CF Feast 2012 Ingredients/Cooking Instructions

Primo Servitio di Credenza

Fried bread balls - Scappi p495 V.133

Make a dough of two pounds of fine flour with three ounces of sugar, three ounces of butter, six egg yolks, four ounces of rosewater and the rest warm water and salt or else warm goat's milk. When it has been kneaded for half an hour, make a sheet of it and use a small brush to spread white wine or rosewater or milk over that. Fold it back on itself, then cut it into stripes with the pastry wheel and with those make lumps, braids and other pieces using white-metal moulds, depending on the cook's preferences. Fry them in rendered fat. When they are done, serve them with fine sugar over them. They can also be baked in an oven, first brushing them with egg white and then sprinkling them with sugar.

Ingredients:

Flour - 1.5kg/12 Cups

Sugar - 450g/2 1/4 Cups

Butter - 450g

Eggs (yolks only) - 20

Rosewater - 300ml/1 1/2 Cups

Warm water

Rendered beef fat - 3 pottles

Caster sugar - some

Instructions:

Melt butter, separate eggs. Mix together all ingredients adding water as necessary to create a dough. Knead for 20 minutes in the big mixing bowl. Roll out to about a centimetre thick. Brush with rosewater. Fold back on itself, cut into strips then into small lumps about the size of a sea urchin (a tablespoonful/size of a walnut). Roll these into balls. Heat fat in pan so that it is about 0.5-1cm deep. Fry balls until cooked, turning to brown all sides. Add more fat to the pan as necessary.

Primo Servitio di Credenza

White dish - Rosselli p9v-10r

Take two pounds of almonds, and almonds very well that as well most white steeping them one day, and one night in fresh water, and then pounding [them] very well, and when they are well ground take a little fresh water that what [is] not [faccino] smelling then take a breast of capon, and grind it with these almonds, and take the crumbs of a white bread and put it in a lean capon broth, and crush it together with these things, and take a little of ripe grapes¹ of ginger that will be well peeled and that will be white and half a pound of sugar and distemper all these things with lean broth of capon and pass through a strainer in a good pipkin and put over the slow burning coals of the fire stirring many times with the spoon and leaving [it] to cook for the space of half an hour, and when [it] is cooked take three ounces of rose water and then make the dish. Note either cover the capon or other bird when the said meat and almonds are on the table, and if you do not put the capon for more beauty place over grains of pomegranate. Note if you want that this meat be in two colours take egg yolks, and a little saffron and mix these things together with one part of the meat and take a little sour unripe grapes that are not white and in this way is called flower pottage. Note that if you have two covered pots one of the white and the other of yellow.

Ingredients:

Blanched almonds - 2.8kg

Chicken breasts - 2.8kg

White bread - 2.8kg

Verjuice - 600ml

Fresh Ginger - 280g

Chicken Stock - 14L (use powdered Massel stock)

Rosewater - 300ml

Sugar - 700g

Instructions:

Remove crust from bread loaves, put innards in food processor to turn into crumbs. Skin almonds by adding hot water if this has not already been done. Roughly chop chicken breasts, removing skin/fat. Grind skinned almonds and chicken breasts in food processor. Put in pot with broth, add verjuice and peeled, finely chopped ginger. Bring to boil and simmer at least half an hour.

Primo Servitio di Cucina

Stuffed roast leg of lamb - Scappi p170 II.69

Get a leg of the good sort described above and beat it with a bat until it separates from the bone in the middle of it, then carefully draw out that bone which is the hollow bone, leaving the knee pad there. Along with the bone remove some of the flesh and beat that with an equivalent amount of pork fat, marbled prosciutto and garlic cloves, adding in pepper, cinnamon, beaten herbs, a few raisins and saffron. Turn the leg inside out and slash the inner flesh here and there, being careful not to cut through to the skin. Splash the flesh with rose vinegar and sprinkle on pepper, sugar and cinnamon. Then turn it right side out again, stuff if with the mixture, sew it up with cord, and put it into a stewing pot which has beaten pork fat in it and enough meat broth to cover the leg; add in verjuice, common spices, and prunes and dried visciola cherries. Seal the pot so it cannot breathe, and set it to cook over a low fire for two hours. When it is done, serve it hot with the cord removed and with that broth over it.

