A PHILOSOPHY OF PIZZA NAPOLETANISMO!

[Pizza Napoletana]

Compare the three pictures of the pizzaioli below. They are, perhaps, amongst the oldest depictions of pizzaioli available on the net. The first historic picture (from Francesco De Bourcard's Usi e Costumi di Napoli) is probably dated between 1847 and 1866. The second picture appears to be of historic value. Since I do not know its date and source, it needs to be competently substantiated. (Please, inform me if anyone finds out the date and source of the picture.) The third picture also seems to be of historic significance, whose authenticity needs to be aptly verified. (Please, advise me if you figure out the date and source of the picture.)

The first and second pizzaioli seem to be out in streets, wearing aprons, equipped with four-legged banconi (workbenches) and knives (held in the same positions), and yelling "pizza, pizza, pizza . . ." akin to Sophia Loren in the movie "The Gold of Naples". However, while the third picture depicts two pizzaioli wearing aprons and equipped with a four-legged bancone (with the same construction as the second pizzaiolo's bancone), the pizzaioli do not seem to be outdoors—but perhaps indoor in a pizzeria*—and holding no knives, but one of them holding a pizza peel as the other seems to be placing a pizza on it. They are not peddling out in streets.

At last, the very last picture (which is an ancient Roman mosaic, dated approximately 1st - 3rd AD) is perchance an archetypal image which eventually led to the first three images—as the "Spirit", per the Hegelian philosophy, "unfolded itself unto itself" through waves of history!
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*According to Wikipedia, "The first pizzerias appeared in Naples in the 19th century to the mid-20th century, a phenomenon unique to Naples. From the second half of the 1900s, pizzerias have been spreading throughout the world."

[Pizza Napoletana]

It may seem out of place or incommensurable to ask: Are the professions of making pizzas and selling watermelons compatible? Are they harmonious or incongruous? Please, bear with me!

In reply #976-979 in the previous page, we made a brief appreciation of Francesco de Bouchard's observation in respect to pizza in Naples in years 1847 to 1866. Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), a French novelist who authored The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, traveled to Naples in 1835 (about 12 years before Bouchard commenced to write his book on Naples) and recorded his experiences in a journal that was published between 1841 and 1843 under the title Le Corricolo. The book is fascinating, to say the least! It was partially—and, perhaps, too literally—translated from French to English by A. Roland in 1845. And, fortunately, the book, retitled "Sketches of Naples" by the publisher, is freely available on Google Books. (A link is provided hereunder.)

Let us see what Dumas has to tell us about pizza in Naples in 1835. Although the quoted passages below (some of which may not seem germane) are long, they are hopefully worth your while. Keep in mind that the work was written 26 years antecedent to Naples joining the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, and 54 years prior to Queen Margherita of Savoy being served the Pizza Margherita (named in her honor) in 1889 in Naples. In his Le Corricolo, Dumas wrote:

CHAPTER III
CHIAJA

. . .When we traverse Naples, with our liberal ideas, drawn, not from personal study of the people, but from the theories emitted by journalists, and glance lightly at that portion of the surface of this people whom we see lying almost naked upon the thresholds of palaces and in corners, where they eat, sleep and live, the heart is oppressed by the sight and we cry out, in a philanthropic transport: "The Neapolitans are the most wretched people on the globe."

We deceive ourselves strangely. The Neapolitan of the lower class [known as "lazzarone", a peculiar poor class of Neapolitans] is not wretched; for his necessities are in exact harmony with his desires. What does he wish to eat? A pizza [implying that pizza is a humble food] or a slice of water-melon suffices. How does he wish to sleep? A stone to place under his head is all that he requires to render his slumber delightful. His nudity which we regard as an affliction is, on the contrary, a pleasure in this ardent climate, where the sun clothes him with its warmth. What more magnificent canopy could be asked, to the palaces which lend him their steps, than the clear heaven which shines above? Is not, to him, each star that glitters in the firmament, a lamp burning at the feet of the Madonna! Does he not, with two grains, obtain sufficient each day to supply his wants and have an ample abundance remaining to pay, largely, the improvisator of the Môle and the conductor of the corricolo [wagon drawn by a horse]?

