Lecture 19: Papal Rome and the Spanish Golden Age
other exotic fl avorings. Light-colored veal was by far the preferred fl esh,
and what Scappi calls for in the earlier recipe, polpette, are very thin slices,
about the size of your hand (or as we would call them today, scallopine).
As usual, Scappi offers many options for techniques, but grilling really does
work wonderfully. Scappi used both liquefi ed lard and lardo, an unsmoked
but cured pork fat. The orange juice he would have used was the sour Seville
rather than a sweet orange. A combination of orange and lime juice will work
well. The pressing technique aids the marination, and you can accomplish
this by putting some plastic wrap and a book on top of the slices of meat and
then piling heavy objects on top.Barolomeo Scappi, Opera, p. 29
To Make Brisavoli of lean Veal meat, fried and cooked on the grill. When
you have cut the brisavoli in the same way that you cut veal for polette, and
have beaten with the side of a knife on one side and the other, sprinkle with
a little vinegar, Greek wine, in which you’ve soaked some crushed garlic,
along with fennel pollen, or crushed coriander, pepper, and salt sprinkled
on, then let it sit under a press, one on top of the other, for an hour. Then if
you like fry in lard or unsmoked bacon fat, fi rst having fl oured with very fi ne
fl our, and fry just until you give it a little color, so it remains tender. Serve
hot with sugar, cinnamon, and orange juice over, or with a sauce made of
vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.But if you want to use the grill, after it has been seasoned, and pressed, place
it on the grill with a slice of lardo for each, so the brisavoli remain more
tender, letting them cook over a low fi re and turning them often. The smoke
that comes from the fat dripping into the grill gives them the most perfect
aroma and best taste. When cooked, they should be served with one of the
sauces mentioned above, which were served with these when fried.These brisavoli in place of putting them on a grill, you can cook them in a
casserole, moistened with lard with the same slices of lardo above, and serve
with a sauce, and orange juice.Conejo en Escabeche (p. 655)
Escabeche is a very typical Spanish dish made normally with fi sh or
fowl, but it also works wonderfully with rabbit. This recipe comes from a