Ingredients:

Deboned lamb leg - 11kg

Beef Fat - 2 pottles

Prosciutto - 400g

Garlic - 1/2 bulb

Freshly Ground Pepper - 6 Tablespoonfuls

Cinnamon - 6 Tablespoonfuls

Marjoram - 1 plant/packet

Sage - 1 plant/packet

Rosemary - 1 plant/packet

Mint - 1 plant/packet

Rose water - 100ml/1/2 Cup

White vinegar - 100ml/1/2 Cup

Sugar - 1 Cup/200g

Lamb or Beef Stock - 4 Litres

Verjuice - 500ml

Ginger - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Cloves - 1/2 Tablespoonful

Prunes - 200g

Dried cherries - existing freeze dried ones

String and a big needle

Instructions:

If the lamb legs aren't already deboned, they should weigh more. Find someone to bone them. If they're prestuffed, remove the stuffing and wash them off thoroughly. Trim off about 1.5kg lamb in total from the inside of the legs. Cut it roughly, and put it through the food processor with the beef fat and prosciutto until it is well ground and mixed evenly. Chop the rosemary finely by hand. Skin the garlic and chop this with the other herbs using the stick mix mini processor attachment. Mix the combined garlic and herbs through the meat mixture, along with two tablespoonfuls each of pepper and cinnamon. Slash the flesh on the inside of the lamb legs with a knife. Mix together the rose water and vinegar, and sprinkle this over the insides of the legs. Use a brush to spread it more evenly if necessary. Sprinkle another two tablespoonfuls each of pepper and cinnamon, as well as half a cup of sugar, over the insides of the legs. Divide the stuffing evenly between the legs. Roll the legs closed and stitch them shut with string. Put in a large casserole pan with the combined stock and verjuice, mixing in two tablespoonfuls each of pepper and cinnamon, as well as the ginger and cloves, prunes and dried cherries. Cook in a moderate oven for a couple of hours. If the stock doesn't quite cover the legs, turn them during cooking or add water to top up to the right level.

Primo Servitio di Cucina

Tortellini of herbs - Scappi p231 II.179

Get chard or spinach, chop it up small and wash it in several changes of water. Press the water out of it, saute it in fresh butter and set it to boil with a handful of aromatic herbs. Take that out and put it into an earthenware or tinned copper pot, adding in grated Parmesan cheese and a creamy cheese in the same amount, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, raisins and enough raw eggs. If that mixture is too moist, put in grated bread; if too dry, a little more butter. Have a sheet of dough made up the way that is directed in Recipe 177, and make tortellini of various sizes, cooking them in a good meat broth. Serve them garnished with cheese, sugar and cinnamon.

Dough: A thin sheet of dough made of flour, rosewater, salt, butter, sugar and warm water.

Ingredients:

Spinach - 4 bunches

Butter - 1 x 500g block

Marjoram - 1 packet/plant

Rosemary - 1 packet/plant

Mint - 1 packet/plant

Parsley - 1 bunch

Parmesan cheese - 250g

Block Edam cheese - 200g, + 100g for garnishing

Freshly Ground Pepper - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Cinnamon - 2 Tablespoonfuls, + 1 Tablespoonful for garnishing

Cloves - 2 teaspoonfuls

Saffron - 2 grams

Raisins - 200g/1 cup

Eggs - 6-8

Flour - 750g/6 Cups, + 250g/2 Cups for dusting pasta

Rosewater - 90ml/6 Tablespoonfuls

Salt

Sugar - 90g/6 Tablespoonfuls, + 90g for garnishing

Vegetable broth - 4 Litres

Instructions: - Also use any leftover Tasty Cheese from the meatballs

Make up the pasta dough using the flour, rosewater, sugar, about a teaspoonful of salt, and 90g of butter, melted. Add extra flour if the dough is too moist, extra water if it is too dry. Knead well and leave it to rest.

Roughly chop the spinach and wash it thoroughly. Cook it in the remaining butter with the chopped herbs (chop the rosemary by hand, the rest can go in the mini blender attachment of the stick mixer). Mix in the remaining ingredients, stirring well to combine. It should be slightly wet but not horribly gloopy at this point. If it is, add some breadcrumbs (use the crusts from the bread for the white dish, or leftover lunch bread - you will not need very much).

Put the pasta dough through the pasta machine until it is very thin. Dust it well with flour if you are stacking it in layers. Cut out circles with the pastry cutter, fill with a teaspoonful of the spinach mixture, press the edges together and curve into tortellini shape. Dust well with flour again for storage; if they are being made ahead of time stack them in layers with a sheet of baking paper in between each and making sure that none of the tortellini are touching one another.

