Book of Days Tales

It was on this date in 1633 that Galileo Galilei was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Inquisition for heresy, ostensibly for attempting to argue that the sun stood still and the earth revolved around it. What has become known as the “Galileo Affair” has been cast by historians and the general public as a classic case of a rational scientist who was right being punished by a superstitious and ignorant church that was wrong. As is very common in popular conceptions of history, this is a serious misinterpretation of events. At the outset Galileo’s chief enemies were mostly fellow scientists and not the church, Galileo held a number of scientific beliefs that were wrong, and he did not know the mechanism by which the earth moved. We had to wait for Isaac Newton for that revelation. Indeed, many high church officials supported Galileo, but Galileo went out of his way to alienate the church, and his punishment was not particularly severe given what could have happened to him. In a nutshell I would characterize the affair as a classic case, very common in the era, of a brilliant person being at first favored by patrons who subsequently turned against him for one reason or another. It happened to politicians, artists, musicians, and scientists. The anathema against him was finally lifted in 1992 by pope John Paul II. Martin Luther is still waiting.

My recipe for the day is, aptly, a new discovery for me. It is taken from the classic cookbook by renowned papal chef, Bartolomeo Scappi (c. 1500-1577), Opera dell’ arte del cucinare, published in 1570. It contains over 1,000 recipes along with detailed instructions concerning cooking methods. My eye fell on some recipes for cardoons and artichokes (cardi, & carciofani), simply because I had never heard of cardoons before – always learning. The cardoon is a plant related to the artichoke, but cultivated for its edible leaf stems rather than its flower bulb (as the artichoke is). Good luck finding cardoons in your local supermarket.

Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like large celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised, and have an artichoke-like flavor. They are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers. In the Abruzzi region of Italy, Christmas lunch is traditionally started with a soup of cardoon cooked in chicken broth with little meatballs (lamb or, more rarely, beef), sometimes with the further addition of raw egg (which scrambles in the hot soup) or fried chopped liver and heart. Cardoons are also an ingredient in one of the national dishes of Spain, cocido madrileño, a slow-cooking, one-pot, meat and vegetable dinner simmered in broth.

Here is part of Scappi’s original followed by a loose translation:

Per far minestra di cardi, & carciofani con brodo di carne, & altre materie. Cap CCXIII Secondo Libro

Piglisi il cardo nella sua stagione, liqual comincia in Roma da mezo Settembre, & dura per tutto Marzo, & habbianosi le parti piu tenere, & bianche delle coste, perchioche quelle che saranno rosse, & leggiere non son buone, mondinosi, & faccianosi stare in molle nell’acqua fredda per tre hore almeno, mutando loro l’acqua. Il che si fa per cavar loro l’amaritudine, & perche nello storcere che fanno vengono piu tenere. Il simile facciasi della parta diu tenerea del pedone, & lascinosi cuocere con brodo grasso di carne grassa nel modo che si cuoceno i finocchi nell’antescritto capitolo 207. Et se si vorranno prima perlessar con acqua semplice sarà in arbitrio, & cotti che saranno cuocanosi con esse carni. Ma essendo cotti solo con brodo, & cervellate gialle, se ne potranno coprir capponi, galline, & altri ulcellami, alessati con cascio, zuccaro, pepe, & cannella sopra. Si potrebbeno ancho stufare li detti cardi con diverse carni salate, & ucellami nel modo che si stufano le cipolle nel capitolo 209.

To make a soup of cardoons and artichokes with meat broth and other items. Chapter 213. Second book

Take cardoons in season, which starts in Rome in the middle of September and lasts all the way to March. Take the most tender part, the white of the ribs, because that which is red and soft is not good, peel them and let them soak in cold water for at least three hours changing the water periodically. You do this because it leaches out the bitterness, and because the cardoons unravel and become more tender. You can do the same with the most tender part of the foot [unclear meaning], and let them cook in the broth of fat meat in the way that one cooks fennel described in chapter 207. And if you want to first parboil them in plain water that is your decision, and when they are cooked [ that is, parboiled in water] cook them further with meat. They can be cooked with broth and yellow cervellate [sausage]. If you want to sauce capons, chicken, and other birds boil them then serve them with cheese, sugar, pepper and cinnamon sprinkled on top. One can also stew cardoons with various salted meats and birds in the way that one stews onions in chapter 209.