A far morselletti Romaneschi - To make Roman style morsels

For more information on the role of biscotti in the 16th Century please visit the following: 

Little Morsels or Biscotti from the 16th Century Italy by Lady Helewyse de Birkestad who was the inspiration for my attempt to translate the "Roman Style" Morsels below.

A far morselletti Romaneschi

Ogni tre uova sbattute vogliono una libra di zuccharo di Madera pisto, & un’oncia di cannella fina pista & bene spolverizzata, con un grano di muschio, & far la casa nella farina, mettendovi ogni cosa dentro mescolandosi molto bene con mano farina che si può, facendosi in forma di morselletti, & deono cuocersi al modo delli biscotti, & ravioli con fuoco adagio. Si cuocerebbon meglio quando sfornato il pane si mettesser nel forno, quando saran cotti crepperanno.

To make Roman style morsels

For every three eggs beaten together you want a pound of Madiera sugar ground, and one ounce of finely ground cinnamon powder, with a grain of musk, and make a hole in the flour and put into it every thing, mixing everything very well with floured hands, make them in the form and morsels and put them to cook in the same way as biscotti and ravioli with a slow fire. They cook the best when one has just pulled out the bread from the oven and you put them then in the oven, they are cooked when they burst and crack.

Interpreted Recipe

3 eggs
2 ¾ cup flour
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon or anise seed


Mix all ingredients together and bake 350 degrees until lightly browned.  

These are delicious.  An excellent sweet that gets more flavorful as it sits.  

The Singular Doctrine of ... D. Romoli known as Panonto; in which it is the Scalco office; of the seasoning of every dish, ... of making banquets of all times in princes ..., in the end a short treatise on the health system (reduced by the substance of medicine by R. Gropetio, etc.) ... Again ... reprinted & reprinted, etc By Domenico Romoli 1610

Capponi sopramentati serviti freddi con caparetti sopra - capon sopramentati

122. To boil a boneless capon

…. When the capon has been prepared in either of the above ways (skinned and deboned), get the flesh from the breast of another uncooked capon, and a pound of prosciutto and pork fat together, and beat those finely with knives, adding in half an ounce of common spices, a handful of finely chopped herbs, two egg yolks and two ounces of grated cheese. Stuff the capon with that mixture, pushing it into the wings and thighs; sew it up so the stuffing cannot come out, with its wings and thighs trussed, put the cample into an ample earthenware or copper pot with cold water and put that on the fire.

123. To boil and prepare the capon "sopramentato"

When the capon is plucked and drawn, whether stuffed or empty, boil it in a meat broth or else in water with a piece of proscuitto and crushed pepper. When it is done, take it out of the broth and let it drain. Then make several slashes across the thighs, body, and breast. Sprinkle it all over, especially in the slashes, with a mixture of sugar, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and fennel flour. Let it cool. When you wish to serve it, do so with it cold, with cut-up lemons over it. Before sprinkling it, you can also splash it with rose vinegar.

First you will need to put together your common spices.  This is delicious, and I use it quite a bit in my cooking.   I have sometimes substituted cubebs and long pepper for the pepper and ginger to create a spicier blend. 

Rupert de Nola's Libre del Coch (ab 1529) gives instructions for Common Sauce Spices. Amended.

Libre del Coch

Roughly translated from Spanish to English (thank you Google) this set of instructions can be translated to be:

Cinnamon three parts; cloves two parts; one piece ginger; pepper a part/ some dry coriander well ground/ a little saffron be all well ground and sifted.

Interpreted Recipe

Common Sauce Spices, Amended

1  tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cloves 
1 tsp. ginger 
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dry coriander (ground)
Pinch of Saffron

Capon "Sopramenti" 

2-2 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken (I used breasts that had been cut in half then pounded thin)
1 pound prosciutto
1 tbsp. Common spices
1 ½ teaspoons thyme
3 tablespoons sage
2 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoons ground fennel seed
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
2 egg yolks
2 ounces grated cheese

I used chicken breasts that I cut in half an pounded out so that I could tie them up into pin wheels.  Sprinkle with your common spices and add a slice of prosciutto. 

Bring chicken broth to a boil, add a couple of lemon slices and a pinch of your common spices. 

Beat egg yolks with your cheese and herbs.  I used a mix of ricotta, fontina and parmesan cheeses. 

Wrap your breasts into pinwheels and tie off with kitchen string.  Ease them into your hot broth and poach until cooked completely through.  Allow chicken to cool.

To serve, slice each chicken breast into thin slices to get chicken "pinwheels" and cover the sliced chicken with thinly sliced lemon.