Bring broth to a boil, cook tortellini until done.

Primo Servitio di Cucina

Fried eggplants with basil, verjuice and garlic sauce and with salt, pepper, and orange juice - Scappi p361 III.231

Peel the eggplants, slice them and parboil them in water; let them drain on a table. Flour them and fry them in good olive oil. When they are done, serve them dressed with pepper, salt and orange juice, or else with a sauce made of verjuice, basil and garlic. They can be dressed also with a garlic sauce made using walnuts, or with green sauce, or with some other garnish.

Ingredients:

Eggplants x 14

Rice Flour - 500g

Basil - 2 packets/plants

Garlic - 1/2 bulb

Verjuice - 200ml

Orange juice - 200ml

Pepper - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Salt

Olive oil - 300ml

Instructions:

Cut the top off the eggplants. Peel them with an ordinary peeler. Cut into 1cm thick slices. Boil in wtare until well cooked. Drain on paper towels or tea towels. Dip in rice flour. Fry in olive oil until crispy on the edges.

To make sauce, peel the garlic and chop this with the basil in processing attachment of stick blender. Attempt to combine the verjuice with this also to make a sort of sauce thing. Hand it over to Anna who will distribute toppings evenly over slices; also make sure she has orange juice/salt/pepper for other topping.

Primo Servitio di Cucina

Stuffed Lettuce - Scappi pp363-364 III.240

Get a cabbage from which the harder leaves have been cleaned away and bring it to a boil in water. Then take it out and put it into cold water. Have a mixture ready, made up of old walnuts that are not too rancid, ground with a small clove of garlic, breadcrumb soaked in hot water, mint, marjoram, burnet and parsley, those herbs beaten, raisins, pepper, cinnamon and a little salted eel flesh which is cooked and ground in a mortar. Stuff that mixture between each of the leaves toward the middle of the stalk. When the stalk is full, wrap it around with a large cabbage leaf brushed with hot water and tie it with a string. Cook it in water with oil and salt. If you want to make the cabbage's broth thick, put grated bread into it, and a hanful of beaten fine herbs, pepper and saffron. If it is not a day during Lent, you can add cheese into the stuffing and some eggs, and instead of oil, butter.

You can stuff the stalks of lettuce that way, thickening the broth with ground almonds instead of grated bread.

Ingredients:

Lettuce - 14 whole

Walnuts - 700g

Garlic - 1/2 bulb

Breadcrumbs - 1.4kg

Mint - 1 packet/plant

Marjoram - 1 packet/plant

Parsley - 1 bunch

Raisins - 700g

Pepper - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Cinnamon - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Eggs - 14

Edam Cheese - 700g

Butter - 100g

Salt - 2-4 teaspoonfuls

Olive Oil - 100ml

String

Instructions:

Grind walnuts in food processor. Peel garlic, chop along with herbs using processing attachment on stick blender. Beat eggs lightly. Grate cheese. Soften or melt butter. Combine together walnuts, garlic, herbs, breadcrumbs, raisins, cinnamon, pepper, eggs, cheese, butter, and 1-2 teaspoonfuls of salt, working through thoroughly with your hands. Form into 14 equally sized balls.

Peel off outer layers of lettuce leaves and retain these for wrapping the balls. Remove middling lettuce leaves, and put the ribs aside for the soup and the leaves aside for the salad. Carefully insert stuffing balls into inner heart of lettuce. Wrap with one of the outer leaves and tie with string. Reserve the rest of the outer leaves for serving; make sure these are passed onto Anna.

Boil balls in salted water with olive oil. When cooked, leave sitting in hot water in their pot with the lid on until ready to serve so that they stay hot. Anna will remove the string and place them in bowls on more outer leaves.

Primo Servitio di Cucina

Thick Soup of Fresh Peas - Scappi p367 III.249

Get peas in their pods, shell them and put them into a pot with olive oil, salt and pepper. Saute them gently, adding in enough water, tinged with saffron, to cover them by two fingers. When they are slightly underdone, grind some of them in a mortar, moistening them with that same broth, and put them back into the pot with a handful of beaten fine herbs. Bring it all to a boil and serve it hot.

