Biancomangiare with almond milk and saffron
A creamy white almond milk pudding bound with rice flour, sweetened and perfumed, sometimes enriched with fine shreds of capon breast. The dish for the sick and delicate palates, a sign of medical as much as culinary refinement.
A creamy white almond milk pudding bound with rice flour, sweetened and perfumed, sometimes enriched with fine shreds of capon breast. The dish for the sick and delicate palates, a sign of medical as much as culinary refinement.
When fever visits my house, or a stomach grows capricious, I have this white food prepared, which physicians hold in high esteem. Almonds are ground to extract their milk, bound with rice flour, sweetened with sugar, and all must remain as white as snow. Gentle on the throat, light on the humor: nothing comforts a weakened body better, believe my experience.
- •Sweet almonds — a good quantity (base (milk))
- •Rice flour — enough to bind (binder)
- •Cane sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- •Rose water — a few drops (perfume)
- •Capon breast (optional) — finely shredded (strength (rich version))
Biancomangiare with almond milk and saffron
A creamy white almond milk pudding bound with rice flour, sweetened and perfumed, sometimes enriched with fine shreds of capon breast. The dish for the sick and delicate palates, a sign of medical as much as culinary refinement.
Why this dish? In a merchant's household with servants and children, the doctor recommended for the feverish and frail stomachs this "white food" reputed to be gentle and strengthening. Francesco, who lived to an advanced age for his time, surely knew its soothing virtues.
When fever visits my house, or a stomach grows capricious, I have this white food prepared, which physicians hold in high esteem. Almonds are ground to extract their milk, bound with rice flour, sweetened with sugar, and all must remain as white as snow. Gentle on the throat, light on the humor: nothing comforts a weakened body better, believe my experience.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sweet almonds — a good quantity (base (milk))
- Rice flour — enough to bind (binder)
- Cane sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- Rose water — a few drops (perfume)
- Capon breast (optional) — finely shredded (strength (rich version))
Ingredients
- Unsweetened almond milk — 50 cl (base)
- Ground almonds — 60 g (body)
- Rice flour — 40 g (binder)
- Sugar — 70 g (sweetness)
- Rose water — 1 tsp (perfume)
- Saffron (optional, for a golden version) — 1 pinch (perfume/color)
Method
- Dissolve the rice flour in a little cold almond milk to avoid lumps.
- Gently heat the remaining almond milk with the ground almonds and sugar.
- Pour in the rice flour mixture and stir constantly over low heat until creamy and thickened (8-10 min).
- Flavor with rose water off the heat; pour into cups.
- Serve warm or chilled, plain and very white — or make a golden version by infusing a pinch of saffron in the milk.
How it was made : Biancomangiare ("white food") is one of the most widespread dishes of medieval and Renaissance Europe, appearing in all major cookbooks. Its whiteness, valued by humoral medicine, made it the ideal dish for the sick and for refined feasts. It existed in sweet versions and in versions with pounded poultry breast.
The contemporary twist : Served as a chilled verrine with a few pomegranate seeds — a well-known Mediterranean fruit of the period — and a leaf of edible gold.
Sources : Maestro Martino, Libro de arte coquinaria (15th c.) · Anonimo Toscano, Libro della cucina (14th c.)
Francesco del Giocondo · Charactorium
