fd-Sicily-msg – 2/24/08
Food of medieval Sicily.
NOTE: See also the files: fd-Greece-msg, fd-Italy-msg, Sicily-msg, fd-Africa-msg, olives-msg.
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This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003 14:19:51 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Christiane <christianetre at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Scappi vs. the Sicilians
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Ariane H phoenissa at netscape.net:
I've had arancini before, they're excellent! And check this out - I was
just looking through Scappi (Venice, 1570) and found what looks like the
period version (and sweet rather than savory) of this dish:
=============================================
Thank you for posting the Scappi recipe! [See frittours-msg – Stefan]
It's interesting to see that he had a rice fritter recipe. I think
arancini would be perfectly period for a Sicilian feast, though!
Someone had suggested to me off list that an interesting event wold be
a "Sicilian Vespers" fighting event (French vs. the Sicilians), and
I've been posting specifically Sicilian recipes in the hope that folks
may find them useful. Scappi published his recipes, but they are from a
mainland Italian viewpoint, specifcally Roman, and he was never
exposed to the Sicilian kitchen traditions. There are virtually no
Sicilian recipes printed from the medieval/Renaissance period, however,
but there is a very long, very oral tradition, and the Siculo-Arab
style of cooking varies greatly from that of mainland Italy. My
grandmother did not consider herself to be Italian, as many Sicilians
still do today. Cooks are now discovering recipes that families have
known for generations, and are finally writing them down. Yes, it took
500 years to do it, but hey, !
better late than never.
The sweet-and-sour flavors of Sicilian dishes and the tradition of
stuffed foods are the legacy of the Arabs, as are one-dish meals. The
intensely sweet Sicilian dessert dishes also are their legacy. The
Greeks left their legacy with the olive, the grape, and the caper. In
the golden age of Sicily under the Normans, they hired Arab cooks for
their kitchens, but introduced the concept of meats roasted on a spit.
After the expulsion of the Muslims and Jews, especially under the
Spanish Inquisition, pork gained status among the peasantry -- a pig to
slaughter showed wealth and Christian conformity. My Aunt Marie still
insists on making a pork roast every Christmas Day. It was just proper
in their neighborhood.
Anchovies and squid and octopus and tuna have always been part of
Sicilian cooking. I would not serve any of these at the average feast,
however, because of expense, allergies, and the general distaste most
folks have for strong-flavored fish or things that look like Cthulu
landed on their plate. I now enjoy octopus, but found it perfectly
revolting as a child.
Gianotta
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 10:23:40 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Mediterranean food
To: ekoogler1 at comcast.net, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-ooks at ansteorra.org>
Here's what Clifford Wright has to say about the use of butter and
other animal fats in medieval Sicilian cuisine. What's really
interesting to me is that he mentions the village where my grandmother
came from, Corleone.
"In the fourteenth century and up until the beginning of the
eighteenth century, animal fats such as butter, bacon, lard, mutton fat
(perhaps a vestige of the Arab presence), and beef suet were the fats
used in Sicilian cooking. In fact, the preferred cooking fat in
fifteenth-century Sicily was butter. According to the stricfizarii
(taxation records), these were the largest purchases. In Corleone, a
mountain town of western Sicily, butter was sold in a quartara, a kind
of narrow-necked earthenware vessel and was sometimes the only food to
accompany the bread available to the agricultural workers who used it
frequently in place of cheese.
Although olive oil, the cooking fat most closely associated with
Sicilian cooking today, has been produced continually throughout
Sicilian history, it was rare and expensive until recently. Although
butter was used more than olive oil in Sicily, and it was a primary
cooking fat, its production and distribution was nevertheless limited.
In the Middle Ages, only the Jews bought olive oil in quantity as pork
fat was forbidden to them (the Muslim Sicilians having suffered their
final expulsion in the 1230s). The Jewish cooks fondness for olive
oil is partly behind this, but also most merchants dealing in Sicilian
olive oil for export were Jews. Donšt let the abundant use of olive
oil in contemporary Sicilian recipes fool you into thinking that olive
oil was always abundant in Sicily. When olive oil, with its modest
production, was used, it was used on bread or for seasoning dried
vegetable soups."
There are some useful essays on Mr. Wright's site about food history
for the Mediteranean region. http://www.cliffordawright.com
Gianotta
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 19:51:56 -0500
From: "M. Traber" <mtraber251 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Mediterranean food
To: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Anybody else here been to Sicily? a very marginal rocky place.
They have some olive orchards. They have lots of goats, and a fair
amount of sheep and cows. You squeeze an olive once a year, and then
feed the squeezed out residue to the goats, sheep and cows, OR you can
cure the olives and eat them all year. You can *squeeze* a goat, sheep
or cow teat every day. You get butter from the milk. Now, *which* makes
more sense? a once a year limited fat, or one that replenishes every day?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aruvqan, nicknamed Margali
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 19:54:38 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at woldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cassata
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Here are a couple of quotes on the subject of cassata.
