[Sca-cooks] Coffin Construction

V A phoenissa at gmail.com
Sun May 4 09:59:28 PDT 2008


Hi Serena,

I am very sorry I didn't get a chance to respond earlier -- it's been a
hectic week.

As far as seasoning (since you're ask about garlic, I assume you mean more
than just spices :-) -- I am going through the text as I write, since I
can't remember all the references off-hand.  The vast majority of recipes
(about two-thirds?) just call for "spices," "ground spices," "good spices,"
or "fine spices" without specifying the variety.  References to specific
spices are as follows (sometimes more than once per recipes):
Saffron -- 87 references
Pepper -- 40
Cinnamon -- 7
Cloves -- 6
Coriander -- 5
Cumin -- 5
Ginger (dried) -- 4
Anise -- 3
Mustard --3
Nutmeg -- 2
Fennel seeds -- 2
Ginger (fresh) -- 1

You may have noticed that Mistress Helewyse's translation of the Venetian
recipe collection includes some spice mixes:
http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/libro.html#LXXIII That might be a good
place to start.

For herbs, there are 41 general references to herbs in recipes ("savory,"
"fine," "good," "common"), with specific herbs as follows:
Parsley leaves -- 10 references (and 3 to parsley roots, but that's not an
herb :-)
Fennel bulb -- 7 (sometimes indicated as a vegetable, sometimes as a
seasoning), and 4 where it's unclear what part of the fennel is called for
Marjoram -- 6
Mint -- 3
Borage -- 3
Calamint -- 2
Rosemary, sage, oregano, fennel flowers, dill and mallow -- 1 each

There are 53 references to onion, 11 to leeks, 6 to garlic and 2 to
scallions (green onions); also, one recipe for ramps (aka wild onion or wild
leek).

The most unique ingredient in the recipe you're looking at, though, is the
green grape (sour/unripe grapes, not green eating grapes) -- I'd also say
the most important, since it will be one of the more assertive flavors in
the dish.  I don't know whether you will be able to find them this early in
the year -- when is the feast?  They are hard to come by unless you know
someone with a grapevine in the backyard. :-)  I don't know if you looked at
this other savory pie recipe in the collection:

[121] Another preparation. You can make a pie from beef, mutton and pork,
sliced very small with garlic, onion, scallions, clean green grapes, or with
herbs, in whatever way you like.

This may give you some hint as to seasonings for the chicken recipe, since
it also uses green grapes (although the meats and herbs are different) --
since it also calls for garlic, I don't think you'd be out of line adding
garlic to your chicken pie.  Then again, I *love* the combination of garlic
and sour/citrusy flavors, so I'm a little biased. :-)  When I make this
recipe, the herbs I use are parsley and marjoram, occasionally mint if I
have it on hand.  I was extremely lucky and found sour grapes at the market
when I made this recipe the first time, for a small feast.  That was in late
June, so the season was in my favor.  I have also made this pie substituting
verjuice, lemon juice or chopped lemon pulp (very labor intensive, since you
have to peel away all the pith and membrane, but comes close to the grape in
that it adds texture as well as sourness).

Finally, as for comparisons to Martino, I can't think of significant
differences offhand -- certainly his cooking style must have differed from
the Tuscan style a century earlier, but it's hard to know how unless we
compare specific recipes for similar dishes across the several mss.  Even
then it may not tell us much, because for example the recipes may call for
"spices and herbs" without getting specific, or they may list the same
spices and herbs, but used them in different proportions...and that's
something we probably can't know without a trip via time-machine to Maestro
Martino's kitchen. ;-)  I actually think it would be really interesting to
do a comparative study of early Northern Italian cookbooks to look for
regional differences...one of these days!

I hope some of this is helpful -- please feel free to ask more questions or
ask for clarification on any of this.


Vittoria

On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 1:31 PM, Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com> wrote:

> Since you translated the entire manuscript I was wondering if you
> could suggest what would be the best combination of "spices" to go
> into this dish. Would garlic be out of line? I have been spending most
> of my time with the Martino stuff so that is where my brain is at. Is
> there significant spicing differences between that and the Tuscan
> methods?
>
> I also want to Thank you for providing this translation for everyone
> to work with. Without the efforts of you and Helewyse my feast would
> be greatly diminished.
>
> Grazie!
>
> --
> Serena
>
>



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