Ingredients:

Peas - 2kg frozen

Olive oil - 100ml

Salt - 1-2 teaspoonfuls

Pepper - 2 Tablespoonfuls

Saffron - 1 gram

1/2 packet each marjoram, basil, mint

Instructions:

Defrost peas in a colander to drain off excess water before frying. Heat oil in pot, add peas, salt and pepper, fry lightly for a minute before adding water mixed with saffron. Bring to a boil and boil until cooked. Take out a cupful of the peas and puree them in the processing attachment for the stick mixer with the herbs. Return to the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until serving.

Secondo Servitio di Credenza

Lettuce salad - Castelvetro pp64-65

Wash it properly!

Insalata ben salata,

poco aceto e ben oliata.

Ingredients:

Lettuce - use leaves from stuffed lettuce, and from lettuce soup

Cress - 2 bags

Basil - 1/5 packets

Rocket - 2 bags

Oil - 500ml

White Vinegar - 400ml

Salt - about 1T

Instructions:

Wash hands. Put all leaves in a bowl of water and stir well with hands. Lift out carefully. Repeat three or four times. Shake leaves well, then dry carefully with clean tea towels. Put the salt in a bowl. Add the leaves, stir really well to mix the salt in. Add oil - start with 200ml and add more as necessary. Stir with a knife and fork to ensure that the leaves are evenly coated. Add vinegar, starting with 100ml and adding more as necessary, again stirring with a knife and fork to mix evenly. Taste check.

Bean salad - Castelvetro pp96-97

Ingredients:

Green beans - 3kg

Salt

Olive Oil - 200ml

Lemon Juice - 100ml

Orange Juice - 100ml

Instructions:

Boil the beans in salted water until barely tender. Pour into a colander, and run cold water through to cool quickly. Drain well. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and orange juice. Mix through beans.

Secondo Servitio di Credenza

Salad of cucumbers & onions - Castelvetro p78

Ingredients:

Lebanese cucumbers - x 10

Onions - 1.5kg

Freshly Ground Pepper - 2-4T

Salt

Instructions:

Skin cucumbers and slice into sticks. Slice onions into long strips. Toss both together, adding pepper and salt to taste.

Eggs with Garlic Sauce - Scappi p376 III.272; pp266-267 II.257

Cook eggs in their shells in water such that they are not too hard. Then take them out of the hot water and put them into cold water, shell them and immediately flour them. Fry them in melted butter or oil. When they are done, serve them garnished with sugar and orange juice, or else cover them with garlic sauce or some other sauce.

Get six ounces of fresh, shelled walnuts, four ounces of fresh Milanese almonds and six parboiled garlic cloves or one and a half raw ones. grind that in a mortar with four ounces of crustless bread soaked in a meat or fish broth that is not too salty. When that is done, put a quarter-ounce of ground ginger into it. The sauce being well ground, there is no need to strain it but only to moisten it with one of those broths. If the nuts are dry, set them to soak in cold water until they have softened and can be shelled. Into that sauce you can grind a little turnip or kohlrabi that has been well cooked - in a meat broth if it is a meat day.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 112

Rice Flour - 500g

Butter - 500g

Walnuts - 3 Cups/600g

Almonds - 2 Cups/400g

Garlic - 2 bulbs

Breadcrumbs - 400g

Vegetable stock - 2L

Ground ginger - 1 Tablespoonful

Instructions:

Boil eggs until cooked. Shell. Dip each in rice flour to coat. Heat butter in a frying pan. Lightly fry eggs.

Soak the walnuts and almonds overnight. Skin the almonds. Separate and skin the garlic cloves and boil in water. Remove the crust from the bread, shred it in the food processor and moisten it with as much vege stock as necessary. Grind all the rest of the ingredients in the food processor. Add enough vege stock to make it into an actual sauce.

Secondo Servitio di Cucina

Pork Meatballs - Messisbugo

p98v Tomaselle nello spiedo.

Tomacelle (Meatballs) in the spit.

Take meat of veal, or wether, or lean pork from the leg, and clean it well of nerves, and sinews, and beat it well with knives with a little lard, and fat of veal, and oily herbs, and after when all the things together will be well beaten with the knives with the yolk of eggs, and grated cheese, and the learned spices², the second of which the quantity that you would have, take the caul of pork, or calf, and to it wrap within as with the others, and make it big or small as you would, then take it to cook on the spit tied to sticks, and as it will roast it in a pot³ with sugar, and cinnamon, and orange juice, and serve it to eat hot.

