A Translation and Redaction from the Banchetti

I took this recipe from the “Libro nuovo nel qual a’insegna il modo d’ordinar banchetti apparecchiar tavole, fornir palazzi, & ornar camere per ogni gran principle”, a Venetian cookbook, written by Christoforo Messisbugo and published in 1557.

The Original:

Banchetti Pg 60

Torta Lombarda

Piglia una buona branchata di bieta, e ben lauata, la tritarai minuta, e la ponerai in un uaso con libre due di buon formaggio duro ben grattato, e libra una e meza di butiro fresco, & voua sei, e di peuere pisto un quarto, & un piccico di gengeuero, e canella, a libra meza di zuccaro, se alcuno ghe ne vuole, perche per lo ordinario se no se li pone, poi farai le tue spoglie, e bene impasta to il tuo battuto, & unta la tiella con oncie due di butrio fresco gli porrai una spoglia, poi il battuto sopra la spoglia, e dopoi li porrai sopra l’altra spoglia facendoli per il suo rotello intorno, e fopra li porrai oncie Quattro dibntiro sresco disfatto, poi li cuocerai nel forno, o sotto il testo, e quando sera quasi cotta li porrai sopra oncie tre in quattra di zuccaro, e poi la finirai di cuocere.

 

I cannot read Italian, much less Renaissance Italian, so I used two tools for my translation. The 1^st was Google Translate, Google’s online language translator. The 2^nd was Queen Anna’s New World of Words Or Dictionarie of the Italian and English Tongues, a 16^th century English/ Italian dictionary.

 

1^st I plugged the original into Google:

cake Lombard
Gill takes a good chard, and well lauata the tritarai minute, and in a ponerai uaso with two pounds of good hard cheese grated well, and pound a meza with butter and fresh & voua fei, and fourth piston peuere , & a piccico of gengeuero, and cinnamon in meza pounds of sugar, if anyone wants ghe, because if not for the ordinary asks himself these questions, then you will do your spoils, and well kneaded to your beat, greased baking dish & with two ounces of fresh Butrio shall call a slough, then knocked over the bare, and shall put them on after the other pastry making for his Rotello around, and they shall call his fopra dibntiro sresco Four ounces unpacked, then cook them in the oven, or fuck the text, and when almost cooked evening they shall call his top three in four ounces of sugar, and then you’ll end up cooking.

 

This wasn’t terribly helpful. While some words were translated, many were not recognizable to the software. And, as I later discovered, many of the words that were translated by the software would later have completely different meanings according to the 16^th century dictionary.

Using Queen Anna’s Dictionary, I went through the recipe, line by line, translating each word. I then attempted to change tenses and arrange the words so that they made some sort of sense. This turned out to be much more successful than my 1^st attempt.

 

Queen Anna’s Dictionary translation:

Torta Lombarda

Pie of Sea Crab

Piglia una buona branchata di bieta, e ben lauata, la tritarai minuta, e la ponerai in un uaso con libre
Take one good amount of claws of beets (or crab), and wash well, chop small, and lay in a pot with 2 pounds

due di buon formaggio duro ben grattato, e libra una e meza di butiro fresco, & voua sei, e di peuere
of grated good hard cheese, and 1 ½ pounds fresh butter, and 6 eggs , and a fourth of crushed pepper

pisto un quarto, & un piccico di gengeuero, e canella, a libra meza di zuccaro, se alcuno ghe ne vuole,
and a little bit of ginger, and cinnamon, ½ a pound of sugar, if ought else some parts of grapes,

perche per lo ordinario se no se li pone, poi farai le tue spoglie, e bene impasta to il tuo battuto, &
common fish gutted and prepared as you like, after making thine pastry shell, knead and beat it well , and

unta la tiella con oncie due di butrio fresco gli porrai una spoglia, poi il battuto sopra la spoglia, e
grease the tart pan with an ounce of fresh butter place one pastry shell, then spread over the other pastry shell, and

dopoi li porrai sopra l’altra spoglia facendoli per il suo rotello intorno, e sopra li porrai oncie
line place any other thing pastry shell make them to bring out in a wheel turning, and over place

Quattro di butiro fresco dis fatto, poi li cuocerai nel forno, o sotto il testo, e quando sera quasi cotta li
Four ounces of fresh cream , then bake in the oven , or the pot, and when it has almost finished cooking

porrai sopra oncie tre in quattro di zuccaro, e poi la finirai di cuocere.
Over it place three or four ounces of sugar, then let it finish cooking.

Finally I attempted to combine what little of the modern translation I could use and the 16^th century translation.

The Result:

Pie of Sea Crab

Take one good amount of claws of crab, and wash well, chop small, and lay in a pot with 2 pounds

of grated good hard cheese, and 1 ½ pounds fresh butter, and 6 eggs, and a fourth of crushed pepper

and a little bit of ginger, and cinnamon, ½ a pound of sugar, if ought else some parts of grapes,

and common fish gutted and prepared as you like, after making thine pastry shell, knead and spread it well , and

grease the tart pan with an ounce of fresh butter place one pastry shell, then prepare another pastry shell, and

spread the ingredients into the pie

spread it over the beat any other thing pastry shell make them to bring out in a wheel turning, and over place

Four ounces of fresh cream , then bake in the oven , or the pot, and when it has almost finished cooking

Cover it with three or four ounces of sugar, then let it finish cooking.

 

The underlined portion defied translation. I tried several ways but I could not make sense of it.

The Redaction:

Messisbugo included some measurements in his recipe, but unfortunately not all. I adjusted amounts to suit a 9 inch pie crust. I had serious reservations about putting sugar on crab. Nevertheless I plunged ahead and the results were tolerable. I then made a 2^nd pie more suitable to the modern palate, which has less tolerance of sweet spices on savory food.

 

A More Traditional Version:

Begin by making a standard pie crust for a covered pie.

Line your pie pan with butter, then roll out half the dough, and place it in a 9 in pie pan, and toast in the oven at 425 for 10 min.

Ingredients:

1 cup sea crab meat

1 cup sharp cheese

3 Tbls butter

5 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

½ tsp Pepper

½ tsp. Ginger

1 tsp Cinnamon

4 oz. Talapia

½ c. Sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together except for ¼ cup sugar. Pour it into the pie shell.

Roll out the rest of the dough and place over the pie.

Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.  

Put the pie in the oven.

After 40 min. Sprinkle the pie with the rest of the sugar.

Turn off the oven and let the pie finish setting for 20 minutes.

 

A More Modern Version:

The same as above with no sugar, and only a pinch of cinnamon. I also added a green onion.