Italian Renaissance Spit Roasted Beef made with Salted Brisket & Served with Sweet Mustard Sauce from Scappi

Animal detail from medieval illuminated manuscript, British Library Harley MS 3244, 1236-c 1250, f47r

Arrosta — the grand roast course of a Renaissance feast — was far more than just meat on a spit. In Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1570), the arrosta included an impressive variety: spit-roasted meats, braised vegetables, elegant sauces, pasta, and even colorful jellies. This was the third course of our 12th Night 2024 feast, following the Alesso course. It showcased the depth of Italian Renaissance cooking, balancing hearty dishes with refined accompaniments.

For this feast, we adapted Scappi’s recipes for a modern feast kitchen, using brisket in place of a full rack of beef ribs, seasonal vegetables, and accessible modern cooking methods — without losing the rich flavors of the originals.

Historical Context: The Arrosta in Renaissance Dining

Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to several Popes, published his monumental cookbook in 1570. His work captures both grand courtly dining and practical Lenten fare. The arrosta course was often the centerpiece of a meal, designed to impress guests with skill, abundance, and variety. Alongside the expected roasts, Scappi included vegetable dishes, pasta, and desserts, showing the Renaissance love for balanced and abundant tables.

In Renaissance banquet tradition, the arrosta — literally “roast” — was more than a single dish. It was a set course, positioned after the boiled meats (al lesso) and before the final sweets, and served as a showcase for the host’s wealth, skill, and access to prime ingredients. In Italian and broader European practice, this course could include not only spit-roasted meats, but also fried, grilled, and baked dishes, as well as richly sauced accompaniments.

Theory of Digestion and Humoral Balance

The Renaissance kitchen did not operate solely on taste — it was deeply influenced by the Galenic theory of digestion. According to this model, digestion happened in stages, with foods progressing from lighter and moister to heavier and drier as the meal went on. Roasted meats were considered among the “drier” preparations, especially when spit-roasted over open flame, which was thought to reduce their innate moisture. Without correction, such dishes were believed to tax the body and cause imbalance in the humors, particularly in those of “dry” constitution.

To make these roasts more healthful and digestible, period cooks paired them with moistening sauces — sweet, tart, or spiced — that counterbalanced dryness. This is why Renaissance cookbooks, including Bartolomeo Scappi’s monumental Opera (1570), often present roast recipes alongside multiple sauce preparations. In our feast, this principle is reflected in the Salsa di Mostardo amabile (sweet mustard sauce) and the walnut-garlic sauce served with the beef.

Variety Within the Roast Course

While the name suggests a single cooking method, the arrosta could include:

• Spit-roasted meats — large joints of beef, lamb, game birds.
• Grilled dishes — chops, skewers, or offal.
• Fried items — fritters, pastries, and delicate morsels.
• Baked pies and pasties — often with meat or cheese fillings.

This variety allowed the cook to display mastery over multiple techniques while still keeping within the course’s “dry” category in humoral terms.

Salting as a Preservation Technique

Our beef for this course followed a process rooted in Renaissance preservation methods. Salting was one of the most important means of keeping meat edible beyond the immediate slaughtering period, especially before reliable cold storage. Coarse salt (often mixed with aromatics like fennel, coriander, or garlic) was rubbed into meat to draw out moisture through osmosis, inhibiting bacterial growth. In larger households and urban kitchens, salted meats allowed for advance preparation and easier provisioning — vital for feast service where dozens or even hundreds of guests might be served.

In Scappi’s recipes, salting could be brief — just hours — for seasoning and texture, or extended over several days for preservation. The salted pressed beef method we adapted for our brisket echoes both preservation and seasoning traditions, ensuring flavorful meat that holds its structure through long, slow cooking. In feast context, the ability to produce such meat out of season or far from slaughter was a mark of logistical skill and kitchen sophistication.

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Menu

1. Per arrostire allo spiedo un carré di costolette di manzo – To spit-roast a rack of beef ribs (Brisket substitution) 
2. Per brasare le cipolle intere in quaresima – To braise whole onions in Lent 
3. Salsa di noci e aglio – Walnut and Garlic Sauce 
4. Salsa di Mostardo amabile – Sweet Mustard Sauce 
5. Per far diverse minestre di zucche Turchesche – Turkish Squash 
6. Tortelletti d’herba alla Lombarda – Herb tortellini in the Lombard Style 
7. Gelo in bocconcini di piu colori piatti – Jelly in small bites, of many colors 

Per arrostire allo spiedo un carré di costolette di manzo (Scappi II.6)

To spit-roast a rack of beef ribs — served here as salted, slow-cooked brisket with Sweet Mustard Sauce

Original Italian (Scappi II.6, 1570)

Quantunque non sia usanza di mettere tal carne in ispitio, tuttavia trovo, che si può arrostire, & massimamente quando è di perfetta età. Piglisi dunque la detta schiena, & taglisi in pezzi, che non sieno maggiori di quattro libre per uno, & posti in torchio per quattro hore con sale pesto, fior di finocchio, o di coriandro, pepe pesto, & un poco d’aglio pesto. Poi si ponghino nello spedio senza sbianchirli, né lardarli. A piacere si possono mettere tra pezzo, & pezzo delle ramette di rosmarino, o nel sughetto delle cipolle tagliate a fette, che cuocino con il grasso che cade. Quando saranno cotti, si servono caldi con dette cipolle di sopra, mescolate con una salsa fatta di aceto, mosto cotto, & le spezie comuni.