Ingredients:

Lean pork - 6kg

Pork lard - 1 pottle

Eggs - 20

Cinnamon - 5T

Pepper - 2T

Cloves - 2t

Parmesan Cheese - 250g

Tasty Cheese - 400g

Oil - 200ml

Orange juice - 2 Litres

Sugar - 100g/1/2 Cup

Instructions:

Remove any fat/sinew from pork. Cut pork into chunks, divide lard into lumps. Put both of these through the food processor together, until well blended and evenly mixed. This will take several batches to do, so afterwards combine it all together in a large bowl and mix through by hand as well. Grate the cheese, beat the egg yolks. Add these with 3 tablespoonfuls of Cinnamon, all the pepper, and the cloves, to the meat mixture. Mix through thoroughly, working the mixture with your hands to ensure it is well blended. Make meatballs about the size of a walnut. This is slightly smaller than normal, but people will be quite full by the time these are served so we want to make small amounts. Pan fry in oil to seal on all sides. Put in a roasting pan with the orange juice to cover (or mostly cover). Mix the remaining cinnamon with the sugar, and sprinkle over the top. Bake in a moderate oven until cooked.

Secondo Servitio di Cucina

Rice & Cheese - Messisbugo

p77v A fare riso, o farro, con torli di vuoa, e formaggio per piatti dieci.

To make rice, or spelt, with egg yolks, and cheese for ten platings.

Take one pound of spelt, or rice, which is well husked, and washed, and when it is a good white, then take it to boil in a fatty broth, and when it is almost boiled, take two pounds of good hard grated cheese, and ten egg yolks⁴, and mix these eggs with [the] cheese, and throw⁵ [it] in the rice with a quarter of pepper, a little saffron, mixing all this well together with the spoon constantly, at the end when it will be finished cooking, and when it will be served, put over it six ounces of sugar, and put with this half an ounce of cinnamon, not forgetting to do this, and then moreover do without.

Ingredients:

Rice - 3.5kg

Tasty Cheese - 7kg

Saffron - 4g

Vege Stock - 2L + Massel vege stock powder

Sugar - 100g/1/2 Cup

Cinnamon - 2T

Pepper - 1T

Instructions:

Cook rice in stock, gradually adding more stock as necessary (make it up using the stock powder and boiling water). Once the rice is cooked, mix together the grated cheese and egg yolks. Add cheese mixture to the rice, along with the pepper and saffron. Mix together well, cook a further 15 minutes. Leave it on a really low setting and stir it occasionally/add more water as needed until serving. Provide cinnamon and sugar to Anna along with rice for serving.

Secondo Servitio di Cucina

Lettuce Soup - Messisbugo

p79v/r A fare una minestra di coste li lattuca in modo, che pareranno zucche un mese innanzi il tempo.

To make a soup of lettuce stems in the fashion, that it would appear rather as a vat of gourd.

Take the ribs, and base of lettuce; and clean [them] well, cut them all roughly into small pieces, then make them boil with a good broth, with a little prosciutto, or salted meat, the quantity of the latter that you would make, and a little beaten lard, and make it boil like you would do gourd, and then when it will be rather cooked put a little leeks⁶, and a little basil at the same time in, and a very little saffron to make it appear like natural gourd, and a little verjuice or none at all, and put in it moreover some beaten onions it will be sweet.

Ingredients:

Lettuce ribs - use those from stuffed lettuce, and those saved by previous cooks, also further six heads of lettuce

Vegetable stock - as needed, from Massel stock powder

Leeks - 4

Basil - 2 bunches

Saffron - 2 grams

Onions - 1.5kg

Salt - 3T (approx.)

Instructions:

Remove lettuce ribs from lettuces, put aside leaves for salad. Round up further ribs from stuffed lettuces, and previous cooks' salads. Wash all thoroughly, and chop into smallish bits (mouthful size). Make up stock from powder, and cook lettuce in this. When it is mostly cooked, add finely chopped leeks, onions, and basil (use the food processor or stick mix attachment for this). Cook some more.

Secondo Servitio di Cucina

Ongaresca Pie - Scappi p226 II.169, p454 V.42

Get six pounds of fresh goat's or cow's milk, twenty fresh, beaten eggs, enough salt, an ounce of cinnamon and a little saffron; filter everything with a pound and a half of fine sugar. Put it into a copper or earthenware pot which has been greased with six ounces of firm fresh butter. Cover the pot and put it into a big casserole pot with water to cook it. When it has cooked so that it is almost like curdled milk, have it served either hot or cold as you wish. If you want it white do not put in any cinnamon or saffron.

