culina vetus

Today I have only time for a short post before the next hiatus as I prepare for another excursion. Things should become more normal again in September, I hope. Another brief excerpt from the Benedictiones ad Mensas:

159 May the sign of the cross be with these agreeably prepared cakes

Grate commentis crucis assint signa Placentis

160 Let us eat this agreeable spelt cake marked with the cross

Hac cruce signata comedamus Adorea grata

161 May the creator bless the life-giving eggs with hope

In spem nativa benedicat conditor ova

This section, if we can call it that, is shprt and enigmatic, sandwiched between the condiments (I suppose) and the clearly labelled and extensive section on legumes. It is possible that all of the preceding conceptually belongs together in a larger category considered ‘luxurious’ dishes, but I am not fully convinced of that. However, as to what these three blessings are addressing, I am reduced to speculation.

A placenta as mentioned in #159 is originally a flat cake, the word deriving from Greek plakous. The most famous recipe is from Cato’s de agri cultura, a layered honey cheesecake, but there is no reason to think the name was specific to this kind alone. Givcen the flexibility of cooking terminology over time, by the eleventh century this could have undergone considerable further change. It could be any kind of rich baked item, a prototypical ‘cake’. In #160, the addition of ‘cake’ is even more a matter of interpretation. Adorea merely means something made from spelt, but since bread was covered in an earlier section, I suspect that a kind of sweet dish is meant. Especially in close association with placenta and the following eggs. These, at least, are unequivocal, though their preparation is entirely unaddressed.

We actually have a number of terms for baked goods that are in some way or other not mere bread surviving from fairly early sources. There are similum and fladones, placenta, nebulae and adoreum, and we often have no real idea what these things were. Here, the origin of the term and the proximity to eggs suggests we are looking at some kind of egg-enriched cake or pancake. Beyond that – an omelet, a breadcrumb pancake, a cheese-honey confection in a flour crust, or something entirely different – we are speculating.

The Benedictiones ad Mensas were produced by Ekkehart IV of St Gall, most likely initially written during his tenure as head of the Mainz cathedral school between 1022 and 1031, but expanded and revised until his death in St Gall in 1057. Theyare a collection of blessings to be spoken over food. Written in short rhyming couplets in Latin, they are unusual in their attention to the diversity of foods and preparations. This is not a serious work of theology or medicine, but an intellectual diversion, playful verse meant to show off a broad vocabulary and facility with Latin. That is what makes them very valuable – they give us a glimpse of the mental horizon of a senior cleric of the 11th century at the table.

Today, another piece from the 11th-century Benedictiones ad Mensas by Ekkehart IV of St Gall. Blessings for condiments:

149 May this joyful blessing join the joyful moretum

Iungatur lęto benedictio lęta moreto.

150 May grace enter into all these hot liquids²

Gratia fervores inflet quoscunque liquores

151 May the addition of the cross render this spiced (wine?)³ agreeable

Hoc pigmentatum faciat crux addita gratum

152 Let these artfully⁴ prepared dishes be blessed, God of art

Arte cibos factos deus artis fac benedictos

153 May all (dishes) be agreeable that this pepper sauce⁵ is poured over

Omnia sint grata perfusa per hęc piperata

154 Let us joyfully eat this mixture⁶ of biting vinegar

Sumamus lęti mixtam mordentis aceti

155 May the cross of the Lord join with the sharp bite of the mustard

Crux domini Sinapis iungatur morsibus acris

156 May health be added to these pounded herbs⁷ with words

Tot pinsis erbis salus ipsa sit addita verbis

157 May the blessing render this mixture (of herbs?)⁸ pure

Istam mixturam faciat benedictio puram

158 May the almighty hand be with these spices, by the cross

Hac cruce pigmentis assit manus omnipotentis

Interpreting all these entries as referring to condiments is a leap of faith. Several are not clear in themselves. However, the Benedictiones clearly have a logicxal structure and I believe that the lines between the end of the section on honey (#1248) and the beginning of cakes (#159) form a cohesive whole. The theme appears to be condiments, in a very broad sense.

