Some medieval Italian sausage recipes

[vagreys]

Italian (c. 1468) – Recipes from Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health

<20> Esicium ex Pulpa
Ex coxa vitulina pulpam accipito eamque vel cum adipe eiusdem vel cum larido minutatim concidito. Amaracum et petroselinon contundito, vitellum ovi cum caseo trito tudecula agitato, aromata inspargito, ex hisque corpus unum facito, ac omnia cum ipsa carne misceto. In omentum deinde vel porcinum vel vitulinum tessellatim incisum hoc pulmentum ad ovi magnitudinem involvito. Ad focum in veru lento igne decoquito. Mortadellam vulgares hoc esicium vocant, quod certe parum incoctum quam nimium suavius est. Tarde ob hanc rem digeritur, oppilationes facit, calculum creat, cor tamen et hepar iuvat.

20. Meat Sausage
Take meat from a veal haunch, and cut it up small with its own fat or with lard. Grind marjoram and parsley together, and beat egg yolk and grated cheese with a paddle, sprinkle on spices, make a single mass and mix everything with the meat itself. Then wrap this mixture with pork or veal casing, after it has been cut off in pieces to the size of an egg. Cook on a spit at the hearth on a slow fire. The common people call this sausage mortadella because it is surely more pleasant a little raw than overcooked. For this reason it is digested slowly, makes obstructions, creates stone, but nevertheless helps the heart and liver.

<21> Esicium ex Iecore
Iocinora porcina vel quorum vis animalium paululum elixa terito eo modo quo caseum soles. Porcinum deinde ventrem concidito ad quantitatem iocinoris, tantumque casei veteris amaraci petroselini passularum aromatum contritorum cum duobus ovorum vitellis admisceto, quantum satis esse putaveris. Ex his in unum redactis ad magnitudinem nucis pilas facito, omentoque involvito, ac ubi voles in sartigine cum larido frigito. Lentam et parvam cocturam requirunt. Tomacella haec vulgus appellat quae fortasse melius omacula cum involuta omento fiant dicerentur vel tomada ut Martiali placet.

21. Liver Sausage
In the same way you would cheese, grind pork livers, or those of whatever animals you want, after they have been boiled a little. Then cut up pork belly to the amount of liver and mix with two egg yolks as much as you think is enough of aged cheese, marjoram, parsley, raisins, and ground spices. When these are reduced to a mass, make balls the size of a nut, wrap them in casing, and fry them in a frying pan with lard when you want. They need slow and low heat. The common people call them tomacella, which would perhaps be better called omacula, since they are wrapped in omentum, or tomacla, as pleases Martial.

<22> Farcimina
Pulpae viulinae atque adipi suillae bene tunsae, tritum caseum tum veterem tum pinguem, aromata bene tunsa, duo aut tria ova tudecula agitata, salis tantum quantum res ipsa requiret, croci quo crocea sint omnia, admiscebis. Admixtaque in intestinum bene lotum et perquam tenuatim productum iniicies. Cocturam in caccabo requirunt bona non nisi biduo durant; servari tamen in dies quindecim aut plures poterunt, si plus salis et aromatum addideris sive ad fumum desiccaveris.

22. Sausages
Into well-ground veal or pork fat, mix grated cheese which is not only aged but rich, well-ground spices, two or three eggs, beaten with a paddle, and as much salt as the batch requires, and saffron so as to make everything saffron-colored. When they are mixed, put them ina well-washed intestine which has been drawn out exceedingly thinly. Not good unless they have hardened for two days, they require cooking in a pot. They can be kept, however, a fortnight or more, if you add more salt and spices or if you dry them in smoke.

<23> Lucanicae
Si voles vonas lucanicas, carnem macram et pinguem simul ex sue concidito, ablatis omnibus fibris ac nervis. Quorum si caro decem librarum fuerit, salis libram unam, feniculi bene mundi uncias duas, totidemque piperis simitunsi admisceto confricatoque; per diem haec in mensula sinito. Sequenti in intestinum bene mundum iniicito, et sic ad fumum suspendito.

23. Lucanian Sausage
If you want good Lucanian sausages, cut the lean and fat meat from the pig at the same time, after all the fibers and sinews have been removed. If the piece of meat is ten pounds, mix in a pound of salt, two ounces of well-cleaned fennel, the same amount of half-ground pepper, rub in and leave for a day on a little table. The next day, stuff into a well-cleaned intestine and thus hang up in smoke.

Sources:
Milham, Mary Ella. Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health : A Critical Edition and Translation of “De Voluptate et Valitudine.” Tempe: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998.

[Massimo Maddaloni]

Where do you find this stuff?? This is not even archaic Italian: it' Latin.
Regards
Massimo

[vagreys]

Oops! The copy portion of the copy & paste I did of the source didn't work, so the wrong source was listed. I've updated it. I got the Italian recipes from a copy of Platina:

Milham, Mary Ella. Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health : A Critical Edition and Translation of “De Voluptate et Valitudine.” Tempe: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998.