A 17th-century cookbook - photo 1
A 17th-century cookbook - photo 2
A 17th-century cookbook - photo 3

A 17th-century cookbook

Lot 26
11.12.2024 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 5 040
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1349785
Lot 26 | A 17th-century cookbook
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
A 17th-century cookbook
Artis recentioris Precepta, in Italian, manuscript on paper [Southern Italy, perhaps Naples or Sicily, 17th century]
154 recipes ranging from brain stew to Neapolitan mostaccioli, sauces, fish and meat dishes, and doughnuts: a veritable compendium of 17th-century Italian cooking.

183 x 129mm. 24+iii leaves, complete, collation: 1-212, modern foliation 1-27 followed here, c.30 lines of text, recipes numbered 1-154 (some minor marginal dampstaining, show-through and ink erosion, edges sometimes a little frayed). Original card binding rebound in modern leather.

Contents: Soups and stews, ff.1-2, including 'Minestra dei Cervelli' (brain stew), 'Minestra de Carciofi e di Piselli' (artichoke and pea soup), pigeon stew f.1v, ricotta stew f.1v, turnip soup f.2; various recipes using brain ff.2-3: brain pie, brain frittata, fried brain; veal's head stuffed with veal sweetbreads, ham, sausages, parmesan, pine nuts, candied citron and truffles f.2v; meat rolls and fricassées ff.3v-5; 'Piccioni in veste da Camera' and other stuffed, jellied and fried meats and poultry ff.6-9v; sweets ff.9v-13v, including various fried doughs ('pasta siringata', a typical Sicilian Carnival sweet, and 'pasta gonfia' or choux pastry), tarts, doughnuts, 'Bocca di Dama', 'Paste Affricane' and 'Mostaccioli alla Napolitana', almond, coffee and chocolate creams, and frozen pastry; various recipes including oyster soup, stuffed tongue, lard bread, stuffed calamari ff.14-17; fish courses ff.17-18v , including swordfish, ray, eels, frogs, trout, turtle and sturgeon; sauce recipes ff.19-20v, including anchovy sauce, apple sauce, caper sauce, pine-nut sauce, and sauces for roast chicken, roast fish and 'Salsa Reale'; 'Bianco mangiare' (blancmange) and other sweets including lemon and strawberry granita and ricotta doughnuts ff.20v-22v ending with 'Ravjuoli' (but no recipe); blanks ff.23-27v.

The manuscript is evidently an avid cook's working collection of contemporary and traditional recipes. The preponderance of fried dough, pastry, and ricotta-based recipes, along with granite and the regionally-unique recipe for Neapolitan mostaccioli indicates a localisation in the south of Italy.

Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
11.12.2024 – 11.12.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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