The problems begin with #49; it is not quite clear what a moretum is. Several earlier text describe it as a strongly seasoned, mashed dish. The most famous, a pseudo-Virgilian poem, has it made from cheese and garlic, but other sources describe moretum made with nut kernels. Of course, all our descriptions also date to much earlier than the Benedictiones. What a moretum is in the eleventh century is anyone’s guess. I believe it is a sauce or relish of some kind. A misreading of moratum – mulberry wine – is unlikely.

Based perhaps on the latter possibility, Dora translates the ‘hot liquids’ of #150 as ‘beverages’ (Getränke), but given the context it occurs in, I think this refers to sauces. A later change to the manuscript to ‘hot and warm’ (fervores calidosque) does not clarify matters. “Hot” is almost certainly a reference to temperature, not spiciness, but sauces are served warm both in earlier and later culinary traditions. A similar issue arises again in #151, which Dora interprets as another beverage. The word pigmentatum only refers to a spiced thing. It shgares the gender of wine (vinum), but that is hardly unique. Interpreting it as a sauce makes more sense in the context.

The Latin term “by art” used in #152 suggests that these are what we would later call ‘made dishes’, combinations of ingredients that relied on flavourings like herbs and spices. The word implies a professional skill that goes beyond the mere act of cooking.

In #153, we are on safer ground. Reading piperata as a sauce is again interpretation, but my reading agrees with Dora’s. The original word only means something made with pepper, but given it is poured over foods, it is quite clearly a sauce. This may be the origin of the pfeffer sauces so frequently found in German medieval cuisine later.

We do not know what was mixed with the vinegar in #154, but this could be an early form of the ‘green sauce’ of fresh herbs, spices, and a sour liquid, or perhaps of an infused vinegar. It is not just vinegar alone, which was also used as a condiment at the table. The issue with #156 is similar: We do not know what kind of herbs are meant here. The word could refer to greens in general, a dish similar to creamed spinach, but it is much more likely that it is a sauce or relish. Many Roman sauces depended on fresh herbs ground to a paste, and we still enjoy pesto made in much the same way. Finally, #157 once more leaves much unsaid. A mixtura is just a mixture. Herbs or spices are suggested by its context and I could well imagine a mix of salt and powdered dried herbs, but we cannot be sure.

Similarly, though the mustard of #155 and the spices of #158 are clearly condiments, we learn nothing about them. Was the mustard made with honey and wine (as is attested from Mediterranean sources around this time) or with vinegar or water? In what form were the spicves brought to thec table, and which kinds? Are we looking at pieces meant to be chewed, an incense to be burned, or powders to be added to food? Would there be mixtures of spices, and if so, which ones? We have a rough idea of availability – pepper, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and ginger – but no hints as to how they were used.

Thus at the end of it even if we accept the interpretation that these refer to condiments, we only learn that they were used at the table, not which ones or how commonly. I personally believe that forms of Roman cooking survived for this long and thus look to earlier sources for a reconstruction, but this is no more than an educated guess.

The Benedictiones ad Mensas were produced by Ekkehart IV of St Gall, most likely initially written during his tenure as head of the Mainz cathedral school between 1022 and 1031, but expanded and revised until his death in St Gall in 1057. Theyare a collection of blessings to be spoken over food. Written in short rhyming couplets in Latin, they are unusual in their attention to the diversity of foods and preparations. This is not a serious work of theology or medicine, but an intellectual diversion, playful verse meant to show off a broad vocabulary and facility with Latin. That is what makes them very valuable – they give us a glimpse of the mental horizon of a senior cleric of the 11th century at the table.

I am back from my trip to the seaside with no new recipes and my first genuine disappointment with German Youth Hostel cuisine. But there is a new post, continuing the ongoing list of excerpts from the 11th-century Benedictiones ad Mensas by Ekkehart IV of St Gall:

