Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (72 page)

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of cornmeal

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of wheat flour

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of powdered sugar

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of lard

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of aniseed

1 egg

Blend the two kinds of flour, the sugar, and the aniseed, and then add the butter, lard, and egg, using as much as you can; make a little loaf and set aside. Mix the remaining dough with a little white wine and a little water and make another loaf. Then mix the two loaves together, but try to handle them as little as possible so that the dough comes out rather soft. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s half a finger thick. Dust with a mixture of the two kinds of flour so that it doesn’t stick to the pastry board, and cut it, using tin cutters of different shapes and sizes. Grease a pan with lard, dust it with flour, and place the pastries on it. Gild with egg, bake in the oven, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These pastries are much more refined than the preceding ones.

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of cornmeal

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of dried elder flowers

2 egg yolks

If you find the dough to be too firm as you are kneading it, soften it with a drop of water. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s the thickness of a coin. Cut the dough into small disks as in recipe 634, because these pastries can also be served with tea. To give them a nicer look, you can score them with the tines of a fork or with a grater.

The flowers and leaves of the elder tree, which are sold by herborists, have diuretic and diaphoretic properties; that is to say— all modesty aside, so that everyone understands—they make you urinate and perspire.

Dear Mothers, treat your children to these little cakes, but beware not to taste them yourselves, unless you want your little ones to cry because there will be less for them to eat.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of cornmeal

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of flour

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of zibibbo
¹⁰²
raisins

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sugar

50 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of lard

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of brewer’s yeast

a pinch of salt

Make a little loaf using the yeast and half of the cornmeal mixed with lukewarm water, and let it rise. In the meantime, combine the two kinds of flour with hot water and mix with all of the other ingredients except the raisins.

When the loaf has risen, add it to the flour mixture, knead a while, and lastly, add the raisins. Divide the dough into fifteen or sixteen parts and form them into little oblong loaves. Using the back of a knife blade, cut a lozenge-shaped grid into the top of each loaf. Let rise in a warm place, and then bake in the oven or a Dutch oven at a moderate temperature so that they stay tender.

If you don’t mind spending the money, the following is a more refined recipe for cornmeal cakes, and it calls for no yeast or water to make the dough.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of cornmeal

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of wheat flour

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of butter

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of lard

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of zibibbo raisins

2 eggs

lemon zest

If you make them the size of half your finger, you should be able to make about twenty little cakes. But you can make them any shape you prefer, and if you keep them small you can make forty instead of twenty. Bake as in the preceding recipe, and treat the dough as you would short pastry.

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of flour

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) sweet almonds

80 gramsfabout 2-2/3 ounces) of butter

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of lard

one whole egg and one yolk

Blanch the almonds, dry in the sun or on the fire, toast until they turn hazelnut-brown, and chop into pieces half the size of a grain of rice. Mix the chopped almonds with the sugar and the flour. Make a hole in the middle of this mixture for the rest of the ingredients, and blend, working the dough as little as possible. Form a round loaf and let it rest for a few hours. Lightly flour the pastry board and roll out the dough, first with a smooth rolling pin and then with a ridged one, until it is just under a centimeter thick. If you use the same pastry cutter as in recipe 162 or a similar one, You’ll get about 50 of these pastries, which you can bake in a Dutch oven after placing them in a baking pan lightly greased with cold butter.

240 grams (about 8-1/2 ounces) of flour

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon brandy

a pinch of salt

Use these ingredients to make a rather firm dough, working it thoroughly with your hands. Let it rest a little, flour it, and wrap it in a cloth. If the dough comes out too tender for you to handle it, add some more flour. Roll out into a sheet the thickness of a coin, and, using a pastry cutter with a scalloped edge, cut into strips about as wide as your palm and two or three fingers long. Make some incisions in the strips so that they can be folded, twisted, or curled into strange shapes when they go into the pan (which should be bubbling with oil or lard). Remove from the oil, and when they’re no longer sizzling, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. This recipe is enough to make a large plate full of cenci. If the dough should become hard on the outside after being left to rest, knead it again.

We ought to respect everyone in the world, and not disdain anyone, however lowly he might be. For if you really think about it, even this humble person may be endowed with some redeeming quality.

This is the general maxim; but to get down to specifics, and even though the comparison doesn’t hold up and this is such a humble thing, I will tell you that I am indebted to an uncouth maidservant for this flat cake, which she could make to perfection.

650 grams (about 1-1/2 pounds) of leaven dough

200 grams (about 7 ounces) powdered sugar

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of cracklings

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of butter

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of lard

5 eggs

orange or lemon zest

By leaven dough here I mean dough that is used to make bread.

Prepare the dough the night before. First knead the leaven dough on a pastry board without the seasonings, then in a bowl for more than a half hour with one hand, adding the other ingredients a little at a time, and then the eggs. Then cover well and put in a warm place to rise overnight. The next morning, knead it again and then pour it into a copper baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour. It shouldn’t be more than two fingers high. Once this is done, put the dough in a warming oven so that it can rise again, and then in the oven. You can also do the whole operation in your home and then bake it in a Dutch oven. But I should warn you that this cake is rather difficult to make well, especially during the cold seasons. All the better to wait for warm weather to make it. But don’t give up after the first try.

In the unfortunate event that the dough has risen too little or not at all by morning, add some brewer’s yeast (a little more than the size of a walnut). Mix the yeast beforehand with a pinch of flour and some lukewarm water.

We’ll call this flat cake “greased” to distinguish it from the one in the preceding recipe. While the former is better tasting, this one has the advantage of being easier to make.

The portions for this cake and for the Mantuan cake were recommended to me by that good man, the late Antonio Mattei of Prato, whom I’ve already mentioned earlier. I say “good” because he was a genius in his art and was an honest, very industrious man. But this dear friend of mine, who always reminded me of Boccaccio’s character Cisti the baker,
¹⁰³
died in the year 1885, leaving me deeply grieved.

Letters and science aren’t always necessary to win public esteem; even a very humble art, accompanied by a kind heart and practiced with skill and decorum, can make us worthy of the respect and love of our fellow men.

Beneath rough manners and humble exteriors
often lie noble hearts and pure souls;
we should be wary of men who are too genteel,
for they are like marble: shiny, smooth, and hard
.
¹⁰⁴

But let’s get to the point:

700 grams (about 1-1/2 pounds) of leaven dough

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of lard

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of sugar

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of cracklings

4 egg yolks

a pinch of salt

orange or lemon zest

Knead the dough gently so that it doesn’t lose its elasticity. If you make it in the evening and set it aside in a warm place, it will rise by itself; if you make it in the morning, it will need three hours in an earthenware warming oven.

If you want to make it without cracklings, add two more egg yolks and 30 more grams of lard.

Half of this recipe will serve five or six people.

Livorno-style flat cake is usually made at Easter time, perhaps because the mildness of the season helps the dough to rise, and because eggs are abundant during that season. It requires a long period to make, perhaps even four days, because it needs to rise several times. Here are the ingredients needed to make three medium-sized cakes, or four small ones:

12 eggs

1.8 kilograms (about 4 pounds) of extra-fine flour

600 grams (about 1-1/3 pounds) of sugar

200 grams (about
7
ounces) of super-fine oil

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of butter

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of brewer’s yeast

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of aniseed

1-1/2 deciliters (about 3/5 of a cup) of vin santo
¹⁰⁵

1/2 deciliter (about 1/5 of a cup) of Marsala