Medieval & Renaissance Italian Food

#historicalrecipes #history #medieval
Medieval & Renaissance Italian Food | What Italians Ate in the Middle Ages
One of the best parts about being in Italy is feeling surrounded by history. It's easy to see the past in the ruins of Roman aqueducts and medieval castles, but what about in the food?
This week, we're joined by food historian Luca Cesari who helps us learn where Italian food comes from. We try three recipes from the Middle Ages and Renaissance and, well, let's just say it turns into a feast fit for a king.
If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs-up and subscribe to the channel!
00:00 Introduction: Castle in the Sky
01:12 Meet Luca Cesari
02:18 Pre-Potato Gnocchi
03:30 Trying Medieval Gnocchi
05:31 Making Fried Raviolo
07:26 Trying Renaissance Fried Raviolo
09:03 The Original Mortadella... Meatball?
11:05 Trying Medieval Mortadella
13:27 Did Marco Polo Discover Pasta?
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A big thank you to Luca Cesari for his guidance and recipes! Please check out his blog here: www.ricettestoriche.it
Visit our website for English translations of the recipes we tried: www.pastagrammar.com/post/thr...
Another big thank you to Pietro ( / pietro_vizzari ) and ‪@MaurizioAlbaneseFilmMaker‬ for helping us out with the aerial footage!
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[@MrGilRoland]

So, thanks Harper for making us Italians discover Eva, she’s definitely a national treasure that we didn’t know to have.

[@PastaGrammar]

☺️☺️☺️☺️

[@MrMikkyn]

That was so poetic ❤️

[@adolfgor8479]

I agree with you

[@ElizaDolittle]

@@PastaGrammar would you consider a video on ancient Roman cuisine? There are many primary source recipe books from the period!

[@brandillysmom]

Hmmm, not just Italians….. People everywhere, from Marge in Southern California!….(binge watching again….)

[@kobayashimaruaikiken]

You could make an entire channel just with these medieval recipes... I want MORE!

[@marycerullo8455]

If you like this then you might want to check out “Tasting History with Max Miller”. It’s historical foods from England. He does his research and is very knowledgable. Absolutely fascinating how food has evolved. Max has even put out a cook book.

[@forearthbelow]

@@marycerullo8455 Totally agree, Mary, but his recipes are not just from England, plenty of Roman ones in there too. A good enjoyable watch, as was this excellent episode 👍👍

[@gregmuon]

Don't forget "Historical Italian Cooking". Great stuff. kzbin.info/door/sDUyQI88LLvpu9RCevwQEA

[@Rottwiler44]

You should check out cookingwithhistory’s channel. He makes all kinds of old and ancient recipes.

[@johnnybarricelli5703]

me too!!!! I want an entire entree and dessert...maybe they dress up in medieval garb and invite their friends.

[@ToDoPOView]

Launching point for a whole medieval cooking playlist.

[@ThatBernie]

Now I want to host a medieval-themed dinner with recreated dishes like these. Let the lutes commence!

[@eluemina2366]

@@ThatBernie Hear hear! 😃

[@italianduded1161]

@@ThatBernie it seems something like that already exists Even in Italy I wish to partecipate, and obviously, to eat 🤤

[@BackDownSouth]

Good early morning (4am) from Las Vegas. I am a High School World History teacher and this is one of my favorite episodes. When we hit the middle ages I have the gremlins try to translate a medieval recipe (old English) then we have a day where they try to recreate it and share. It is lots of fun and it gets the parents involved. Medieval recipes usually have no measurements so some of the results are interesting.

[@PastaGrammar]

I wish my history teacher had done that!

[@pvillelde]

That sounds like a lot of fun!! That's awesome that you do that.

[@marroosh9771]

Gremlins😂 That is a very accurate way to describe High School students!

[@monkeygraborange]

You might also enjoy “Tasting History with Max Miller” if you like challenging recipes from the past.

[@BackDownSouth]

@@monkeygraborange I was an very early subscriber.....Thanks for the heads-up

[@khangdo3611]

That liver meatball dish is so interesting. I am Vietnamese and we have a similar dish in which a mixture of ground beef and liver is wrapped in caul fat into hand-sized balls and then steamed. I can see how delicious those medieval mortadella balls can be. ❤️

[@ic3653]

In Romania there is a similar dish called 'drob'. Delicious! It's shaped into a loaf and baked and has no cheese. It's also somewhat similar to haggis I believe.

[@alexojideagu]

There is a very similar dish in the UK. Pork and Liver wrapped in Caul.