Vaccina salpresa alessata, servito con petrosemolo -Cold salted beef lightly spiced

To lightly salt and boil every cut of the said animal, chapter 4, Scappi

I find that the shoulder and breast of the said animals are more appropriate than the others. When the cow or bull is dead and skinned without being skinned, one cuts it into the said layers in many pieces, and one puts it in slat in a ceramic vessel or wood, the which has been well washed, because if the salt is not cleaned, and if it is full of dirt it will have a bad smell, and when the pieces are places one on top of the others one covers the vessel with a wood cover, adding above a weight that holds everything well pressed until it has made the salt solution, and the summer when it has been curing for four days, and in the winter for eight, one pulls it out of the vessel, as much as you want to cook, rinse it in fresh water, and put it to cook in water without salt, and make sure above all that it is well skimmed. When it is cooked one can serve it hot or cold at every time with garlic sauce or mustard in plates. And if you want to make it in the same day that the animal is killed, take a piece of the shoulder or another part, and put it to boil in strong salted water until it is well cooked. And serve this in the same way that it is said above.

Ingredients

2 Pounds beef brisket or flank steak 
1/2 C. salt
1/2 Tbsp. pink salt (sodium nitrite)

2 Tbsp.  coriander

2 Tbsp. cracked black pepper 

1 Tbsp. each garlic powder and crushed fennel

Trim and clean the beef, removing connective tissue and most of the fat. Prepared the dry rub by mixing together all ingredients.  Rub the cure over all of the meat surfaces and place in a ziplock back.  Refridgerate for 7 days, turning the bag daily. 

I chose to "brine" my meat instead and omitted the pink salt.  I placed the dry rubbed meat into a ziplock bag and then covered it with water.  I allowed it to sit for three days before cooking.  I rinsed the meat very well, dried it with a paper towel and then cooked it on a grill. 

Alternatively, you can cook your meat in a slow cooker on low overnight. Allow meat to cool, slice and serve garnished with parsley or on a bed of greens. 

How to pickle Cowcumbers, The whole body of cookery dissected; Rabisha, 1661

How to pickle Cowcumbers, The whole body of cookery dissected; Rabisha, 1661

This is a recipe that is too good to pass up!  I learned quite a bit while working on this recipe and I am too excited to wait for the final product not to share. 

The author begins his book in a most humble fashion: 

Impartial Reader,

MAny reasons have at last induced me to present the world with this small Tract of my many years study and practice in the Art and Mysterie of Cookery.

....he goes on to explain his reasons and the one that has stuck with me throughout the years is this: 

Secondly, It hath been the practice of most of the ingenuous men of all Arts and Sciences, to hold forth to Posterity, what light or knowledge they understood to be obscure in their said Art: And the wisest of Philosphers, learned and pious men of old, have highly extolled these principles, who went not out like the snuff of a candle, but have left their Volumes to after-ages, to be their School-master in what they have a mind to practise, which calls back time, and gives life to the dead.

And another statement which struck me further into the letter of introduction: 

Yet there is an evil amongst most men, when they have learned themselves by other mens light, they would extinguish that light, that none might follow them; and so men monopolize all knowledge therein to themselves, and condemn all those that are a guide and light to the ignorant; there is none other but such will condemn me in what I have done.

I have a confession to make, when attempting to work out vague instructions in earlier books, I often find myself referring to books that are printed just out of period to try to develop an idea of what the flavorings may have been in our period. I have found that the instructions are a little bit more complete and this recipe for a pickled cucumber is no exception. The instructions on the preparation of your cucumbers, and the quantity of the seasonings is very complete.  What was surprising was the method used in creating your pickled cucumber.  The pickles are first brined and then some of the water is removed and replaced with white wine vinegar.  The result is a taste explosion in your mouth; floral from the cucumber, sharp from the vinegar and then the spices; first dill, pepper, and mace, and lastly bay and clove. It is delicious and a must try for anyone who enjoys pickles.  

You are first instructed to take your smallest cucumbers "after Bartholmew-tyde".  Bartholmew-tyde is August 24th and celebrates the festival of St Bartholomew - patron saint of tanners, plasterers, tailors, leatherworkers, bookbinders, farmers, housepainters, butchers, and glove makers. He is one of the 12 Apostles, and was either decapitated or skinned alive, the stories very.  The recipe gives us an idea of when to prepare the pickle.  Curious, I researched when cucumbers were in season, specifically in England.  I discovered that they are available March through October, but they are at their best in the months of April through September.  In preparing pickled cucumbers after the middle August, cucumbers were being pickled when they were at their best, and before the season ended. 

It is also interesting to note that the seasonings that are used in the preparation of this recipe; salt, bay leaves, dill leaves, pepper, mace, and cloves, are antibacterial. Cucumbers are layered in a pot or firkin with layers of Bay leaves and dill before a cooled solution of water infused with enough salt to bear an egg and dill as an option are poured over them.  

