fd-Spain-msg – 1/29/08
Food of medieval Spain. References. Cookbooks.
NOTE: See also the files: cookbooks-msg, Spain-msg, cl-Spain-msg, cl-Moorish-msg, fd-Africa-msg, Guisados1-art, Guisados2-art, paella-msg.
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From: Stephen Bloch <sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 08:47:55 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: sca-cooks Spanish recipes, custard
Tegan Rhos wrote:
> I will be the auto-crat (or whatever term you prefer) for an event in
> October and my head cook (or whatever) wanted me to ask if anyone had
> any period spanish recipes or could guide us to a source for them.
It may make a big difference whether you're talking about Spain pre- or
post-Reconquista. For the former, there are numerous medieval Arabic
cookbooks available in translation (reprinted in David Friedman's
_Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks_), including one from
13th-century Andalusia. For the latter, I have a couple of Catalan
sources, and I believe there are also some surviving Castilian sources.
Some examples from our recent largely-Catalan feast are at
http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/sca/cooking/st.val.feast.html.
mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
Stephen Bloch
sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/
From: Aldyth at aol.com
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 23:12:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: sca-cooks spanish feast
<< I have an excellent Spanish cookbook. The Food and Wines of Spain. By
Penelope Casas, Illustrated by Oscar Ochoa Published by Alfred Knopf New
York 1982. ISBN 0-394-51348-7. I have had it for a while, but I did
purchase one last year for a friend. Found it at Barnes and Noble.
This cookbook goes thru everything. Had at least 3 different recipes for
flan.
Mistress Aldyth
Are they traditional recipes of modern Spain or a combination of old and
new?>>
I would say a combination. However the bibliography includes a cookbook
written in 1525 by Ruperto de Nola, chef to King Ferdinand of the Kingdom of
Naples, Italy. Much is made of the 700 year Moorish occupation and the
influence it had. I found it interesting that there is even a "Medieval"
menu suggestion. It starts with Castilian Garlic Soup, Marinated Trout,
Roast Castilian Lamb, Eggplant with cheese, and finishes with Tocino de Cielo
(flan) and flaming liqueur with apples. I really find very little that is
not what I would consider "period". But I have said that I prefer period
looking food before.....
Mistress Aldyth
From: Stephanie Rudin <rudin at master.ceat.okstate.edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 11:39:32 -0700
Subject: SC - Spanish cuisine
Recently I purchased a book which I have not had a lot of time to look
at yet. It is "The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: Medieval Recipes
for Today" by Barbara Santich (Wakefield Press in South Australia or
Chicago Review Press in Chicago). What little I have read so far is
very interesting. The recipes are divided by category, not by region,
but the Spanish ones are fairly easy to pick out.
Mercedes
From: nweders at mail.utexas.edu (ND Wederstrandt)
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:11:33 -0600
Subject: SC - spanish cooking
I wandered over to the university library yesterday at lunch and found a
cookbook on medieval Catalonian and Majorican cooking. Wonderful pictures
of plateware and serving ware, illuminations from books and such. The book
talks about food, some recipes and types of food searched. The only
problem, (at least for me) is that it is in French. I can read a little
French, and I read some Spanish so I can slowly plow through it but it
seems to be a fairly good book. The name is La table medievale des
Catalans by Eliane Thibaut-Comelade, Les Presses du Languedoc, 1995, LOC
numberis TX 723.5 S7 T47 if you can inter library loan.
I haven't had a chance to read much but there is an great illumination of
a cinnamon seller with a big bag of cinnamon sticks.
Clare
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 23:17:02 +0000
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: What They Ate (was Re: SC - Hedgehogs)
I went back to the "Arte Cisoria" to see what else the 15th century
Spanish deemed edible. Here is the list, for those who are curious.
A few of the terms remain untranslated. Words in [brackets] are my
comments/elaborations.
