Did you know that library houses over 4,700 historic menus from the 19th and 20th centuries? And did you know that they are all available for public view should you make the very worthwhile trip to visit us in Parma, Italy?

And in perhaps even more exciting news for our friends on the other side of the Atlantic, many of these menus are available online.

Hidden within the Gastronomic Library section of the Academia Barilla website, you will find a wide array beautifully decorated menus that mark milestones of Italian gastronomic history. There is so much to explore… so let’s get started.

Here is a fun historical fact.
Menus – or printed lists of dishes to be served at a specific occasion – did not appear until around 1810 when formal dining in Europe witnessed a major change. Prior to this date, most formal dinners were presented with traditional French service, which meant that all the dishes were placed down on the banquet table at once.
However, in Russian service dinner guests were served one dish at a time, over the course of the evening. Printed menu cards were presented to the guests, like playbills, giving them a preview of what was to come. These elegant menus of yesteryear are not unlike the prix-fixe menus you might fine in a contemporary fine-dining restaurant or at a gala dinner.

As was custom during the 19th and some of the 20th century, many of the menus are printed in French – the language of European diplomacy. However, with the unification of Italy, the menus printed in Italian began to appear.

The Academia Barilla virtual menu gallery is subdivided into sections, making it easy to navigate. The “A Menu a Month” section contains 12 menus – one for each calendar month – and is a fun introduction to the collection.

A brief description of the event for which the menu was printed is presented next to the digital image of the menu itself. You can click on the image to enlarge the menu, allowing you to read, for example, exactly what Umberto I of Savoy at for lunch on February 27, 1897.

In the “Menus of the Italian Nobility” section, you will find the menus from meals served to many of Italy’s great noble families. Take a trip back in time by scrolling through the menus from the Borromeo, Meli Lupi di Soragna, Negroni, Spinola, Visconti and Litta family lunch and dinner parties. One of the Spinola family documents even contains a seating chart for a 1920 lunch held at the Villa Spinola in Genoa.

And there are even more hidden treasures to be discovered in the “Historic Menus from the House of Savoy” and “Menus of the Italian Government” sections of the gallery. Here you can explore what the Vittorio Emanuele III used to eat for dinner or what the Italian Ministry served visiting diplomats.

You may even be surprised to find a menu including pizza alla Napoletana, served with sparkling wine no less.

Come and join us on a gallery tour!

Spring has sprung here in Italy, and it is no more evident than at the market. The stalls of radicchio and other bitter, winter greens are slowly disappearing, making way for next season’s fashions. What joy can be found in the arrival of tiny, tender fava beans, crisp radishes, spring onions and strong fragrance of fresh garlic.

The change of season has inspired all of us here at Academia Barilla to do a little spring-cleaning. As you may have noticed, we have shed the wintery design of our Italian Food Lover’s Blog and have selected bright, cheerful colors and images to carry us through the next couple of months.

We have also spent sometime dusting off the bookshelves of the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library. We are all happy to have rediscovered a number of seasonal cookbooks and spring time recipes that are certain to bring new life to our tables.

One book that really caught our attention was the The Four Seasons Cookbook written by Charlotte Adams. The book contains a beautiful collection of recipes from New York City’s legendary The Four Seasons restaurant. The restaurant opened its doors with much acclaim exactly 50 years ago. Since then Julian Niccolini and Alex Von Bidder, the restaurant’s owners, have continuously served fashionable Manhattanites some of the city’s best seasonal cuisine – often inspired by Italian dishes.

As Charlotte points out in her book, “for the city dweller, the first glimpse of spring may well be the arrival of tightly pointed, perfectly matched bunches of green or white asparagus in the markets.” We couldn’t agree more.

To celebrate the new season, we present Charlotte’s directions for preparing the perfect asparagus – all taken from the chefs at The Four Seasons.

Asparagus
4 POUNDS ASPARAGUS
BOILING, SALTED WATER TO COVER
Serves 6.

