On Right Pleasure and Good Health, Platina. Translated by Mary Ella Milham
Book VI
11. A fry from whatever meat you want. You will make a fry from fowl and whatever meat you want in this way: put meat and birds into a pot on the fire with lard after they have been well gutted and washed and cut up, either in small pieces or quartered, and stir frequently with a spoon so they do not stick to the sides of the pot. When the cooking is nearly finished, take out the greater part of the lard and pour into the pot two egg yolks, beaten with verjuice and mixed with juice and spices. It is necessary for it to boil only until properly cooked. Some add saffron to this dish so it becomes more colored. It will not be alien to pleasure to sprinkle finely chopped parsley o the dish and serve immediately to your guests.
25. Kid in garlic. On a spit over a fire turn a whole kid, or a quarter, with bits of lard and cloves of clean garlic stuck all around it. Moisten frequently, with sprigs of bay or rosemary, with the seasoning which I shall now describe. With verjuice and rich sauce, mix two well beaten egg yolks, two well-pounded cloves of garlic, a bit of saffron, and a little pepper and put in a pan. Then, as I have said, sprinkle it on what is cooking, and when it is cooked, put in a dish and pour in part of the sauce, then sprinkle with finely cut parsley.
28. Pork Cuts. Cut in pieces salt meat layered with lard. When it is cut up, fry in a frying pan, but not too much. Once fried, sprinkle it with vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, and finely-cut parsley. The same can even be done for ham and sowbelly, but these like to be covered with lemon or orange juice.
41. Blancmange Blancmange [cibarium album], which is more properly called leucophagum, you make in this way for twelve guests. Pound well in a mortar two pounds of almonds, soaked overnight in water and skinned; do this by sprinkling with a bit of water so they do not produce oil. Then grind in the same mortar the boned breast of capon, and add bread crust after it has been softened with verjuice or think juice. Besides, add an ounce of ginger and a half-pound of sugar. Mix this all together and when it has been mixed, pass it through a meal sifter into a clean pot. Then let it boil on coals on a slow fire and stir often so it will not stick to the pot. When it has cooked, put in three ounces of rose water, and pit it on the table either in the dishes where the meat is or separately, but in smaller dishes. If you decide to pour it over the capons so it may seem more elegant, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds on top. But if you really want this divided into a double dish, color part with an egg yolk and saffron mixed together with a bit of verjuice, which I call broom from its color. Serve the remaining part, as it is white, as I have said, to your guests.
44. Saffron sauce. Break together into a bowl thirty egg yolks, verjuice, broth of veal or capon, a little saffron and a bit of cinnamon. Mix. When they are mixed, transfer them into a pot through a strainer. Take care in this, that they cook down on coals, away from flame so they do not absorb smoke and mix constantly with a spoon until it begins to become thick, for then, when it is taken from the hearth, it is easily served to ten guests. This sauce ought to be sprinkled with spices while it is in the serving dishes.
Book VII
26. Groats in broth We have spoken enough about individual ingredients; no finally the cooks summon me to food preparations. Cook clean, washed groats in chicken broth for a long time, and when it is cooked, transfer part to a dish. When it has cooked a little, put in three egg yolks combined with saffron, and again transfer to the pot and sprinkle with spices.
31. Bean porridge from split broad beans. Put split beans, well cleaned and washed, at the hearth. When they begin to boil, press out the first water, put in fresh water, and let it come up a distance of two fingers, adding as much salt as is required. It is necessary that it boil, covered, far from flame on account of smoke, until it is cooked and reduced to a porridge. Then it out to be stirred in a mortar and mixed for a long time until a single mass forms. It should be put back in the pot and heated. When you want to transfer it to serving dishes, season in this way. Cook finely chopped onion in a pot boiling with oil, and put in a bit of sage and either figs or apples cut in bits. When these are really boiling, they ought to be put in bean dishes. Some sprinkle spices on top.
32 Broad beans in the frying pan In a frying pan well greased with fat or oil, fry broad beans which are cooked and softened with onions, figs, sage and several other garden herbs, and put on a plank or a disc spread in the form of a cake, and cover with spices.
