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Note: I don't trust my proofreading on this because I'm extremely tired (but wanted to get it posted). I may come back later and tidy it up.
(For previous posts in this series, see items tagged with 'messisbugo'.)
The First Course analysis was fairly straightforward. There seemed to be an obvious overall template to what was included, despite a wide range of variation. But moving on to the Second Course things get a bit less obvious.
There is no single dish type that appears in all 6 Carnival menus. In large part, this is because 5 of the menus continue to focus on fowl dishes, with general single (or at least few) dishes in other categories, but the 1548 menu has only a single dish with fowl and of a specific type found in only one other menu. It would be interesting to determine whether this variability of the second course is an expected thing. That is, perhaps the individuality of a menu is most expressed in the second course. As before, I’ll group these by general type and then by the number of menus they appear in.
Fowl Dishes
There is enormous variability in how many fowl dishes are served, from one (for the odd menu out) up to 5, hitting all the numbers in between.
1) Pheasant (4 of 6 menus) - The pheasants all have specific cooking methods and accompaniments mentioned. This isn’t so much a category of recipe as one defined by primary ingredient. The birds are served: German-style in pieces in a pipkin with thin slices of persutto; roasted with sliced lemons on top; roasted with bastard sauce; and spit-roasted with yellow sausage topped by peacock sauce.
2) Partridge (with other items) (4 of 6 menus) - Two of the dishes include partridge along with other creatures. (This provides a categorization conundrum as the partridge/pigeon combination could belong in either slot.) The several recipes are: roased with cameline sauce; stewed German-style in pots; roasted along with pigeons served over cabbage with sliced zambudelli (sausage); served (cooking method unspecified) with rabbits and francolins (another bird species).
3) Capon, roasted (3 of 6 menus) - Capons are less omnipresent in this course, although two categories mention them. They are served here: accompanied by red sausage; accompanied by roast rabbit; covered in tortelletti (as a contrast to duck served in this way).
4) Pigeons (3 of 6 menus, if we count the partridge + pigeon dish in both categories) - The birds are served: stuffed Lombard-style with yellow sausage over cabbage; quite similarly to the previously mentioned partridges and pigeons served with sausages over cabbage; and served in “mirasto” (the one recipe using this word involves a paste of almonds, pine nuts, and raisins).
5) Ducks (2 of 6 menus) - One is served, as before, with pasta, in this case “Neapolitan-style” macaroni. The other is served in pastry covered with white sauce and pomegranate seeds.
6) Capirota (2 of 6 menus) - A dish with a slightly thickened cheese broth poured over capon meat on slices of bread.
Misc. One menu each has a dish of turtledoves in broth or spit-roasted peacock.
Quadrupeds
In this category I don’t count “processed” meats or organ-type meats. There are only two categories here, both used in multiple menus: loins, and young animals appearing as either a stuffed breast or a whole stuffed animal.
7) Loin (4 of 6 menus) - Twice these are described as “cavezzi loins” or “veal loins in cavezzi”, a term I’m not familiar with. Sauce is mentioned in two recipes.
8) Whole young animal or breast, stuffed (4 of 6 menus, one with two dishes) - Kids, lambs, veal, and suckling pigs are all represented. Twice a breast is described as “Lombard-style”. The presentation may be simply roasted (the whole kid and whole suckling pig), or braised or cooked in broth. Some sort of sausage or organ meat is often mentioned as an accompaniment.
Processed Meats and Organ-type Meats
Only two menus have any items in this category, each with two items.
9) Polpette (2 of 6 menus) - In one case served in pies, in the other served with black broth and pistachios.
10) Other (2 of 6 menus) - One dish is a sort of head-cheese (thick jelly with pork trotters, ears, and snouts) while the other item perhaps being shoehorned in here is tongue in sauce.
Sauce
As in the First Course, sauces are often mentioned in the context of specific dishes, but some menus also have a sauce listed as a separate item.
11) Sauce (3 of 6 menus) - Royal sauce, mustard, sweet green sauce.
Pastries and Starches
Given the number of dishes served in crusts or with other types of dough-like containers, I’m not going to claim that “pastries” is a natural category. But I’ve grouped these items because they have no obvious or major ingredient other than doughs, pastes, and grains.
12) Flans (3 of 6 menus) - As described in the recipes, a “flan” in this source sounds a great deal like a sort of ravioli, but with any sort of filling (including sweet fillings). Two of the flans here are filled with something starchy:pureed frumenty, or wafer dough. (Dough filled with dough! Then fried!) The third involves shelfish (morona).
13) Tortes (2 of 6 menus) - The recipes describe a “torte” in a way that sounds like it should be translated “pie”. I.e., a raised crust in which things are filled for cooking that may have an upper crust or not. The fillings of these tortes are wafers or bread.
Misc. (each 1 of 6 menus) - The starches are rounded out by a blancmange and a type of fritter called a “guanti” (hand) due to its shape.