CHAPTER IV
THE LAZZARONI

The Lazzaroni, alas, is passing away; those who desire to see him must come quickly. Naples lighted with gas, Naples with restaurants, Naples with bazars, frightens the careless child of the Môle. The lazzarone, like the red Indian, retires before the approach of civilization. The French occupation of '99 gave the first blow to the lazzarone. At this period the lazzarone enjoyed all the prerogatives of his terrestrial paradise; he did not give more business to the tailor than our first father, before the fall; he drank in the sun at every pore. Curious and simple, as a child, the lazzarone soon became the friend of the French soldier, whom he had fought. But the French soldier, above all things, loves propriety; he accorded his friendship to the lazzarone, he consented to drink with him at the cabaret, to walk with him arm-in-arm; but on one condition, sine qua non, that the lazzarone should put on some clothing.

The lazzarone, proud of the example of his fathers, and of ten centuries of nudity, opposed the innovation for some time, but, at last, consented to make this sacrifice to friendship. This was the first step toward his destruction. After the first article of dress came the vest, after the vest will come the jacket. The day the lazzarone wears a jacket, the lazzarone will be no more; the lazzarone will have become extinct. . . . In the mean time, we have had the good fortune to be able to study this great passing race and will hasten to furnish data to the learned, by the aid of which, in their anthropological investigations, they may be enable to ascertain the nature of the lazzarone.

The lazzarone is the oldest son of nature. . . . Other men have houses, other men have villas, other men have palaces, the lazzarone has the world. The lazzarone has no master, the lazzarone is amenable to no laws, the lazzarone is above social exigencies; he sleeps when he is sleepy, he eats when he is hungry, he drinks when he is thirsty. Other people rest when they are tired of work; the lazzarone, on the contrary, works when he is tired of resting. He works, not as in the north, . . . his labor is pleasant, careless, embellished by songs and drolleries; interrupted by laughter, and moments of idleness. This labor continues for an hour, a half-hour, ten minutes, or one minute, and in that time brings enough to supply all the necessities of the day. What is this labor? Heaven, only, knows. A trunk carried from the steamboat to the hotel, an Englishman conducted from the Môle to Chiaja, three fish escaped from the net which contained them and sold to a cook, the hand extended at random in which the stranger laughingly lets fall an alms; such is the labor of the lazzarone.

As to his food, this is more easy to describe; for, although the lazzarone belongs to the species of omnivores, he, generally, eats but two things: the pizza and cocomero or watermelon.

The impression has gone out into the world, that the lazzarone lives upon macaroni; this is a great mistake, which it is time to correct. The macaroni is, it is true, a native of Naples; but, at the present time, it is an European dish, which has traveled like civilization, and which, like civilization, finds itself very far from its cradle. The macaroni, moreover, costs two sous a pound; which renders it inaccessible to the purse of the lazzarone; except upon Sundays and holidays. At all other times the lazzarone eats, as we have said, the pizza and the cocomero [watermelon]; the cocomero in summer, the pizza in winter. The pizza is a sort of bun [talmouse, meaning "cheese-cake" or "pastry shell with a filling of cheese"]; it is round, and made of the same dough as bread. It is of different sizes according to the price. A pizza of two farthings suffices for one person, a pizza of two sous is enough to satisfy a whole family. At first sight, the pizza appears to be a simple dish, upon examination it proves to be compound. The pizza is prepared with bacon, with lard, with cheese, with tomatoes, with [petits, "small"] fish. It is the gastronomic thermometer of the market. The price of the pizza rises and falls according to the abundance or scarcity of the year. When the fish-pizza sells at a half grain, the fishing has been good; when the oil-pizza sells at a grain, the yield of olives has been bad. The rate at which the pizza sells is, also, influenced by the greater or less degree of freshness; it will be easily understood that yesterday's pizza will not bring the same price as today's. For small purses, they have the pizza of a week old, which, if not agreeably, very advantageously, supplies the place of the sea-biscuit. [Does this phenomenon, the "freshness", bear any relation to the peculiar softness of the Neapolitan pizza crust? "For small purses, they have the pizza of a week old. . . ."]