25 Dish made from intestines Put the intestines, the receptacles of all excrement, well washed and clean, on the hearth in a pan, but then ad a bone of pork so that they will be tastier. Beware of adding salt. When they have been cooked and taken out, cut them in pieces which are not large. Add some mint, sage, and as much salt as necessary, and make it boil a little again with this addition. When they are cooked and put in serving dishes, sprinkle with spices. Some put ground cheese on top.
36. Dish made from the intestines of trout Put in well washed and semicooked intestines of trout, a little pepper, parsley, and sage, finely cut. When you arrange the serving dishes, sprinkle spices on them.
39. Dish made from rosy apple Cook rosy apples, which are so called from their color, I think, with meat stock. When they have been nearly cooked, put a little parsley and chopped mint in the same pot. The juice can easily be thickened with bread crumbs, as we said for trout. When it has been put in dishes, sprinkle spices on it.
40. On fine wheat flour. Put white flour in rich broth, and as it boils, keep it stirred continually with a spoon or paddle. It is necessary that it boil a half-hour on coals, far from flame, so that it does not absorb smoke. When it is placed on serving dishes, sprinkle with ground cheese and spices. In time of fast, it can be made with sugar, almond juice, and rose water.
Dish from quince …When it is cooked and put on serving dishes, sprinkle with spices and sugar…
48. Stuffed broad beans Leave broad beans in water until they are well moistened, then cut each so neatly from the region of the black part that what is inside in not damaged. Put almonds ground with rose water and sugar in the empty shells. Roast near the fire in a little pot or pan without water, always being careful they do not burn. When they are roasted and put in little serving dishes, cover them with the best broth, on which you will sprinkle both parsley and spices. Some add onions as well.
49. Hemp Dish …When it is cooked and apportioned on serving dishes, sprinkle with rather sweet spices…
50. Meat balls …When they are transferred to serving dishes, sprinkle with ground cheese and rather sweet spices…
51 Sicilian macaroni Beat well-sifted white flour with egg white and rose water and plain water. When it is mixed, draw out into think strips of dough in the manner of straw half a foot long. Hollow them out with a very thin iron rod. When you draw out the iron, you will leave them hollow. When it is dried in the sun, pasta of this sort will last two or three years, especially if it was under the waning moon of August. If it is cooked in rich broth and poured into serving dishes, it should be sprinkled with fresh, new butter and sweet spices. This dish requires two hours' cooking.
53. Herb soup Put leaves of vine and borage in a pot with water while it is boiling, then immediately remove them. When they have been removed, chop them on a board with a knife with parsley and raw mint. When they are cut up and pounded in a mortar, put them in a pot with rich broth and boil a little. When they are cooked, sprinkle with pepper.
Dish from capon skin …When it is put in a dish, sprinkle with spices and ground cheese…
58. Bread soup …When it has been put in ten serving dishes, for it is enough for that number of guests, it out to be sprinkled with ground cheese and spices.
59. Gourd soup …When it has been put in small serving dishes, sprinkle with spices.
70. Saffron dish For twelve guests, grind a pound of unpeeled almonds. Add breast of boiled capon or whatever good fowl you with, four egg yolks, a half a pound of sugar, a little cinnamon and ginger, and more saffron, all ground, and soak in rich broth and verjuice. When it is soaked, strain through a sieve into a pot, and make boil far from flame on coals, always stirring with a spoon. It is necessary that it boil about an hour. Some put two ounces of fat or fresh butter into what has to boil. Sprinkle spices on the serving dishes.
71. For elder flower …When it is cooked, serve to your guests with spices…
72. For white omelet …When it begins to thicken, serve to your guests in serving dishes. Remember to sprinkle it with sweet spices…
73 Catalan blanchmange …When these are cooked, add rose water, and place at once in serving dishes, sprinkling with sweet spices…
Book VIII
26 White Pie. Pound well a pound-and-a-half of the best fresh cheese, cut up especially fine. When it is pounded, mix in twelve to fifteen egg whites,a half pound of sugar, a half ounce of white ginger, a half pound of pork fat, the same of fresh butter, and as much milk as will be enough. When you have spread a thin pastry crust in an earthenware pot, put in all these things. When it has been placed on the hearth, cook on a slow fire. Pout coals on top of the lid so that it will become more colored. When it is cooked and taken from the pot, sprinkle ground sugar with rose water on it.
