[Sca-cooks] Green beans was My Next Feast

[Louise Smithson]

  Actually there are period (prior to 1600) recipes for Green beans and a whole host of other new world foods.  You just have to look.  Here are some of the ones I found from Italian sources either in or post period (this is taken from the class I gave at Pennsic). 
  Recipes from Scappi [5], Messisbugo [6] and Castelvetro [7]
  This is where it gets tricky.  How do you tell the difference between an old bean recipe and a new bean recipe when the same name is used for each?  This is the one situation where the appellation "of India" or "of Turkey" was not added to the name of the plant to distinguish it from what came before the one exception to this is a description from Castelvetro [7].  Capatti & Montanari [8] indicate that both Scappi and Messisbugo have recipes for green beans, however this is the one occasion where no end note is given.  Judging from the recipes themselves however, these are the ones calling for "fresh beans" which are replacing black eyed peas or cow peas as a fresh bean type vegetable. 
  Per far minestra di piselli, & fave fresche con brodo di carne Cap CLXXXVIII secondo libro, Scappi
  Piglinosi li piselli freschi nella sua stastione, laqual comincia in Roma dal fin di Marzo, & dura per tutto Giugno, come sanno ancho le fave fresche, sgraninosi li detti piselli, & ponganosi in un vaso di terra, o di rame con brodo grasso, & gola di porco salata, tagliata in fette, et faccianosi bollire fin'a tanto che siano quasi cotti, & pongavisi una brancata d'aneci, & petrosemolo battuto, & facciano si finir di cuocere; et volendo fare piu spesso il brodo, pestisi un poco di essi piselli cotti, & passinosi per lo setaccio, & mescolinsi con li piselli intieri giungendovi pepe, & cannella, & servanosi con le tagliature della gola di porco.  Si potrebbeno cuocere con li detti piselli teste de capretti pelate, & pollastrelli, piccioni, paparini, & anatrine ripiene. Si può fare ancho in un'altro modo, cioè cotto che sarà il pisello con il brodo, si potrà maritare con uova, cascio, e spetierie.  In tutti li sudetti modi si possono cuocere le fave fresche.  
  To make a dish of peas and fresh beans with meat broth, Chapter 188, 2nd book Scappi. 
  Take fresh peas in their season, which starts in Rome at the end of March and lasts through all of June, which is also that of fresh beans.  Shell the said peas and put them into an earthenware pot or copper pot with fat broth and salted pork jowls cut into slices let them boil until they are almost cooked.  Then add a handful of dill and parsley chopped and let it finish cooking.  And if you want to make the broth more dense grind a few of the cooked peas, pass them through a strainer and mix them with the intact peas, adding pepper and cinnamon.  Serve them with the cut pieces of pork jowl.  One can also cook the said peas with skinned goat heads, and pullets, pigeons, doves and ducks stuffed.  One can also make it in another way, that is when the peas are cooked with the broth one can enrich it with eggs, cheese and spices.  In all these described ways one can also cook fresh beans. 
  Per fare minestra di Piselli, & Fave fresche Cap CCXLIX, terzo libro, Scappi.
  Piglinosi i piselli o baccelli, sgraninosi, & ponganosi in un vaso con oglio d'olive, sale, & pepe, & faccianosi soffriggere pian piano, aggiungendovi tanta acqua tinta di zafferano, che stiano coperti di due dita, & come saranno poco men che cotti, pestisene una parte nel mortaro, e stemperisi con il medesimo brodo, & mettasi nel vaso con una branchata d'herbuccie battute, e faccianosi levare il bollo, e servanosi caldi.  In questo medesimo modo si può accommodare il cece fresco, havendolo prima fatto perlessare, & fatto stare per un quarto d'hora nell'acqua fresca.  In questo modo ancho si cuoce il fagiolo frescho. 
  To make a dish of peas and fresh beans, chapter 249, 3rd book, Scappi. 
  Take the peas or beans, pod them and put them in a pot with olive oil, salt and pepper, and let them fry very slowly.  Then add enough water, which has been colored with saffron, that the beans are covered by two fingers.  When they are a little bit less than fully cooked, grind a few and mix them with the same broth, and put them back into the pot with a handful of chopped herbs and bring back to the boil and serve hot.  In this same way one can cook fresh chick peas, having first parboiled them and let them soak for a quarter of an hour in fresh water. In this same way one can also cook fresh beans. 
  A fare fasoletti freschi in tegola.  Page 113 Messisbugo
  Pigliarai le tegole de fasoletti quando sono tenerini, e tagliarai il picollo, poi le porrai a cuocere in'acqua bogliente, e subito si cuoceranno, & cotte che seranno le porrai a scolare col sale sopra, poi le frigerai in olio overo butiro, e frigendole nella patella, li porrai un poco di Aceto, e Pevere, e poi li imbandirai. 
  To cook fresh beans in the pod, page 113 Messisbugo
  Take the pod of beans when they are tender, and cut them into little pieces, then put them to cook in boiling water, and they will be cooked almost immediately.  And when they are cooked drain them and sprinkle them with salt, then fry them in olive oil or butter in a frying pan.  Add a little bit of vinegar and pepper before serving them. 
   