[@henryblunt8503]

​@@alexojideagu You rarely see it in butchers these days, and I haven't seen it wrapped in caul-fat for years. I think the use of that was banned for a while (foot and mouth epidemic?) And the recipe used to include other temporarily banned offal too. The modern version isn't what it was. We call the dish "savoury duck" here. Other names are available.😂

[@crochetifique]

A bulgarian here, married for an italian, living in Calabria, i can't express enough how much i loved this video! Such a fun and creative way to descover history, thank you so so much for posting.

[@RoseBrunoBailey]

I’m Italian American, but my maternal grandfather was from Sophia, married my grandmother and passed away with my Mother was 12 from a freak ladder accident. He never spoke of relatives. I’ve always been curious about my Bulgarian background.

[@teetrevor]

History lessons have never been so delicious

[@thespiritualadvocate]

Eva is the Bomb and Harper is generous hearted to share her talents with us, he wants to platform her genius and that is absolutely beautiful to see a man do that for his wife, HE IS BEYOND PROUD AND HE SHOULD BE, at the same time honoring his wife’s talents is a women’s deep fulfillment!! HE HONORS HER TOTALLY and completely!!

[@valeriehernandez209]

This just goes to show that Italians have been masters of making good food throughout their history.

[@fuferito]

I almost expected a _Tasting History_ with Max Miller collaboration, but I'm glad I learned about Luca Cesari.

[@nivescorazza4019]

I’ve grown up with ricotta gnocchi as my parents are from Trentino-Alto Adige and we had it with brown butter with sage

[@claudiatomaselli6818]

That is amazing! As an Italian archeologist and crazy food lover I cooked Roman recipes more than once, finding it both delicious and funny. Now I really do want to try with medieval food. That mortadella looks deliziosa (plus, I'm a "no waste theory" supporter: once you killed an animal for the main purpose of eating it... You'll be better to try to eat everything you can from it)

[@random_name3977]

Those gnocchi are basically Knöpfles which are still quite common in South-West Germany and neighbor Germanic regions in Austria, France and Switzerland. You can also fry them in butter immediately or when reheating them.

[@Rsama60]

Kassnocken

[@dee_dee_place]

It's really amazing to see how many food items are actually made around the world, but called by different names. Just goes to show you that people, from everywhere, used what they had on hand, & a lot of the time, it was the same foodstuff. I think the biggest difference was the spices used... totally dependant on the terrain & weather.

[@axel0_02]

@@Rsama60 that makes me think of cheese gnocchi, in Italian cheese can also be called cacio (and some specific kinds of cheeses are still called that) and the second half really sounds like gnocchi

[@arronhope9349]

From the Alps

[@Lorenai13]

We also have them in Poland. We call them "lazy dumplings". Fried ones, with butter and breadcrumbs, are delicious.

[@FilippoGualandi]

Medieval Mortadella seems basically the Polpettone di Fegatini that we still do in Bologna around Christmas and in the full Bollito courses. That's so good, I usually skip the other Bollito meats... :)

[@lisapiselli2176]

And I have a theory that fegatini were taken to Britain (in particular Wales) by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. We have a dish called 'faggots' which is made in exactly the same way (although no Parmesan).

[@rosariacarlostella9105]

@@lisapiselli2176 that’s a very interesting theory and quite plausible too.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

@@lisapiselli2176 lasagna was originally a British recipe called "losayne", so it's definitely possible. They shared foods back and forth

[@Rsama60]

The cheese gnocchi still live in today in the Alpine region as „Kassnocken“ with a diffrent cheese of course.

[@blakfloyd]

Man, you can just see the unwavering respect she has for Cesari. The way she hangs on his every word.

[@annother3350]

That's how she's learnt all that cooking knowledge

[@ajipboy]

I was watching some medieval armor and weapon stuffs then this pops out, guess my journey is complete now !

[@raymondgirardtan4978]

Interesting to see what Italian food was like before potato, tomato, etc.

[@robbiekop7]

The Romans invented the three course meal

[@Maverickhunt100]

The potato comes from south America, inmedieval times there was no potatoe in Europe.

[@juliusfucik4011]

@@Maverickhunt100 so does the tomato and maize. What did Europe eat? Wheats.

[@phrog5003]

@@juliusfucik4011 bread cucumbers idek

[@Maverickhunt100]

@@juliusfucik4011🧙‍♂️European food pigs smoked and salted meat bacon turkey cows sheep deer hares cheeses cereals breads desserts butter carrots onions peas beans mushrooms apples cherries strawberries oranges lavender rosemary people too beers citrons vinegar spices imported from the East too expensive at that time🧚‍♀️🤤🧚‍♀️

[@gabriele7381]

we still make gnocchi with ricotta and cheeses from the alps in Verona. They're absolutely delicious!

