ANONYMOUS SOUTHERNER - Book A

Limonia



Affare limonia suffrigi li pulli con lardo e con cepe. Tria le amandole che siano mondate et sì le distempera con lardo de carne de porco, et sì le coci colli dicti pulli et con spetie, et se tu non ay amandole, spessa lu dicto brodo con ruscio de ova, et quando serrą presso ora de menestrare, mitice suco de lumuni o de citraculi. chicken breasts lard
onions
almonds
(hard-boiled egg yolks, if desired)
spices
lemon juice
To make limonia, brown the chicken in lard, together with the onions. Chop the (already peeled) almonds, add pork lard, and cook them together with the chicken and the spices. If you haven't got almonds, thicken the resulting broth with egg yolk. When it's serving time, add the juice of lemons or bitter lemons.

HISTORIC NOTES

Recipe collections from medieval and Renaissance Italy contain a number of different recipes for limonia, lumonia, lomonia o limonea.These dishes may be rather plain, or may contain many other ingredients. Recipes for laymuwiya, which appear in Arab texts dating as far back as the XIII century, may also be very simple or quite complex (with the addition of turnips, rice, yoghurt, parsley, aubergines, leeks, carrots, coriander, ginger, mint). However, all such recipes specify chicken meat, almonds and - of course - lemon juice. The sauce, which may be either tart or sweet-and-sour (when sweetened with honey or sugar), was served as an accompaniment to both meat and fish. Among the many possible examples, we note the wedding luncheon for Violante Visconti and Lionetto d'Anversa, the Duke of Clarence, which was held in Milan in 1368. At this feast, "capons & meat in limonia, with fish in limonia" was served as the seventh course.


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