SC - Castelvetro & salads (long)

[Elaine Koogler]

John,
I know I'm being a bit ignorant here, but can you tell me a bit about this
individual?  I really liked what he had to say about salads, and would probably
go online to see if someone can scare up a copy of the book for me...if it's a
period source!

Kiri

PS.  I REALLY hope you and Anne can come up for Festival of Kites.  We should
have a wonderful time, and I would welcome your assistance in the kitchen!!!!



Ann & Les Shelton wrote:

> Just got Castelvetro's "The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy" through
> ILL yesterday {best $1.58 I've invested in a long time}, had to throw in
> his comments about salads in spring:
>
> "Salads:        And now the time has come for me to write about all the
> different kinds of salads we have at this time of year.
>
> It is almost impossible to describe our delight in the delicious green
> salads of this joyful season.  The cooked salads we ate in the winter
> seem so boring, while all this fresh greenery is a pleasure to the eye,
> a treat for the palate, and above all, a really important contribution
> to our health, purging us of all the unwholesome humours accumulated
> during the winter months."
>
> He then talks about a wild chicory salad and an excellent mixed salad,
> which he describes as "the best and most wonderful of all."  He then
> gives instructions as to how to properly make a salad, because he
> complains that housewifes and foreign cooks don't get rid of the sand
> and grit on the greens.  You wash your hands, then stirs the greens in a
> bowl of water, lifting them out 3-4 times until all the sand has fallen
> to the bottom.  Dry the greens with a linen cloth, put them in a bowl to
> which salt has already been added, add oil and stir, then add vinegar.
> He has some pretty harsh comments about the salad making abilities of
> other countries . . .
>
> "Never do as the Germans and other uncouth nations do - pile the badly
> washed leaves, neither shaken nor dried, up in a mound like a pyramid,
> then throw on a little salt, not too much oil and far too much vinegar,
> without even stirring.  And all this done to produce a decorative
> effect, where we Italians would much rather feast the palate than the
> eye.
>
> You English are even worse; after washing the salad heaven knows how,
> you put the vinegar in first, and enough of it that for a footbath for
> Morgante, and serve it up, unstirred, with neither oil nor salt, which
> you are supposed to add at the table.  By this time some of the leaves
> are so saturated with vinegar that they cannot take the oil while the
> rest are quite naked and fit only for chicken food.
>
> So, to make a good salad the proper way, you should put the oil in first
> of all, stir it into the salad, the add the vinegar and stir again.  And
> if you do not enjoy this, complain to me.
>
> The secret of a good salad is plenty of salt, generous oil and a little
> vinegar, hence the Sacred Law of Salads:  Insalata ben salata, poco
> aceto e ben oliata (Salt the salad quite a lot, then generous oil put in
> the pot, and vinegar, but just a jot).
>
> And whosoever transgresses this benign commandment is condemned never to
> enjoy a decent salad in their life, a fate which I fear lies in store
> for most inhabitants of this Kingdom."
>
> John le Burguillun
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