[@jeanneamato8278]

You need to write a modern medieval cookbook for us. This was fascinating. You two were the perfect couple to bring us to the past.

[@jeremywinston7199]

U guys are the best!! Can't wait for the cook book!!

[@ufopsi]

Ci vuole un libro di ricette!

[@mohammadsohail1368]

Eva looks so happy here!! Bless you

[@alwaysinprayer900]

Noticed the glow!

[@OmegaOmega2009]

Siete incredibili! Avete vinto su tutto stavolta. In particolare i miei ringraziamenti ad Eva che cucina con una semplicità come "Mamma sa fare". Grazie per il vostro impegno a portare la vera e reale cultura culinaria italiana nel mondo, e di farla scoprire anche ad alcuni italiani che l'hanno dimenticata.

[@PastaGrammar]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@clementbellande8720]

Cheers from France, Really cool video. Baci.

[@Dirtguerilla]

The "Medieval Mortadella" is still eaten in some parts of Slovenia and Austria, especially in some fancy restaurants ;)

[@sonodiventataunalbero5576]

We have something quite similar in the German part of Switzerland called Adrio

[@michaelmullard4292]

Wow! This was so exciting. Would love to see more medieval Italian cuisine!

[@aarongall9191]

The technique for making Chinese and Italian noodles are really different, so it makes sense they developed independently.

[@filipporivalta9780]

Ammetto di interessarmi molto alla cucina ed alle figure che ruotano attorno ad essa (non solo cuochi ma anche scienziati e chimici) ma non conoscevo questo Luca Cesari ed ancor meno della storia medievale sul cibo. Oggi mi avete fatto scoprire una persona davvero affascinante ed un aspetto della cucina molto interessante. Grazie e continuate così

[@radianttadpole6363]

You know Eva’s loving it when her fork dances in the air!

[@rickbrauer6794]

Anything that gets a 'Momma' rating from Eva deserving of trying. Thank you again for all you do and God bless.

[@georgegarcia2455]

Eva and Harper thanks for breaking down all these recipes and really giving us a background on how these recipes are born. Hoping to make your southern version of lasagna next week! Ciao from Boston, MA!

[@pollykent2100]

I love when you have Italian speakers on the video. I slow the playback time to try and understand. Still working on my Italian.

[@quercus5398]

99%. Of all Italian words end with a vowel,and each letter is pronounced,no silent letters Referring to anything feminine the word ends with an A anything masculine ends with an O A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-Z========21 letters--A-E-I-O-U. Vowels

[@phrog5003]

@@quercus5398 J,Y,K ik they are not athentically ita but they are on the alphabet

[@nathcascen473]

@@phrog5003 in modern italian alfhabet we dont have and we dont use those letters j y k neither w

[@costantinodicarlo3233]

Probably the best episode of Pasta Grammar! Grazie!

[@arkadiuszzet2208]

Hi P.G. We are from Poland and we used to eat potato-less gnocchi all the time when we were kids. We call them lazy dumplings and they are fabulous. Big part of our culinary traditions :-)

[@stevieg4201]

Just love this episode, I share this with so many people

[@veganfoodandotherstuff6354]

Congrats on Eurovision winning! I spent all my limits on voting for Italy! :D See you next year! Love from Serbia.

[@lairbox]

This is why every Sunday at this time I connect my pc and watch KZbin!!! :)

[@MiThreeSunz]

These medieval recipes are most interesting. I’m familiar with the medieval gnocchi since my paternal nonna from Le Marche always made her gnocchi with ricotta and flour. They were light tender and delicious. The fried egg filled ravioli was new to me as was the fried ground pork liver mortadella (meatballs). Just like Harper, I’m not a fan of liver, but definitely try this mortadella recipe! 😋🇮🇹🇨🇦

[@susanherbert3014]

Best part of the weekend - a new Pasta Grammar video! This was so fascinating to learn about medieval recipes. And that castle is pretty awesome!

[@nickvie71]

The "Mortadelle" reminded me a lot of the "Liver Dumplings" which are still very popular in some german Regions like Pfalz & Bavaria, but also in Bohemia (Czech & Slovakia), Austria, Solvenia and northest parts of Italy - often cooked and served in a strong beef broth (great soup for cold winters days ;) ) or also roasted and served on Sauerkraut. There are many local variations but I can imagine that the basic idea of it came from the "Mortadelle" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leberkn%C3%B6del

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

German food is SO good, but underrated

[@joeperkins4309]

You can tell when something tastes spectacular. Eva gets that look on her face and she starts spinning her fork in circles. I love it!!! Thanks for sharing your videos. Keep them coming!

