Friday, March 1, 2019

Buon Appetito!




HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It’s hard enough to cook, sometimes, coming up with all the ingredients, at the right time, and make the oven at the right temperature and set the timer properly.
But let’s say you had to cook in 1577. 

Yeah, 1577. 
The year of the Great Comet. When Francis Drake sailed from England aboard the Pelican on the way to circumnavigate the globe. But cooking?

No grocery store, no electricity, no refrigeration, no microwave, no convection oven, no times and almost, no forks. But hey. Not a problem for the incredible Crystal King.
She’s not only a skilled cook, but a talented author, and, clearly, incredibly, culinarily brave.

We know Puck and Child, Beard and Garten, Jaffrey and Pepin. But do you know Scappi?

Listen to this amazing story.


Two Renaissance Recipes for the Modern Chef

                              By Crystal King

                  
 I write books about historical chefs, Italian culinary figures who left behind cookbooks or manuals of stewardship that laid the foundation of the Italian cuisine we know and love today. My latest novel, The Chef’s Secret, is about the first celebrity chef, Bartolomeo Scappi, known throughout Italy and possibly all of Europe for his grand banquets. 

His cookbook, L’Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi, contains over 1,000 recipes, including some of the first pasta dishes, hundreds of meat and fish recipes, and dozens upon dozens of delicious recipes for pies and pastries. It was published in 1577 and was a bestseller for nearly two centuries. 

I’m often asked if I’ve tried to make any of the historical dishes I describe in my works. Yes! I find that diving deep into the cookbooks and trying to recreate the meals of the past is one of my favorite parts about writing the stories I write.

Recreating a 500-year-old recipe isn’t as easy as you might think.

For example, I transformed a recipe for braised beef which calls for a beef tenderloin. Scappi suggests that the tenderloin should be boiled, which is something that would make most chefs of today shudder at ruining such a choice cut of meat.

But Scappi wasn’t going to the supermarket and picking up a pound of carefully butchered beef. Instead, he was dealing with an entire tenderloin which would be 7-8 lbs., a cut that could cost you anywhere from $75-300 at a butcher, depending on the quality. They also didn’t have the same sanitary conditions, so they would wash the meat in wine, then boil the meat before roasting it as a precaution to make sure that people weren’t going to get sick.

 This is just an example of how a direct translation of a recipe might not make for the easiest recreation or the best tasting representation. In those cases, I try to stay as true to the flavors as possible. Usually I make the recipe several times, tweaking it a little bit each time to get it right.

Here I give you two recipes that can go together or stand alone. If you make it, I’d love to know what you think!

Fricassee of Rabbit by Crystal King

This recipe, from Book II.94 of L’Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi, is a simple one for cooking rabbit. Scappi called for boiling the rabbit in salted water, as did many meat recipes of that time. 

Today we know that boiling meat can render out a lot of the flavor, so I recommend brining instead. He also called for spring onions, which, if you can get in season, you should definitely try! Scappi suggested dressing the rabbit with a mustard sauce of your choosing or a sauce called “black broth.” I have included a recipe for black broth following this one.

      2 cups salt
      Whole rabbit, approximately 2.5 lbs
      Pork fat (we used a prosciutto stump) or lard for cooking
      1 chopped onion

1.    Brine rabbit in 2 gallons of water, mixed with 2 cups of salt, for at least 6-8 hours. Overnight is fine.

2.    Cut rabbit into pieces, cut meat off carcass but leave bones in the legs.

3.    Render down the fat in a skillet, then cook pieces with bones first and then fry up the rest of the meat until brown, adding in onions during the last minute or two of cooking.

4.    Serve with a mustard sauce of your choice, or with black broth (see following recipe).


Black Broth by Crystal King



Scappi recommends this sauce,
found in Book II.252 of L’Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi, for use with fowl and various quadrupeds. I pair this with his recipe for Fricassee of Hare (though I use rabbit), but it would also be delicious with duck, chicken or pork.

Scappi suggested adding some sugar if you don’t find the mixture sweet enough, but I have found that it is plenty sweet from the fruit. He also suggests sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top but, again, the recipe is plenty sweet without this. Scappi put sugar on nearly everything (even fried eggs!), but we now know that using sugar so liberally isn’t very healthy.