The pizza as we have said is the food of winter. On the first of May the pizza gives place to the cocomero; but the merchandise only, disappears, the merchant remains the same. The seller is like the ancient Janus*, with a face which weeps upon the past and smiles upon the future. On the said day the pizza-jolo [pizza maker] becomes the mellonaro [seller of melons]. The change does not even extend itself to the shop; the shop remains the same. A pannier of cocomeri instead of a basket of pizza is now carried; a sponge is passed over the traces of oil, bacon, lard, cheese, tomatoes and fish which have been left by the winter comestible and all is done; we pass to the comestible of the summer. Fine cocomeri come from Castellamare; they have an appearance at once exhilarating and tempting; the lively rose color of the pulp is heightened by its contrast with the black seed. But a good cocomero is dear; one of the size of an eight pound ball sells for from five to six sous. It is true that a cocomero of this size, in the hands of an adroit retailer, will be divided into ten or twelve pieces. Every opening of a cocomero is a new exhibition; the opponents stand opposite and each endeavors to surpass the other in the adroitness and impartiality with which he uses the knife in dividing it. The spectator judge. The mellonaro takes a cocomero from the flat pannier where it is piled, with twenty others, like cannon balls in an arsenal. He smells it, he raises it above his head like a Roman Emperor the globe of the world. He cries: "It is like fire!" which announces, in advance, that the pulp will be of the finest red. He cleaves it open at a single blow and presents the two hemispheres to the public one in each hand. If, instead of being red, the pulp of the cocomero is yellow or greenish, which indicates that it is of an inferior quality, the piece fails, the mellonaro is hooted, spit upon and cursed; three failures and the mellonaro is disgraced for ever. If the mellonaro perceives by its weight or odor that a cocomero is not good, he makes no avowal of the fact. On the contrary, he presents it, more boldly, to the people; he enumerates its fine qualities, he boasts of its savory pulp, he extols its icy juice: "You would like very much to eat this pulp! You would like much to drink its juice!" he cries; "but this is not for you; it is destined to delight more noble palates than yours. The king has ordered me to keep it for the queen." (End of quote.)

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* Janus: an ancient Roman deity, guardian of doorways and gates and protector of the state in time of war. He is usually represented with two faces, so that he looks both forward and backward. According to Wikipedia, "In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past. The concepts of 'January' and 'janitor' are both based on aspects of Janus."

http://books.google.com/books?id=jzn7-fuWuaoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sketches+of+Naples&hl=en&ei=3H7gTvjjMof5sQK65LCfBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Dumas' overall description of pizza seems concentric with Bouchard's description. One should wonder to what extent the lazzaroni participated in the formation of the Pizza Napoletana as extant today in Naples. Did it develop in their hands, for instance, the way Flamenco was developed in the hands of the gitanos (another race of similar status as the lazzaroni) of Spain?

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazzari
http://blog.libero.it/BRIGANTESEMORE/10256835.html
http://www.sorrentoradio.com/prova/mestieri/lazzaronee.htm

[pizzablogger]

I've got those relevant pages from Sketches of Naples myself as part of my accumulating pizza related literature and have thought about the same types of questions Omid. --K

[Pizza Napoletana]

As I mentioned in my preceding post above, Alexandre Dumas' overall description of pizza (extant in 1835 in Naples) appears to be homocentric with Francesco de Bouchard's description of pizza (in existence between 1847 and 1866). While Dumas, besides "the same dough as ['round'] bread", made references to the following ingredients (in order of appearance):

1. Bacon,
2. Lard,
3. Cheese (I am not sure if he, as a French man, made a distinction between "formaggio" and "mozzarella"),
4. Tomatoes,
5. Small fish, and
6. Olive oil,

Bouchard made references to the following constituents (in order of appearance):

1. Oil,
2. Salt,
3. Oregano,
4. Garlic,
5. Cheese (formaggio),
6. Lard,
7. Basil,
8. Tiny fish,
9. Muzzarella (mozzarella!),
10. Prosciutto,
11. Tomatoes, and
12. Clams.

