[Sca-cooks] Still Alive?

[Terry Decker]

I'm curious as to the kidney beans you use.  The Cuoco Napoletano dates to the end on the 15th Century and was likely written down before Columbus arrived in the Americas.  As genus Phaseolus is of New World origin, it is likely that what is being referenced is not what we call "kidney beans."  In this period, kidney bean generally refers members of genus Vigna of African origin long used in Mediterranean cooking, cowpeas, black-eyed peas, and asparagus beans.  A visual reference in Carracci's painting, The Bean Eater.

Bear

On 8/9/2023 7:39:43 AM, Elizabeth Caldwell <lizmaekate at hotmail.com> wrote:
Greetings all!

What are some of your favorite period foods to cook at Pennsic? Mine is a simple beans and rice.

>From the Neapolitian Recipe Collection:
Kidney Beans. Cook the kidney beans in pure water or in good broth; when they are cooked, get finely sliced onions and fry them in a pan with good oil and put these fried onions on top [of the beans] along with pepper, cinnamon and saffron; then let this sit a while on the hot coals; dish it up with good spices on top.
I also make a saffron rice for a base. It's delicious and I make it a lot, even at home.

-Lady Isabella D'Angelo