You can also do it differently with twenty egg yolks, four pounds of milk, four ounces of orange juice, one ounce of cinnamon, half an ounce of ginger, a little saffron, two ounces of rosewater and a pound of sugar. With everything put through the filter, cook it as above.

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Make up a small pastry shell with well sieved flour, eggs, salt and water; the height of the shell should be in proportion to its size. When it is made, let it dry out so it will hold the filling better. Get ten egg yolks, beaten, with two beakers of fresh goat's or cow's milk, six ounces of sugar, two ounces of rosewater, half an ounce of ground cinnamon, all mixed together, with a few raisins and enough salt. Put the small pie shell into an oven empty and right away put enough of the filling into it to cover its bottom to the depth of a finger. When that filling has thickened, put in some more with a little melted butter; repeat that several times, continuing up the shell by a finger each time. It will then be baked. Take it out and colour the shell. Serve it hot with sugar and rosewater over it. You can also do it with both whites and yolks of eggs, but the filling will not keep in as firm a state as with the yolks alone.

It can be done differently with a small shell made as above: get some tartara, made up as in Recipe 86, and some sage-dish or else Hungarian Soup as made in recipe 169 of the Book on Prepared Dishes. When the thin liquid of the filling has been drained off, mix in raw eggs, more sugar, a little verjuice and raisins with what is left. Pour the filling into the shell and bake it in the oven. When it is done, serve it hot with sugar and folignata on top. If you will be wanting to eat the pastry itself along with the filling, put butter or rendered fat into it when it is made up, although whenever pastry dough is made with fat it tends to collapse when heated; it is made, therefore, with only eggs, cold water and salt, because when that sort of dough heats up it hardens and holds a filling better.

Ingredients:

Goat's milk - 8L

Eggs - 144

Saffron - 1g

Salt - 8t + 2T

Sugar - 2.4kg

Cinnamon - LOTS

Verjuice - 900ml

Raisins - 7.5 Cups

Flour - 4kg

Butter - 2.4kg

Pie cases - 16

Instructions: We're making 16 pies, which is enough for all tables (2 for high table), and two for the helpers.

Pie shells: Ingredients allowed for these are 4kg flour, 2.15kg butter, 16 eggs, 8t salt

Make dough in quantities of two pie casings at a time, as follows. Sift 4 cups flour into food processor, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cube 250g butter and add to food processor. Blend until butter is thoroughly chopped and mixed through, looks a bit like breadcrumbs. Break two eggs into food processor, and add two tablespoonfuls of cold water. Mix until it blends into a dough. If it's a bit dry, add more water a teaspoonful at the time. Put dough in the fridge while you make the rest.

Once all the dough is made, start with the first batch and work through in order. Roll dough out to an eighth of an inch thick. Cut out circle. Line pie tin. Bake in moderate oven with pie weights until cooked - 15-20 minutes. Cut out pastry shapes with any remaining dough and bake these - they can be used as garnishes.

Pie fillings: Use 7.2L of goat's milk only. Break 96 eggs into a bowl and beat them until they are thoroughly mixed. Mix together goat's milk, beaten eggs, saffron, 2 T of salt, 1.4kg of sugar, 3 T of Cinnamon. Use the remaining 350g of butter to line a pot that has a lid. Put the mixture into this pot, cover with the lid, and set to cook over a pot full of boiling water (start with HOT water from the zip). You may need to do this in several batches. It will need to cook for about three or four hours, so keep checking that there is enough water in the pot below. The mixture should separate and form lumps in the bottom. The top won't go completely liquid-y, it'll still look a bit creamy. Once it has cooked and cooled, drain slightly and scoop off the thinnest liquid with a large spoon carefully - any liquid that is relatively thick you want to keep, and you need to be really careful not to accidentally lose any of the chunks.

Beat together the remaining 32 eggs, kilo of sugar, and litre of verjuice, and stir this into the mixture. I haven't made this mixture in this great a volume before, so it may be that slightly less of all this is needed. Also add the raisins.

Divide between pie casings and bake in the oven for about an hour, until the mixture is firm. Check it regularly as it may cook sooner. You can test if they're done by poking a knife or fork into one of the pies; designate that one as one for the helpers to eat. If there is leftover mixture, pour it into a pan and bake this as well, it can go out for lunch the next day as a baked custard.

