Sauces in all sauces
Crusades and the Holy Land
With the Crusades began to change the tastes of the table in Europe. Although many spices had been known since Roman times, the activities of “spice factories” spread mainly as a result of these unspeakable religious wars with a predatory flavour.
In Italy the first to take advantage of it were the Venetians, thanks in part to Marco Polo's eastern travels, the Pisans and the Florentines. A tidbit about pepper, which was kept “stricado “in leather purses, is found in Merlin Cocaio's ingenious “Maccaronea,” which redeemed Italian literature from the dabblings of Orlando Furioso.
In Venice the Mocenigos were known as “del pevere,” and there are numerous documents in the State Archives attesting to their important trades, especially with Spain and northern Europe. The Fugger family in Augsburg, Germany, with its huge earnings from the intercurrent spice trade with the Venetians, went so far as to endanger the Italian banking monopoly. The Medici and Salutati in Florence, who managed the products of the textile industry and the cash market, were major spice merchants.
It can be said that apart from the “agliate” made with bulbs imported from Spain and the gardens of the Sahara Maures, all sauces, from “peperata,” to “cominata,” including “garofolata,” were based on colonial drugs. Of these certainly the most famous was camelina or cinnamon, composed of cinnamon, cloves(°), gengevaro (ginger), raisins.
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In France
In France, a guild was formed under Charles IV, the guild of sauce makers (saulciers), which in 1514 gave birth to the “vinaigriers-moustardiers,” ie, the vinegar moustardiers, an acidic liquid that had long fascinated alchemists and tricksters. Later under Louis XII they were subdivided into distillers of aqua vitae or wine spirit and credentiers. These were also the years when sauces, especially mustards, were sold on street corners in the major cities of Central Europe. Although mustard is an all-too-Roman preparation-as, by the way, a famous physician Hermannus Boerhaave (1668-1738) (°°) claimed-it is the cities of Dijon and Angers that made this sauce as we still know them today
A classic of medieval tables across half of Europe.
Camelina sauce was never missing from banquets to be paired with boiled meats, roasted game, and even fish (especially during religious fasts).
Some argue that the name “camelina” may be related to the presence of cinnamon or even the “color of camel hair.”
In its French version, the dominant spice was ginger; in English and Nordic sauces, both cloves and nutmeg were used, as cooking treatises tell us since the 14th century.
Camelina was one of the most common sauces used in the Middle Ages. It was so common that it could be bought ready-made from vendors in late 14th-century Paris. When the Ménagier instructed his new wife on groceries, he wrote, “From the charcuterie seller, three half pints of camelina for dinner and supper and a quart of sorrel juice.”
Ingredients:
70g. peeled almonds
40g. of raises
40g. of stale bread crumbs
30 cl. agresto or 20 cl. apple cider vinegar diluted in 10 cl. water
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/4 teaspoon clove powder (maximum amount – for a less strong taste reduce the amount)
salt
Preparation:
Wash and then soak the raisins in warm water for 1 hour. Finely chop the almonds, then dissolve them in a little water.
Blend the raisins together with the spices and breadcrumbs soaked in a little water.
Add the almond milk with the raisins and add the Agresto. Mix well, salt lightly and if necessary, adjust the seasoning.
The consistency should be fluid and the color bright blond.
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