The recipe calls for grape must, but you could use sapa, vincotto, mosto cotto (all available on Amazon or at a grocer that carries Italian products) or balsamic vinegar as a substitute.

1 quince (you can substitute a very crisp apple)
1 cup raisins
1 cup prunes
1 cup dried or fresh (pitted) cherries
3 1/2 tbsp grape must
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp sweet white wine or white grape juice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

Put all ingredients into a saucepan except the orange juice. Cook this mixture down on medium heat, stirring frequently, until the fruit is soft, the mixture is slightly thick and the juices are bubbling. Strain and add the orange juice into the mixture. Pour over meat.

If you like, you can keep the fruit in the mixture and serve as a compote, or reserve the fruit for use in a pastry dish, or as a topping for ice cream.

HANK: Okay, truth. Would you make these things? Ah....not me. Am I fascinated? One hundred percent.

Have you ever tweaked a recipe? Sure. From the 1500's? Ah, no.
How cool is that?

What would you like to ask Crystal? Tell us one of your cooking secrets! And THE CHEF'S SECRET to one lucky commenter!

About The Chef’s Secret

A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets—including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died.

When Bartolomeo Scappi dies in 1577, he leaves his vast estate—properties, money, and his position—to his nephew and apprentice Giovanni. He also gives Giovanni the keys to two strongboxes and strict instructions to burn their contents. Despite Scappi’s dire warning that the information concealed in those boxes could put Giovanni’s life and others at risk, Giovanni is compelled to learn his uncle’s secrets. He undertakes the arduous task of decoding Scappi’s journals and uncovers a history of deception, betrayal, and murder—all to protect an illicit love affair.

As Giovanni pieces together the details of Scappi’s past, he must contend with two rivals who have joined forces—his brother Cesare and Scappi’s former protégé, Domenico Romoli, who will do anything to get his hands on the late chef’s recipes.

With luscious prose that captures the full scale of the sumptuous feasts for which Scappi was known, The Chef’s Secret serves up power, intrigue, and passion, bringing Renaissance Italy to life in a delectable fashion.



Crystal King is an author, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity, and social media at several universities including Harvard Extension School and Boston University, as well as at GrubStreet, one of the leading creative writing centers in the US. A Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and former co-editor of the online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review, Crystal received her MA in critical and creative thinking from UMass Boston, where she developed a series of exercises and writing prompts to help fiction writers in medias res. She resides in Boston but considers Italy her next great love after her husband, Joe, and their two cats, Nero and Merlin. She is the author of Feast of Sorrow, which was long-listed for
the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and The Chef’s Secret.


94 comments:

  1. Oh, this is absolutely marvelous, Crystal. Thank you for sharing your recipes. And now I’m anxious to read your book.

    I don’t cook rabbit often, mostly because I have trouble finding it, but I have a wonderful recipe for rabbit in a sauce made with green peppercorns, wine, and cream.
    The broth sounds marvelous; I like cooking with balsamic vinegar, so I must try this . . . .

    Have you ever found a recipe that you simply could not replicate?

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    1. I heard Crystal speak recently, and she was saying there is an ingredient that was used at the time, that no one knows what it is! Will get her to tell us :-)

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    2. I think you are thinking of my Ancient Roman book, Feast of Sorrow, Hank! There is an herb, silphium, which went extinct in the 1st century. It was used in all the ancient Roman dishes but we have no idea what it really tasted like. :-)

      But to answer your question, Joan, yes! There are a whole bunch of recipes that would be difficult to recreate, either because I don't have a pot cooking over an open fire, or because we can't acquire or wouldn't eat certain animals. For example, there are guinea pig pies, layered meat dishes in which one layer is calf eyeballs, roasted crane and peacock (preferably put back into its feathers so it still looked alive), and even recipes for porcupine and bear!

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  2. A cooking secret? When making my family potato salad, always use the serving spoon from flatware of my childhood. It's the only way to be sure the "measurements" are correct. That and add the apple cider vinegar to the peeled and chunked up potatoes while they are still hot (or as hot has you can handle). Question: what is the oldest recipe you have brought into modern world. Thanks.

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    1. Oh! Don’t let the potatoes cool! Very very interesting…

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    2. Some of the recipes I've interpreted have been over 2,000 years old. You can get the digital cookbook that is the companion to my first novel, Feast of Sorrow, here: http://www.crystalking.com/thefoodofancientrome One of the recipes, for Parthian chicken, is one we make for dinner all the time!

