Lecture 15: A Renaissance in the Kitchen

placed into illogical settings. This style infl uenced the cutlery, table

settings, and presentation of food, and it affected how and what

foods were prepared.

 Although the basic outlines of Italian cuisine at the start of the

16 th century were inherited from the middles ages—there is still

Puff-Pastry Pizzas

T

he following recipe from Messisbugo’s cookbook is

particularly interesting not only because of the bizarre

method of making a puff pastry, but also because it is called

“pizza.” It bears practically no relation to what we now know by

that name. The puffs, incidentally, were one of the more common

tidbits placed on the credenza before guests arrived and were, thus,

eaten as a starter. Presumably, his audience knows exactly what

these were supposed to look like, because he merely instructs:

“make your puff pizzas.” This also where butter appears and plays a

major role in the cuisine.

To make 10 puff-pastry pizzas (notice there’s a total of six-and-a-

half pounds of butter):

Pull the soft interior out of four white breads and soak it in tepid

water. Take three pounds of the fi nest wheat fl our, ten egg yolks

and a pound of fresh butter, three ounces of rose water, and seven

ounces of sugar. Mix everything together with the bread, making a

dough. Roll it out into a sheet as you would a lasagna dough, and

make it as light as you can. Then, take a pound and a half of fresh

butter, heated, and pour it over the sheet. Let it cool. Then, roll a

spiral pastry cutter the length of the sheet and cut it into 10 pieces.

Next, make your puff pizzas. Have a pan ready with four pounds

of fresh butter, and fry your puff pizzas in it. When they are fried,

sprinkle a half pound of sugar over them.