[Sca-cooks] Pie in a Pipkin

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Feb 21, 2007, at 1:35 PM, Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:

> The recipe is period.  It is from Epulario, which was a 16th  
> century English translation of Platina/Martino.  I didn't go into  
> details, because it was originally posted to rec.food.cooking, a  
> Usenet newsgroup for all kinds of foodies, not just medievalists.   
> I knew it was floating around the Web, but am surprised to see how  
> many places it's gotten to.

It's always fun when you see old TI articles you wrote 15 or 20 years  
ago being used in other people's bibliographies on the Web.

>
> I was still fairly new at medieval cooking, and at doing my own  
> redactions.  I do not have the original recipe handy, but I think I  
> stuck fairly close to the original.
>
> The type of meat was not specified; lamb or mutton would probably  
> be more common choice in Italy than beef.
>
> The recipe might have called for raisins or currants; either would  
> be acceptable.
>
> Don't remember if the spices were specified.  Those sweet "apple  
> pie" type spices are appropriate.
>
> By "white vinegar" I meant distilled vinegar.  I was young and  
> ignorant then.  Recipe probably just says "vinegar", and I'd be  
> most likely to grab red wine vinegar.
>
> Anyone have "Epulario" handy, and can you post the original recipe?

No Epulario handy, but here's what may be the same recipe from the  
Millham translation of Platina, Book VI:

DE HONESTA VOLUPTATE, BOOK VI
12. Pastillus in Olla
Pastillum in olla sic facito: carnem vitulinam cum adipe minutatim  
conci sam in ollam ponito, pipiones et pullos si voles adiicito,  
ollam ipsam ad carbones longe a flamma ne concitate efferveat ponito.  
Ubi ebullire occepe rit despumato, passulas deinde imponito. Cepam  
postremo minutatim con cisam cum larido frigito; frictam in ollam  
indito. Ubi omnia prope cocta existimaveris acrestam et aromata  
suffundito. Sunt qui et duo vitella ovorum bene agitata cum acresta  
infundant. Multum alet, tarde con coquitur, nauseam faciet, stomachum  
nocebit, hepar et renes concalefaciet, sperma augebit, caput et  
oculos laedet.

12. Meat Roll in a Pot
Make meat roll in a pot this way: put finely‑cut veal in a pot with  
fat; add chicks and young chickens if you wish. Put the pot on coals  
far from flame so it does not boil quickly. When it begins to boil,  
skim, then put in raisins. Finally, fry finely‑chopped onions in  
lard, and when fried, put in the pot. When you think everything is  
almost entirely cooked, pour in verjuice and spices. Some put in two  
yolks of eggs, well‑beaten, with the verjuice. It is very nourishing  
and is digested slowly, will create nausea, harm the stomach, warm  
the liver and kidneys, increase semen, and damage the head and eyes.


Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, let them eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04