[@sharendonnelly7770]

I don't know how anyone would think this is worth a thumbs down..... The information is outstanding and very good knowledge and history of Italian foods! Boo to those trolls out there!!

[@sharendonnelly7770]

Hmmm.... second thought on my post, perhaps the negatives were due to the liver as the main ingredient. I say "don't knock it until you have tried it!"

[@Carol-Bell]

This was so wonderful! Many thanks to Luca for sharing his knowledge with us! And thank you Eva, for being so brave to try making the recipes, and thank you to Harper and Eva both for tasting them. I love this channel.

[@johnpeschke7723]

Eva, I think the way you cook seems so important, you are gentle with all the ingredients from way you cook pasta, prepare and combine the ingredients for the sauces, add (or not) the spices and then serve the dish. great care every step of the way. thank you.

[@stefanob.6551]

I recently discovered a very interesting thing. I live near Avellino, in the country, and my grandma told me her mom and a lot of other women made these little "meatballs" with pork liver, and they named them "tomaciélli". This recipe has therefore been known since the Middle Ages here and they kept on doing that until the middle of the 20th century! 🤗

[@MrSamosisimo]

Wow, the raviolo with egg, reminded me of the Colombian "Arepa de Huevo" which is very popular in costal Colombia. Thanks for the historical trip, I'm always fascinated by Eva's culinary talents.

[@maar1626]

I love how Eva always puts her hand under the fork when tasting the food

[@LAghemo]

I usually watch your channel because you're really nice and it's a kind of a celebration of real italian food, but this video was actually great! Adding some hystorical, therefore cultural notion, was really a great added value! I understand it's not easy to have ideas like this one, but keep going! I'm sure there's more about ancient italian cusine that deserve to be discovered. I could make a small proposal: what about ancient roman cusine? Probably we could never REALLY eat what they used to (like real Garum) because we would die for septicemia! But still, I'm sure there are a lot of interesting things to try and learn. A really nice and heart-warming channel, if you see what I mean!

[@olekzajac5948]

5:55 I know this one! It was once a competition in one of the seasons of Masterchef Poland (just with yolk and cooked instead of fried). One of those competitions that are all about technique: prepare egg in five ways or so.

[@tompach5]

The second dish you made is what we make all the time in Puerto Rico. It's know as a breakfast empanada. You might want to go to Puerto Rico and try some of our recipes and make and Italian twist.

[@cominghometorome811]

Please do more shows like this 🇮🇹👏

[@inocenciotensygarcia1012]

I loved your video driving to work at 5 a.m. I was born in La Habana, Cuba, on 5/01/1961. Came to the USA on April, 1970. I loved the video because of all the information you shared and Eva was able to talk to the food historian. Just last night, I made a video on your recipes and I mentioned it was yours of course about the tomato sauce and the left over pasta. I wanted to record the recipe about the Chinese egg plant but it was too late and it was 12 midnight and I had to get up at 4:15 a.m. to work at the hospital. Thank you for everything. God Bless you both.👨‍🍳👍🏼❤️

[@icoborg]

well now a Pasta Grammar ft. Tasting History (and viceversa) video is required.

[@someinteresting]

Yes, please.

[@dianapohe]

I thought the sameee😍

[@lottatroublemaker6130]

@@dianapohe Me too❗️☺️

[@eyechartny]

Max and Eva together?! Adorableness overload!

[@domenicocaruso2153]

Pasta History or Tasting Grammar? :D

[@getgaymin]

The medieval cooking nerd in me is loving this... so many cool recipes!

[@izzyrazzbuffnik2326]

The drone footage really helped to lift this video to a new level. Really showed context very well. More please

[@vincenzogentile1869]

È da pochi giorni che vi seguo e sono affascinato da quanta passione che ci mettete per far conoscere le prelibatezze della nostra bella Italia. Braviiiii

[@reginapolo3357]

I'm from Panamá, and I have always been curious about pre-Columbian "Italian" cooking. Now you are making me set time aside to delve more into it.

[@RoseBrunoBailey]

My hubby and I were watching videos of the origins of corn, potatoes and tomatoes today, and this video showed up. We are history buffs, loved this one in particular.

[@robertomauri357]

Always on point, brilliant content

[@1spiny]

Fascinating stuff! I may have to find some caul fat and pork liver! BRAVISSIMO!

