[Sca-cooks] printed cookbooks prior to 1501 -- Platina

[David Walddon]

Actually there are "recipes" in the first five books for De Honesta.
If you attended the RSA Symposium a few years ago you might have been at a
session which included a paper titled "The Hidden Recipes of Bartolomeo
Sacchi: An exploration of the recipes in the first five books of De Honesta
Voluptate et Valetudine". By David S. Walddon (AKA Eduardo Lucrezia).

Here is the abstract.

Abstract: In the first printed work on food products and cookery De Honesta
Voluptate et Valetudine (1475, Venice) by Bartolomeo Sacchi, also known as
Platina, the last five sections of the work are filled with hundreds of
recipes from mid-15th century. These recipes were recorded by Platina from a
slightly older manuscript composed by Maestro Martino de Como. Martino¹s
recipes have been studied and commented upon in depth in many papers and at
many symposiums. So have the medical and humoral theory, agricultural advice
and general commentary on food products, which make up the first five
sections of De Honesta. But scattered among Platina¹s writings in the first
part of his book are culinary recipes that have not been studied nearly as
extensively. This paper identifies and examines these recipes, classifies
them as to use and explores the many interesting details they reveal about
food and food-ways in the late 15th century Italy.

Here is a breakdown of the recipes. (hopefully it will work in e-mail).

Appendix A 

A break down of the data by product category and the overall totals from
each book, including an overall roll-up of the total number of recipes,
total variations and the final combined total.

MEAT   FRUIT   VEGETABLE   DAIRY   Misc.
  16   38       58          8       37
 
 
                BK I   BK II   BK III   BK IV   BK V
  Recipe        16      39      13      27      4
  Variations   10       15      2       31      0
  Total         26      54      15      58      4
 
 
  Total Recipes   99
  Total Variations   58
  Combined Total   157

Eduardo 

On 11/8/09 2:01 PM, "emilio szabo" <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> <<   
>> Well, whether or not Platina may be called a cookbook,  depends on
>> your criteria.
> 
> What criteria would be applicable for not calling it a cookbook?
> 
> Adamantius, just wondering >>
> 
> 
> Now, come on!
> 
> 
> The book includes, "contains" (Terry Decker) culinary recipes. Sure. According
> to this criterion, one might say that it includes a book on cookery (among
> other things). 
> 
> 
> Milham, page vii (viewing the text in the perspective of her previous Apicius
> work): "the second major Latin book on cookery"
> 
> 
> On page 1, she calles it: "this work on food and health".
> 
> 
> Let us look at book 1.
> 
> 
> Chapter 1 deals with the place to live.
> 
> 
> Chapter 2 deals with physical exercise.
> 
> 
> Chapter 5 deals with sleep.
> 
> 
> Chapter 7 deals with sexual intercourse.
> 
> 
> Capter 18 deals with medical properties of plums (no culinary aspects). And so
> do many other chapters.
> 
> 
> Now we go to book II. No culinary recipes.
> 
> 
> Book III etc. No culinary recipes.
> 
> 
> In the beginning of the sixth book, where the culinary part starts, the author
> looks back to the previous chapters:
> 
> 
> "Although the nature and force of those foods which humans customarily eat has
> been explained ...".
> 
> 
> 
> As you are well aware, books about "the nature and force" of foods are called
> dietetic books. 
> 
> 
> They include topics like physical exercise, sexual intercourse, dreams, etc.
> 
> 
> In this sense (or: according to this criterion), Platinas book might be called
> a dietetic treatise (which includes the recipes of Martino).
> 
> 
> E.
> 
> 
>       
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org