28. Herb pie for may Cut up and pound as much cheese as I suggested for the first and second pies. To this, when it is pounded, add juice of chard, a little marjoram, a little more sage, a bit of mint, and more parsley. When all this has been pounded in a mortar, add fifteen or sixteen beaten egg whites and half a pound of fat or fresh butter. Some also put in some leaves of parsley and marjoram, cut but not pounded a half pound of white ginger and eight ounces of sugar. When all these are mixed together and put in a pot or well-greased pan, make them boil on coals far from flame so they do not absorb smoke, mixing constantly until they become thick. When they are almost cooked, transfer to another pot with an undercrust and cover with an earthen pot lid until everything is cooked on a gentle fire. When they are cooked and transferred to a dish, cover with the best sugar and rose water.
29 Gourd pie Grind well-washed gourds as you are accustomed to do for cheese, then boil a little either in rich juice or in milk. When they have been half cooked and passed through a sieve into a bowl, mix, adding as much cheese as I described before, half a pound of sowbelly or very fat udder, boiled and pounded with a knife, or, in place of these, if it please your, add the same amount of butter or fat, half a pound of sugar, a little ginger, some cinnamon, six eggs, a cup of milk, and a little saffron. Cook this in an oiled earthenware pot with an undercrust, under or over a slow fire. Some add pieces of pastry leaves which they call crepes in place of an upper crust. When it is cooked and transferred into a dish, sprinkle with sugar and rose water.
33. Pie from vine tendrils Those are really called tendrils which lash and bind young vine sprouts to trees or stakes. When these are collected in bundles and semicooked, cut them up finely. The same thing can easily be done with read roses. When the vine tendrils have been cut up, add and mix well-ground fresh cheese, pounded udder, boiled beforehand, or, in place of this, if it will please you more, fat or butter, a bit of ginger, a little more cinnamon, and as much sugar as will be enough. Put this mixture on the hearth in a pan, with an undercrust and well oiled. When it is almost cooked, pierce the upper crust in many places. When it has finally cooked, sprinkle it with a lot of sugar and rose water.
35. Pie from meal Spread groats which have been well cooked in rich juice on a board so that they will dry. After the moisture has been removed, put them in a bowl, and with them a pound of fresh cheese and half a pound of aged cheese, well ground. Put in sowbelly or calf's udder, well cooked and pounded with a small knife, as much spices and sugar as will be enough, fifteen beaten eggs with a bit of saffron, and mix until it forms a single mass. Then when it has been transferred into a well-oiled pan and covered with only a top crust, cook in the same way as those above. When it has cooked, sprinkle it with sugar and rose water.
40. Sour cherry pie Pound in a mortar pitted sour cherries which can be called merendae. When they are pounded, mix into them well cut-up red roses, a little fresh cheese, and ground aged cheese, a bit of pepper, a little ginger, a little more sugar, and four beaten eggs. When they are mixed, cook in a well-greased pan with a lower crust on a slow fire. When they are taken off the fire, pour sugar and rose water over them.
41. Crayfish pie in lent Pound in a mortar what is good from boiled crayfish. Then prepare almond juice passed through a sieve with rose water, or, if you cannot do that, save the juice of peas or white part of chickpeas. Grind up raisins and five figs. Cut up finely a bit of parsley, marjoram and a little uncooked chard. Add as much cinnamon, ginger, and sugar as will be enough. When these are mixed and well pounded, along with the eggs of pike, the better to be cooked hard, place them on the hearth far from the flame in an earthenware pot, which is well oiled and with a crust below and above. When it has cooked, pour sugar and rose water on it.
43. Date pie Soak well-pounded almonds with fish juice and rose water. When they are soaked, pass through a sieve into a bowl. Grind in the same mortar a half pound of pitted dates, a few raisins, four or five figs, as well as three ounces of well-cooked rice. Then cut up with a small knife a little parsley, orach, and marjoram, torn by hand and fried in oil. It will not be out of the way if you cut up livers or fish fat with these. Besides, grind together, or separately, an ounce of Corinthian raisins, a half pound of sugar, a little cinnamon, a little more ginger, and a bit of saffron, and mix into the above. So that it may really thicken more, put in either a half ounce of starch or pike eggs, and spread out in a well-oiled earthenware pot with a lower crust with well-washed pine nuts stuck everywhere in it. If it will really please you, spread crepes instead of an upper crust. This mixture ought to be cooked in a slow fire. Also, it is necessary for it to be thin. When it is cooked, it should be covered with sugar and rose water.