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  3. Being mostly vegan, I tweak many of the recipes I use. But I've never tried modifying one from the 1500s! I imagine that would be quite challenging. I probably wouldn't even recognize most of the ingredients.

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    1. Let’s ask Crystal! I wonder if we would recognize them…

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    2. You would recognize most of the ingredients, although as a vegan it would have been much harder for you to eat in that time frame. The vegetable recipes in this cookbook were generally made into soups of some sort which might have animal fat or in some cases butter in them. But there were vegetarians at the time--Da Vinci himself was one!

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    3. I had no idea Da Vinci was a vegetarian. How interesting!

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    4. Marla, I suspect if you could find a recipe book from one the 16th century Mughal Empire in India, you'd find lots of vegetarian dishes, since there was a sizable religiously vegetarian population there, unlike Europe.

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    5. I didn't know Da Vinci was a vegetarian either. He would probably be amazed at all the vegan offerings nowadays. And Julia, I bet a 16th century Indian cookbook would be fascinating to read!

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  4. This is just fascinating! I love how Crystal has managed to marry a passion (historical chefs, food in general) with writing.

    I tweak recipes a lot, but I don't think I would have the guts to tackle a recipe from the 1500's. Wow!! I am almost wordless with awe.

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    1. The Scappi cookbook is fairly readable. It is really the first cookbook that is like cookbooks of today. There are measurements for most things, but sometimes the method isn't something we would do today, such as washing the meat, then boiling, THEN cooking. There are no cooking times, so you have to know a bit about cooking to feel comfortable experimenting. In some cases, it's assumed the cook would know what to do, such as in the pumpkin tourte recipe (here: http://blog.crystalking.com/pumpkin-tourte), which is essentially a pumpkin cheesecake pie and calls for a "creamy cheese." We have no idea what that cheese might have been. It was probably the precursor to marscapone. I went with cream cheese to give it some oomph. :-)

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  5. This is fascinating Crystal! Tell us about your research in Italy--it must be so different than it was in the 1500's?

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    1. Crystal, do you know Lucy? She does cooking Mystery’s too! — and she is quite the chef. You two have a lot to discuss!

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    2. We don't know each other! But I'm all about the food novels!

      As for my research, going to Italy helps a lot, because there are still so many things from that era to see. Whole palazzos that are museums. Paintings that depict life at that time. Fountains and streets that have only changed a little since the 1500s. And just getting a feel for the city and the distances between points is super helpful.

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  6. Fascinating! Your fruit sauce recipe is tantalizing. I helped my daughter transform Mrs. Beeton's 19th c. recipe for Hot Cross Buns using more current ingredients for a school project. My latest cooking realization: after cutting up pie apples and mixing in sugar, DRAIN them for a half to full hour. Where have I been all these years?

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    1. So that makes the pie less seepy when you bake it?

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    2. helps the filling set. After draining the apples, reduce the collected liquid and pour over the apples in the pie for enhanced flavor. It's always something, isn't it?

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    3. Probably makes the pie less soupy, I'm guessing? The maceration of the sugar breaks down a lot of the juices.

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  7. Crystal is really missing something if she doesn't at east TRY to do the recipe the first time as directed. I am an historic cook, and recently made a recipe from the early 1900s that called for BOILING a turkey! I cringed, but did it, and it was delicious. No one knew it wasn't roasted, except of course there was no crisp skin. And I've done wonderful rabbit that was simmered and not browned. The flavor was delicious. So don't assume we know it all. If we are going to gussie up antique recipes, why bother to use them at all?

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    1. Oh, wow! I cannot even imagine boiling a turkey… You are so brave! Crystal and her husband have a fabulous kitchen where they experiment like crazy… I bet they have lots of amazing stories!

