Lecture 19: Papal Rome and the Spanish Golden Age
Maceras’s Libro del Arte de Cozina of 1607. Maceras worked as a
college chef for the Colegio Mayor de San Salvador de Oviedo in
the University of Salamanca for 40 years. Although the students seem to have been well fed, his recipes are
distinct from courtly cuisine and more closely refl ect ordinary
eating habits. Oddly, it was written in a period of severe food
shortage and runaway infl ation. It is possible that this cookbook
refl ects the chef’s dreams rather than the daily fare he hashed up for
the students. Internationally, Spain was most associated with complex stews. One
of the most renowned dishes that was enjoyed all across Europe
was the olla podrida, which literally translates as “rotten pot,” but
signifi ed an earthenware pot, or olla, fi lled with diverse ingredients.
Maceras’s recipe basically includes whatever is at hand—lamb,
beef, salt pork and pig’s feet, sausages, tongue, pigeon, hare,
chickpeas, garlic and turnips—all cooked in one pot and served
with a mustard made of grape must.Montiño’s Cookbook
The major monument of Baroque Spanish cooking is called Arte de
Cocina, Pastelería, Vizcochería, y Conservería (“Art of Cooking,
Making Pastry, Biscuits, and Conserves”) by Francisco Martínez
Montiño in 1611. Montiño was chef to King Philip III and arguably
had greater resources at his disposal than any other chef in Europe,
yet his recipes show no obscene profusion of ingredients and no
bizarre juxtapositions of fl avor or wildly extravagant imports. The vast majority of Montiño’s recipes are for elegant pies, pastries,
little meatballs, and other foods that can be easily picked up and
eaten by hand. He also has an intense affection for stuffi ng meats
and vegetables like eggplants and onions. One can easily imagine
choosing freely from a series of simple and elegant little dishes
appearing on a table—something like the ancestor of tapas.