As I stated in my opening post in the beginning of this thread: "The genesis of this phenomenon [i.e., la pizza napoletana] can be arguably traced back to the ancient Romans. Perchance, Virgil* (70 – 19 BC), an ancient Roman poet, can best portray the zygote of this development in the following excerpt from his national epic poem Aeneid:

Beneath a shady tree, the hero spread
His table on the turf, with cakes of bread;
And, with his chiefs, on forest fruits he fed.
They sate; and, (not without the god's command,)
Their homely fare dispatch'd, the hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.
Ascanius this observ'd, and smiling said:
See, we devour the plates on which we fed."

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* Publius Vergilius Maro was schooled in Epicurean philosophy in Naples, per Catalepton, and buried there. According to Wikipedia:

"When Virgil died at Brindisi in 19 BCE, he asked that his ashes be taken back to his villa just outside of Naples. There a shrine was created for him, and sacred rites were held every year on his birthday. He was given the rites of a heros or hero, at whose tomb the devout may find protection and counsel (as from Orpheus' oracular head). Virgil's tomb became a place of pilgrimage for many centuries, and Petrarch and Boccaccio found their way to the shrine. It is said that the nearby Chiesa della Santa Maria di Piedigrotta was erected by the Church authorities to neutralise this pagan adoration and "Christianise" the site. The tomb however, is a tourist attraction, and still sports a tripod burner originally dedicated to Apollo.

It is said that Virgil's Bones protected Naples for many years, and attackers usually suffered from plagues of flies. (It is interesting that one of the legends of Virgil has him constructing a Magic Fly to control the Neapolitan flies. Like the hero Heracles, he appealed to Zeus Muiagros, or Fly Catcher. Gervase of Tilbury knew of two churches that used Virgil's spell to control flies.) Eventually, in 1194 Emperor Henry VI, who was well-schooled in classical lore, was able to conquer Naples, for it had been discovered that there was a minute crack in the ampule. Thus the Hermetic seal was broken, and Naples fell by force of arms for the first time in a thousand years.

It is said that a certain English scholar Ludowicus, acting secretly for the Norman king Roger II (c.1136 CE), who was trying to conquer Naples, came looking for Virgil's bones and his book of magic. Using secret arts Ludowicus found them. The people of Naples prevented him from taking the bones because they protected the city, but he was allowed to take the book, the Ars Notaria. John of Naples showed parts of this book to Gervase of Tilbury around the year 1200. The bones were placed in an ampule (ampulla) in the Castel dell'Ovo, where they guarded the city. (Many cities were similarly protected by heroes; for example Aristotle's bones guarded Palermo, and other cities were protected by Orpheus, Hesiod, Alcmene, Plato and others.) Other sources say that it was Robert of Anjou who placed Virgil's bones there."

The poem inscribed at Virgil's tomb, ascribed to the poet himself, reads, "Mantua bore me, the Calabrians snatched me away, now Naples holds me. . . ." It has been said that without the literary works of Virgil—and those of immortal Dante's—the Italian literature would receive an indefensible blow! There are those who view Naples as "the armpit of the world"!—they know not, alas, of its rich history and cultural importance. Fortunately, there are still those who make offerings of Pizza at Virgil's tomb!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil%27s_tomb

[Pizza Napoletana]

Tiny fish like in this pizza, perhaps? (cicenielli or Whitebait)

Dear Kiwipete, your pizza garnished with "cicenielli" seems to have been one of the three pizzas that Raffaele Esposito served Queen Margherita with (at the pizzeria known as "Brandi" today) upon her visit to Naples on June 11, 1889. As historians tell us, after Naples was unified with the Kingdom of Italy after centuries of wars and economic-political uncertainty, Queen Margherita ventured down to Naples to win the hearts of her new subjects. According to "American Heritage: Collections, Travel, and Great Writing On History", when the royal palace commissioned the Neapolitan pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen, he prepared three varieties. And, "of the three contenders he created, the Queen strongly preferred the pie swathed in the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella)." (http://www.americanheritage.com/content/american-pie)

