Renaissance Dessert (Italian) - Mostaccioli a la Romana - Almond "Cakes"

"Epulario e segreti vari" (1602-1636) by Giovanni Del Turco

This recipe was inspired by Elisabetta Carli's recipes found on the "Coquinaria Art" website.

According to Elisabetta Carli, this is a variation of mostaccioli found in both Scappi and Messisibugo. Scappi refers to Mostaccioli a la Romana in his varied menus but does not give a recipe that I was able to locate. Don't you just love mysteries? He mentioned it so often I wanted to do it. I wish I could have access to the "Epulario e segreti vari", but I have been unable to find a copy as yet.

I cannot take credit for this recipe, I simply recreated what the author had already done. It is delicious and lasts a LONG time. I am still nibbling on it. I will provide both variations of the recipe. The original can be found on the "Coquinaria Art" website along with some additional information.

Mostaccioli alla romana 1

1 cup sugar (I used golden sugar)

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup almond flour

3 egg yolks

2 tsp. cinnamon

Note: I found this to be a little bit dry, so I added enough water to make a batter.

1. Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and almond flour, until well mixed.

2. Add egg yolks and if needed an additional tablespoon or two of water. You want a batter-like consistency.

3. Oil a 9x9 pan and spread the batter into it.

4. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes

5. When cool, cut into diamond shapes.

Mostaccioli alla romana 2

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups almond flour

6 tbsp. dried fruit

3 egg yolks

3/4 cup flour

2 tsp. spice mix (cinnamon, clove, and coriander) or to taste

Prepare as above.

GTOD Vigil Recipe - Rindfleisch Knödel (Rumpolt, 1581)

One of the things I wanted to do when requested to put together the vigil table was to make sure that there was a little something for everyone from the savory to the sweet.  For the carnivores I planned on offering a selection of meats; smoked pork, sausages made of pork, and pork and beef, chicken and meatballs of beef.  I wanted to make sure that everything was bite size.  In the past I have used meatballs to "round out" a course.  They are inexpensive and easy to make and if you use a tablespoon measure, you can get approximately 30 meatballs for a pound of meat. In this case, I was able to get more meatballs because of the addition of the bread.  My original intention was to roll them out into a log shape, but I served them up as balls instead.  They were delicious with the spicy brown mustard, cherry sauce and Käeßsuppen. 

Original German (Ein New Kochbuch by Marx Rumpolt)

Ochsen 67. Knödel zu kochen auff ein andere manier von Rindtfleisch. Nim~ Rindtfleisch/ schneidt es klein/ vn~ klaub das Fett darvon/ hack es klein durcheinder/ nim~ ein wenig gestossen Pfeffer/ gerieben Saffran/ vnd ein wenig Saltz/ auch drey oder vier Eyer/ weich ein beschnitte~ Weck oder Sem~el eyn/ druck sie wol mit den Händen auß/ vnd hacks vnter das Fleisch/ thu saubere groß vnd kleine schwartze Rosein darvnter/ mach runde oder lenglichte Knödel darauß/ wie es dir wirt gefallen/ mach Butter heiß/ vnd rößt die Knödel darinnen fein langsam/ daß sie fein braun/ vnd nicht schwartz werden. Vnd wenn du sie hast außgerößt/ so thu sie in einen gekochten Pfeffer/ der wol


English Translation: (by M. Grasse)

Beef #67: Meatballs of beef to cook in another manner. Take beef/ and cut it small/ and trim the fat away/ hack (mix) it small and together/ take a little pounded pepper/ rubbed saffron/ and a little salt (salz in German)/ also three or four eggs/ soak a trimmed loaf or roll/ press (the liquid) out well with the hands/ and hack (mix) under the meat/ put clean large and small black raisins thereunder/ make (form) round or longish dumplings (meatballs) therefrom/ as it pleases you/ heat butter/ and slowly fry the meatballs therein/ that they become fine brown/ and not black. And when you have cooked them through/ put them in a cooked pepper/ that well testing and fixed is/ let them come to a boil again in the pepper/ so it is well tasting/ a good meal for poor and rich.

RECIPE:

1 pound ground beef (80/20)
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 c. bread crumbs soaked in water or milk 
¾ c raisins (you can vary this to taste)

Please Note: I deviated from the recipe by boiling the meatballs in broth instead of frying. 

Mix all ingredients together adding water until the meat forms a paste.  Divide meat into portions and roll into shape (balls or logs as you desire).  If you are following the recipe, you will want to brown the meatballs in some fat in a pan.  

If you want to follow my shortcut, season some broth with the seasonings below (vinegar, black pepper, ginger), drop the meatballs in and cook a small batch at a time until they float.  Once they float, they can be removed, cooled and frozen until needed. 

