Scappi, Scappi... didn't he play for AC Milan? No, actually, he cooked for Pope Pius V in the 16th century and wrote a magnificent six-volume cookbook entitled Opera, literally translated as "the works".
Why do we care? Because it wasn't just those pesky Frenchmen, Careme and Escoffier, who wrote the history of food as we know it, you know. Bartolomeo Scappi was the prototype celebrity chef, cooking for emperors, cardinals and popes before publishing his masterwork at the age of 70.
And who better to tell the world about him than our own ebullient Renaissance man, Antonio Carluccio (pictured)? His new BBC television documentary was previewed yesterday at the opulent Italian Embassy in Grosvenor Square. In it, Carluccio returns to Italy to put Scappi's ground-breaking cookbook to the test. "I'm going on a pilgrimage," he says, "with a cookbook as my guide."
It's great to see such a natural and engaging cook back on air. With his usual enthusiasm, he gets stuck into recreating complex, layered, 500-year-old dishes in situations that would make cheese on toast difficult to produce.
Sumptuously shot, Carluccio and the Renaissance Cookbook gives us an insight into the excesses and flights of fancy of Italian Renaissance cookery, with its fashionable emphasis on sugar and spice. What I remember most, however, is an extreme close-up of a barbecue spit popping out through a suckling pig's bum.
Directed and photographed by Spike Geilinger and produced by Martha Wailes for BBC Scotland, Carluccio and the Renaissance Cookbook goes to air at 8pm, 27 December on BBC2.
Looking forward to this after the nonsense Italian journey of J Oliver. Carluccio knows what he's talking about and the food in his restaurants is really great. I'm guessing/hoping there will be a book to accompany the series?
Posted by: Jakers | Thursday, 06 December 2007 at 11:25 AM
The Opera was even translated in Dutch and Spanish. See the article A Dutch translation of Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1612), url: www.magirus.net/2007/11/08/a-dutch-translation-of-bartolomeo-scappi%e2%80%99s-opera-1612
Posted by: Jozef Schildermans | Wednesday, 19 December 2007 at 09:26 AM
The Opera was even translated in Dutch and Spanish. See the article "A Dutch translation of Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1612)" (search on Google for this exact title, as I can't publish the url here -- it is flagged as possible spam)
Posted by: Jozef Schildermans | Wednesday, 19 December 2007 at 09:27 AM
We are in total ore of Scappi, How can we learn more and find the bible of life, Opera? Please can you help. My husband has just dicovered the kitchen and has now seen the light through Scappi's eyes. Genesis.
He is now a changed man.
We must continue the passion.
Any help would be appreciated.
Laura Basire Dacam
Posted by: Laura Basire Dacam | Thursday, 27 December 2007 at 08:32 PM
What a magnificently produced programme: the history, geographic and culinary lessons all blended together quite beautifully! Please convey my congratulations to all involved. My one horror, however, was when the original manuscripts of Opera were handled, without protective gloves, by the curator and Antonio Carluccio. I'm absolutely amazed that this was permitted given the sheer antiquity and rarity of those sublime pages; he wouldn't have been given such privilege in the library in which I worked!!
Posted by: L Galbraith | Friday, 28 December 2007 at 07:10 PM