Modern English Translation

Although it is not customary to place such meat on a spit, I nevertheless find that it can be roasted, especially when the animal is fully mature. Take the rack and cut it into pieces no larger than four pounds each. Press them for four hours with ground salt, fennel or coriander seeds, crushed pepper, and a bit of crushed garlic. Then mount them on the spit without blanching or larding. Optionally, tuck sprigs of rosemary between pieces, or place sliced onions in the drippings so they cook in the rendered fat. When done, serve the pieces hot with those onions on top, mixed with a sauce made from vinegar, cooked must, and common spices.

Modern Feast Adaptation (Gluten-free)

1. Salt/Cure (7 days): For every 5 lb (2.3 kg) brisket, combine 100 g kosher salt (≈6 tbsp), 10 g pink curing salt #1 (≈½ tbsp; optional), 2 tbsp cracked black pepper, 2 tbsp ground coriander, 1 tbsp garlic powder, and 1 tbsp crushed fennel. Rub thoroughly. Place in a vacuum-sealed or zip-top bag. Refrigerate 7 days, turning daily.
2. Cook: Cook the cured brisket in a slow cooker or covered roasting pan at ≤ 190 °F (88 °C) for 8–10 hours until tender but sliceable.
3. Garnish & Serve: Optionally warm sliced onions in the cooking juices (to echo the original onion garnish). Slice brisket thinly and serve hot with Sweet Mustard Sauce (recipe below).

Historical & Culinary Notes

In Renaissance humoral medicine, roasted meats were considered "dry" and potentially hard on digestion. Accompanying sauces—especially sweet, tangy, or spiced—helped restore moisture and humoral balance. Salting served both as seasoning and preservation, allowing meat to be prepared in advance, an important advantage in feast logistics. For a deeper look at period preservation, see the Vaccina Salpresa Alessata (Salted Pressed Beef) post.

Safety note: “Pink salt” here means curing salt #1 (sodium nitrite), not Himalayan pink salt. Use exactly as measured; optional for flavor/color.

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Salsa di Mostardo Amabile (Sweet Mustard Sauce) – Scappi II.CCLXXVI

Adapted from Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1570), with recipe and research credit to Helewyse de Birkstead. Original text and English translation followed by modern adaptation.

Original Italian (Scappi II.CCLXXVI, secondo libro)

Piglisi una libra di sapor d'uva, un altra di cotogne cotte in vino & zuccaro, quattro oncie di mele appie cotte in vino, & zuccaro, oncie tre di scorze di melangole condie, oncie due di scorze di limoncelli condii, & meza oncia di noce moscate condite, & pestinosi tutte le conditure con il cotogno, & con le mele appie nel mortaro, & come ogni cosa sarà pesta, si passerà per lo setaccio insime con il sapor d'uva, & si giungeranno con le dette materie tre oncie di senapa purgata, & piu o meno, secondo si vorrà forte, & come sarà passata vi si metterà un poco di sale, & zuccaro fino pesto, meza oncia di cannella pesta, & un quarto di garofani pesti, & non volendo pestare le conditure, battanosi minute, & non havendo poi sapor d'uva, si potrà far senza, pigliando piu cotogne, & mele appie cotte nel modo soprascritto.

Modern English Translation

Take a pound of sauce of grapes, and another of quinces cooked in wine and sugar, four ounces of “appie” apples cooked in wine and sugar, three ounces of candied peel of eggplant, two ounces of candied lemon peel, and half an ounce of candied nutmeg. Paste all the candied items together with the apples and quinces in a mortar. When everything is ground, pass it through a sieve together with the grape sauce. Add to the mixture three ounces of cleaned mustard seed, more or less depending on how strong you want it. Once it is passed (mixed), put in a little salt and finely ground sugar, half an ounce of cinnamon, and a quarter of cloves. If you do not want to make a paste of the candies, chop them finely. If you do not have sauce of grapes, you can make it without, using more quinces and apples cooked as above.

Modern Feast Adaptation (Sweet Mustard Sauce)

Vegetarian • Gluten-free

For the grape sauce:

• 1 lb (450 g) red or black grapes
• 4 oz (115 g) sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick

For the apples cooked in wine and sugar:

• 3 apples
• ½ cup wine
• ½ cup water
• ⅓ cup sugar

For the mustard sauce:

• 8 oz (225 g) prepared grape sauce (above)
• 8 oz (225 g) apple purée (above)
• 1 oz candied lemon peel
• Small pinch ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1 oz mustard seed, ground
• Pinch salt

1. Make the grape sauce: Break grape skins and place in a covered pot over low heat for 1 hour. Strain first through a coarse sieve, then through cheesecloth or a jelly bag. Measure out 8 oz (225 g) juice, add sugar and cinnamon stick, and simmer ~20 minutes until thickened but not set like jelly.
2. Cook the apples: Core and roughly chop apples. Simmer in wine, water, and sugar until tender. Remove apples from liquid and press through a sieve to make a smooth purée.
3. Make the mustard sauce: Blend grape sauce, apple purée, candied lemon peel, spices, ground mustard seed, and salt until smooth. Adjust spice or mustard strength to taste.
4. Serve cool or at room temperature alongside roasted meats.

Notes: This sweet, tangy, fruit-based mustard echoes Renaissance humoral theory — moistening and spicing the “dry” roast course for balance.