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    2. I have tried the majority of recipes exactly as prescribed, with mixed results, or interpreted them in the best way I could with very limited instructions. But I'm working in a kitchen without an open fire, and I'm not butchering the meats myself, so there is no way to really be authentic. Additionally, my aim is to help make these recipes accessible to others--to give them a sense of the flavors of the time. They're meant as a companion to the novel, not as a replacement for the work that historians do! Of note, nearly all the meat recipes in the 1500s call for boiling the meat, after you first wash it in wine, I'm assuming for potentially sanitary reasons. THEN you would cook the meat. So it adds a lot of time, and it's not always necessary preparation for the average cook who is curious, but wouldn't want to geek out in the way you or I might, Mercy. :-)

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  8. This is absolutely fascinating! I am currently plunging into the cook books of Queen Victoria's chef and have encountered similar instructions to over cook, over prepare meat. So many rich, complicated sauces. I suppose you are right and the meat wasn't always fresh!

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    1. Oh, fascinating Rhys! I hope you will do a blog about it as your book progresses… And you are right, possibly some of those sauces had a little bit of element of “disguising the meat “:-)

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    2. I wonder if they got their predilection for sauces from the French, who still love them today. I'm working my way forward in time through Italian cuisine and it's interesting to see their influence on other cultures. Now I find myself wanting to go find more about Queen Victoria's chef!

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    3. Speaking as one who has spent a goodly number of years studying pre-1600 food preservation, I can tell you that people didn't try to hide foul meat with spices or sauces. This is patently false, there are a number of Medieval/Renaissance sources that I can cite that explain how to tell if something is good or not to serve or eat.

      It should also be noted that the preservation methods of the time handily exceed modern food safety standards, but the pervasive nature of this myth makes it difficult to actually educate people on the facts.

      Should you want some facts and figures, please peruse my blog, reach out to me, or take a look at the works of authors such as Columella, Messisbugo, or Martino de Rossi.

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    4. And since the link to my blog was only served as a link for my name, instead of some subtitle, you can use the URL below as well.

      ogawaujimori.com

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    5. If our ancestors tried to live on rancid meat, they would not have lived long enough to be our ancestors.

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    6. So true! Thank you! ANd so interesting...love this!

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  9. I find the rabbit recipe intriguing, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try it. I think most of the people I cook for would refuse. I'll go off-recipe, but not until I'm confident enough in the original recipe to start tweaking.

    Oh, and my day got a way from me so I didn't comment yesterday. I'm pretty adamant that any gift needs some kind of communication. For smaller things (random small gifts) this can be a phone call or a text, but big events (like graduation) demand thank-you notes. The Girl loves writing them.

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    1. Rabbit is not really that much different than chicken. Just a slightly stronger taste. I find it really interesting that we stopped eating it in America. It's definitely something I think most people would like if they tried it! A good butcher should be able to acquire it and could cut it into pieces which might be easier if you've not cut one apart before. I hope that you will be brave! But if you aren't, the black broth is something that would go with pork, with chicken or all sorts of meats, and you could easily make it into a sauce for dessert, like on pound cake or with cheesecake, or simply over ice cream.

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    2. I agree, it’s interesting! Why do we have such a problem with that

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    3. Okay, I just have to mention one of my favorite movies here--Local Hero. My dad, who grew up in the hills of Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression, would set rabbit traps and check them on his way to school--if he'd caught a rabbit, it meant meat on the table that night. But I'm with the main characters from Local Hero, nope, no bunny for me.

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    4. Somewhere in the last century bunnies became pets rather than food. Horses are the same...they were eaten for centuries without people batting an eyelash but somewhere that changed in most of the world. Although, when in the old quarter of Bologna, there is a big horse meat butcher in the center of town. We didn't see it on restaurant menus, though. I feel strange considering eating horse, but my husband is all about trying it if it's available.

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    5. I remember eating rabbit in France on my first visit there in the 70s, and it was just fine. I wonder why we've become so squeamish, especially in the the US? Of course many people here never see food that doesn't come in a package. In the UK, at least, there are still lot of high street butchers, where all kinds of meat are displayed.

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    6. Flora, my grandmother had similar stories about rabbits during the Great Depression. She was a young married woman living in town, but her parents, who were farmers, raised rabbits during the 30s, and would share them with their then-adult children and their families.

      I wonder if they've become passe as a food source because the meat-to-bone ration isn't as good as what we get from chickens and turkeys. And fowl have been bred to have a ridiculous amount of meat - I don't know if you could do that with rabbits.

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  10. What an intriguing person you are Crystal! I thought I was a pretty adventuresome cook, but you are the gold standard.

