How to cook Eggplant so That it is neither too strong nor ill prepared
"Cut them into quarters and peel carefully, like a pear. Then bring to a boil in a little water with salt; and when the water begins to boil, add the eggplant and boil for two Lord's Prayers, then remove and dry. Dredge in flour and fry like fish and when they have been fried, drain off the oil, leaving a little bit in the pan with the eggplant. then take a clove of garlic and crush with a quarter of the eggplant. then take a little of the oregano that is used to top anchovies, crushed with garlic with a bit of white bread, saffron, pepper, and salt, and then thin these things with verjuice; or if the verjuice is too strong, with some water. Then add all these things together in the pan and cook with the eggplant for a little while. Then put on a platter and serve."
The Art of Cooking, composed by Maestro Martino of Como (14th/15th century)
notes
This recipe turned out fairly well despite my guesswork. Since most recipes of, and around, the time period, ask for small to med-small egplants and mine was a fairly large eggplant, I chose to quarter it and then quarter the quarters.
After boiling them (while humming the sound of the prayers while doing dishes) and frying them, I then made the 'sauce' by pounding together two garlic cloves, most of a slice of bread, two thawed ice-cubes worth of verjuice, and healthy sprinkles of the seasonings which turned out to be fairly gloppy but quite nice smelling! In the end, though the eggplant had a slightly crispy skin, inside it was very succulent and tasty enough that I would serve this to at least experienced or curious eaters. admittingly, it is not an overly pleasant dish to gaze upon.
Note: I came very close to overpowering this with garlic, it take very little garlic to overpower the flavours here. However, I really like garlic and would likely use the same amount again!
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