Torte and pastelli were among the most popular medieval and Renaissance courses. Both the terms can be translated as pies, but they are two different preparations. Torta is made with a thin sheet of dough, similar to lasagna, with one or more crusts (usually two). The basic crust is prepared simply with flour and water, sometimes adding eggs, but in the Renaissance, the recipes become more and more complex. Pastello instead is made with a thick crust, about half a finger. Unfortunately, medieval sources do not describe the method to prepare this crust. Is it frequent in the medieval cookbooks: the authors write for other professional cooks who do not need to be reminded of the basic preparations. We find a complete description just in Renaissance sources. For this pastello, we used one of the many recipes written by Bartolomeo Scappi. There are many variants. You will find them described below with the original source. A few months ago, we prepared a chicken pie following the recipe of an anonymous Southern-Italian author, conventionally called Anonimo Meridionale (14th century). Today we chose another recipe from the same source, a shrimp pastello: a rich and flavorful dish, with many ingredients, to rediscover the aromas of the late Middle Ages. We used here our homegrown saffron. For more information about this essential spice, we suggest reading the recipe for preparing a beef stew suited for peasants and rustics published here. To follow each step of this preparation, in particular the crust, we suggest watching the video (with English and Italian captions). Below you will find the method, the original sources, our translations into English, and a note about ingredients and preparation. Enjoy!
If you want to know more about historical pies, read our book Early Italian Recipes. Cereals, bread, pasta, and pies, where you will find historical information about cereals and their preparations from the Antiquity to the end of the Renaissance, with 114 recipes for pasta, bread, pizza, pies, and more, newly translated and explained. If you are interested in late-medieval cuisine, we recommend Libro de la Cocina. Medieval Tuscan Recipes and Registrum Coquine. A medieval cookbook. To learn about the transition between ancient and medieval cooking, check out De Observatione Ciborum, written by the physician Anthimus to the king of the Franks Theuderic. If you are interested in recipes for vegetables from the Antiquity to the beginning of the Modern Era in Early Italian Recipes. Vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers available in English and Italian. For information about ancient cuisine, read Ancient Roman Cooking. Ingredients, Recipes, Sources. Moreover, full translations of historical sources and articles on ancient and medieval cooking are available on Patreon. To support our work, you can buy us a beer or purchase our merchandise.Ingredients 1 kg shrimps, prawns, or crayfish pine nuts almonds spices (black pepper, cloves, fresh ginger, saffron) marjoram 300 gr white wheat flour 90 gr lard or olive oil one egg salt
Preparation of the crust Knead together flour, one egg, lard, two pinches of salt, and a bit of water. Let the dough rest in a cool place while you prepare the filling.
Original text Habbisi apparecchiata la cassa del pasticcio, fatta di farina setacciata et impastata con acqua fredda, et uova, et sale, et un poco di strutto, la quale cassa non sia troppo sottile et più larga in fondo che in cima.
Translation Prepare the cassa [crust] of the pasticcio [a variant of the word pastello, with the same meaning], made with flour sifted and knead with cool water, eggs, salt, a little lard. This cassa has to be not excessively thin and the bottom larger than the upper crust [the author refers here to a two-crust pasticcio].
Note about the method Other ingredients were used in the Renaissance to prepare the cassa of the pastello. Scappi and Messisbugo, another author of the 16th century, mention for example rose water, saffron, and sugar. Sometimes, the cassa is prepared without lard or eggs. Recipes for the lean days exclude these ingredients; other versions require butter, almond butter, or even olive oil instead of lard. Butter is rarely used in Italian medieval cuisine, at least, not in high-end recipes. Olive oil and almond butter are better to prepare a philological dish for the lean days. Not always the crust is meant to be eaten. In this case, Scappi recommends using whole flour. It is important using cold water, Scappi writes, to prevent the dough from leavening and ruining the outcome. This in summer: in winter, water has to be at room temperature. Usually, the crust of the pastello is about half a finger thick. In this case, the medieval author specifies that this shrimp pie has to be quite thin, as a consequence, we prepared a thinner crust.
