[Sca-cooks] period recipes for holiday gifts

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I make a mix of the Specia Negre e Forte that Francisco Sirene posted 
to this list a while back and give that to folks in nice glass jars.

LXXV.  SPECIE NEGRE E FORTE PER ASSAY SAVORE.
Specie negre e forte per fare savore; toy mezo quarto de garofali e 
do onze de pevere e toy arquanto pevere longo e do noce moscate e fa 
de tute specie.

LXXV.  A STRONG BLACK SPICE FOR MANY SAUCES.
Black and strong spice for making sauces; take half a quarter (an 
eighth) of an ounce of cloves and two ounces of pepper and the same 
of long pepper, and two nutmegs, and make them all into spice.

Ludovico Frati, ed., Libro di Cucina del Secolo XIV, Livorno: 
Raffaello Giusti, Editore, 1899, p. 40. (from a 14th c. cookbook from 
the Venetian region, not the city)

I have trouble with coarsely ground black pepper (something in the 
skin), although finely ground works fine, so i use the very fine.

Since i have found my long peppers, i'll use them in this years batch.
Not having them in the past, i mixed black pepper, cubebs, grains of 
paradise, nutmeg and cloves.

I use it where other people use black pepper. I think it's great on 
scrambled eggs.

Anahita