Of the birds: peacocks, pheasants, francolins; and of these there are
an abundance in Aragon; cranes, geese, bustards, ducks, moor-cocks,
partridges, linnets, doves, wild pigeons, turtledoves, quail, coots,
seagulls, throstles, thrushes, widgeons, swallows, roosters, capons,
pullets, hens, chickens, bitterns, lavancos [variety of wild duck],
anderomias [a gray-and-white variety of duck], herons, sparrows,
crested larks, and those which are similar to these in their flavors
and constitution. Of the four-footed animals: oxen, cows, wild oxen;
these are found in Granada: deer and fallow-deer, fawns, roe-deer,
gazelles; these are also found in Granada; hares, rabbits, mountain
goats; young hares, boars, suckling pigs, kids, sheep, ewes,
he-goats, jerboas; these are found in Mallorca; camels, otters,
hedgehogs, badgers, she-goats and those of this nature and those of
similar constitution. Of the fish: whales, red-mullet, solrayo [type
of ray], needlefish, pollack, conger-eel, moray eel, hake, turbot,
percebe [mollusk common on coast of Galicia], mosello, sole,
flounder, salmons, pike, gilt-head, eels, gudgeons, ralla [ray?],
cuttlefish, octopus, tunny, dolphins, shad, sea-bream, red sea-bream,
barbels, trout, ox-eye cackerels, sardines, lamprey, minnows,
torquellas [some kind of marine fish], lobsters, prawns, crawfish,
sabogas [species of shad], yellow mackerel, loaches, flying fish,
mullet, gatos [?] and those which closely resemble them; likewise the
shellfish; such as oysters, mussels, tellinas [a kind of mussel],
shrimp and the like. Of the reptiles, snails and freshwater
tortoises and such. Of the fruits which are cut and peeled and
divided: melons, citrons, cucumbers, snake cucumbers, pomegranates,
figs, black figs, grapefruits, oranges, lemons, pears, lemons, apple
pears, quince pears, peaches, priscos [variety of peach], walnuts,
chestnuts, hazelnuts, acorns, pine nuts, pistachios, and those of
that class. Of the herbs: cardon artichokes, wild artichokes,
lechares [category of plants which exude sap or "milk"],
great-mullein, spear-plume thistle, carrots, lettuce, turnips,
onions, garlic, scallions, mallows, nettles, borage, asedias [? This
word appears above in the fish list as "flounder". Scribal error?],
purslane, capers, cabbages, leaf-beets, parsley, annual clary sage,
celery, fennel, anise, caraway, mustard, cumin, rocket and those of
that quality.
Brighid, who will probably not be serving jerboa or badger at her
next feast
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 15:21:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sarah Elmore <psu08000 at odin.cc.pdx.edu>
Subject: RE: SC - Kasutera
> Do we have any sort of information on the foods of Spain and
> Portugal from that time
For a Spanish cookbook look at:
Librode guisados,manjares y potajes intitulado Libro de cozina
By Ruperto de Nola (1529)
Sarah
St. Urban
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 23:23:08 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Vinha d'ahos
And it came to pass on 30 Jan 99,, that Jan McEwen wrote:
> My lord, being of Portuguese descent, is wondering if vinha d'ahos is
> "period". It is a dish of pork pickled in a vinegar-garlic brine. The
> pork is not cooked initially. It is heated up before serving.
Something similar is period. There are period Spanish recipes for
"Adobo" -- various meats cooked in a vinegar sauce. The recipes I
have (in the "Libro de Guisados", 1529) are for liver and mutton. No
garlic is mentioned as a seasoning -- the recipes call for cinnamon,
cloves, pepper, and "spices". I also have a 1423 Spanish carving
manual (Arte Cisoria) which specifies that one of the common
ways to cook domestic pig is "en adobo".
There are also recipes for escabeche -- a pickled dish. I have one
for rabbit and another for various fishes. Again, there is no mention
of garlic, and the seasonings are such things as saffron, cinnamon,
cloves, and "fine spices".
Brighid
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 19:21:35 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Vinha d'ahos
>We'd like to prepare this for the SCA, but we are clueless as to where to
>find Iberian/Portuguese period documentation. Can anyone point us to
>references?
There is a 13th c. Andalusian cookbook, translated from the Arabic by
Charles Perry, included in volume II of the collection of source material I
sell; eventually it will also be on my web site.
