Historical story

History of Cuisine:the Origins of… Meatball

[lightbox link =”https://www.pilloledistoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/untitled.bmp” thumb =”https://www.pilloledistoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/ 10 / untitled-273 × 300.jpg "width =" 273 ″ align ="center" title ="Medieval cuisine:the meatball has medieval / Renaissance origins" frame ="true" icon ="image" caption ="Medieval cuisine:the meatball has medieval / renaissance origins "] The medieval-renaissance origins of meatball , that tasty "ball" of meat as we know it today, are retraced by Emiliano Amici in a nice post which I "borrow" from his blog, sguardosulmedioevo.org.

I take this opportunity to invite you to take a look, if you have not yet done so, at his site, a veritable mine of information and curiosities.

Medieval cuisine

The meatball it is a well-known dish based on meat and spices together with other elements considered binders (egg, breadcrumbs, flour) and is considered a second dish that can also be based on fish and vegetables.> it is very interesting, in fact there is no trace of the term "meatball" until the Libro de Arte Coquinaria by Maestro Martino (15th century) who at the time was a cook at the Camerlengo Patriarch of Aquileia. In the first chapter, the Master describes the best ways to cook various cuts of meat:

«[...] meat of veal, uncle is the pecto in front of it is good allesso, and the roast loin, and cooked into meatballs. [...] Of the venison the denanzi part is good in lardieri broth, the loins if they can roast, and the cosse are in dry pastel or in meatballs " In reality, Martin's meatball would seem more like a roulade on a spit, however this is the first time that the recipe for a meatball appears in all medieval Italian culinary texts: «To make meatballs of veal or other good meat First remove the lean meat from the cossa and cut it into long and thin slices and beat them well on a cutting board or table with the edge of the knife, and remove salt and fennel pesto and place it on the firm slice of meat. Then remove some petrosimolo, maiorana and bon lardo and beat these things together with a few de bone spetie, and spread these things well into the dicta slice. Then roll it together and pool in the speto accocare. But don't let it go too bothered by the fire ». The word "meatball" does not refer to the ingredients:after preparing the dough, small portions are created which are kneaded by hand until they reach the typical spherical shape ( Article written by Emiliano Amici for sguardosulmedioevo.com).