- Oh God, no, no, the well!
I hate the well!
Okay.
Okay!
(orchestral music)
Hello, I'm Hannah Hart, and welcome to Edible History!
The show where we reminisce on recipes times dismissed.
Today we'll be unraveling
the history of the ravioli.
When I think of ravioli,
I think of delicate pillows
stuffed with delicious surprises.
But where did these pasta pockets come from?
While most pasta dishes mix and mingle
amongst their toppings,
ravioli keeps its flavors hidden away in mystery.
How did this clandestine pasta get its start?
To fill me in on the history of ravioli,
I'm chatting with culinary historian and author,
Francine Segan.
Can you tell me a little bit about
the history behind ravioli?
- So ravioli, started,
one of the basics is pasta,
and pasta dates back to ancient Etruscan
and ancient Greek times,
where it was served and then sprinkled with cheese
and herbs and layered and baked.
And from that, in the 1300s,
they got the idea to take a little piece of the pasta
and just fold it over the cheese and herbs and fillings.
Back then, it was served to special guests
and would have expensive ingredients in it,
like sugar, choice cuts of meat, and fish.
And they had all sorts of tools that they would use.
This is one that's made out of wood,
kind of like the modern metal one,
which they had too.
You see cookbooks with instructions for your blacksmith
on how to make these ravioli cutters.
- But who was actually making the ravioli?
- Ravioli was made by professional chefs.
Why? Because it was fancy, labor intensive,
and it was intended to be for opulent banquets
and wonderful feasts.
Dishes would come out on serving platters,
but first there would be trumpeting
that would announce everybody to pay attention,
to look at the door where the food was coming out.
- That's kind of funny
when you picture somebody walking out a feast
being like, "Thank you everyone for being here.
"Tonight, ravioli."
So can you tell us a little bit about
the recipe we'll be making today?
- [Francine] The recipe you're making today
dates to 1465 and it was written by
Martino da Como.
He was a chef that worked for
a very famous duke
and one of the Pope's principle advisors.
And since it was a meat ravioli,
it would've been served in a rich meat broth
and then a little bit of parmesan cheese grated on top.
- Oh, that sounds pretty delicious.
- I also love how he says "sweet spices"
without giving you details.
One of the definite spices in that recipe
would have been sugar,
which, back then, was considered a spice.
- Oh, wow.
Any other protips you can share with me
as I go and make this beautiful ravioli?
- Well, as you go down the instructions,
you're gonna notice that it says how long to cook them for.
Back then, in the 1400s, they didn't have a clock
in the kitchen, so you had to tell chefs
something else as a reference,
and this recipe says to cook it as long as it takes to say
two of the Lord's prayer in Latin.
(gasps)
And then, the other thing is
they didn't have a measuring tape or a ruler back then.
There were no standardize what's an inch or a centimeter
and, in this case, it's make the ravioli
just as big as half of a chestnut.
- Wow, okay.
Step one, get a chestnut.
(whimsical music)
So today's recipe comes from the year 1465
and the book, ""Libro de Arte Coquinaria.""
The recipe itself is called Ravioli en Tiempo de Carne,
which means, "Ravioli in meat time."
What's meat time?
Well, we're about to find out.
The first step is to take a half libra of aged cheese
and a little of another fat cheese.
First things first.
(bowl clanking)
Our half libra of parmesan.
It is actually-- (clanging)
(yells)
(jazzy music)
And for our, "another fat cheese,"
we're using ricotta.
Ricotta, I gotta!
Ricotta boom bada?
Ricotta why notta?
(dishes clanging)
You gotta ricotta.
(applause)
Next we take our beef cheek.
That's a big cheek!
And we'll be putting it in boiling water.
Good night, beef cheek!
Next, we'll be combining our
(sings a fanfare)
"nice herbs."
What are nice herbs?
Your guess is as good as ours.
And our guess is very good because we talked to an expert.
(ding)
Our nice herbs are parsley, marjoram, and mint.
So, we're gonna muddle these all together
so they blend together really well.
Parsley.
Marjoram.
What is marjoram?
(lips smacking)
Yeah, it tastes like soap.
And lastly, mint.
For those of you who have amateur gardens at home,
watch out for mint.
They're invasive.
Really, it just will kill all your other herbs.
This is where we start to really put the love in.
There you go, and now it's turned into this
kind of fine paste of taste.
Mostly parsley.
I think that comes through the strongest.
So we take our herbs and we add them to our bowl.
Now it's time to add our first set of spices.
In this case, clove,
(sings a fanfare)
ginger, and pepper.
Our next step is optional,
but listen to this.
"And if you add the chopped breast of a capon,
"so much the better."
What's a capon?
A capon is a castrated male chicken.
What the cluck?
(chicken clucking)
Castrated male chicken.
What is that about?
Yeah, it doesn't really, it's interesting,
it doesn't really smell like a chicken, you know?
It smells different.
It tastes more like turkey than chicken.
Delicious!
Now we take our handfuls of minced capon
and transfer them to our bowl.
And now it is time to do the same thing to our beef cheek.
Oh, it shrunk.
Now mince.
You know, in this mincing process,
I gotta say that our beef cheek
now bears a strong resemblance to a wet cat food
and the smell isn't far off.
Mixed with some capon, these herbs,
some ginger, clove, and pepper,
not to mention two kinds of cheese,
I really don't know how this is gonna add up.
Scoop.
