Renaissance Dessert (Italian) - Biscottini di Zuccaro - Sugar Biscuits
"The art of cooking well" (Mantua, 1662) by Bartolomeo Stefani
This recipe was inspired by Elisabetta Carli's recipes found on the "Coquinaria Art" website.
This is the first of two sweets that I created for Aveline's day board at Push for Pennsic. I came across this website while researching several recipes from Scappi and it inspired me to do greater research into other manuscripts of the period. This led me to Bartolomeo Stefani's "L' Arte di ben cucinare", which is available for free on Google books.
Sugar biscuits, aka Savoyard Biscuits, are very simple meringues. The original recipe encourages you to use a grain of ambergris mixed with sugar for the flavoring of the biscuit. Ambergris was most often used in the perfumery industry, however, it can be used in cooking.
What is Ambergris? Ambergris is a hardened waxy substance excreted by sperm whales. It is formed in a whale's stomach, similar to a pearl in an oyster, as a protective barrier around objects that are indigestible and then excreted. Yes, it's feces. It is also illegal in the United States and is protected under the "Marine Mammal Protection Act". The flavor of Ambergris is described as "aromatic - both woody and floral (Smith)." Instead of Ambergris, I elected to use golden sugar to impart a caramelly taste to the biscuits, lending them a more modern taste. These are very delicate and break easily as noted in the recipe "perche sono troppo delicati (they are too delicate)"
There are two recipes for Savoyard Biscuits in the book. I have chosen to call these "Sugar biscuits" to distinguish them from the other recipe, which I will be making and serving in the future, to avoid confusion. This is the second recipe. Stefani writes as if he is speaking to a person about how he creates his food. It is refreshing, and sometimes a bit funny to read. Below is the original recipe and my translation via Google.
Translated Recipe (thank you Google)
Savoyard Biscuits
I took a pound of well-crushed sugar and dressed thinly an ounce of this, pounded one grain of amber. I took two egg whites on the same day born, first you will knead the said ounce of sugar with amber, and then follow with a wooden spade. You will add the remainder of the sugar grating (beating) it with a wooden spade until it is reduced to the shape of pasta. And when it becomes tenacious, that thinned it pulls into place without rubbing. You will form on the white papers, flowers, fruit, biscuits, fronds & other gallantries, as you like, noting that the oven serves when another pastry chef has cooked, because they are too delicate.
Ingredients
1-ounce sugar
1 grain Ambergris (illegal)
Two egg whites
Instructions
Take one ounce of finely ground sugar and mix with one grain of well-beaten ambergris. Add two egg whites and beat until they can be shaped, cook in a very low oven until set. It will be delicate.
Q&A
How many tablespoons in an ounce of sugar?
One tablespoon of sugar is approximately 0.4 ounces by weight. One ounce of sugar is approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.
What is a grain of Ambergris? Can I purchase it?
I know that a "grain" is an apothecary measure weighting approximately .0648 grams.
Yes, I found a source of Ambergris, however, the shop is currently closed. It did give this information on the cost of purchasing culinary ambergris:
The purchase price is USD$35.00 per gram. Standard shipping is USD$16.00 per order.
This is very cost prohibitive for a substance that has been described as smelling like "old man body and breath" and tasting like "floral and armpit". You can read more about Ambergris Ice Cream at Four Pounds Flour: Historic Gastronomy, where the colorful descriptions were found.
For this and all future recipes that ask for ambergris -- I will PASS. Hard Nope! There is no reason that I can think of that would encourage me to serve to anyone something that tastes like lingering floral armpit, no matter how luxurious it is, or, to flirt with possibly possessing an illegal substance in my home country. Moving on.......
Through experimentation, I discovered that 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar were not quite enough to form a cohesive mixture. This is most likely due to eggs being much larger now, so I had to increase the amount of sugar to compensate for the larger volume of egg white.
Final Recipe Sugar Biscuits
Ingredients
1/2 cup superfine sugar
2 Egg Whites
Opt: Flavoring of your choice and a pinch of salt
Instructions
TIP: You can make your own superfine sugar by adding 1 cup of regular granulated sugar to a food processor and running it for about 30 seconds.
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Beat together egg whites and sugar until it becomes thick and white. Unlike modern meringues, which are stabilized by the addition of cream of tarter, I was unable to get this to increase very much in volume or to hold a shape. I also whipped by hand, which may have been part of the problem. My hand quit before the egg whites were ready ;-)
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until biscuits have firmed up and are not browned.
4. Allow to cool before handling.
I would like to give a special shout-out to Albertomassimo Lunghi who is correcting all of my errors! Thank you!! This will be edited several times.
Sources
L' arte di ben cucinare
"L' Arte Di Ben Cucinare". Google Books, 2022, https://www.google.com/books/edition/L_arte_di_ben_cucinare/J6M_AAAAcAAJ?q=&gbpv=1#f=false. Accessed 24 July 2022.
Magazine, S. and Smith, P.
Magazine, Smithsonian, and Peter Smith. "A Taste Of Edible Feces". Smithsonian Magazine, 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-taste-of-edible-feces-111178660/. Accessed 24 July 2022.
Pasticcini in bianco - Arte Coquinaria
"Pasticcini In Bianco - Arte Coquinaria". Arte Coquinaria, 2015, https://cucinamedievale.altervista.org/pasticcini-in-bianco/. Accessed 24 July 2022.
The History Dish: I Made Ambergris Ice Cream!
"The History Dish: I Made Ambergris Ice Cream!". Four Pounds Flour, 2013, http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/the-history-dish-i-made-ambergris-ice-cream/. Accessed 24 July 2022.