Terzo Servitio di Credenza

Sliced artichokes in vinegar with salt and pepper over

Ingredients:

Artichokes - 2.4kg tin

White Vinegar - 1.5L

Salt - 2T

Pepper - 2T

Instructions:

Drain & rinse artichokes. Leave to soak in vinegar overnight. Drain to serve, dress with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Melons in slices, with crushed ice/snow underneath

Ingredients:

Honeydew melons - 7

Rock melons - 7

Watermelon - 12kg

Instructions:

Peel/remove rind from all melons, slice appropriately, as neatly and evenly as possible and mix together well.

Peaches sliced in wine with ice/snow underneath

Ingredients:

Peaches - 7kg

White wine - 3L cask

Instructions:

Halve and stone peaches. Slice into sixths. Leave to soak in wine overnight.

Zuccarini - Scappi p587 VI.139

Get fine sugar that is reduce to powder. Get beaten fresh egg whites and put them into a shallow basin along with as much of that sugar as the eggs can hold - that is, so they form a thick paste. With that paste make up ciambelle, which you put into a tourte pan. they should be sprinkled with flour and brushed with white wax. Bake them with little heat under them and somewhat more above. They need little cooking because the egg whites swell up in a lively way and end up light. Along with those ingredients you can put in a little rosewater or musk water if you like.

Ingredients:

Eggs (whites only) - 3

Icing sugar - 2kg

Rosewater - 2T

White beeswax

Instructions:

Separate eggs and beat whites together well, add rose water and mix in. Add icing sugar 500g at the time until it forms a thick paste. Take just over a tablespoonful at the time and form into small rings. Try and leave as big a hole in the middle as possible as they swell up a lot and the hole closes when they're cooked if you're not careful. Put on a tray. Melt beeswax, and brush lightly over. Bake high in the oven, at a low temperature (120-150°C) until cooked - about 7-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them so they don't burn.

Terzo Servitio di Credenza

Almond and date pies - Messisbugo

p72r-73v Torta di datteri, & altri frutti.

Torte of dates, and other fruits.

Take one pound, and a half of dates, and almonds, and cut them small lengthwise, and one pound of damascus raisins, without the seeds, make them cook together in wine, that which will be sweetest will be best, and then take one pound of whole dried raisins, and cook these same in wine, and one pound, and a half of dried figs cut small, and six ounces of whole pinenuts, and six ounces of sugar, and one ounce of cinnamon, and a quarter of pepper, and mix these all together, with two ounces of starch, and good fish broth, the sort which is well beaten:Then make there your puff pastry, and fill it, make the torte in the torte pan with good oil then take [it] to cook, when it will be almost cooked, put over four ounces of sugar, when it will be cooked, sprinkle⁷ with rose water.

Ingredients:

Flour - 4kg

Butter - 2.15kg

Eggs - 16

Salt - 8t

Dates - 8C/1.6kg

Almonds - 8C/1.6kg

Large raisins - 5C/1kg

Small raisins - 5C/1kg

White cask wine - 1L

Figs - 8C/1.6kg

Pinenuts - 4C/800g

Sugar - 4C/800g

Cinnamon - 5T

Pepper - 2T

Wheat Starch - 135g

Vege broth - 4C/1L (make from stock powder)

Instructions:

Pie shells: Ingredients allowed for these are 4kg flour, 2.15kg butter, 16 eggs, 8t salt

Make two pie casings at a time, as follows. Sift 4 cups flour into food processor, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cube 250g butter and add to food processor. Blend until butter is thoroughly chopped and mixed through, looks a bit like breadcrumbs. Break two eggs into food processor, and add two tablespoonfuls of cold water. Mix until it blends into a dough. If it's a bit dry, add more water a teaspoonful at the time. Put dough in the fridge while you make the rest.

Once all the dough is made, start with the first batch and work through in order. Roll dough out to an eighth of an inch thick. Cut out circle. Line pie tin. Bake in moderate oven with pie weights until cooked - 15-20 minutes. Cut out pastry shapes with any remaining dough and bake these - they can be used as garnishes.

Filling: Peel almonds. Chop almonds and dates lengthwise. Chop large raisins small - can use food processor for this. Cook almonds, dates, large and small raisins together in wine, mixing well, until the wine is cooked off. Chop figs small. Mix remaining dry ingredients in, then enough vege broth to make the mixture soft but not sloppy.

Fill pie casings. Bake for about half an hour in a moderate oven. Serve hot or cold, with clotted cream.