    Unless I'm baking a cake, and even then I've been known to stray from the rules, I consider a recipe a template, something to guide me. A little bit. Therefore, I rarely make the same thing twice. This week I fund myself with a plethora of potatoes and made a chowder using up those and most of the past it fish and vegetables I found in the fridge. It was delicious, and we will never have it again!

    My partner, Julie, likes rabbit. I, who will eat "parts" with abandon, can't eat a bunny. But the recipes sound good. Maybe I'll go out and shoot a couple of squirrels to substitute?

    Oh, and March has arrived here like a lamb. Or should I say "rabbit rabbit"?

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    1. Ahh, see my note to Liz, just above your comment. :-)

      You cook like my husband (although he often does fall into patterns of things he makes some version of regularly). He isn't one to go with a recipe. But he is the one that helped me with this recipe, funny enough. And then I make him remake it with me and perfect it, then perfect it, then perfect it. He's found it fun to do the same thing sort of twice, at least in that regard!

      And yes, rabbit, rabbit!

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    2. Yes! Rabbit rabbit! Where did that come from, anyway?

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    3. Hank, I don't know if there is a definitive answer to the origin of saying "rabbit rabbit", although it seems to have crossed the pond from Great Britain at some point. I am still trying to find something on it. There are some variations of saying it, such as saying "white rabbit." However, Wikipedia does have some interesting tidbits about it. Does anyone remember mention of it in the Trixie Belden book The Mystery of the Emeralds or the promotion of it on the kids' television show Nickelodeon? This link will give you some information on that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit_rabbit

      Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an avid practitioner of this superstition, and he also carried a rabbit's foot. Sarah Jessica Parker makes sure the first words out of her mouth on the first of the month are those. She even incorporated the words into a new fashion line for Gap. Here is a link to her fascination with the phrase. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/superstition-played-major-factor-sarah-jessica-parkers-new-fashion-collection-215102412.html

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Ha! Just moved it to reply correctly to someone. :-)

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  12. You are brave! I write a series set in late 1880s Massachusetts, and for the first few books I tried making a few period recipes for blog posts. Gah. The proportions are often huge and the results insipid. I still consult recipes books and menus for details to put in the story, but have given up cooking that way at home. More power to you!

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    1. and you have learned an interesting lesson, right? You don’t have to actually cook it to write about it!

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    2. Having a hearth to cook on changes everything, I think. I imagine that was part of the problem!

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  13. I am getting ready to takeoff for book mania in Florida! To be with Sophie Hannah and Carol Goodman… So excited!
    You all keep the home fires burning… And I will check in when we get there! Xxxx

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    1. Oh, Hank, I had thought about trying to attend that for several reasons--you, Carol Goodman, Sophie Hannah, Alison Gaylin, and Allan Brennert. I so had wanted to get a signed copy of Daughter of Moloka'i from Brennert. I have a long history of love for his books, but especially for his book Moloka'i. I visited this Hawaiian island several years ago just because of his book. It is an amazing story about how people, even children, were sent to this island from Oahu when they were discovered to have the disease. Please say hello to him for me.

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    2. Oh, we never crossed paths! Rats! xxoo It sounds amazing...xo

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  14. What a fascinating novel which is a real treasure. Congratulations! Your recipes are to be savored and wonderful. When I create a meal I try to make it simple, tasty and homemade as much as possible. I emulate my grandmothers who were wonderful cooks.

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    1. Simple was hard to come by in the Renaissance but there are a few recipes here and there, like this one for rabbit which is very basic and easy. It's a lot of fun to try and figure out the more elaborate ones!

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    2. Crystal, do you know anything about how the ordinary folk would have eaten? It couldn't have been all calves' eyeballs and porcupine. Do the common fol cook at home, or did they get most of their food at cookshops, as they did in England?

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    3. They ate more of a grain and vegetable based diet. Meat was expensive and sugar and spices weren't affordable. But they might raise chickens or geese for eggs and meat. The peasant class often ate things long before the nobility found them acceptable, like tomatoes, eggplant, and broccoli rabe.

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  15. I wouldn’t make those recipes. I like to make healthy food from scratch but without huge lists of ingredients

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    1. Most of the ingredients in the broth are just fruit and spices. In the Renaissance, the wealthier you were the more spices (and sugar) you would use. And while rabbit is not something a lot of Americans eat, there are a bevy of recipes in the cookbook you might find familiar, like fried chicken, pumpkin and apple pie, bread that is nearly like today's bagels, and even turkey pot pie!

