PGC2019: Meisterin Christian’s Festa de Natale, Late 16th C Italian feast

PGC2019: Meisterin Christian’s Festa de Natale, Late 16th C Italian feast

Not just an item of food or drink your persona may have grown, prepared, consumed, or known of, Meistern Christian has entered a whole feast in the category “Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?”

Persona period inspiration and use:

A friend wanted to host a Christmas event with a meal (Southron Gaard, Festa de Natale, December 2018).  He wanted a menu suitable for his Lady’s persona, i.e. late 1570’s Italian noblewoman.  I chose to follow Scappi, a chef to various cardinals and pope’s, whose Opera dell’arte del cucinare was published in 1570.

I used Scappi’s recipes and menus to construct a feasibly accurate light summer celebration meal for Italy in the 1570’s.

Design, Materials and Construction:

I reviewed all the translated menus from Scappi I could find, and established the appropriate number of courses and dishes for a light feast.  I reviewed the dishes on those menus, and arranged them as to the appropriate course in which they should appear (certain dishes appear only in certain courses).  From those lists I selected a long list of the dishes I preferred.  Christmas in Italy is obviously not in summer, so some flexibility was necessary in selecting recipes from both the summer and December menus.

I then narrowed down the long list of recipes balancing an authentic light Scappi summer menu with the modern constraints / considerations of the event: a menu of light dishes and salads appropriate for a warm summer evening, a balanced menu (for modern tastes), recipes I liked, available seasonal produce, preparation time and cooking facilities, recipes with a nod to Christmas (period or modern Christmas) and keeping a low ticket price in mind.

Here is the menu from the feast:

Primo servitio di credenza (First service from the sideboard):

• Uva fresca di piu sorte (Fresh grapes of various sorts)
• Formaggio (Cheese)
• Olive di piu sorte (Olives of various sorts)
• Insalata di citrioli et cipollette (Cucumber and onion salad)
• Insalate di cedro tagliate in fettoline, servite con zuccaro, sale & acqua rosa (Orange salad with sugar, salt, and rosewater)
• Prosciutto cotto in vino, tagliata, servitto freddo (Ham cooked in red wine, with a dressing of capers, currants, sugar, vinegar)
• Amaretti (Almond cookies)
• Pane con buttiro (Bread butter)

Primo et ultimo servito di cucina (First and last service from the kitchen)

• Polli arrostite (Roast chicken)
• Il lomboletto di porco domstico in piu modi (Roast pork tenderloin)
• Mostardo amabile (Sweet mustard)
• Sapore vino di melangranate (Pomegranate wine sauce)
• Minestra di tagliatelle (A thick soup of Tagliatelle)
• Bolognese tourte ((for vegetarians) Cheese and chard tart)
• Cuocere Broccoli asciutti et cauli (Broccoli and cauliflower with sour orange juice, oil and garlic)
• Insalata di misto (Mixed salad)

Secondo et ultimo servitio di credenza (Second and last service from the sideboard):

• Mele et pere crudo di piu sorte (Raw pears and apples)
• Formaggio (Cheese)
• Grani di melegranate et Fragole (Pomegranate seeds and strawberries)
• Mandole (Almonds)
• Neve di latte(A dish of Snow)
• Per fare pizza a un’altro modo (A dried fruit tart: pastry)
• Ciambelle (Italian cookies)
• Gelo di cotogne (Quince paste)

Here is a link to an article in FTT with some recipes from the event: https://sg.lochac.sca.org/docs/ftt/FTT-2019-06.pdf

Reference:

The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L’arte et prudenza d’un maestro cuoco (The Art and Craft of a Master Cook), Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library, University of Toronto Press, 2011, Terence Scully.