What this recipe seems to lack is an acid.  Further research pointed me to something I had discarded in my original attempt at this recipe because I did not understand the purpose of the instructions. Specifically, you are advised to "dip a cloth in beer, and rub them (cucumbers) clean from the dirt". Alcohol, in this case beer, acts as a preservative for the vegetables -- but only if -- the acidity of the alcohol is at least 5%.  At less than 5% acidity the opportunity for sugars in the alcohol and bacteria to interact is higher which could lead to illness.   

Pickling is a method of preserving fruits and vegetables by adding acid which transforms the flavor. There are two ways acid can be added to vegetables.  The first and the one most people would think of when you say pickle is the introduction of a vinegar based brine.  

The second, and the method, which is used here, is fermentation over a period of time in a water and salt solution during which time beneficial bacterial transforms natural sugars into lactic acid. It is commonly known as lacto-fermentation.  One of the more common misconceptions about lacto-fermentation is the idea that you need to introduce a dairy based whey (yogurt or whey from cheesemaking) to the vegetables to achieve the pickle.  The "lacto" in the term lacto-fermentation refers to lactobacillus, the bacteria which creates lactic acid as a byproduct. It lives everywhere and is commonly found on vegetables and fruit--no dairy needed.

How to pickle Cowcumbers

TAke your smallest Cowcumbers, or Gerkines, after Bartholmew-tyde, dip a cloth in beer, and rub them clean from the dirt, then put a laying of Bay and Dill leafes in the bottom of your Firkin or Pot, and a quantity of whole Pepper, two or three blades of Mace, and as many Cloves; then place a laying of Cowcumbers thereon; so continue with your said in gredients till your Pot or Firkin be full; then make a Liquor with fair water, and good store of Dill to make it strong, with so much salt as will bear an egg; you may infuse the Dill, or you may boyl it, but let it be cold, then put it into your Cowcumbers; let this pickle continue to them almost a fortnight, then pour part away, and fill it up with white wine Vinegar, so shall your Cowcumbers be green and crisp, and not too sour.

The whole body of cookery dissected, taught, and fully manifested, methodically, artificially, and according to the best tradition of the English, French, Italian, Dutch, &c., or, A sympathie of all varieties in naturall compounds in that mysterie wherein is contained certain bills of fare for the seasons of the year, for feasts and common diets : whereunto is annexed a second part of rare receipts of cookery, with certain useful traditions : with a book of preserving, conserving and candying, after the most exquisite and newest manner ...

Rabisha, William.London: Printed by R.W. for Giles Calvert ..., 1661.

Interpreted Recipe

1 pound small cucumbers

1/4 cup (or more) beer of choice (I suggest wheat beer, pale ale/IPA, stout or portar)

Handful of bay leaves (I bought the half ounce fresh herbs from the store)

Handful of fresh dill (see above)

1 1/2 tbsp. whole black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. ground mace

4-6 whole cloves
Heavily salted water (for each cup of water use 3 tbsp. of kosher salt-this will float an egg)

These directions are vague and for that I apologize.  I used a 32-ounce jar, the jar you use may be different in size, hence the "method" of the instructions instead of actual measures.  

Early in the day measure your water and add your salt.  If you wish to infuse the brine with dill, add the thickest parts of your dill stems, or dried dill. Bring the water to boil and allow to cool to room temperature. You may want to strain out the dill. I did not. 

While the brine is cooling prepare your jar and your cucumbers.  The jar needs to be super sterile, I washed my jar on the sterilize cycle in the dishwasher.  The cucumbers need to be cleaned off with your beer. Cut off the stem end of the cucumber and wipe the cucumber off with a towel dampened with beer.

Cover the bottom of the jar with bay leaves and fresh dill and then add your cucumbers. Continue to layer until your jar is full.  Add in the remaining spices and cover with the brine.  I used a coffee filter tied to the jar with some string instead of the lid.  Allow the jar to sit in a warm place for 12 to 14 days.  Pour off a measure of your water (I removed half the water and added the vinegar and found it too sharp the first time.  The second time, I removed a cup of water and added a cup of vinegar and I preferred that) and add your white vinegar.  Pickles will store beautifully in the refrigerator for approximately two months.  The longer they are stored, the better they will taste. 

Note: If the pickles feel bad (slimy or feel rotten), smell bad (rancid), become odd colored (grey, brown or black), develop a funky colored mold (anything other then white), tastes bad (if you are brave enough to taste something that smells foul and feels slimy), or makes your stomach upset after a taste test-- toss it and start over.  Do not take chances.  

White yeast known as Kahm yeast may develop on top of your pickle. It is fuzzy in appearance and may have an odor, but not a rancid one. It is harmless and will not affect taste, smell, or feel of your pickle, remove it and the item it may have attached to. If your pickle is complete, place it in the fridge, otherwise you may notice a return of the Kahm in a few days.