A Medieval Breakfast - Wine, Carbonata, and Millet Bread

Welcome to our kitchen. Today we prepare a medieval breakfast described in a 13th-century tale, wine, carbonata, and millet bread. We start with the ingredients. For the millet bread, we need millet flour, wheat flour, and sourdough. For the carbonata, we need cured pork jowl, white wine vinegar, cinnamon, brown sugar, and parsley. First, we knead the bread. We used about 250 grams of millet flour, 250 grams of white wheat flour, 2 pinches of salt, sourdough, and warm water. With this amount of flour, we'll end up with 3 bread rolls. We knead until we get a fairly smooth dough, but with millet flour, we'll never get a smooth and elastic dough as if we used just wheat flour. The text doesn't specify the kind of bread, just that it's used by the main character, Testa, to make a sandwich. There are many kinds of bread described in the medieval medical handbooks and pictures in the Taquina Sanitatis, and millet bread is among them. We find it mentioned by ancient Roman authors, for example Pliny and Columella, as well as in the Renaissance sources, for example Mattioli's Commentarii to Dioscorides. All the authors agree that millet bread needs to be eaten still hot. Michele Savonarola, in the 14th century, writes that it's a bread hard to digest and suitable for those who want to lose weight, and adds that it is prepared with just millet or adding white wheat flour to make it more nourishing. The method we follow to prepare the bread is the same described by Galen and Cato, since in the medieval books we find just directions that bread has to be well-leavened and well-salted. We chose sourdough, considered by Pseudo-Mesue in the 13th century the best kind of leavener. If you prefer a different kind of bread, use other flours, for example wheat or barley. You find more information about ancient bread and yeast in the videos linked in the description below. We let the dough rise overnight. We cooked the bread roll in the oven for about half an hour. The tale we mentioned before is part of a 14th-century collection by Franco Sacchetti titled Trecento Novelle. The intention of the author is clearly humorous. Testa, which means head, has the habit to drink wine early in the morning and one day prepares himself a carbonata that will help him drink more. He takes a loaf of bread and a few slices of salted meat and goes in the kitchen to cook it on charcoal. But he is summoned by a deputy for the Pope, and not to lose his breakfast, he makes a sandwich and puts it in a pocket. But once there, a dog, attracted by the smell, began to harass him until Testa, exasperated, tosses him his sandwich. Meanwhile, we prepare the carbonata. We pound in the mortar a bit of cinnamon and brown sugar. The author doesn't specify whether to use white or brown sugar. We chose the latter because its flavor pairs better with the meat. It's important, in this case, to use a very little quantity of spices not to ruin the carbonata. In any case, both brown and white cane sugar were very popular in the Middle Ages, the first considered of worse quality than the second. Then, we mince the parsley. This herb needs to be used sparingly, as well as the spices. For the carbonata recipe, we followed the directions of Maestro Martino, author of the Libro de Arte Coquinaria, a famous 15th-century cookbook. If you prefer, you could just use the information provided by Sacchetti and roast for a short time the meat on charcoal without adding further ingredients. We slice the cured pork jowl, called guanciale in Italian. The author writes that the salted meat needs to have lean and fat parts. You could choose also bacon or pancetta, as well as ham. In the latter case, Maestro Martino recommends lemon or orange juice instead of vinegar. We cook the guanciale briefly in a slightly oiled pan adding just a bit of vinegar. We cooked it for less than one minute on each side. Salted meat, right both Maestro Martino and platina, a humanist lived in the same period, causes thirst, and this is the main reason Testa chooses this plate. Drinking at breakfast clearly is not considered a healthy habit, and the intention of Sacchetti is telling a humorous story. Yet, in the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, written in the 12th century, we find the curious advice to drink wine in the morning as a medicine if the stomach doesn't tolerate it in the evening. We cut open the bread roll and fill it with the guanciale lightly seasoned with a bit of cinnamon, sugar, and parsley. We served it with wine. After all, the character in the tale prepared the carbonata just to drink more wine. The flavor of salted meat cooked with vinegar and seasoned with just a bit of parsley, cinnamon, and sugar has become less salty, and yet it has lost nothing of its appetite and flavor. The seasonings give just a hint of complexity without overpowering the guanciale, and the hot millet bread pairs perfectly with it. Good red wine is strongly recommended. We suggest this dish more as an evening snack than as breakfast, at least for the mandatory wine. If you're interested in ancient foods and flavors, or you're just looking for unusual and delicious recipes, please subscribe our channel.