Pellegrino Artusi had a vast collection of recipes: homemade, regional, foreign, traditional. Some of them were prepared by his talented cook Marietta, others he discovered at social events or while travelling. Addressed to people with a love for both tradition and novelty, his Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891) would often place these recipes in their historical context. Others were introduced with anecdotal stories, discussing people and places whose name was somehow relevant. A number of recipes had been supplied by ordinary people and English tea cookies belonged to this category: the ingredients and method were given to Pellegrino Artusi by Mistress Wood, an English lady of his acquaintance who had invited him to tea. From
what he implied elsewhere, there were also cases of people who kept their recipes for secret but even then he managed to re-create the dish based on his knowledge of culinary art.
Biscuits, tea cookies & digestives
Originally mixtures of simply water and flour, hard-baked and stored to feed the army or navy, biscuits (derived from bis-coctum) appeared early in history. Hardtack was dunked in liquid: brine for sailors, gruel for others, and wine for elegant people. Biscuits were also enjoyed with milk, coffee, and tea. Tea cookies were made with plain flour while digestives were saved for the ailing because until the nineteenth century, wholemeal rhymed with poverty and later on with sickness. For that, low-carb diets were avoided: Pellegrino Artusi himself encouraged his readers to enjoy a dish of pasta without guilt. In his opinion, which is confirmed throughout his book, good health results from moderation -not abstinence.
Tips for healthy eating and living
In fact, he was against picky eaters. He advised mothers to get their children used to unfavorable weather and keep their houses clean and fresh and people of every age to "have fun, amuse themselves, take frequent walks in the open air, as much as their strengh will allow, travel, and in good company, if they can afford it, and they will feel better." (Meanwhile he recognized that less affluent people were consoled that active frugal lifestyles would guarantee a sound body.) Both his sweet and savory recipes used butter, lard or even cracklings, but the percentage of both fat and sugar was low in comparison to other ingredients. The English tea cookies he shared under 'pastries, cakes, and sweets' were made up of 4 parts flour, 1 part butter, and 1 part sugar. Biscotti della salute, the 'health cookies' he ate for breakfast, had a similar consistency.
A recipe for English-style cookies
The following extract is from the 2003 edition of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well by Toronto University, with an English translation by Murtha Baca and Stephen Sartarelli that was first published by Marsilio Publishers in 1997.
"634. PASTINE PER TE (TEA COOKIES). Mistress Wood, an amiable English lady, offered me tea with cookies she had made with her own hands, and had the courtesy, rarely found in pretentious chefs, of giving me the recipe for them. I shall now describe it for you, having first tasted it personally. 440grams (about 15-1/2 ounces) of Hungarian or extra fine flour, 160 grams (about 5- 2/3 ounces) of potato flour, 160 grams (about 5- 2/3 ounces) of confectioner's sugar, 160 grams (about 5- 2/3 ounces) of butter, 2 egg whites, lukewarm milk, as needed. Mix the two types of flour and the sugar, and place the mixture in a mound on the pastry board. Make a hole in the middle of the mound, and drop in the egg whites and butter (in small pats). Then first with a knife blade and later with your hands, blend the ingredients until you have a rather soft dough. Roll out the dough with the rolling pin in a sheet as thick as a large coin. Cut into disks..., poke little holes in them with a fork, and bake in a baking pan greased in butter in the oven or a Dutch oven. Even half this recipe will yield a good number of cookies."
TEA COOKIES
This is a Mediterranean version of the recipe Mrs. Wood kindly shared with Pellegrino Artusi: butter is replaced with 3/4 olive oil and milk with orange juice.
I n g r e d i e n t s
450g all-purpose flour
150g cornstarch
150g powdered sugar
1tsp baking soda (optional)
115ml olive oil
75ml orange juice
2 egg whites
M e t h o d
1. Preheat the oven at 200C. 2. Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl. 3. Whisk the olive oil, orange juice and egg whites in another. 4. Combine the mixtures, lightly kneading with your fingers. 5. Roll out the dough thin, about 0.5cm. 6. Cut out round/oblong shapes, arrange on baking sheets, prick with a fork, and bake for up to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, and setting the fan towards the end. 7. Leave to cool in the baking sheets, then place on wire racks. Store in a biscuit tin when cold.
V a r i a t i o n
Make digestive biscuits, replacing cornstarch with graham flour. Baking soda will help the dough rise evenly and 1-2tsp of mixed spices (I used vanilla and cinnamon) will give your cookies a better taste and flavor.
Comments