a sampling of typical Florentine foods
Florentine cooking is characteristically simple food, subtly spiced and not covered with heavy sauces. The morning meal was eaten between nine and ten and consisted mainly of breads, jam and fruit. Meat was only served on Sunday mornings. The evening meal was served at dusk. Prior to eating and during the meal, the host would pass a basin of clean warm water for the diners to wash their hands.
Rich man Poor man
The food of the rich was arrosti (roasts) whereas the food of the poor was bolliti (boiled foods).
In wealthy households, multiple courses were served and musicians played while guests ate. Pies were a favorite meal and took many forms, one being Pasticcio alla fiorentina, a sweet crusted pie with macaroni and meat sauce. Rabbit roasted in wine, duck and geese spiced with marsala or juniper berries or stuffed with garlic and quinces, trout, raisins, pine nuts, candied orange peel, and spiced leeks were also among the common dishes found on the board of wealthy households. Novelty foods such as savoury jellies shaped like animals or men, coloured with saffron, almond milk, and herbs were also popular.
Poorer families dined on pigeon, sausage, goat cheese, fruit, and much pasta. Chestnuts were one of the staples of the working poor and peasants who collected and ground them to make chestnut flour, sometimes simply roasting or simmering then in sweet milk or water.
Spices
Sage, rosemary and basil were the most popular spices. Saffron and pepper corns were sought after luxuries and in times of money shortages where also used as a bartering currency.
Staples
Olive oil was substituted for butter, and was also used as a salad dressing, poured over bread, and added to soups and stews.
Beans were a staple of the Florentine diet as - of course - were breads. Soups were very popular and included vegetable and bean soups such as ribollita. Cinestrata - another popular broth - was comprised of marsala, beaten eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.
Tuscan cows were not raised to produce milk, so there were little local cheeses. However, Pecorino - a cheese made from sheep's milk was fairly popular.
Fruits & Vegetables
In season, many fruits made their way onto the table, one of the most popular being the melon. Similar to the modern “sugar baby”, melons from the period were round with yellow flesh and large black seeds. Fanatic record keepers, the entries for July, 1479 saw 4,000 pounds of these melons brought into Florence through the Porta Romano alone.
Popular local vegetables included; artichokes, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, beans, broad beans and peas.
Boiled asparagus was laid out on a platter with salt, olive oil and vinegar and sometimes spices added. Asparagus was thought to combat flatulence, clear the eyesight, and relieve pains in the chest and spine. Cooking asparagus in wine was thought to increase this effectiveness.
Lettuce was eaten cooked or raw. If raw, the lettuce was washed, sprinkled with ground salt, olive oil and vinegar, sometimes with mint and parsley and served fresh. Those who feared that the chill of fresh lettuce could harm the stomach, preferred it boiled. After it had the water squeezed out, it was placed in a dish and was dressed with salt, olive oil, vinegar and sometimes cinnamon or pepper.
Meats
The most popular meat dish was the Bistecca a la Fiorentina - the Florentine steak - that is believed to date back to the Etruscans. The steak itself was cut from a young animal and had to be at least two finger-widths thick with a full portion of sirloin and fillet still attached to the bone (in essence, the modern Porterhouse). The meat is prepared by rubbing it with olive oil and pepper then placed on a grill over a red coal fire of chestnut or vine cuttings. The steak was to only be turned once and had to have grill marks on both sides. Once done it could then be further seasoned with salt and pepper. It was typically served rare.
Chickens were split, spiced, oiled and broiled.
Other meats; duck, rabbit, pork, and sausage were skewered and broiled over coals.
Hams and boar hams were smoked and preserved on local farms and sold in the city.
Finocchiona - a salami flavored with fennel seed - was a local favorite.
Delicacies
Mushrooms were popular treats in Florence, specifically; porcini, ovoli, and morels. Some truffles were also harvested in local woods, but these were rare.
Biscotto (biscotti is the plural form) was an ancient bread popularized in Florence during the renaissance. First enjoyed by the Roman army, taking its name from "bis" meaning twice, and "coctum" meaning baked, biscotti was a way to keep bread edible for extended periods of time.
During the quattrocento, biscotto enjoyed a resurgence in popularity when local bakers adding sliced almonds and later anisette, lemon, and amaretto. Biscotto was best enjoyed as an after dinner delicacy dipped in sweet red wine.
Fast Foods & Take-out
In the market places of Florence where business was carried out in the open streets rather than behind closed doors, vendors offered convenience foods; a roasted egg or a broiled finch on a stick could be had for one denari. One could drop off a bag of grain to a baker, and for two to four denari per unit, it would be transformed into loaves of bread. A roasted pheasant could be taken home from the market for 13 denari, a meat pie of vegetables and capon for eight denari or one with the meat of a hen for five.
Greater Tuscany
If one traveled to Pisa their famous black cabbage soup and a dish made with cieche (newborn eels) could not be missed.
Torta coi bischeri, a pastry for the Feast of Pontasserchio, was filled with rice, candied fruit, raisins, pine nuts, and ground nutmeg.
The town of Arezzo was famous for acquacotta (cooked in water) with fried onions, tomatoes, egg and cheese. Arezzo was also known for a dish of stuffed pheasant with cream and truffles and sautéed chicken giblets.
The cooks of Siena used more spices than the rest of Tuscany and made such dishes as panpepato (spiced bread), sausage and stuffed pastries.
Sevrin de Savage
January 31, Anno Societatis XL