Here’s the beginning of my Bartolomeo Scappi blog. I’ve actually been dawdling through this for several years, first as a blog and later with the intention of creating a proper, printable book. Fellow Renaissance food enthusiasts will know that Bartolomeo Scappi’s 1570 Opera dell’arte del cucinare is one of the earliest professional cooking manuals, and one of the largest, containing over 1000 recipes. Most of the Opera is available in Terrence Scully’s English-language edition, with the exception of Book IV. Book IV is an entire year of seasonal menus prepared by Scappi, including lenten meals, banquets for grand occasions, and simpler menus. I set out to translate this because I think it’s absolutely essential to both understanding the ethos of Italian Renaissance cuisine, and to recreating it for a modern audience. So far, it’s led me down a number of rabbit holes and it’s become a much broader project for me than I originally imagined.
The book is divided into twelve months, beginning with April, so this is where I’ve started, so, without further ado (and I do have quite a bit of ado for later posts), here’s Scappi’s Month of April.