In addition, per "La Repubblica", an Italian journal, "Three varieties were prepared by Naples' best pizzaiolo, one with oil, cheese and basil; one with "cecenielli" (whitebait); and one with mozzarella and tomato to which the pizzaiolo's wife, Maria Giovanna Brandi, added a basil leaf, inspired by the color of the Italian flag." (http://napoli.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Cortei-e-sbandieratori-per-i-120-anni-della-pizza/1649885)

It is interesting that nowadays the Neapolitans celebrate the occasion by enacting the event, as illustrated at the "La Repubblica" website and hereunder. Sometimes I wonder if the celebration is more about Pizza Margherita than Queen Margherita (hence the antecedent unification of Naples). Perhaps, Naples had no choice but to join the kingdom in order to protect itself. I presume that the Queen or the royal court had been cognizant of the cultural gravity of pizza in Naples. No doubt, there is almost an aspect of sacredness to this humble source of nourishment. As pizzaiolo Enzo Coccia expressed, "This pizza isn't just a food. It's a way of being Neapolitan . . . The Margherita pizza [appeared on the scene] after the Queen did a publicity stunt in Naples to gain acceptance. In coming to Naples and eating their pizza, she let Neapolitans know she was a queen 'of the people.'" (

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaKlmAScve8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaKlmAScve8</a>

)

Good day!

[Pizza Napoletana]

Continued . . .

[Pizza Napoletana]

Last night's bake:
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Flour: 1000 gr. Caputo Pizzeria (Datum Point)
Water: 620 gr. (62%)
Sea Salt: 30 gr. (3%)
Crisceto: 15.50 gr. (1.55%) (or 2.5% relative to the weight of water)
___________________________________________________________________
Direct Method: Water (70.3° F) ➡ Salt (73.4° F) ➡ Crisceto (66.9° F) ➡ Flour (62.3° F) = Pasta (71.9° F)

Mix & knead time (using Santos fork mixer): 5 minutes

☞ No interruption between mixing & kneading, and both mixing and kneading were continuous within themselves.   
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1st Fermentation (in mass): 4 hours at controlled room temperature 71° F
2nd Fermentation (in balls): 23 hours in the marble chambers:
  ☞ 1st Phase: 73 - 65° F (14 Hours)
  ☞ 2nd Phase: 55 - 62° F (9 Hours)
Findal dough ball temperature before baking: 62° F
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Modified Home Gas Oven Temperature: 856° F (floor)

[Pizza Napoletana]

Continued . . .

[TXCraig1]

Omid, beautiful as always. The combination of ingredients on the broccoli pie is as inspiring as it is visually attractive.

Do you have to turn the pie during the bake in your modified oven?

CL

[pizzablogger]

Omid, the way the "cheese spokes" end right at the rise of the cornicione is a spectacular visual element on those pizzas.

Question with regards to the basil. While it is visually very attractive to have it in the center as you have pictured here, before eating do you take the basil and place it randomly over various locations on top of the pizza so more bites would include basil (not that every bite should)?

Excellent results as always.

Color corrected pic with the yellow cast removed. No color doctoring beyond that....your sauce is quite red and vibrant. I did darken the outisde of the area around the pizza to spotlight the main attraction. My god that is a thing of beauty! --K

[msheetrit]

omid your pizzas look like a dream!

[Pizza Napoletana]

Thank you gentlemen!

Do you have to turn the pie during the bake in your modified oven?

CL

Dear Craig, yes, out of necessity I rotate the pizza several times (4 to 5 times) during baking, mainly for the sake of cornicione; otherwise, it would not bake uniformly and could quickly burn, on the sides and top, within few seconds. The way I have reconstructed the oven, it is inevitable to have few blind spots around the stack of stones (4 of them). Have a great weekend, and I look forward to the pictures of your awesome pizzas! (One of these days, I must try your brussels sprouts pizza recipe.)