Fruit
14) Fruit Pies (3 of 6 menus) - We have an apple pie and a fruit pie. Also a pie filled with currants and dates which probably doesn’t make a natural category with the others as currants and dates usually categorize with nut dishes and sweets.
Fish
Only one menu has any dishes featuring fish and that menu has 3 fish dishes: braised sea bass, sardines with oranges, and breams in vinegar.
Dislocated Dishes
One menu includes two dishes in the Second Course that normally occur in the Fourth Course (or equivalent) in other menus. These are an oyster pie and a dish of oysters and oranges (which otherwise are typically listed as separate dishes but served in the same course).
Summary
As can be seen above, there are few obviously common factors in this course. If I were putting together a “majority rules” template, it might look something like this:
A capon dish
A pheasant dish
A partridge dish
A roasted (veal) loin
A whole roast young animal (stuffed): lamb, kid, or pig
A flan or torte with some sort of starchy filling
A fruit pie
The Menus
15?0
1524
1536
1537
1540
1548
(For previous posts in this series, see items tagged with 'messisbugo'.)
The First Course analysis was fairly straightforward. There seemed to be an obvious overall template to what was included, despite a wide range of variation. But moving on to the Second Course things get a bit less obvious.
There is no single dish type that appears in all 6 Carnival menus. In large part, this is because 5 of the menus continue to focus on fowl dishes, with general single (or at least few) dishes in other categories, but the 1548 menu has only a single dish with fowl and of a specific type found in only one other menu. It would be interesting to determine whether this variability of the second course is an expected thing. That is, perhaps the individuality of a menu is most expressed in the second course. As before, I’ll group these by general type and then by the number of menus they appear in.
Fowl Dishes
There is enormous variability in how many fowl dishes are served, from one (for the odd menu out) up to 5, hitting all the numbers in between.
1) Pheasant (4 of 6 menus) - The pheasants all have specific cooking methods and accompaniments mentioned. This isn’t so much a category of recipe as one defined by primary ingredient. The birds are served: German-style in pieces in a pipkin with thin slices of persutto; roasted with sliced lemons on top; roasted with bastard sauce; and spit-roasted with yellow sausage topped by peacock sauce.
2) Partridge (with other items) (4 of 6 menus) - Two of the dishes include partridge along with other creatures. (This provides a categorization conundrum as the partridge/pigeon combination could belong in either slot.) The several recipes are: roased with cameline sauce; stewed German-style in pots; roasted along with pigeons served over cabbage with sliced zambudelli (sausage); served (cooking method unspecified) with rabbits and francolins (another bird species).
3) Capon, roasted (3 of 6 menus) - Capons are less omnipresent in this course, although two categories mention them. They are served here: accompanied by red sausage; accompanied by roast rabbit; covered in tortelletti (as a contrast to duck served in this way).
4) Pigeons (3 of 6 menus, if we count the partridge + pigeon dish in both categories) - The birds are served: stuffed Lombard-style with yellow sausage over cabbage; quite similarly to the previously mentioned partridges and pigeons served with sausages over cabbage; and served in “mirasto” (the one recipe using this word involves a paste of almonds, pine nuts, and raisins).
5) Ducks (2 of 6 menus) - One is served, as before, with pasta, in this case “Neapolitan-style” macaroni. The other is served in pastry covered with white sauce and pomegranate seeds.
6) Capirota (2 of 6 menus) - A dish with a slightly thickened cheese broth poured over capon meat on slices of bread.
Misc. One menu each has a dish of turtledoves in broth or spit-roasted peacock.
Quadrupeds
In this category I don’t count “processed” meats or organ-type meats. There are only two categories here, both used in multiple menus: loins, and young animals appearing as either a stuffed breast or a whole stuffed animal.
7) Loin (4 of 6 menus) - Twice these are described as “cavezzi loins” or “veal loins in cavezzi”, a term I’m not familiar with. Sauce is mentioned in two recipes.
8) Whole young animal or breast, stuffed (4 of 6 menus, one with two dishes) - Kids, lambs, veal, and suckling pigs are all represented. Twice a breast is described as “Lombard-style”. The presentation may be simply roasted (the whole kid and whole suckling pig), or braised or cooked in broth. Some sort of sausage or organ meat is often mentioned as an accompaniment.
Processed Meats and Organ-type Meats
Only two menus have any items in this category, each with two items.
9) Polpette (2 of 6 menus) - In one case served in pies, in the other served with black broth and pistachios.
10) Other (2 of 6 menus) - One dish is a sort of head-cheese (thick jelly with pork trotters, ears, and snouts) while the other item perhaps being shoehorned in here is tongue in sauce.
Sauce
As in the First Course, sauces are often mentioned in the context of specific dishes, but some menus also have a sauce listed as a separate item.
11) Sauce (3 of 6 menus) - Royal sauce, mustard, sweet green sauce.
Pastries and Starches
Given the number of dishes served in crusts or with other types of dough-like containers, I’m not going to claim that “pastries” is a natural category. But I’ve grouped these items because they have no obvious or major ingredient other than doughs, pastes, and grains.