Oh good, it just all kind of
congeals back together.
Now that we've got all our ingredients,
it's time to combine.
And that's it for our filling.
So, time to make the dough.
(whimsical music)
Let's dough this.
So, we're gonna put all of our flour onto the table.
Next, we're going to be making a well.
A well is basically something
that you see pasta makers do quite easily,
but Hannahs have a very difficult time mastering.
(yelps)
Oh God, no, no, no, the well!
Okay.
Okay!
Now incorporate the eggs with the flour
using a fork while somehow not destroying your well.
It's going really well!
(crickets chirping)
Gently.
Oh god.
Okay.
Oh Lord.
We'll be right back.
(whimsical music)
So that didn't go so well,
but we have achieved what we set out to do,
which is begin our dough.
Next, we're gonna kind of knead everything together.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.
For me, strength, incredible masterful wordplay
and multitasking.
Weakness, making pasta wells.
Next, we're gonna start to knead our dough together.
Your dough may require a lot of attention,
but sometimes it's okay to be kneady.
(applause)
Tough stuff.
There we go.
All right!
(sighs)
Voila.
Now that you've got your dough made and smoothed out,
it's time to set it aside in your bowl,
take a tiny towel, and let your dough
have a tiny 30 minute nap.
And now it's time to roll out our ravioli.
(gasps)
Oh, hello, little dough baby!
So cute and smooth.
Now let's slice it.
(dramatic musical sting)
(calm orchestral music)
and now a slice down the center.
Boom!
Yes.
Now we're gonna take our favorite,
you'll be the one to start,
and place all the rest to the side.
Now we're gonna flour our surface,
and then we're gonna start our ravioli roll.
It's okay to put a little flour on your rolling pin, too.
And we roll.
Give it one last little roll
and then set your rolling pin aside.
Now, in this recipe, it doesn't call for exact measurements.
Thank God I got these chestnuts here
so I can know how much half is.
And our little ravioli stamp,
it's about the size of a chestnut!
What an accurate analogy.
(hums in delight)
I love a chestnut.
Oh, sorry, do you want to keep learning about ravioli?
My bad.
Now, I tried to call my blacksmith
to have him custom make me a ravioli cutter
but he was a little busy this weekend
so instead, we're using this one.
For our first batch, we're gonna cut out
15 little ravioli shapes.
One, two...
15!
You might notice that these ravioli are pretty tiny,
especially when you consider we're gonna fold them in half,
but remember, these weren't dishes that were being made
to enjoy for dinner at home,
these were dishes that were made to be enjoyed
as part of a banquet.
Tons of tiny little foods and snacks,
each announced by trumpet.
Imagine if we did that today
every time we left the kitchen.
(hums a fanfare)
I have pizza bites!
Actually, I'm going to start doing that
every time I walk out of the kitchen.
(orchestral music)
Now that we have our tiny raviolis cut out,
it's time to get even tinier
by adding a quarter teaspoon of our filling.
Remember how much filling we have?
This is a quarter teaspoon.
Look at that!
That's nothing!
Okay, this one's ready to go.
Let's set it down and keep going.
Looking at how small these are,
I can see why they made them by the hundreds,
but I could also see why I don't want to.
Now it's time to fold and pinch our ravioli.
We're gonna take our egg wash,
do a little teeny tiny baby dollop,
pick up our teeny tiny ravioli,
and pinch it closed.
And voila!
A single, itty bitty, tiny ravioli.
My hands are small, people.
I think this is about the size of half a quarter.
Or dare I say
half a chestnut?
And, fifteen!
(sighs)
Wow.
Now it's time to take these baby ravioli
and boil them in our broth.
I'm just gonna put them in my pocket.
Now it's time to cook our pasta.
We're gonna be boiling our ravioli
in our broth of capon.
So, this is the same broth that we used
to get our capon breast earlier.
(hums thoughtfully)
Rustic.
Next, we're going to be adding our saffron.
(exclaims in awe)
Now, our ravioli.
The recipe doesn't call out
any standard units of measurement for time.
Instead, it says, "Let them boil for the time it takes
"to say two paternosters."
Good thing I have it right here.
(speaking Latin)
We know we're not casting a spell or anything, right?
(sped up speech)
Round two.
(sped up speech)
Oh my God!
Our ravioli are done!
Look!
They're floating!
I mean, that's just nifty.
We're gonna fish them out
and put them on our little plate.
I can't get over how accurate that was.
This guy really knew his stuff.
Ladle in a little extra broth,
because you don't want to miss out on this,
and last but not least, we add our sweet spices
of cinnamon and sugar
and then top it with some parmesan.
Because nothing says "delicious"
like rooster broth, cinnamon, sugar, and parmesan.
(triumphant orchestral music)
(hums a fanfare)
Ravioli is served!
Now it's time to taste our cinnamony, sugary,
ravioli meat soup.
Bon appetito.
(hums thoughtfully)
(hums in surprise)
Okay, good news.
The ravioli itself, fantastic.
The filling is actually really lovely.
The mint, the minced meat, it goes together great.
This broth, however, is just like
a melted parmesan salt soup,
so I would say maybe go a little easy on the broth.
In short, I think we've learned
that when it comes to making ravioli,
the pastabilities are endless.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of Edible History.
Would you try this ravioli at home?
Let us know in the comments below
and be sure to come back for more episodes
of your new favorite show.
This one!
Bye!
(gentle music)