Bear
"There are a great number of Sicilian desserts that bear the Arab imprint,
and several that bear Arab names; of which the most famous is the 'cassata
siciliana.' 'Cassata' comes from the Arab word 'qas'a'. a large
steep-sided terracotta bowl used to mold this amazing cake; made of
marzipan, sponge cake, and sweetened ricotta."
Simeti, Mary Taylor, "Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-five Centuries of Sicilian
Food", 1989.
"For centuries, all of the 'cassat' of Sicily were made by nuns in their
convents, and there are stories that those nuns worked so hard before Easter
that some even forgot their regular devotions. They were busy making the
quintessential Sicilian dessert that combines tastes brought by the Arabs
with the 'pan di spagna' that came with the Spanish. Some think that the
word 'cassata' comes from the Arab 'qas'at'. big deep bowl; others
convincingly argue that it comes from the old Sicilian word 'caseata'; from
the Latin 'caseus' for heese.
Field, Carol, "The Italian Baker", 1985.
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 15:23:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chicken baked in bread recipe
To: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I have a copy, but wasn't very impressed with
it as a history book. It is more a modern
cookbook with recipes that the author claims
goes back into history, but never documents
her suppositions.
Huette
--- Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Arrggh. The title of Mary Taylor Simeti's book
> is "Pomp and Sustenance: 25 Centuries of
> Sicilian Food." Not "25 Years."
>
> But I am looking forward to getting my hands on
> this book, it's supposed to have a lot of food
> history in it.
>
> Gianotta
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:20:22 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chicken baked in bread recipe
To: "Christiane" <christianetrue at earthlink.net>, "Cooks within the
SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The book is interesting. The true historical value may be open to question,
but the quotes scattered through the book point to useful sources. It's
also a pretty good read.
Bear
> Arrggh. The title of Mary Taylor Simeti's book is "Pomp and Sustenance: 25
> Centuries of Sicilian Food." Not "25 Years."
>
> But I am looking forward to getting my hands on this book, it's
> supposed to have a lot of food history in it.
>
> Gianotta
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:08:45 +0200
From: Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pasta Experiment (long)
To: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Am Dienstag, 14. Juni 2005 23:52 schrieb Barbara Benson:
> If anyone has any suggestions as to places I might look
> to find more info on the Cuisine of Norman Sicily I would love to hear
> it. I will append a list of books I am currently working with.
This is fascinating. Please keep us posted.
As to Norman Sicily, I would suggest looking at some dietetics texts. If you
can get your hands on the Viaticum, count yourself lucky (I haven't yet), but
the Salernitan Regimen Sanitatis should be easier. This was written in
Salerno around that time and reflect local practice and contemporary medical
opinion.
Another thing you might want to look at are the Anglo-Norman Cookery
Books. They are not italian, but from what I read about Norman Sicily it seems
they retained quite a bit of their traditions.
> The Norman Kingdom of Sicily - Matthew
Is this any good? I just bought a new German book on medieval Sicily,
and I'm looking for more info.
Giano
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 07:07:19 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 12th Century Italian was 10th C. Cornish?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
There's a chapter in
*Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe.
A Book of Essays*. Edited by Melitta Weiss Adamson.
New York: Routledge, 2002. which concentrates on Sicily.
Actually Travels with a Medieval Queen by Mary Taylor Simeti might also
be good.
Simeti offers a delightful, reflective reconstruction of a journey
undertaken in 1194-1195 by the Sicilian princess Constance from the dark
forests of Germany back to her ancestral island in the company of her
cold, conquering husband, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI.
It came out in 2001 and used copies (really cheap) are available.
Johnnae
Lilinah wrote:
> But the other two have me a bit mystified:
> - anything 12th c. Italian
> There's a nice amount of later Italian, but i'm not sure about
> recipes from the 1100s.
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:04:42 +0200
From: Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 10th C. Cornish?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Am Mittwoch, 25. Oktober 2006 02:26 schrieb Terry Decker:
>> Alternatively, since parts of southern Italy were, I think, still
>> inhabited by Muslims at that point, you could use Muslim recipes.
>> There are sources from both just after and a couple of centuries
>> before the 12th century, although little of the latter has been
>> translated.
>
> That might work, although the Muslims were pushed out of Sicily in 1091.
> Since Sicily still prepares a number of dishes similar to their Arabic
> counterparts, it's obvious the cuisine didn't change overnight.
There were Muslims in Sicily well into the 13th century, and the Norman kings
of Sicily (and no doubt other members of the upper classes) had Muslim cooks.
While nothing is stated about the cooks of Emperor Frederick II that I know
of, he had a large number of Muslims in his retinue, including physicians,
dancers, falconers, bodyguards, concubines and scribes. The Saracens don't
disappear from Southern Italy until the ethnic cleansing of the later 13th
century, though their settlement area and influence slowly dwindles.
And anyway, it's not like the cuisines of the Maghreb and southern Italy
aren't similar to start with. Evidence is unfortunately thin on the ground,
but from everything we can see it seems that in terms of everyday material
culture, the differences between ordinary Christians and ordinary Muslims
(and Jews) were very small. The church occasionally frets about this at the
time.
Giano
<the end>