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  16. The Chef's Secret would be greatly enjoyed. The recipes are tempting and unique. How creative and inventive. I do follow recipes but add a few extras as far as taste is concerned to brighten up the taste buds.

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    1. In the Renaissance, they had ALL the extras! They used so much rosewater, sugar and spices in nearly every dish that we would mostly find the recipes overwhelming. I have done more subtracting with many of the re-creations, than adding.

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  17. Shalom Reds and fans. I think I would have been very unhappy living in the 16th Century. I can follow a recipe but I rarely cook anything beyond the basics. And I am addicted to modern conveniences. Running water. Refrigeration. Automatic ovens and stoves. Even timers for my coffee which I drink all day when not sleeping. I remember as a child going to camp and one day in two weeks, we went into the woods with tents and sleeping bags. I must have been about 9 or 10 and while we did have an adult counselor with us, we had a rough time getting a fire going and getting some food cooked. I think I cried myself to sleep that night. Now I am a little more mellow about camping. (And usually, someone cooks for me.) Nevertheless, I do like reading fiction about life in times long ago. About Italy, the only novel I’ve read is The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. I’ll read any story about books from any time. I read that book in English translation. That book had so many quotes in foreign languages, so I am not sure how I got through it without Google. I downloaded the pdf of recipes and will prepare to try one soon. Thanks for the book.

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    1. The Name of the Rose is beautiful, isn't it? Love Eco's books although some are a bit more difficult than others. And I think that if you lived in the 16th century, you wouldn't know about all the conveniences of today, so it would be a different story. :-) I do have to say though, that cooking over a fire is almost always tastier than the stove!

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  18. I want to ask Crystal how did you get into such an unusual and fascinating specialty. And how clever you picked one that requires regular trips to Italy! A fun fact to share: I recently learned that the chef character on the PBS Victoria series, Francatelli, is based on a real person, a celebrity in his day. https://www.cooksinfo.com/charles-elme-francatelli
    I often tweak recipes but don't often try really historical ones - not sure its worth the effort - but I do have a great affection for old fashioned (ie. 19th century) home baking. Crisps, cobblers, buckles, muffins, pie for breakfast - I'm there in New England, 1865. ( I know how to make a super apple cider apple cobbler)

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    1. This must be the chef that Rhys mentioned above! Interesting that he was Italian. Now I really want to learn more about him.

      To answer your question, I love reading about food, and ended up reading a line about how the ancient Roman gourmand, Apicius died. That started me down the path, and then I realized that there were several other interesting chefs that no one really knew about, and so I decided to have great fun with their stories. And you are right, traveling to Italy isn't a hardship. :-)

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    2. Oh wait, he's not Italian. I assumed with the name (I know, I know, shouldn't assume!). He was English through and through. Still fascinating to learn about him though!

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  19. As for the food in 1577, I wouldn't try to make it, let along eat it. The book sounds interesting, though.

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    1. It's like a lot of history, Rick - fascinating to read about and visit in fiction, but no one would actually want to live there. Just the fast that we don't have to worry about washing and boiling meat to kill off microorganisms sells me on the 21st century!

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    2. Much of the food would be just as delicious today as it was then. And much of it is similar to food that you probably have eaten dozens of times. The Scappi cookbook includes fried chicken, pastries, tortellini, tortelloni, tagliatelle, pumpkin pie (and apple, pear, peach, cherry and more), chicken soup, turkey pot pie, zabaglione and more!

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  20. Crystal, your book sounds really interesting. You must have done a lot of research and recipe testing. I don't have any great cooking secrets as I don't do much cooking. Looking forward to reading your book.

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    1. A lot of research and recipe testing, yes, but that's the fun part for me. :-)

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  21. Crystal, I am absolutely fascinated by your research. I've been writing and reading about food, at least in a small degree, for the last couple of years as my upcoming novel revolves around two chefs. I just realized with horror that I'm not sure I could recreate any of their recipes! Must go think about that... I've downloaded your pdf and am now going to check out The Chef's Secret. Gorgeous cover, by the way! Do you think you'll do a similar educational pdf for this book? So nice to meet you here!

