[Sca-cooks] Pancakes and Fruitcakes was Happy Shrove/Fat Tuesday

[Susan Fox]

Pampapati appear to be referenced in a recipe in Messisbugo, C. (1557). 
Libro Novo Nel Qual S'insegna a' far d'ogni Sorte de Vivanda. Venetia.

On this page: http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/appendix2.html

Helewyse translated the following:

/A fare mostazzoli di zuccaro/
Piglia di cedro confetto tagliato minutamente libre tre, di Mele collato 
lib. Cinque, di pevere cinque ottavi, di Zaffarano serupulo uno, di 
cinnamonmo tre quarti d’oncia, di muschio tre grani, di Farina tanto che 
basti ad impastare dette robbe. Poi farai i mostazzoli grandi, & 
piccioli, come à te piacerà. Poi li farai cuocere come i pampapati, ma 
questi si fanno d’oncie 4 in 6 l’uno, e non piu grandi.

/To make mostazzoli (biscotti) of sugar/
Take three pounds of candied citron and cut it very fine, and five 
pounds of strained honey, and five “ottavi” of pepper, and a single 
“serupulo” of saffron, three quarters of an ounce of cinnamon, three 
grains of musk, of flour as much as is enough to paste together these 
things. And make large and small mostazzoli as you would like. And one 
can cook them like the “pampapati”, but these one makes at 4 to 6 ounces 
each and not larger.

Oh, Helewyse... Is there a recipe for pampapati elsewhere in this book? 
Or is this just so well known that it served as a description itself?

Best, Selene



Sandra Kisner wrote:
>
>> Mistress Rachaol MakCreith found a reference to pampapati in Waverly
>> Root's "The Food of Italy", sent it to me, and I ran with the 
>> information.
>>
>> The reference is: "The Christmas-New Years holidays are marked by the
>> appearance in pastry-shop windows of pampepato di ciccolato, a very old
>> Ferrarese sweet. It is a cake made of flour, cocoa, milk, honey 
>> (sugar if
>> honey is not at hand), pepper, spices, almonds, and lemon peel with
>> chocolate frosting powdered with sugar and tiny candies. It is of 
>> ancient
>> lineage. Duke Borso d'Este served pampapati at a banquet on November 11,
>> 1465, making them exceptionally appetizing by inserting a gold piece in
>> each."
>>
>> Even in my own creation of a pampapato recipe includes baking soda,
>> something that our medieval counterparts would not have had access 
>> to. What
>> I need to do is go back, not use any levener whatsoever in one batch and
>> use baking ammonia (which would be more appropriate for our period of 
>> study
>> as far as chemical leveners go).
>>
>> Respectfully,
>>
>> Odriana vander Brugghe
>
> It's not just the chemical leavener that's OOP; notice the reference 
> also says the pampapato was made with cocoa and had a chocolate 
> frosting and was served at a banquet in 1465. Unless the Duke had sent 
> his own expedition to the western hemisphere, chocolate wasn't known, 
> much less used, in Europe at the time of his feast. Perhaps there's an 
> older recipe for pampapato somewhere that doesn't include chocolate.
>
> Sandra
>
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