136 May this container of milk be life and strength to those who consume it

Hoc mulctro lactis sit vita vigorque refectis

137 Bless the milk in the memory of Him who was first blessed by it

Primitus hoc macti memores benedicite lacti

138 May the right hand of God bless this cheese² inside and out

Hunc caseum dextra signet deus intus et extra

139 May the cheese curds³ (lit. that which is pressed from the milk) produce no stones

Parturiat nullos lactis pressura lapillos

140 Honey⁴, pepper, and wine cause milk to be less harmful

Mel Piper et Vinum lac dant minus esse nocivum

141 May the cross prevent this cheese curd from being harmful through honey

Lactis pressuram crux melle premat nocituram

142 Cheese is best eaten when it is served with honey

Optime sumetur caseus si melle [lacuna] detur

143 The physicians hold that the milk of goats is more healthful

Lac mage caprinum medici perhibent fore sanum

144 May God sweeten this honey so it gives savour without harm

Hoc mel dulcoret deus ut sine peste saporet

145 God, bless this honey of a thousand spices⁵

Hoc millenarum benedic dee mel specierum

146 Bless the nectar⁶ of this honey, o God who drives out sadness

Tristia qui pellis benedic dee nectara mellis

147 Good Christ who is himself a sweet honeycomb, bless the honeycombs

His bone Christe favis benedic favus ipse suavis

148 Blessings be on the porridge with snow-white drops⁷

Pultibus et iuttis niveis benedictio guttis

The symbolic importance of milk and hgoney in a culture as steeped in Biblical exegesis as 11th century monasticism cannot be overstated, but we should not forget that these things were also food. These lines contain plenty of religious imagery – Christ as the honeycomb, the milk of the Virgin Mary – but they also tell us about what the writer ate, or at least knew was eaten.

First, there is milk itself, mentioned in #136. This may be a referenbce to fresh milk for drinking, or for some kind of crudled milk that was eaten, but my guess is fresh milk. The mulctra or mulctrarium referred to here is a milking pail which supports that interpretation. It is hard to imagine milk being brought to the table in an actual bucket though. Perhaps it was served out from a common container. There is also a mention of goat milk in #146. The default kind most likely was cow milk.

Then there are varieties of cheese. Caseum in #138 is the classical term for cheese and here it seems to describe an aged cheese with a rind (an outside) and body (an inside). The pressura in #139 means something that is pressed or squeezed. That looks like a good description of curds in contrast to aged cheese.

Many medieval texts are suspicious of the health impact of cheese, and here we have several entiries – #139 to 143 – that describe ways of mitigating the harm it was thought to cause. Three of the mention honey as a counteragent, which leads over to the next section, but also is a good candidate for actual practice. Honey and cheese go together very well, and the combination is attested in earlier Roman sources.

The blessings for honey begin with #144, a reference to the sweetness of it which was its main desired quality. This is followed by the somewhat enigmatic mel millenarum specierum in #145. I am not sure whether this is just a flowery description of the complex aroma of good honey or whether it actually means spices were added to it. The latter is possible, though Ekkehart is more likely to use the term pigmenta to refer to culinary spices than species. We know meat was sometimes cooked with honey and spices, and honey-based sauces are known in both Roman and medieval cuisine. Honey and pepper make a delicious combination, and despite the ‘thousand’ spices mentioned here, even one would have shown wealth and sophistication.

It is similarly unclear whether #146 is poetic license or technical vcocabulary. Nectar may simply be a poetic description; the Gods on Mount Olympus live on nectar and ambrosia, and is is not clear what either actually is. It could also be a technical term, though. My first guess would be that it describes the liquid honey that flows from harvested honeycombs purely by gravity rather than that which has to be pressed or boiled out. This was considered especially good. With #147, blessing honeycombs specifically may mean that they were served in one piece. This is not unknown in many cultures; after removing the liquid honey, the comb can be sucked or chewed to separate the remainder from the max, which is then spat out.

The final entry #148 seems out of place. Porridges are treated elsewhere, but this one seems to be grouped here deliberately. A snow white colour could be produced by cooking it with milk and by using a finely bolted flour. Both would have represented status; The porridge of most working people was not white. Interestingly, there is a reference to a porridge of fine flour and milk in the epic poem Waltharius, line 1441, too.

The Benedictiones ad Mensas were produced by Ekkehart IV of St Gall, most likely initially written during his tenure as head of the Mainz cathedral school between 1022 and 1031, but expanded and revised until his death in St Gall in 1057. Theyare a collection of blessings to be spoken over food. Written in short rhyming couplets in Latin, they are unusual in their attention to the diversity of foods and preparations. This is not a serious work of theology or medicine, but an intellectual diversion, playful verse meant to show off a broad vocabulary and facility with Latin. That is what makes them very valuable – they give us a glimpse of the mental horizon of a senior cleric of the 11th century at the table.