Preparation of the filling Pound well in the mortar almonds and pine nuts leaving a few aside still whole to finish the dish. Grind black pepper, cloves, and saffron. Mince finely the ginger and pound it in the mortar with the other spices. Mince the marjoram. Shell and clean the prawns, then parboil them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Stir-fry in lard or olive oil about one-third of the prawns for one minute, pounding the others in the mortar. Mix together the paste of almonds and pine nuts, the spices, the marjoram, and the prawns until you obtain a homogeneous filling, adding a little water if it is too dry. Roll the dough and grease the cake pan with lard or olive oil. Place carefully the sheet on the pan and spread with the prawn filling, removing the excess crust. Finish the dish with the fry prawns, almonds, and pine nuts. Bake the pastello in the oven for about 30 minutes. Let it cool for a while before serving.
Original text Se voy fare pastello de gambari, tolli li gambari et falli lessare, et poy trande le code et pista la mitade et con esso la maiurana, et l’altra mità fa soffrigere, et con quello che se pistano sì micti pignochi mundi et mandole fresche, s’elio sende trovano, et queste cose falle pistare tucte insemi, et mictice spetie molto fine et mictice saffarano pisto bene, et scia uno poco, et poy le mictinetti testi tucte queste cose, addò che non abiano sennò una crosta, per ciò che le dui croste asciuccharebelo troppo, et mictice le cose che sono soffricte et pignocchi integri et mondi, amandole sencere et fresche et monde, se se possano avere, et se non, sì se tolgliano delle nocchie, et de una scì se facciano tre con coltello, et quisto pastello vole essere sottile, et sì è bon.
Translation If you want to prepare a pastello with shrimps, take the shrimps and make them simmer in water. Then, take the tails and pound a half of the shrimps with the marjoram. Stir-fry the other half. With the pound ones, add shelled pine nuts and fresh almonds, if you find them, and grind all together, adding fine spices and a little quantity of well-ground saffron. Place in the cake pan all these things in a single crust, because the pastello would become too dry with two crusts, adding the stir-fried shrimps, whole and shelled pine nuts, whole, fresh, and shelled almonds if you have them; if not, cut walnuts in three parts with a knife. This pastello has to be thin, and in this way, it is good.
Note about the ingredients Gambari, as the modern Italian word gamberi, is a generic term which means different crustaceans: shrimp, crayfish, and prawn. In the medieval iconography, we find frequently crayfish, currently an endangered species in Italy. We used one-third of the prawns to finish the dish, differently from the suggestion of the author who writes to use the half. The author specifies to grind the saffron. We suggest collecting the residual with a little water. You can use fresh or dried marjoram. A different version of this recipe, contained in the manuscript called Anonimo Toscano, suggests marjoram and other unspecified herbs. The author does not specify which spices to use, except for saffron. We used the most common ones at his time. Black, long, and white pepper were all at disposal of the medieval cooks. You can substitute almonds with walnuts, cut into three pieces to finish the dish.
