, in the southern part of the Friulian
> plain, close to the wide Lagoon of Grado.  In 1420 it was  under the rule of the
> Republic of Venice (just to give an idea where it was in relation to Florence
> :-)
>
> Ms Wilson advises that the 'Monsignor' Martino worked for, was apparently
> Ludovico Trevisan, a wealthy cardnial (read a cooks dream since he spent an
> extravagant 20 ducats a day on his food;-) who became patriarch of Aquileia in
> 1439 and papal chamberlain a year later (holding both posts until he died in
> 1465).
>
> Now Martino was supposed to have flourished between 1450-1475.  There is
> a 15th century recipe manuscript written by him (now in the Library of Congress)
> which is apparently written in the Italian of Tuscany, not in the latin used by
> Platina, but the 250 recipes are identical to those in 'De honesta volupate'.
> Whether this particular manuscript was written before De honesta voluptare is
> uncertain, but Wilson is emphatic that Platina depended on Martino for the
> recipes based on this acknowledgement in Platina's book (in a recipe for bianco
> mangare Platina says):  "Oh ye immortal Gods, which cook could compete with my
> friend Martino of Como, with whom originates to a large extent that which I am
> writing here".
>
> Wilson also indicates that Martino's recipes were also printed in another
> italian cookbook called "Epulario" (Of Feasting), which is almost identical to
> the 15th Century manuscript.  Aparently this book ran to 30 editions in a
> hundered years (being translated into German, French & Italian & English) and
> was still being printed in the mid 1600s.  Wilson indicates that it spent much
> of the time being incorrectly attributed to a Giovanne de Roselli.
>
> Basically, then, if her information is correct, given the apparent popularity of
> the latter manuscript (and given that it is supposed to be the source of
> Platina's info), it may be that Epulario can certainly be found in the required
> period in Florence.  My question is though, is her information correct?
>
> Lorix
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