  De’ fagiuoli turcheschi, Castelvetro
  Nella passata stagione ho a pieno ragionato della fava fresca e secca; or qui mi convien ragionare de’ fagiuoli, frutto o legume molto simigliante a quelle di gusto; e di due spezie ne abbiam noi, né di niuna crudi mangiamo. L’una è de’ men communi e più grossi, li quali son tutti o bianchi over macchiati di rosso e di nero. L’altra spezie è de’ più minuti e tutti bianchi con un occhio nero nel ventre. I primi si nominano turcheschi, li quali ascendono molto in alto; però chi non gli pianta vicino alle siepi conviene, volendone aver molto frutto, piantarvi a canto de’ rami di fronde secchi, a’ quali appiccandosi possano in alto montare; e perché portano una bella foglia verde, le donne in Italia e spezialmente in Vinezia, ove son molto vaghe dell’ombra e della verdura e ancora per poter dalle finestre loro vagheggiare i viandanti senza da coloro esser esse vedute, usano di porre su le finestre delle camere loro alcune cassette di legno lunghe quanto è larga la finestra,
 né più larga d’una buona spanna e piene d’ottima terra; in quella piantano dieci o dodici di que’ fagiuoli a luna crescente di febraio o di marzo o d’aprile, e poi con bastoncin bianchi vi formano una vaga grata alla quale essi s’attaccano, sì che d’una piacevole ombra tutta la finestra adombrano. Gli ortolani ancora ne’ colti loro fanno siepi di canne o di bastoni bianchi della canape, a canto alle quali piantano quantità di simile legume, e così vengono alla vista a rendere i loro orti più vaghi e maggior coppia di fagiuoli raccolgono. I baccelli adunque di questo legume, mentre son verdi e teneri, né alla lor perfetta grandezza pervenuti, cocendoli tutti intieri e acconciandoli come de’ lupuli ho mostrato, son molto buoni. Secchi poi se ne fanno buone minestre, cocendogli in ottimo brodo.
  On turkish beans.
  In the past season I have given full account of the fava been fresh or dried, now I shall give an account of the fagioli (bean) fruit or legume very similar to that tasted, and the two species we have no-one eats raw.  The one is less common and is larger, it is all white or flecked with pink and red.  The other species is much smaller and is all white with a black eye in the middle.  The first we call Turkish, it grows very tall, so you should grow them against a trellis, or if you want a lot of fruit (a good crop) plant them against dried sticks or branches, the which fasten themselves tightly to it so they can raise themselves up.  Because the they have beautiful green leaves, the women in Italy, especially in Venice, where there is much longing for shade and of greenery and also to be able to have the windows desireable to passers by without color being lost, They place around the windows of their rooms several wooden boxes, as long as the width of the window, if not
 larger by a good span, and full of good dirt.  In this they plant tent or twelve of these beans in the new moon of February or March or April. Then with white sticks they make a rough trellis to which these attach themselves, and this creates a pleasant shade over all the windows so adorned. The market gardners still collect canes from the hedgrows or white sticks from the hemp, against which they plant a number of these same beans.  And thus they come to make the view of their garden more desirable and also collect more beans.  The bean pod of this bean, when it is young and tender, is at it's most perfect point, cook them all intact and dress them as I have described for hop sprouts *, and they are very good.  When they dry one can make good dishes (minestre), cooking them in the best broth.   
  * - ben bene sgocciolata in un piatto netto posta, con sale, con assai olio, con poco aceto, od in suo luogo succo di limone, e un poco di pepe franto e non polverizzato l’acconciamo - very well drained in a clean plate with salt, enough oil and a little vinegar, or in place of that lemon juice, and a little cracked but not powdered pepper we dress them.
     
   
  --Anne-Marie:..if you want a period veggie instead of the new world 
haricots, I highly
> recommend the "new peas in the pod", <> you can often find frozen sugar 
> snap peas (much tastier than the snow
> peas) in the frozen veggie section.<

Yeah, sounds better too! I happened to find "enough" bags of green beans on 
sale {2 lbs./$1.00} at a store going out of business. And have been 
worrying myself about their quality ever since. Since the seating capacity 
of the hall is being limited to 60 diners, I am willing to keep the green 
beans for myself. Shoot, I should open a bag tonight . . . . Caointiarn 




 		
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