Buy me a coffee Patreon Ancient Roman Recipes Playlist Ancient Greek Recipes Playlist Medieval Recipes Playlist YouTube Channel Merchandise Books Early Italian Recipes. Cereals, bread, pasta, and pies Libro de la Cocina by Anonimo Toscano. Medieval Tuscan Recipes Early Italian Recipes. Vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers De Observatione Ciborum by Anthimus. Early-medieval recipes at the court of the Franks. Registrum Coquine by Johannes Bockenheim. A medieval cookbook Ancient Roman Cooking. Ingredients, Sources, Recipes Translations of Historical Sources De Agri Cultura by Cato – first part (2nd century BCE) De Re Coquinaria by Apicius (Ancient Rome) Apicii Excerpta by Vinidarius (5th or 6th century) De Observatione Ciborum by Anthimus (6th century) Appendicula de Condituris Variis by Johannes Damascenus (8th or 9th century) De Flore Dietarum (11th century) Tractatus de Modo Preparandi et Condiendi Omnia Cibaria (13th or 14th century) Liber de Coquina – first part (14th century) Enseignemenz (14th century) Opusculum de Saporibus by Mainus de Maineris (14th century) Libro de la Cocina by Anonimo Toscano (14th century) Anonimo Veneziano (14th century) Registrum Coquine by Johannes von Bockenheim (15th century) Libro de Arte Coquinaria by Maestro Martino – parts 1-4 (15th century) Recipes Tuscan Chicken Soup with Unripe Grapes Early-medieval Kohlrabi Stew Tuscan Fried Leek Rings Pork Ribs Tuscan Pancakes with Wild Flowers Hop Shoots Shrimp – Savore de Gambari Orange Frittata – Fritata de Pomerantiis Tuscan Soup with Hen and Florence Fennel The diet of the Franks – Celery Root and Beef Stew Tuscan Fish Cakes – Salciccie di Pescio Tuscan Stew with Pork Belly and Rutabaga Pork and Onion Soup Tuscan Radish Soup The Diet of the Franks – Endive and Pork Jowl Tuscan Fried Meatballs The Diet of the Franks – Chicken Stew Castagnazzi Renaissance Stuffed Cucumbers Pork Roast with Cherry Sauce Renaissance Fried Tomatoes Herbolata The Diet of the Franks – Beef Stew Fried Chicken Soup Beef Roast with Garlic Sauce Bread Soup Salted Meat and Peas Baghdadi Rice Cream Chicken with White-Pepper Sauce – Piperatum Album Indian Chickpeas and Meat The Diet of the Franks – Pork Stew Chestnut and Mushrooms Lentils with Oregano and Watermint Egyptian Bread with Pistachios and Almonds Veal with Fennel-Flower Sauce Pork Roast with Green Sauce Eggs Poached in Wine Brodium Theutonicum Crispellae – Pancakes with Saffron and Honey Brodium Sarracenium – Chicken Stew Fava Beans and Pork Erbe Minute – Meatballs with Herbs Lettuce and Pork Soup Zanzarelli – Egg and Cheese Soup Turnip and Beef Soup for Servants Cheese Pasta – Vivanda Bona Gratonata – Chicken Stew Chickpea Soup with Poached Eggs Apple Fritters Hippocras and Claretum – Mulled Wine Pastero – Pork Pie 10th-century Goat Roast – A Langobard at the Court of the Byzantine Emperor Romania – A Recipe Between Arabic and Italian Tradition – Medieval Chicken with Pomegranates Emperor’s Fritters Medieval Pizza – The Origin of Pizza Roast Chicken with Salsa Camellina Sweet Rice Afrutum or Spumeum – 6th-century Byzantine recipe A Medieval Breakfast – Wine, Carbonata, and Millet Bread Salviata – Eggs and Sage Tria di Vermicelli Cabbage Soup Frittelle Ubaldine – Pancakes with Flowers and Herbs Saffron Cheesecake Drunken Pork – Early Medieval Pork Stew Medieval Monk’s Stuffed-Egg Soup Apple Pie Onion Soup Gnocchi Lentils and Mustard Greens Chicken soup – Brodo Granato Turnip Soup Beans and Bacon – Black-Eyed Peas Prawn Pie – Pastello de Gambari Foxtail Millet Polenta and Spit-Roasted Goose Beef Stew Blancmange Leek Soup Quail Stew with Coconut Chicken Pie Ravioli Almond Cream Red Mullet Soup Spit Roast Beef with Arugula Seeds Walnut Bread Lasagna Tripe Fried Fish Roast Lamb with Green Sauce Clams Sweet and Sour Sardines Trouts with Green Sauce Lamb Stew Quails with Sumac Chicken with Fennel Flowers Sea Bream
Historical Italian Cooking 