[@TravelAddictGuy]

I really enjoyed this one, love the way you put it all together too. Great job guys!

[@sparkymularkey6970]

I love how similar these medieval Italian dishes are to other dishes around the world. It makes me think about how similar we all really are. 💖

[@carminakielkucki287]

Loved this video, I'm hooked thank you.

[@robertfaulkner9105]

One of my favorite YT channels. I really need to start making some of these amazing dishes.

[@jonpulicicchio5000]

Thank you both for the informative history lesson. Keep them coming.

[@threekats7610]

Awesome! Thank you both so much 💕

[@maryferraro6745]

Great video- need more!!!

[@annwilliams2075]

I first saw ravioli made with an egg inside on a programme, Simple Italian, made by Michela Chiappa - one of the very large Welsh Italians here in South Wales. (Her father is originally from Northern Italy I believe.) In her version the ravioli was cooked in water and I love it. But now I have a second one to try and can not wait. It has one of my favourite combinations- pasta, eggs and easy cooking yuuuuuuuuuuum!!!! Also we have a meat ball dish very similar to the one Eva made. It is an extremely favourite dish especially in winter. It is served in a thick gravy (sauce) with mushy peas. That is peas that have been cooked until the resemble lumpy mashed potatoes. Tastes a lot better than it sounds. 😂😂😂😂😊😊😊😊 So again you have given me another version that I can not wait to try.

[@KatalistProductionsKozzySasha]

Great episode, probably my favorite one yet!

[@RyCrisp86]

I think this is my favorite video you've done - a great combination of both of your skills (cooking, dorky history) and super fun!

[@kaleohanokeesee]

Super interesting and fun episode. Thank you guys so much!

[@lisaspikes4291]

This was one of the best episodes yet! Love these recipes! 😍

[@lindaleone4345]

ok..this episode was really cool !! The medieval recipes were awesome! Thanks guys!!!

[@maryc7217]

Fantastic video!! What a fascinating topic! I cannot wait to try these recipes! Grazie!!

[@rickmelillo2760]

Great content. Very entertaining as always. Thank you

[@karensimon876]

You have to do more of these episodes! This was awesome!

[@baronesselsavonfreytag-lor1134]

Really interesting episode, thank you for making it.

[@jadwigaszpejer4567]

Thank you for the recipies I will enjoy for sure

[@theresawilliams7327]

Such a wonderful episode! Thank you for the history lesson!

[@christopherhamilton8853]

I always forward to seeing a new video every Sunday from y'all. It's always a bummer when it's a holiday and I have to wait an extra week, but I know that I have other videos that I can watch from you two. Keep up the good work with the videos and recipes, can't wait to see what's coming next Sunday.

[@michaelwright248]

Awesome episode, guys! Looking forward to trying these!

[@chicka-boom7540]

Awesome! I love historical recipe videos.

[@alexandrabianchini6150]

This was an adorable video! surprisingly good!

[@Belka50]

Wow, these look awesome, have to try them! Thank you!!

[@tiffanicy]

Great! Love this video!!!

[@sandeakilpatrick2386]

I loved watching this today! You're such a delight. Thank you.

[@TheAverageNooob]

The pasta being invented independently is part of a phenomenon where humans invent things around the same time independently.

[@gallezzo6650]

Awesome history lesson.

[@christinamarie589]

I just love learning more and more awesome video once again!

[@rosettapstone]

These are going to be alot of fun to try. Thanks so much for teaching us about this!!

[@Sunjoy1]

Love the idea of this series of recipes...

[@randyattwood]

Fantastic and fascinating episode. Thanks so much.

[@debbiecameron3024]

Always interesting, educational and fun. Thanks so much. Hope you stay in Italy for a while longer.

[@vikimittal2150]

Amazing amazing amazing..... love your videos so so much. Thank you 🙏🙏

[@schindel6307]

We need more of this. Such an interesting pairing of history brought to life. Could you do more of it please!

[@AkOdOnxIgEn02]

Food and history. My favorite combo. Thanks for the video as always!

[@timbillings6884]

👍👍 Excellent show!!!

[@karolinalubian9503]

Such a cool episode! Keep on going 😊

[@robertlemoine3500]

A delicious education , Thankyou ,I love your program .

[@mainelife6473]

Thank you for these videos... they teach you about cooking, with real life examples...they bring history into it /and I love a good history lesson!/, they encourage me to test my culinary bounds /although liver might be my outer limit/ and they manage to be very entertaining. Already can't wait to see what you come up with next week!