44. White pie soak a well-crushed pound of almonds with rose water and juice of almost -cooked rice, and pass through a sieve into a mortar. Then grind eight ounces of well-cooked rice with these almonds, adding three ounces of white yeast, a little starch, half a pound of pike eggs, as has been said above, an ounce of sugar, and a few pine nuts, pounded in a mortar. When these are all mixed, spread in a well-oiled pan with an undercrust and put on the hearth. When it is half cooked, spread crepes on top. On the cooked mixture, sprinkle rose water with sugar.
47. Pie in broth Knead your curst in the same way you are accustomed to do for rolls. When it is kneaded and groats put in so it can stand up all around, dry in an earthenware pot near the fire. Then take away the groats or upper crust, and put in boiled chickens or chicks, divided in pieces, with almond juice, two egg whites, a bit of saffron, ginger, and cinnamon, verjuice, and rich broth. When it is cooked, remove form the oven and cover with sugar and rose water…
47. Pie in broth Knead your curst in the same way you are accustomed to do for rolls. When it is kneaded and groats put in so it can stand up all around, dry in an earthenware pot near the fire. Then take away the groats or upper crust, and put in boiled chickens or chicks, divided in pieces, with almond juice, two egg whites, a bit of saffron, ginger, and cinnamon, verjuice, and rich broth. When it is cooked, remove form the oven and cover with sugar and rose water…
61. Another Place pieces of bred, well-toasted on both sides, in a pot in layers, and spread pieces of cheese as if on a board. When it I splaced on the hearth, cover it with an earthenware lid. Sprinkle the melted cheese with sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, and eat at once if you want something bad, for it is difficult to digest, nourishes badly, and generates blockages and stone.
63. Golden Balls Toast chunks of bread crust a little on both sides. When they are toasted, soften with rose water in which there are both beaten eggs and ground sugar. When they are taken out, fry in a pan with butter or fat, far apart so they do not touch each other. When they are fried and transferred into a serving dish, sprinkle with sugar and rose water colored with saffron.
Book VIV

26. Boiled eggs Put fresh eggs with the shell removed into boiling water. Take them out as soon as they are hard. They ought to be tender, and you will cover them with sugar, rose water, sweet spices, and verjuice or orange juice. Some sprinkle them with ground cheese, which is not pleasing to me…
Book X
4. On eels …When an eel is captured, skinned and gutted, cut it up in large enough pieces and cook well on a spit near the hearth, with leaves of bay or sage placed between the pieces, always moistening the meat with the brine they call salimoa. When it is nearly cooked, add some meal or ground bread, sprinkling with cinnamon and salt, encrusting it all around. If you want it boiled, cook thoroughly with parsley, sage, and a few bay leaves and cover with verjuice and pepper. When it is salted, cut it up in pieces. After it has been soaked in water for four or five hours, put it in a pot near the hearth. When it is half-cooked, put in in fresh water and let it boil until it is entirely cooked. When it is cooked, cover with cut-up parsley and vinegar.
On moray eel …Boned moray eel is cooked in the way of our ancestors, like eel, with skin, head, and tail removed. When it is baked, cover with green relish.
The sole … When it is fried, cover it with parsley, cut up fine, and verjuice or orange juice.
30. The bonito …It is cooked and seasoned like sturgeon. If it is rather small, let it be fried and sprinkled with parsley and orange juice.
9. Hake …When it is cooked, eat it with white mustard seed.
41. The trout …When trout has been cut in pieces, put in a salted pane in a moderate amount of water and vinegar so that it is turned upside down on its incision. It ought to be cooked so that the salt is not washed away and no more than two fingers of water show. When you have skimmed it, let it simmer on as slow a fire as can be made. After it has been cooked and spread on a board so that it dries somewhat, sprinkle with sweet spices and eat with blancmange well seasoned with ginger…