[Sca-cooks] late italian feast
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 27 10:10:25 PST 2008
> 1 tsp strong spice mix
> 1/4 c. black pepper, 1/4 c. long pepper (use black pepper instead),
> 3/4 tsp. ground cloves and 1 whole nutmeg, grated )
The re-creation of the Italian strong dark spice blend from a
possibly 14th C. (but more likely early 15th C.) Italian cookbook,
sometimes known as the Venetian Libro di cucina, has been recommended.
The text translated by Helewyse is available at:
http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/libro.html
LXXV Black and strong spices for many sauces.
Take half a quarter [of an ounce] of cloves, two ounces of pepper and
an [equal] quantity of long pepper and nutmeg and do [grind] as all
spices.
Now, the spreading fungus that is Whole Foods - where i frequently
shop - actually sells long pepper! While i know WF is not yet
everywhere, it's in a lot of cities, so long pepper is no longer the
impossible-to-find spice it has been until recently.
Before i could find any long pepper, i made the recipe in the
proportions as stated, but i substituted a blend of half cubeb and
half grains of paradise (to equal the quantity of long pepper). It's
not a period recreation, but it is quite tasty. And it has a nice and
more complex flavor than making it with mass quantities of black
pepper.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
My LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lilinah
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