Aubergines in aubergine sauce, a medieval recipe

This recipe for aubergines (eggplants) with aubergine sauce was chosen because of the possible connection with an Arab recipe with aubergines. It is from an Italian cookbook from the end of the fifteenth century that has been published by Terence Scully as The Neapolitan recipe collection. ‘Cuoco Napoletano’ (see bibliography). The Southern part of Italy has been influenced by Islamic culture: until the Normans conquered it in the eleventh century, Sicily was an Emirate. More about the cookbook can be read on the page with a recipe for Zabaglione.

The picture shows ripe fruit of the Malongiana (aubergines or eggplants) in a Tacuinum Sanitatis (more about that can be read here). According to this originally Arabic health table aubergines are warm in the fourth degree and moist in the third degree. Maybe that explains why the man is groping the wrong ‘aubergines’.

The original recipe

From the edition by T. Scully of the Cuoco Napoletano (see bibliography), recipe nr 33.

Piglia li marignani he falli bene netare he bene mondare sutilmente; poi pone a focho uno pocho de aqua he falli dare uno bullore; che siano tagliati in quarti he pone in quella aqua uno pocho de sale, he non li lassare bullire piu che doi Pater Noster; poi cavali fora sopra uno tagliero he falli sugare; poi infarinali he frigeli; et como li harai friti, scola fora quasi tuto lo olio; poi piglia una spica de aglio he pistala bene cum uno quarto de quisti marignani; he poi habi uno poco de rigano de quello se mette sopra le alice, he pistalo cum lo aglio cum uno pocho de pane, pipero, saffrano he sale; poi distempera tute queste cise insieme cum agresto he cum uno poco de aceto; poi getta ogni cosa insiema in la padella a frigere un pochetto; poi meteli in piatti he manda a tavola cum specie fine.

Take eggplants and wash them and peel them well. Then add a little water on the fire and bring to the boil. Cut the eggplants [first] into quarters and add some salt to the water. Do not let them boil for more than two Our Fathers. Take them out on a cutting board and let them drain. Then cover them with flour and fry them. When they are fried, pour almost all the oil out [of the pan]. Take a clove of garlic, grind this with one quart (amount) of the eggplant. Take some oregano, the kind you put on little anchovies. Grind it together with the garlic and some bread, pepper, saffron and salt. Temper all this with verjuice and a little vinegar and put all in the pan to fry a short while. Then dish up and serve it [sprinkled] with fine spices.

Modern adaptation of the recipe

According to the fifteenth-century recipe the aubergines have to be peeled. I have only peeled the aubergine for the sauce.
First course or side dish for 4 to 6 persons; preparation in advance 10 minutes; preparation 10 minutes.

4 small aubergines (eggplants)
2 Tbsp flour
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 slice of white bread without crust
½ tsp saffron threads
pepper, salt to taste
2 Tbsp verjuice or cider vinegar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 to 2 Tbsp water
4 Tbsp olive oil + ½ Tbsp olive oil for the sauce
Optionally
½ tsp together of sugar and cinnamon

Preparation in advance

Peel one aubergine. Cut all aubergines lengthwise in four parts.
Blanch the pieces in salted water for 1 minute. Drain them and pat them dry.
Heat the verjuice and the vinegar and crush the saffron threads in it. Meanwhile, cut the white bread without crust in small pieces, then pour the saffron liquid over it.

Preparation

Sprinkle the aubergine pieces with flour. Bake them in a layer of olive oil until browned, then drain them on kitchen paper. Keep the unpeeled pieces of aubergine hot in the oven while making the sauce, or reheat them just before serving.
Make the sauce – Take the peeled pieces of aubergine and purée these in the blender together with garlic and the bread with saffron-vinegar. Add a little water if the sauce is too thick. Add oregano, pepper and salt. Just before serving, heat a little olive oil in a small pan and put in the sauce. Stir on a low fire until hot.

To serve

At once. Sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon over the dish if so desired.

Ingredients

All descriptions of ingredients

Verjuice

This is the green juice of sour, unripe grapes that was used in the Middle Ages and up to the eighteenth century. You can still buy it, but you may have to look for it. In the Netherlands verjuice was also made from unripe apples and sorrel. You can use applecider vinegar as a substitute.
Make your own Verjuice.

Bibliography

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.

T. Scully, The Neapolitan Recipe Collection: Cuoco Napoletano (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Ms Buhler). University of Michigan Press, 2000.

Aubergines in aubergine sauce, a medieval recipe
An interesting way to serve aubergines from an Italian recipe from the fifteenth century.
© Author Christianne Muusers