There is a 15th c. Portuguese cookbook, published as _Um Tratado da Cozinha
Portuguesa Do Seculo XV_, but no readily available English translation.
There are a number of Spanish cookbooks, but I don't think any have been
translated yet, although some may be in progress.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 22:30:00 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: SC - Resources on Period Spanish Cooking
I've had several queries recently about resources for medieval and
renaissance Spanish cooking. Here are some of the books I've
been using. Most of them were modern reprints obtained through
ILL. Most of them are in languages other than English. This list
makes *no* pretense of being complete.
AUTHOR: Nola, Ruperto de, pseud.?
TITLE: Libro de guisados, edicion y estudio por Dionisio Perez
("Post-Thebussem")
PUBLISHED: Madrid [Compania ibero-americana de publicaciones]
1929.
DESCRIPTION: xlviii, 247 p., 1 l. illus., facsims. 22 cm.
SERIES: Los clasicos olvidados ... pub. bajo la direccion de Pedro
Sainz y Rodriguez ... vol. IX
NOTE: With facsimile reproductions of title-pages of editions of
Barcelona, 1520, and Logrono, 1529. "He preferido dar a conocer la
segunda edicion castellana hecha en Logrono en 1529, por Miguel
de Eguia, a expensas de Diego Perez Davila": p. [207] Half-title:
Como se servia de comer al rey Hernando de Napoles, por su
cocinero, Roberto de Nola, espanol.
LCCN NUMBER: 32-22348
This is the second edition of the _Libro de Guisados_ (whose first
edition was entitled _Libro de Cocina_). It appears to have
borrowed heavily from two earlier Catalan cookbooks, the _Livre de
Sent Sovi_ and the _Libre de Coch_. This particular reprint has
some very helpful endnotes. There are 242 recipes, two thirds of
which are for meat-days, the remaining being fast-day recipes,
mostly for seafood.
AUTHOR: Granado, Diego, fl. 1599.
TITLE: Libro del arte de cocina, por Diego Granado (1599) ... con
una introduccion por Joaquin del Val.
PUBLISHED: Madrid, Sociedad de Bibliofilos Espanoles, 1971.
DESCRIPTION:xlvii, 432 p., 1 l. 25 cm.
SERIES: Sociedad de Bibliofilos Espanoles. [Publicaciones],
Tercera epoca, 8
NOTE: "325 ejemplares. No. 255".
LCCN NUMBER: 72-216379
The introduction to this book says that it contains recipes in the
Spanish, Italian and German styles. It contains many of the
recipes from the _Libro de Guisados_, practically repeated
verbatim. It has several hundred recipes, including some for New
World creatures, and the Spanish is close to modern and fairly
easy to read. No glossary or footnotes in this reprint.
AUTHOR: Villena, Enrique de Aragon, marques de, 1384-1434.
TITLE: Arte cisoria;
PUBLISHED: Barcelona, 1948.
LCCN NUMBER: 49-26974
A carving manual, but it contains more than just instructions for
cutting up dead animals. There is a long chapter listing foodstuffs
eaten in Spain which require carving, and which includes fish,
birds, herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Although there are no recipes,
per se, the author does comment on various methods of preparing
food. For example, he says that one cuts carrots in this way if
they are to be fried or pickled, but *this* way if they are to be
roasted in the ashes. The Spanish here is noticeably more difficult
to read than in the 16th century works I am familiar with. This
particular edition does include a glossary, which explains some of
the more archaic terms and odd spellings.
AUTHOR: Santich, Barbara.
TITLE: The original Mediterranean cuisine : medieval recipes for
today / Barbara Santich.
PUBLISHED: Chicago, Ill. : Chicago Review Press, c1995.
DESCRIPTION: ix, 178 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm.
ISBN NUMBER:155652272X
LCCN NUMBER: 97-162448
Original recipes and redactions, plus several nice chapters on
medieval cooking in the Mediterranean region.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 12:55:59 -0400
From: "Jules A. Hojnowski" <jah11 at cornell.edu>
Subject: SC - A Drizzel of Honey revisited!