12) Flans (3 of 6 menus) - As described in the recipes, a “flan” in this source sounds a great deal like a sort of ravioli, but with any sort of filling (including sweet fillings). Two of the flans here are filled with something starchy:pureed frumenty, or wafer dough. (Dough filled with dough! Then fried!) The third involves shelfish (morona).
13) Tortes (2 of 6 menus) - The recipes describe a “torte” in a way that sounds like it should be translated “pie”. I.e., a raised crust in which things are filled for cooking that may have an upper crust or not. The fillings of these tortes are wafers or bread.
Misc. (each 1 of 6 menus) - The starches are rounded out by a blancmange and a type of fritter called a “guanti” (hand) due to its shape.
Fruit
14) Fruit Pies (3 of 6 menus) - We have an apple pie and a fruit pie. Also a pie filled with currants and dates which probably doesn’t make a natural category with the others as currants and dates usually categorize with nut dishes and sweets.
Fish
Only one menu has any dishes featuring fish and that menu has 3 fish dishes: braised sea bass, sardines with oranges, and breams in vinegar.
Dislocated Dishes
One menu includes two dishes in the Second Course that normally occur in the Fourth Course (or equivalent) in other menus. These are an oyster pie and a dish of oysters and oranges (which otherwise are typically listed as separate dishes but served in the same course).
Summary
As can be seen above, there are few obviously common factors in this course. If I were putting together a “majority rules” template, it might look something like this:
A capon dish
A pheasant dish
A partridge dish
A roasted (veal) loin
A whole roast young animal (stuffed): lamb, kid, or pig
A flan or torte with some sort of starchy filling
A fruit pie
The Menus
15?0
- 10 spit-roasted pheasants with 20 pieces of yellow sausage with peacock sauce on top in 10 plates.
- 20 partridges stewed in pieces German-style in pots, in 20 plates.
- 8 pieces of veal breast stuffed Lomabrd-style in broth with yellow mortadella together in 10 plates.
- 10 bread tortes in 10 plates.
- 10 cavezzi loins in 10 plates.
- 10 quince pies in 10 plates.
- Guanti [fritters] in 10 plates.
- Sweet green sauce in 10 plates.
1524
- 40 roasted pheasants with bastard sauce in 20 little plates.
- 20 capons covered in tortelletti in 20 little plates.
- 20 stuffed lamb and kid breasts, Lombard-style, and veal sweetbreads in 20 little plates.
- 40 rabbits, 20 francolini [small birds], 20 partridges together in 20 little plates.
- Flaky pastries of royal pastry filled with currants and dates in 20 plates.
- Braised sea bass in little pieces, in 20 little plates.
- Hot fried freshwater sardines with oranges, in 20 little plates.
- 80 gilthead breams in vinegar, in 20 little plates.
- Blancmange in 20 little plates.
1536
- 10 fat capons, roasted, with ten pieces of red sausage, in 10 plates.
- 38 pigeons stuffed Lombard-style, with 28 pieces of yellow sausage over cabbage, in 10 plates.
- 100 little flans of Morona in 10 plates.
- 10 pheasants in a pipkin in pieces, German-style, with thinly slices persutto in 10 plates.
- Royal sauce in 10 plates.
- Loin [lonza] in 10 plates.
- 40 turtledoves in larded broth in 20 plates.
1537
- 28 roast pheasants with sliced lemons on top in 14 plates.
- 28 pigeons in mirasto in 14 plates.
- 56 roast partridges with cameline sauce on top in 14 plates.
- 14 ducks covered with Neapolitan-style macaroni in 14 plates.
- 56 little flans of puréed frumenty in 14 plates.
- 14 spit-roasted peacocks in 14 plates.
- 14 veal loins in cavezzi with French black sauce on top in 14 plates.
- Mustard in 14 plates.
1540
- 12 large pies filled with polpette in 12 little plates.
- 24 partridges and 24 domestic pigeons over cabbage with six zambudelli [sausages] in slices, 12 little plates.
- Whole stuffed roasted little kids in 12 little plates.
- Capirota of capon meat in 12 little plates.
- 12 little tortes of wafers in 12 little plates.
- Ducks in pastry covered with white sauce and pomegranate seeds in 12 little plates.
- Thick jelly with pork trotters, ears and snouts in 12 little plates.
- 12 spit-roasted capons and 12 rabbits in 12 little plates.
1548
- 7 pieces of veal breast, stuffed and then braised with roasted liver sausage, 7 plates.
- Polpette in black broth, with pistachios on top, 7 plates.
- 7 stuffed roasted suckling pigs, 7 plates.
- Beef tongue in sauce [dobba] of malmsey wine, roasted, 7 plates.
- 7 roasted loins together in the same dobba, 7 plates.
- Capirota morella with slices of bread and capon meat underneath, 7 plates.
- Small flaky flans filled with wafer dough, 35 in 7 plates.
- German-style tarts of sliced apples with sugar and cinnamon, 7 in 7 plates.
- 7 large oyster pies in 7 plates.
- 400 oysters with oranges and pepper, 20 plates.
