The Book of Cooking Arts

LIBRA DE ARTE COQVINARIA

Final Modern Recipe

There is no recipe for this entry. It is the title block for the manuscript.

Comments

In LCMartino the manuscript starts with the above title block. It takes up almost a third of the first page and is followed, on the same page, the first “recipe” on meats. All the letters of the title block are calligraphed in red ink and all are in capitals. There is a hole in the manuscript in the word “EGRIGIO” which makes it difficult to read except when magnified.

The title block starts with what is considered to be the title of the manuscript - Libre de Arte Coquinaria - The Book of Cooking Arts. This title raises the recipes contained within the book to a higher level than has been seen up to this point in culinary history. We are about to read not just a book of cookery filled with recipes, but one on the cooking “arts”. This book raises food to the equal to the other arts of the time period. And the recipes were not just recorded, but “composed”, not by a simple scullery servant or kitchen waif, but by the Maestro himself, who we are told, has previous experience cooking for the upper class. This title block does all this in seven short lines. It sets the stage for the rest of the book. Exalting the author and his work. Assuring the reader, or perhaps the readers cook, that the recipes are worth their time and effort. And of course places the humble act of cooking in the same sphere as sculpture, painting, music and medicine.

Through the title block we are told much, but LCMartino there is much that is missing from this manuscript. There are no introductory materials besides the title block. No specifics about the actual recipes or table of contents. No banquets, in which the recipes have been served, are described. No dedication to a patron or benefactor is found. And details about Martino himself are limited. We are told his first name, Martino. His profession, cook. And his former employer, the Patriarch of Aquileia.

The following picture are of the Basilica of Aquileia (the exterior, two of the interior and a close-up of one of the floor mosaics).

Below is the title block from LCMartino. Note the scribal marking above the double “s” in “reverendiss” and the mark at the end of “Aquileia” that resembles a “>”. No other punctuation is included in the title block although it should be pointed out that the words “Maestro” and “Camorlengo” (both personal titles) are “punctuated” by being placed on their own lines with no other words.

Of the other six manuscripts in the Martino corpus that are accessible three contain some sort of title block or title page and three do not have title blocks.

1. ✦    VATMartino - No title block.
   

2. ✦    Platina - There is no title block at the beginning of the recipe section in “De Honesta”.
   

3. ✦    Bühler - No title block.
   

4. ✦    Riva - Two title blocks.
   

5. ✦    Rosselli - Contains a title page.
   

6. ✦    EP 1598 - Contains a title page.
   

Several also contain other information, such as indexes or engravings, before the recipes start. This material, along with the title block material if there is one, is described below.

VATMartino

This manuscript does not contain a title block. It begins with 4 pages that contain many different pieces of text (some of which are names) in multiple scribal hands. Most seem not to be contemporary with the manuscript or are at the very least written by someone completely different than the person who wrote the recipes contained in the manuscript. Also found on these first four pages are a diagram and a drawing, which again may or may not be contemporary to the manuscript. The diagram, found on the first page, is made up of seven rows of dots -  each row alternating five dots and four dots. The dots are connect diagonally with short  lines to form a diapered pattern. On page three of the manuscript is a crude drawing of what could be a hand.

The manuscript continues with a 12 page index of recipes. The recipes in the index and the recipes in the manuscript have not yet been studied throughly enough to indicate the completeness of the index, however at first glance it is clear that they do not match the body of the text.

The index is divided into six “Capitolo”s or chapters -

1. ✦ c  Apitolo primo di ogni carne.  - Chapter one, of every meat.
   

2. ✦Capitolo secto di ogni maniera di vinande  - Chapter two, of every manner of food.
   

3. ✦Capitolo terzo p fare ogni vinanda di sapore. - Chapter three, to make every sauce for food.
   

4. ✦Capto quarto p fare ogni ragione di torte - Chapter four, to make every kind of tarts.
   

5. ✦Capitolo quinto p fare frittelle altpo di caso et di oua. - Chapter five, to make fritters also of cheese and eggs.
   

6. ✦Capitolo sexto per quocere ogni pesce. - Chapter six, to cook every fish.
   

There are a total of 274 recipes listed in the index. The first capitol has 39 recipes listed, which takes up the bulk of the first two pages. The second capitol lists 64 recipes and takes up approximately two and a half pages . The third capitol has 24 recipes and takes up one page which is split between two pages. The fourth capitol has 39 recipes listed taking up approximately one and a half pages. Capitol five lists 36 recipes and like capitol four takes up approximately one and a half pages. Capitol six, the final chapter, has 72 recipes listed and takes up three pages.

Each of the recipes in the index has been annotated at some later date with the letter “c” or letters “a” and “c” and a number. These letters and numbers correspond to a page number that has also been written in at a later date. It is clear that the annotations are in two different hands starting at chapter five.

Platina

There is no title block at the beginning of the recipe section in De Honesta. There is an index at the beginning of this chapter titled “sexti libri capitula” which lists 30 recipes, but this index is only for book six. Four other indexes begin each of the subsequent chapters which makes up the bulk of the Martino recipes in Platina. Luigi Ballerini in his introduction to the English translation of Martino, The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book  by Jeremy Parzen does an excellent job of detailing the relationship between Martino and Platina, as well as exploring all the different parts of Martino’s life. It can be found at the University of California Press and does such a good job in detailing these aspects of Martino that there is no need to go into detail here.

Bühler

More on this manuscript at a later date.

Riva

More on this manuscript at a later date.

Rosselli

More on this manuscript at a later date.

EP 1598

More on this manuscript at a later date.

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