I was reading through my copy of the Spanish Jewish Cookbook and was absolutely amazed! For those who have been cooking medieval feasts for a while, this I think is a must get! For others who are getting started and are midway into medieval cooking, this is a fantastic book for explaining the "pre" recipe info. They have in the first chapter about the foods they used and where they came from who might have used them to influence these people to use that kind of food, AND! if it was upper or middle or lower class type of people who might have eaten this! The recipes info has where and when it was gotten.
I absolutely love it! and will be doing a whole remove at our June
12th event this summer! I can't wait to see how they turn out! :-)
THL Catalina Alvarez
ps the other great thing about the book, is that it has unknowingly helped me
really hone in my persona! I had no idea that I would find my name in this
book, and that one of the "relatives" of my name was a spice merchant!
It is very cool! :-)))
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:24:42 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Medieval Portuguese cookbooks?
>Does anyone know if there are any extant medieval cookbooks from
>Portugal, or describing a Portuguese period culinary tradition? Our
>shire is planning a Portuguese Explorer event (we're in Cape Town, it
>seemed appropriate) and I was wondering what kind of food would fit
>with the theme.
>
>Jehanne
Hello! All I have is:
"Um Tratado Da Cozinha Portuguesa Do Seculo XV"
(A Text on Portuguese Cooking from the Fifteenth Century)
Tr. by Jane L. Crowley from a modern Portuguese text by Professor Antonio
Gomes Filho. Copyright 1988 by Jane L. Crowley.
That's all the bibliographic info I have, but I think this probably was
printed by Cariadoc. There are no Portuguese originals in the text.
Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:04:28 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Medieval Portuguese cookbooks?
This is the only immediately available reference I can find for Crowley's
text. You might check with the site's owner for further information. Bear
http://lemur.cit.cornell.edu/~jules/medieval_info.html
> renfrow at skylands.net writes:
> << "Um Tratado Da Cozinha Portuguesa Do Seculo XV"
> (A Text on Portuguese Cooking from the Fifteenth Century)
> Tr. by Jane L. Crowley from a modern Portuguese text by Professor Antonio
> Gomes Filho. Copyright 1988 by Jane L. Crowley.
> That's all the bibliographic info I have, but I think this probably was
> printed by Cariadoc. There are no Portuguese originals in the text.
>
> HTH, >>
>
> Would anyone who has this work or access to it please e-mail me privately? I
> have all of Cariadoc's works but it is definitely NOT in the editions i
> currently have. :-(
>
> Ras
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 07:38:04 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: Private-Re: SC - Medieval Portuguese cookbooks?
> Look for the Spanish recipes. Spain and Portugal were part of the same
> kingdom during several centuries. Their kitchen (most influated by the
> arabs) are mingled. But the portuguise were the first nation in using
> spices they found in Madagascar and Macao. Their recipes about the dried
> fish named "cabelho" are also unique.
>
> Ana L. Valdés
Portugal became an independent kingdom in 1139, consolidated in 1294 with
the final defeat of the Moors on Portuguese territory. Spain retook
Portugal in 1580 and lost it in a revolt in 1640.
IIRC, "Um Tratado Da Cozinha Portuguesa Do Seculo XV" was found in an
Italian library (the Vatican?) subtitled as a Spanish cookbook by one of the
librarians. This may be technically correct, as the publication seems to
fall in the period Spain held Portugal.
Portugal was the first European nation to make use of spices they imported.
The importation is the key point, because it reduced costs, located new
spices, and made more spices available to more people.
I've been slowly locating and collecting references to show that the
importation and use of eastern spices continued after the fall of Rome and
through the period prior to the Crusades and trying to determine what spice
was known when.
Bear
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 16:23:37 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <Thomas.Gloning at germanistik.uni-giessen.de>
Subject: SC - Medieval Portuguese cookbooks?
Hello Jessica/Jehanne,
"Foi serodia e escassa a producao de livros impressos portugueses de
cozinha" (The production of printed Portuguese cookbooks was late and
scarce). This is the first sentence in "Livros portugueses de cozinha",
a bibliography on portuguese cookbooks, published Lisbon 1988
[Biblioteca Nacional, Catálogo 29].