PARIS March 3 - 6 2011 COOKBOOK FAIR Festival du livre culinaire The Foundation B.IN.G. will take part in the second edition of the Paris Cookbook Fair March 3-6 2011 (www.cookbookfair.com  / festivaldulivreculinaire.fr). The B.IN.G. will transform its stand in a kitchen of the 16th century, thanks to the pictures coming from the SCAPPI cookbook (1570)

The Renaissance Kitchen

Bartolomeo Scappi is a very famous Italian chef of the 16th century. He was the personal cook of Pope Pio V and author of the most detailed Italian gastronomic book from the Renaissance. In his “Opera” (1570) Scappi takes a new scientific approach to cooking. The most innovative part of the book are the engraved plates. They contain important information about professional cookery of the time. They give realistic details of the routine activities in a kitchen and the utensils available for different culinary methods. There is no other resource available which gives such a clear visual impression of a major kitchen in Renaissance. Scappi describes the layout of the ideal kitchen, the right utensils that must be available for different culinary: knives, sugar graters, pots, strainers, sieves, ladles, equipment for the hearth, even a crannellated pasta; many types of pans, a lever for raising heavy cauldrons, a mechanical spit, cooks and waiters at work; braziers and covered pots acted as mini-ovens and provided gentle heat for slow baking. Dishes are prepared in the fireplace. The cook is able to roast meat on spits and simmered sauces over dying coals. We see spacious rooms with very tall ceilings, shelving high up on the walls, lots of open space, some form of sink, little furniture other than simple worktables and large chopping blocks, and a bare floor. Some images show windows set high up on the walls to provide plenty of light, and hoods over the fireplaces to vent the smoke. Ventilation was obviously a necessity when working with open fire; some kitchens had merely a hole in the ceiling, but the manor kitchens generally got chimneys to draw the smoke up and away from the workers. The fireplaces were wide and shallow. The structure itself was often built of wood, but the preference was to construct kitchens out of stone or brick. The kitchen is separated from the living quarters for fire safety. either added into the building or a completely free-standing structure apart from the manor – to avoid a kitchen fire can destroy the entire manor. To discover the Renaissance kitchen and to understand better the gastronomic habits of the 16th century, Fondation B.IN.G. waits for you in Paris at the Salon du livre culinaire at stand B30 (www.festivaldulivreculinaire.fr)

Archive
Paris February 12 - 15, 2010 COOKBOOK FAIR
The Foundation B.IN.G. will take part in the first Paris Cookbook Fair February 12-15 2010 (www.cookbookfair.com)
On a big touch screen you'll leaf through some of B.IN.G.'s treasures and magnify the details.

Demo online >>

Gourmand Special Awards - October 14, 2008 Frankfurt
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will be honoured with a Gourmand Award among the Best of the Best

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