Question . . . before eating do you take the basil and place it randomly over various locations on top of the pizza so more bites would include basil (not that every bite should)?

Dear Pizzablogger, yes, I spread the basil leaves around the pizza. I am honored by you enlivening the picture of my pizza. Thank you very very very much!

omid your pizzas look like a dream!

Dear Msheetrit, Hanukkah is almost upon us . . . Happy Hanukkah!

[msheetrit]

thank you! how do you know so much about the jewish holidays?

[Pizza Napoletana]

thank you! how do you know so much about the jewish holidays?

Dear Michael, I have been an ardent student of Judaic, including Talmudic, studies for almost 28 years. I can not ignore the culture that has given birth to iconic thinkers such as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Baruch de Spinoza, Felix Mendelssohn, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein . . . just to name a few. Shalom!

[Pizza Napoletana]

Here is an interesting assertion (not easy to interpret) by Sen. Ciro Leone, the proprietor of Trianon da Ciro: "But there is no 'evolution' of the pizza. Its tradition remains."

(

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaKlmAScve8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaKlmAScve8</a>

)

[Pizza Napoletana]

Having so far made cursory and brief appreciation of pizza in Naples in year 1889 by Raffaele Esposito (reply #984 above), in years 1847 to 1866 by Francesco de Bouchard (reply #976-979 & 983 above), and in year 1835 by Alexandre Dumas (reply #981 & 983 above), let us take a look at Neapolitan pizza—or what was known as Neapolitan pizza ("da Napoli detta pizza")—in year 1570.

In his Lectures on Philosophy of History, the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) argues that history does not move directly or straightforwardly toward progress or a goal, but develops dialectically or in a roundabout way that is not clear to consciousness and is filled with paradoxes, ironies, contradictions, and unconscious desires that lead to unintended consequences.

Likewise, it seems to me that what we generally construe as Neapolitan pizza today may not had followed a straight path in its evolution or ongoing evolution. A case in point might be the Opera dell'arte del cucinare ("Works of Art of Cooking"), which is a recipe book, or even a culinary treatise, written by Bartolomeo Scappi (1500-1577). (A link to the book, translated to English, is provided hereunder.) He was an eminent Renaissance chef, and not just a chef—but the papal chef in charge of the Vatican kitchen in Rome. According to Wikipedia:

"He [Scappi] acquired fame in 1570 when his monumental cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare was published. In the book he lists approximately 1000 recipes of the Renaissance cuisine and describes cooking techniques and tools, giving the first known picture of a fork. He declared parmesan to be the best cheese on earth. . . . Scappi revolutionized the kitchen of his time through new preparation methods and the use of ingredients imported from America. Scappi died on April 13, 1577 and was buried in the church of Santi Vincenzo and Anastasio alla Regola, dedicated to cooks and bakers." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeo_Scappi)

In the book, Scappi provides several dough and pizza recipes. Let us take a look at only three of Scappi's recipes:

[Recipe] 128. To prepare flaky pizza, popularly called a dry napoleon♧. Get a sheet of dough that is rolled out thin and made as the previous one. ['Make up a dough of two pounds of fine flour with six egg yolks, four ounces of breadcrumb that has soaked in either goat's milk or a fat broth, an ounce and a half of leaven moistened with rosewater, three ounces of fine sugar, a suitable amount of salt and four ounces of butter. Knead the dough well for half an hour. Then make a very thin sheet of it. . . .'] Have a tourte pan ready, greased with melted butter, and on that pan put a rather thick sheet of that dough, and on that put ten more thin sheets, greased between each with butter and sprinkled with sugar and elderflower, dry or fresh. Bake it in an oven or braise it. When it is done, serve it hot with sugar and rosewater over it.