Cut the woody ends off the asparagus and, with a vegetable peeler, peel off the skin from the bottom of the stalks up to the tender heads. Wash. Tie into bundles with white kitchen string. Cook bundles in a large pot full of boiling, salted water for 10-15 minutes, or until done to your taste. The spears should be tender, but still crisp. Run cold water over the asparagus. (This is called “refreshing” and is done to stop the cooking and set the color.) Drain well.

Serve with the sauce you prefer: clarified butter, lemon butter, Sauce Mornay, Parmesan or Polonaise

Asparagus Mornay
4 POUNDS ASPARAGUS,
COOKED AS ABOVE/
1 CUP SAUCE MORNAY (SEE SAUCES)
6 TABLESPOONS GRATED SWISS CHEESE
Arrange the asparagus on a buttered flame-proof dish. Pour the sauce Mornay over the tips. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and run under the broiler to brown lightly.

Asparagus Parmesan
4 POUNDS ASPARAGUS,
COOKED AS ABOVE/
14 CUP GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE
2 CUP CLARIFIED BUTTER (SEE SAUCES)
Arrange asparagus on a buttered, flame-proof dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the tips. Pour butter over. Run under the broiler to brown.

Asparagus Polonaise
4 POUNDS ASPARAGUS,
COOKED AS ABOVE/
1/2 CUP CLARIFIED BUTTER
(SEE SAUCES)/
3 TABLESPOONS FRESHLY GRATED
BREAD CRUMBS/
3 TABLESPOONS GRATED
HARD-COOKED EGG YOLK/
3 TABLESPOONS GRATED
HARD-COOKED EGG WHITE/ 3 TABLESPOONS MINCED PARSLEY
Arrange asparagus on a buttered flame-proof dish. Heat butter in a skillet. Mix remaining ingredients and add to butter. Saute for a few minutes. Sprinkle over the tips of the asparagus. Run under the broiler for a few minutes, being careful not to burn.

(Source: Adams, Charlotte. The Four Seasons Cookbook. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.)

After scouring the shelves of the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in search of information about famous historical figures with a love for Italian food and culture, we have put together a list of stories and recipes guaranteed to whet your appetite.

From Cato the Censor, a Roman statesman and gifted orator, to the lovable Italian comedic actor Totò, our findings span over two millennia of history.

Did you know that Giuseppe Verdi often gave a cooked pork shoulder, or spalla cotta, to his friends as a gift? Or that Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II had a soft spot for candied violets?

Take, for example, the case of Napoleon Bonaparte. As it turns out, this fierce French emperor, ate exactly the same thing, chicken Marengo, after every military victory. This dish was served to him on the battlefield after he defeated the Austrians at Marengo in 1800. Napoleon’s chef assembled the dish using ingredients he took from nearby families and farmers, including chicken, eggs, shrimp and tomatoes. Napoleon liked the dish so much that he demanded that his chef prepare chicken Marengo after every winning battle for then on out.

Are you familiar with the life and career of Enrico Caruso? Caruso – possibly the greatest tenor of all times – born in Naples, but traveled the world performing in all the top opera houses. However, when Caruso returned to Naples to perform at the legendary San Carlo theater, he received harsh criticism for his performance from his fellow Neapolitans.

With a scared ego, Caruso vowed never to return to Naples, except for a plate of bucatini with tomato sauce! For instructions on how to prepare Caruso-style pasta, visit the Academia Barilla website.

To discover more fascinating stories, and recipes, from famous people throughout history, join us “At the table with…”

The Economist tells how “a pasta-maker gets a taste for books“, describing the Gastronomic Library’s collection of over 8,500 cookery books in more than ten languages, and nearly 5,000 menus and scores of old prints showing food in various phases of preparation.

The Economist’s journalist quotes BIGAB’s Director Giancarlo Gonizzi and the Dewey decimal system he adopted to classify the collection, besides the cultural activities scheduled at BIGAB with students (from Parma’s university, but also US visiting students) and with Parma’s city authorities. The article mentions that the library has begun digitizing its contents and plans to make them available online.

Digitalizing the entire Gastronomic Library is a long process, but currently in progress; we will definitely keep you updated on BIGAB’s online availability.

