flipPoultry pie with raisins and sweet spices
Poultry pie with raisins and sweet spices
Why this dish? In Rome, Du Bellay serves as secretary to his cousin Cardinal Jean du Bellay, whose palace hosts the elite. The great tables there display richly spiced pies, a mark of prestige and wealth. This sweet-sour pie, where sugar meets meat and cinnamon, embodies the splendor of this Roman life that the poet, weary of intrigues, would eventually come to scorn.
Pie in a crust filled with minced poultry, bound with eggs, flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and sugar, enhanced with raisins. The sweet-savory-spiced marriage typical of humanist tables, at the border of France and Italy.
Now then, gentle reader, here is what it takes to adorn a cardinal's table! Finely mince the meat of a good capon, mix it with beaten eggs, Corinth raisins, a good soul of cinnamon and sugar, and enclose it all in a beautiful golden pastry. Bake until it takes on an amber color. I have eaten many a time under the Roman gold; and yet, I confess, my heart always preferred the simple table of my ancestors.
- •Capon or hen meat — a good portion (main filling)
- •Eggs — a few (binding)
- •Corinth raisins — a handful (sweet note)
- •Sugar — to taste (sweetness (luxury))
- •Cinnamon and ginger — good pinch (sweet spices)
- •Pastry of fine flour and butter — enough to line and cover (crust)
Poultry pie with raisins and sweet spices
Pie in a crust filled with minced poultry, bound with eggs, flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and sugar, enhanced with raisins. The sweet-savory-spiced marriage typical of humanist tables, at the border of France and Italy.
Why this dish? In Rome, Du Bellay serves as secretary to his cousin Cardinal Jean du Bellay, whose palace hosts the elite. The great tables there display richly spiced pies, a mark of prestige and wealth. This sweet-sour pie, where sugar meets meat and cinnamon, embodies the splendor of this Roman life that the poet, weary of intrigues, would eventually come to scorn.
Now then, gentle reader, here is what it takes to adorn a cardinal's table! Finely mince the meat of a good capon, mix it with beaten eggs, Corinth raisins, a good soul of cinnamon and sugar, and enclose it all in a beautiful golden pastry. Bake until it takes on an amber color. I have eaten many a time under the Roman gold; and yet, I confess, my heart always preferred the simple table of my ancestors.
Ingredients (period version)
- Capon or hen meat — a good portion (main filling)
- Eggs — a few (binding)
- Corinth raisins — a handful (sweet note)
- Sugar — to taste (sweetness (luxury))
- Cinnamon and ginger — good pinch (sweet spices)
- Pastry of fine flour and butter — enough to line and cover (crust)
Ingredients
- Chicken or capon breasts and thighs — 500 g (filling)
- Eggs — 3 (binding)
- Raisins (Corinth) — 60 g (sweet note)
- Sugar — 2 tbsp (sweetness)
- Cinnamon — 1 tsp (spice)
- Ground ginger — 1/2 tsp (spice)
- Shortcrust pastry — 2 sheets (crust)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Cook the poultry (poached or roasted), then finely mince it.
- Mix the meat with beaten eggs, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, rehydrated raisins, and salt.
- Line a mold with one pastry sheet, fill, cover with the second sheet, seal the edges, brush with egg, and score the top.
- Bake at 190°C for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.
How it was made : Sweet-spiced meat pies dominated festive services in the 16th century, heirs to medieval banquets. Sugar, imported and costly, signaled the host's wealth; it was used unhesitatingly in savory dishes, as the modern 'dessert' did not yet exist.
The contemporary twist : Decorate the crust with a goose feather cut-out — homage to the poet's instrument — and dust with a veil of icing sugar mixed with cinnamon upon leaving the oven.
Sources : Bartolomeo Sacchi called Platine, De honesta voluptate et valetudine (1474) · Le Viandier (Taillevent), spiced pies and pastries
Joachim du Bellay · Charactorium
