ANONYMOUS SOUTHERNER - Book A

"Wild game stew"

Affare civero de carne salvacina tolli lepore et scortecalo et taglialu in peze et lavalo cum bono vino et suffrigelu con larlo et cum cipolle et tritalo multo bene lu polmone et lu fecato dellu lepore crudo in un mortaro, et cola lo vino in quale fo lavata la carne, et destempera lu pulmone et lu fecato collo dicto vino, et ancora lo cola et mictolo accociere colle dicte carni, et mictice lo pepe, et se tu non poy avere lu fegato, trova una erba che è dicta l'origano, et tollila et tritala colla molica del pane brusciata al foco et bagnata in acito, et destempera et cola sicomo è dicto desopra, et puni ad cociere colle dicte carni.

a hare
wine
lard
onions
pepper
(oregano)
toasted bread crumbs
vinegar

To make a wild game "civiero", get a hare, remove the skin, cut the meat into pieces, wash it with some good wine and brown it in lard and onions. Thoroughly crush the hare's lungs and liver in a mortar, filter the wine used to wash the meat, and dilute the lung and liver mixture with this wine. Now, filter this mixture once again and cook it together with the meat while adding pepper. If liver is not available, look for the herb called oregano, get some of this herb and chop it together with toasted bread crumbs which have been moistened with vinegar. Mix well and filter as I described above, and add this mixture to the meat as it cooks.

HISTORIC NOTES

"Civiero" made with wild game - also called "civero", "civè" or "civet" by the French - was a meat stew similar to the salmi that is still served to this day. It could be eaten by itself or used as a sauce for other meats. For example, it could garnish veal tongue roasted on the spit "when covered with civiero or other flavour" (as recommended by Scappi). Or, it was even better with wild game, according to Martino Rossi in his recipe with the same title as the one presented above, which specifies that when wild game is served "this civiero should be put on top and the wild game then served". A recipe like the one presented above was sure to please any palate and could be found in most any cookbook. In Book A, for example, there are two versions of the recipe. The other version, called "Civiero de lebore" ("boiled hare", even though the meat of this animal is also called for in the recipe reported above), differs not so much in its ingredients (wine, onions, vinegar, toasted bread and spices appear in both recipes) but rather in the triple cooking specified in the second recipe: in this formula, the hare is first boiled, then roasted, and finally cut into pieces and stewed.