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    1. I'll probably put together an educational page similar to the ancient Rome page I have on my website. I just need a space of time to do it! I don't think I would have needed to try the recipes to write about Scappi, but I wanted to understand the flavors of the time, and my husband and I really enjoy cooking and baking. Plus it makes for great conversation with readers!

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  22. I so enjoyed reading your post. Have enjoyed reading cookbooks since I was a child, and loved discovering how things were cooked in times past. Rabbit is not uncommon in Europe and I enjoyed it when we lived in France. The Black Broth looks pretty versatile and I imagine would go very well with roast duck. I will try a recipe "as written" on my first attempt and then tweak away from there. Well, unless I am missing an ingredient in the recipe, in which case, tweaking commences immediately. I wish I had a cooking secret to share but am unable to think of one off hand.

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  23. I'd love to know what you think after you try it!

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  24. Crystal, what an amazing dedication you have to this interest! It is indeed a fascinating one. I do well to fix recipes from my family and ones I find online, the easier, the better. Chef Scappi's story sounds so intriguing, with not only its food history, but its people history, too. I love well-researched historical fiction, and The Chef's Secret is sure to hit that mark. Thanks for sharing the amazing food history with us today.

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  25. Welcome to Jungle Reds, Crystal.

    Since I love historical fiction novels, I am adding this to my reading list. I have tweaked recipes from cookbooks.

    Diana

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    1. Thank you Diana! I hope it makes you hungry. :-)

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  26. Crystal, The Chef's Secret is certainly my kind of book and I'm looking forward to read it.
    I almost always tweaks recipes to my taste but I'm not brave enough to try those two. I think you are very adventurous to try those old recipes and I' m happy for you that you succeed.

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    1. The black broth is mostly just fruit...nothing terribly adventurous in it. I think the name sounds more daunting than it actually is. :-) We make it for other meats, and for ice cream because it's just fruity deliciousness. I hope you enjoy the book, Danielle!

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  27. This story sounds so fascinating. What an interesting time period. I'll tweak recipes, but only after I've tried it once as is. After I've had it once I'll know if it needs more of this or less of that.

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  28. Safely arrived! And dusting to get to tonight‘s event. ( as absolutely fascinating as Chrystal is, I still hope tonight‘s dinner is not rabbit :-)
    And when I get back to the hotel room I will read everyone of these! Cannot wait!

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    1. Hank, have a wonderful time! I posted a coupe of replies above I'd like you to read, one about saying "rabbit rabbit" and one about the Book Mania you're attending. I wish I could have attended and finally met Allan Brennert.

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    2. Hank, have a wonderful time! Is it a book event?

      Diana

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    3. Yes! I will read it all tomorrow! Got to sleep sleep sleep now… Xxx

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  29. My family did eat rabbits. Once my Dad bought a live one thinking that he would break its neck as he had seen his father do. It cried like a baby. Dad did kill it but no more live bunnies for us! Some of my co-workers fussed that I was eating bunnies but I said you're eating cows and pigs that are cute, too. I think my mother did boil the rabbit before coating it with flour and herbs and frying it but she's deceased so I can't ask her.

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    1. Oh my, that's a little rough. If you grew up on a farm and you are used to it, that makes sense, but yeah that's sad. :( But that's exactly true--we eat cows, pigs, chickens and sheep and don't blink an eye. I think the Easter bunny might have been part of what did it for the bunnies, now that I think about it.

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  30. Just got back! Well… And will read all of these tomorrow! Love love love you… And Crystal, you are amazing !

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    1. Thanks for having me, Hank! I hope your trip is fantastic!

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  31. Oh, this sounds like a book I would love--almost even most for the recipes! Congratulations, Crystal! I'm definitely going to seek out some rabbit in the immediate future. Thanks for the recipes!
    -Melanie

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    1. If you try it, I'd love to know what you think!

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  32. Ooooh, so glad I found out about this book. Will definitely give these recipes a try, too. We grew up with a lot of rabbit in my house. I, too, collect old recipes from Italy, though mostly the northeast where my family has had roots for half a millennia.

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    1. Soooo many delicious dishes from that part of Italy! I was in Emilia Romagna last fall and the food was heavenly. And oh, the Veneto!!

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  33. AND THE WINNER IS: Melanie Bodin! Email me vis contact on my website..and tell me your address!

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