In the meanwhile, you can start enjoying the first fruits of this hard work at the new Academia Barilla website, that features an entire section dedicated to BIGAB, and started publishing online the first series of traditional Italian regional recipes, as well as fun food facts such as those about Academia Barilla’s collection of historic menus, or “At the table with…“, a section where you can discover the favorite food and recipes of great people in history, from Cato to Catherine De’ Medicis to Napoleon Bonaparte.

The content and full index of the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, while not currently entirely available online, it is searchable through the new Academia Barilla website, a good resource page for all food culture students, historians, chefs and food lovers!

Enjoy the food culture readings, they are food for thought!

Today, to conclude this year’s “ingredient and recipe of the month” series of blog articles, we propose you a recipe for preparing an authentic Panettone alla Milanese (Milan-style panettone). We found the recipe browsing the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, from the Italian cookbook “Il panettone milanese” (publisher: La Spiga). Since one panettone is never enough, we give you a recipe to bake three panettone cakes!

One note before going to the kitchen: it is important to understand that the preparation of Panettone requires a great deal of time and effort, as is the case for recipes made with sourdough bread. Don’t be discouraged if your home-made Panettone does not look as beautiful as the ones you can buy in the supermarket, because yours will surely be genuine and comparable to the original recipe.

PANETTONE ALLA MILANESE
A classic Italian Christmas recipe
(for 3 panettone cakes)

INGREDIENTS

- all-purpose flour, 2.8 pound
- butter, 14.1 oz.
- sugar, 10.5 oz.
- sourdough bread, 8.8 oz.
- sultana raisins, 7.05 oz.
- candied orange, 1.7 oz.
- candied cedar, 1.07 oz.
- eggs, 15
- salt, to taste

PREPARATION

To begin, wrap the sourdough bread in a towel lightly dusted with flour and set it aside in a warm place for at least 2 hours, allowing the dough to rise to twice its original volume.

Crumble the sourdough and dissolve it in a small amount of tepid water.

Pour 5.2 oz of flour onto a pastry board. Make a well with the flour and add the dissolved sourdough in the middle. Slowing begin mixing the ingredients together, kneading the dough by hand.

Work the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly sprinkled mixing bowl. Let it stand for approximately 3 hours.

In order to obtain perfectly leavened dough, heat the oven to 302 F, switch it off, and place the mixing bowl with the dough on the opened door. Once the dough has fully risen, place the dough on a pastry board and gradually mix in 4.5 oz of flour and some warm water, kneading the dough by hand until smooth. Allow the ball of dough to stand for approximately 2 hours, until it doubles in volume.

In the meantime, cut the candied cedar and orange pieces into small cubes and soak the sultana raisins in warm water.

In a saucepan, add the sugar in an inch of water. Heat and stir until completely dissolved. Once the syrup is lukewarm, remove from direct heat and place the saucepan on warm water bath (Bain-Marie).

Add 3 eggs and 12 yolks, and lightly cook the mixture. In a separate saucepan, melt 10.5 oz of butter on low heat, making sure that the butter does not burn.

Mix 2.2 pounds of flour with 2 tablespoons of salt and place on a pastry board, making a well in the middle. Gradually incorporate the leavened dough, the melted butter, and the sugar and egg mixture.

Knead the dough by hand for 20 minutes, until the dough is tough enough that it can be beat onto the board. This procedure ensures smooth, elastic and homogeneous dough. 

Drain the raising and dry in a clean kitchen towel. Add the candied cedar and orange bits, as well as the raisins, into the dough, kneading the dough for 2-3 minutes until well combined.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts, rolling each third into a ball. Place the ball of Panettone onto a piece of parchment paper, buttered and dusted with flour.

Using a strip of thin cardboard, surround each Panettone with the parchment paper, creating a mould. Let the Panettone leaven in a warm place for at least 6 hours, until it has doubled in volume. After 6 hours, let the Panettone rest in a cool place for 10 minutes.

Place the Panettone on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, and score the top of the dough with a cross.

Cook at 390 F for 5 minutes, then place the remaining butter slices on the score lines. Leave in the oven for 1 hour - 1 1/4 hour, slowly diminishing the temperature as the Panettoni begin to darken.

Enjoy your panettone! Merry Christmas from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!!!