[Sca-cooks] Libro Novo/Rice Question

[Mairi Ceilidh]

So, I had to get away from packing for a while, and decided to see how fast I could find rice recipes in the Libro Novo.  Didn't take *too* long to find four recipes (translation credit goes to Master Basilicus Phocus).  Here they are, along with one from Scappi, sent and translated by Mistress Helewyse.

TO MAKE RICE OR SPELT IN THE TURKISH STYLE

 

            Take one and half- pounds of rice that does not have bad smell and wash well with hot water, and then put to dry and clean it.  Then take 8.8 avoirdupois pounds of good  milk of cow, and put it in a pot well- tinned on a three legged stand to the fire, and put inside named rice with a pound of very white sugar and make it to boil, always stirring with a wooden spatula for half a hour.

            Then put a half-pound of butter inside and a small amount of rose water, and when it is ready for the banquet, you shall put over it the sugar. (Extra sugar as a garnish)



TO MAKE TEN PLATTERS OF RICE OR SPELT (WHEAT) IN THE SICILIAN STYLE



            You shall notice the order of those of the egg tarts (recipe 77 C) with regard to above-mentioned, till that it is ready for the banquet in the small platter, then you make four or five positions per small platter on over and about of the size of an egg, and you shall place a egg per hole with the white and yolk.

            Then you shall give it sugar and cinnamon on over and in the same quantity that is given in the others.  Then you shall give it a heating with the mobile terra cotta (or metal) oven, and you shall sent it to table, and instead of egg, you can place the hard egg yolks on over and about, which does the same effect.



TO MAKE RICE OR SPELT WITH YOLKS OF EGGS AND CHEESE FOR TEN PLATTERS



            Take a pound of spelt or rice that is very clean and washed and is very white, then put it to boil in rich broth.  And when it is nearly cooked, take two pounds of grated hard cheese and ten egg yolks, and mix above eggs with the cheese and place in above rice with a quarter (ounce) of pepper, a small amount of saffron, always mixing everything well together in the pan, until it is finished cooking.

            And whenever it is ready for the banquet you shall put six ounces of sugar over it.  And if you shall put a half-ounce of cinnamon, it is nothing to take back, and you can also make without.



TO MAKE TURKISH RICE FOR LENT IN TEN PLATTERS

 

            Take two and half-pound peeled sweet almonds, and grind well and make milk, dilute it with water.  Then get two pounds of rice that is washed and wash again with hot water, so much that it is very white.  Then get a pot well tinned and clean, and put inside the milk, and the rice with a pound of white sugar, and mix everything well together, and then put to a clear fire always stirring it, till that the rice to you shall appear well cooked.  And at that time you shall take it off from the fire, and you shall put inside it a half-glassful (~3.5 ounces) of rose water.  And when you shall have it ready for the banquet, you shall put over it some sugar.











A saffron rice recipe from Scappi, isn't quite risotto, but it is rice with saffron. I don't have the Messisbugo handy. Sorry. 
Helewyse

Per far minestra di riso con latte di mandole o con oglio.  [1] 
Cap CCXXI, Terzo libro, folio 150 
Piglisis il riso di Lombardia o di Salerno, nettisi, & lavisi con acqua tepida, & accioche rimanga piu bianco, & si cuoca piu presto facciasi stare in molle nell'acqua tepida per un'hora.  Cavisi, & lascisi asciugare al Sole, o al calor del foco lontan dalla fiamma, accioche non divenga rosso, & pongasi nel foco in un vaso di terra o di rame con tant acqua che stia coperto, & come haverà sorbito l'acqua, pongasi il latte di mandole con zucaro fino in piu volte, & facciasi finir di cocere di modo che resti sodo, & come sarà cotto, servasi con zuccaro & canella sopra.  Si potrà ancho alle volte servire per ginestrata, havendolo passatao per lo setaccio con piu zuccaro, & cannello pesta, & zafferano, & facendolo ricuocere con un poco di acqua di rose, & malvagia, ma volendolo con oglio, non occurre altro che metterlo nella pignata con oglio, acqua, sale, & zafferano, & nell'ultimo giungervi un poco di herbette, o cipollette soffritte, & in tutti i modi vuole esser servita calda la minestra. 
To make a dish of rice with almond milk or with oil. [1] 
Take rice from Lombard or Salerno, clean and wash with warm water, in order that it stays more white, and it cooks faster let is soak in warm water for an hour.  Pour it out and let it dry in to the sun or in the heat of a fire a long way from the flame in order that it does not become red (toast), and put it on the fire in a pot of ceramic or copper with enough water that it is covered.  And when it has absorbed all the water add to it almond milk with fine sugar many times (enough to cover?) and let it finish cooking in such a way that it remains firm.  And when it is cooked serve with sugar and cinnamon above.  One can also at the same time serve like a "ginestrata", having passed it through a sieve with more sugar and ground cinnamon and saffron, and re-cook it with a little rose water and Madeira wine.  But if you want it with oil, don't do that but put in the pan with oil, water, salt and saffron and at the end add a little chopped herbs or chopped onion that have been fried.  And in all these ways this dish is prepared it should be served hot. 

> Greetings,
>
> I am having a bit of difficulty digging something up and was hoping
> that some good gentle might be able to assist me. I am working on
> finding a rice dish for my Norman/Sicilian feast and getting
> frustrated.
>
> In Clifford Wright's book Mediterranean Feast he makes the following
statement:
> "I believe that the dish was once a kind of saffron pilaf known among
> the Jeas and Arabs of medieval Sicily who traveled north. As early as
> the sixteenth century, the Renaissance chef Cristoforo da Messisburgo
> had claimed that he thought rissoto con lo zaffrano was born in
> Sicily." His website is just a repeat of what is in the book.
>
> If my brain is not completely betraying me isn't Cristoforo the guy
> responsible for Libro Novo? I do not have a copy of that and if anyone
> does I was wondering if they could take a look see and share the rice
> recipe being referred to (if it exists).
>
> Anything to confirm or deny this line of research would be completely
> welcome. I have poked about the Flori-thingie with very little
> success, and searching for any of the above keywords mostly brings me
> to websites in Italian - which is not particularly helpful.
>
> Glad Tidings,
>
> --Serena da Riva
> Barony of the South Downs, Meridies