Scappi's Renaissance Herb Torte

Follow Tasting History here:
Reddit: r/TastingHistory

LINKS TO INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT**

LINKS TO SOURCES**

**Amazon offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links, so each purchase made from this link, whether this product or another, will help to support this channel with no additional cost to you.

MENTIONED LINKS

TORTA D'HERBE COMMUNI
ORIGINAL 1570 RECIPE (From Opera dell’arte del cucinare)
To prepare common herb pie.
Get tender chard greens, spinach tops, mint and marjoram, cut them up small, wash them and let them drain by themselves. Then get two pounds of fresh ricotta, a pound and a half of grated Parmesan cheese, six ounces of a fat cheese, six ounces of fresh butter, half an ounce of pepper, three-quarters of an ounce of cinnamon, a quarter-ounce of cloves, six fresh eggs, beaten, and six ounces of sugar; with all those things make up a filling. Have a tourte pan ready, lined with a sheet of royal dough and with its flaky-pastry twist around it. Put the filling into it and cover it with a rippled sheet of pastry. Bake it in an oven or braise it. Serve it hot. It is optional whether you make it deep or shallow.

MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- Chard
- Spinach
- Mint
- Marjoram
- 1 lb (450g) Ricotta
- ¾ lb (340g) Parmesan
- 3oz (85g) of High Fat Cheese
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) Butter Softened
- 1 Tablespoons Pepper
- 4 ½ Teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 ½ Teaspoons Cloves
- 3 Medium Eggs
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 2 Portions of Flaky Pastry Dough

METHOD
1. Line a large pie tin or cake pan with pastry dough and blind bake it in a 450°F/230°C oven for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F/180°C.
3. Finely Chop all of your herbs/greens.
4. Mix the cheeses in a large bowl until somewhat smooth. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Then add the butter, sugar, and spices and mix until combined. Finally, add in the greens and mix them by hand so as not to bruise the greens.
5. Once the filling is well mixed, pour into the cooled pastry shell and smooth the top. Then top it with the other piece of pastry and press the edges into the bottom dough. Leave some ripples on the top crust to give room for the filling to expand during baking. Brush the top with an egg wash, then set on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour.
6. Once baked remove from the oven and serve warm.

PHOTO CREDITS

#tastinghistory #scappi #herbpie

[TastingHistory]

The description seems to not appear for some people today, so I'm posting the recipe below.


MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- Chard
- Spinach
- Mint
- Marjoram
- 1 lb (450g) Ricotta
- ¾ lb (340g) Parmesan
- 3oz (85g) of High Fat Cheese
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) Butter Softened
- 1 Tablespoons Pepper
- 4 ½ Teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 ½ Teaspoons Cloves
- 3 Medium Eggs
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 2 Portions of Flaky Pastry Dough

METHOD
1. Line a large pie tin or cake pan with pastry dough and blind bake it in a 450°F/230°C oven for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F/180°C.
3. Finely Chop all of your herbs/greens.
4. Mix the cheeses in a large bowl until somewhat smooth. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Then add the butter, sugar, and spices and mix until combined. Finally, add in the greens and mix them by hand so as not to bruise the greens.
5. Once the filling is well mixed, pour into the cooled pastry shell and smooth the top. Then top it with the other piece of pastry and press the edges into the bottom dough. Leave some ripples on the top crust to give room for the filling to expand during baking. Brush the top with an egg wash, then set on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour.
6. Once baked remove from the oven and serve warm.

[TheR]

"why procrastinate on that winter body" truly a word to live by. For it is either winter or winter is coming.

[madeinbusanjkjm]

"Why procrastinate on that winter body."

This is now my new life motto, applicable to all seasons.

[connorgolden]

This herb pie sounds so rich that it’ll probably try and commit tax evasion.

[FormaAlert]

Yo this dude's Italian pronunciation is beautiful, I'm actually going to cry.

[sjenner]

”But your Holiness, a camel can’t be a fish.” “Wrong you heretic! It’s a ship of the desert that carries it’s water within it. It’s an inside out fish. So it’s a fish! Peter has spoken! Now, make me filets of camel-fish!” “Yes your Holiness.”

[sonipitts]

"For this recipe, you will need..."
*Mrs. Crocombe enters the chat*

[TastingHistory]

I'm curious, what eras/cultures being covered on Tasting History are you most enjoying? What should I make more of?

[julian]

“despite the cavalcade of coronary-clogging constituents, ” that’s a hell of an alliteration!

[jessetheunending]

I love how honest he is about how good a dish tastes. On some dishes he's said "nope", some he's fallen in love with, and dishes like this he says "it's weird, it's delicious, but it's weird..."
Thank you for entertaining me with dishes I've never heard of or tried before!

[julievoit]

Max, you’re adorable. I’m an old lady, so I’m saying this in a big-sisterly way. Your show has become my favorite on YouTube. Keep making it, please.

[quantumbandit]

Speaking of eating like a king, have you ever considered making a video about dillegrout? It's a royal dish created for William the Conqueror, who apparently liked it so much that the cook who invented it was given a manor and his descendants were required to prepare it for all future coronations. Might make for an interesting episode.

[Nickelplate]

"Fat Cheese" is my street name.

[DavidFlowers]

Not gonna lie, when the pandemic is over you should totally open up a restaurant which only serves historic dishes, providing extra fun facts about the dishes on the menu

[sharoniponi]

"there is no singing in this book..."

NOT WITH THAT ATTITUDE MAX!

[Carloshache]

We have a surviving descendant to this recipe that survives to this day: the beautiful "Torta Pasqualina" or Easter PIe from Liguria - which is also popular in parts of South America. A recipe you definitely got to try. In Pasqualina the herbs, the cheeses and the eggs are all separate layers which makes a less brown pie, definitely more visiually appealing. The dough used are thin sheets of bread dough stacked on each other. And of course Pasqualina has done away with all excess sugar and spice even though old style seasonings such as lemon peel and nutmeg might show up in some recipes.

[Ignideus]

I just can't get enough of this channel. Fantastic.

[SebastianWitkowski]

SOOO I totally made this and my friends and I were shocked at how complex and yummy it is. I couldn't even feel the greens/parmesan. "Pope pie" is now gonna be a staple in my recipe book. Really great vegetarian dish too. Also, springform pans will make your life a lot easier when it comes to popping this beast out.

[tomunterwegs]

does black smoke or white smoke rise from the oven when it's done or still not?

[generalrubbish]

Man, this whole "Is this a dessert or not?!" dilemma appears to be a very common theme with recipes from this sort of time period. People really went wild with the sugar and cinnamon back then, didn't they?