I cannot claim the black pepper sauce recipe.  This is hosted on "The Inn at the Crossroads" website.  Another resource I like to use.  Their recipe is below:

Poivre Noir : Black Pepper Sauce

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

165. Poivre noir: Black Pepper Sauce. Grind ginger, round pepper and burnt toast, infuse this in vinegar (var.: and a little verjuice) and boil it. – Le Viandier de Taillevent, 14th century


Ingredients

1 slice bread, toasted until black
1/3 cup verjuice, or equal parts cider vinegar and water
1 Tbs. wine vinegar
1 Tbs. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Soak the burned bread in the liquid until it has fallen apart; mash with a fork. Stir in the spices and slowly bring to a boil. For a thinner sauce, add more liquid; for a smoother version, press through a sieve.

GToD Shoot for Your Breakfast Dishes - May Cake - Eggs with Parsley & Hanoney - Eggs with Onions

It came up in conversation recently that in my area, very few  "within period" breakfasts are offered at events.  It also came up that we also host very few winter events where outside garb is needed, mostly because we are located in Ohio, and that means snow spits at us and teases us until late January early February, and then it's just ugly.  One of these things I can help with, the other, not so much. 

In regards to breakfast, there are many, many, many egg dishes found in period that can be used for recreating period breakfasts.  Dining in the Middle ages was different then what we associate with breakfast today.  According to P. W. Hammond, author of  "Food & Feast in Medieval England"

Most commonly only two meals were eaten in a day. Normally the first meal of the day was the major meal. This was dinner. It must originally have been prepared to fit into a late-morning pause after the initial activities of one's daily routine. Because this meal required so much preparation, particularly in affluent households, it could not usually be available much before noon, the sixth hour of the day. By that time half of the day's work - or play - could very well be done. To conclude one's active day a second meal was more easily prepared and served some six or eight hours later, at or just after dusk. Because the original basis for this meal was soup, or sops, it became known as supper. This meal too was subject to elaboration at the hands of professional cooks, but universally it remained a somewhat simpler meal than the midday dinner. According to Platina in the second half of the fifteenth century, at supper 'we must eat food which our stomach can digest easily; however, we must eat rather sparingly, and especially those of melancholy humour whose ills usually are increased by nighttime dampness and food weighing them down with discomfort.

The first dish I chose was Hanoney from HARLEIAN MS. 4016 (ab. 1450 A.D). It is a very simple dish of eggs cooked with butter and onions that have been carmelized. 

Hanoney. ¶ Take eyren̄, and drawe the yolkes and white thorgℏ a  streynour; And take oynons, And Shrede hem smaƚƚ; And take faire butter or grece, and vnnetℏ ouere-couer the pan̄ therewitℏ; And fry the oynons togidre; then̄ late hem fry to-gidre a lite while; And take hem vppe, And serue hem forthe so, al to-broke yn̄ a dissℏ.

xlix - Hanoney. Take an draw the Whyte and the 3olkys of the Eyroun thorw a straynoure; than take Oynonys, and schrede hem smal; than take fayre Boter or grece, and vnnethe kyuer the panne ther-with, an frye the Oynonys, and than caste the Eyroun in the panne, and breke the Eyrouns and the Oynonys to-gederys; an than lat hem frye to-gederys a litel whyle; than take hem vp, an serue forth alle to-broke to-gederys on a fayre dyssche.

Interpretation  (serves 2)

1 small onion chopped

4 eggs

butter for frying

salt and pepper (opt. for modern taste)

Slowly cook onion in butter until translucent.  Add beaten eggs and season with salt and pepper.  For the event, I coated an aluminum pan with olive oil, placed the onions in the bottom and poured the beaten eggs over the top.  I baked it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.  

If using a pan, I imagine this would be similar to an omelette (for a lovely presentation), or a dish of scrambled eggs with onion in haste and need ;-)

The second recipe I chose to do was inspired by Volker Bach's translation from the original German.  This dish is equally simple, eggs flavored with parsley, salt and pepper. 

34 A dish of a cake

If you would make a good May cake for a lordly dish, take up ten eggs and beat them well and add parsley to it and stir it together. Set a mortar on the coals, put in a spoonful of fat and let it get hot. Pour in the eggs and let then cook at a low temperature (kwl packen). And serve it whole in a serving bowl. - Heidelberg Cod Pal Germ 551

18 A dish of infidel cake (heidenyschen kuchen)

Item if you would make an infidel cake for a lordly dish, take ten eggs and beat them well and take parsley with it and stir it in. Set a mortar on the coals, put in a spoonful of fat and let it get hot. Pour in the eggs and let it fry at a low temperature (kull pachen). Serve it whole on a serving dish. - Heidelberg Cod Pal Germ 551

Interpretation  (serves 2)

2 eggs

Butter or oil

Parsley, Salt and Pepper to taste

See above for instructions

Both of these dishes would make excellent appetizers or camp breakfast dishes. If you are feeling particularly cheeky, they could be made with powdered egg, powdered butter and seasonings to take with you on a hike.  I hope you enjoy.