[Recipe] 121. To prepare a tourte with various ingredients, called pizza by Neapolitans. Get six ounces of shelled Milanese almonds, four ounces of shelled, soaked pinenuts, three ounces of fresh, pitted dates, three ounces of dried figs and three ounces of seeded muscatel raisins; grind all that up in a mortar. Into it add eight fresh raw egg yolks, six ounces of sugar, an ounce of ground cinnamon, an ounce and a half of crumbled musk-flavoured Neapolitan mostaccioli and four ounces of rosewater. When everything is mixed together, get a tourte pan that is greased and lined with a sheet of royal pastry dough♤; into it put the filling, mixed with four ounces of fresh butter, letting it come up to no more than a finger in depth. Without it being covered, bake it in an oven. Serve it hot or cold, whichever you like. Into that pizza you can put anything that is seasoned.

[Recipe] 73. [The book editors specifically referred to this recipe as "Neapolitan pizza".] To prepare a royal tourte with dove flesh, which Neapolitans call "Lady's lips pizza."♡ Get the flesh of three doves half roasted on a spit, with the skin, bones and gristle removed, along with the flesh of three boiled doves. Grind it all up in a mortar with four ounces of peeled dates, eight ounces of marzipan paste and four ounces of ground beef marrow—grind it all so finely that it can go through a colander. If you do not have any marzipan paste, use six ounces of Milanese almonds shelled in cold water and four ounces of fine sugar. Into all that add six fresh cream tops—if you do not have cream tops, a pound of fresh curds of ewe's milk. When everything is put through the colander, put ten fresh uncooked egg yolks into it and four more ounces of fine sugar along with an ounce of cinnamon and half an ounce of cloves and nutmeg together. Have a tourte pan ready, lined with a sheet of somewhat thick dough. and with its flaky-pastry twist around it, made with fine flour, egg yolks, sugar, butter, rosewater and a suitable amount of salt. Put the filling into the pan in such a way that it does not come up too high. It is optional if you wish to bake it with an upper shell made like a shutter's louvres, although it looks better open-faced and with only a glazing made of melted sugar and rosewater. Bake it in an oven as marzipan is done. When it is baked, serve it hot or cold as you like.

_______________________________________________________
♧ . . .The earliest appearance of a preparation called a pizza is in the so-called Manoscritto Lucano, ed. Michael Süthold, written in southern Italy at the beginning of Scappi's century; a colophon makes its origin definite: in Nerula, 3 August 1524. The manuscript contains four sorts of pizza: Picza figliata (Recipe 57), Picza biancha (Recipe 77), Una altar picza (Recipe 78), and Picza riale (Recipe 86; see Scappi's Recipe 73, above). None of those recipes seems to have made it into Scappi's collection unchanged; most have some sort of upper crust whether plain or ornamental, like a tourte. See Riley's comments about the genre in The Oxford Companion to Italian Food, 410.

♤Recipe 84 indicates that 'royal dough' is a mixture of fine flour, rosewater, sugar and butter.

♡Pizza di bocca di Dama ["Lady's lips pizza"]. A distinction of most of the so-called royal tourtes (generally Recipes 73-80) is to contain thick cream (or fresh cheese curds or fresh ricotta) instead of, or as well as, ordinary cheese: these are richer custards. In its use of various cheeses, eggs and cream, this pizza of Scappi resembles the four pizzas found in Lucano manuscript (1524) in a general way; see the note in Recipe 128, below. In the edition of the manuscript by Süthold, Recipe 86 for Picza reale, the final recipe in that collection, calls for five varieties of fresh cheese, three of ricotta cheese, eggs, almonds, rosewater and sugar. The 1524 pizza has no meat, however, but may optionally include musk. (The modern boco di dame is described by Riley in the Oxford Companion to Italian Food, 57.) In a dialogue dating from the beginning of the 1600s Vincenzo Giustiniani [an aristocratic Italian banker, art collector and intellectual of the late 16th and early 17th centuries] had a chauvinistic Neapolitan exclaim, 'Our monks make things that  . . . give pleasure throughout the world'. . . . It is perhaps no coincidence that Sicily was recognized as the foremost producer of hard wheat at the time, even shipping it far beyond the Mediterranean world. . . . (End of quote.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=GrvhZvK5pCgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Opera+of+Bartolomeo+Scappi&hl=en&ei=XHvkToisA6ro2QWgmonIBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6wEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Today, Bartolomeo Scappi's book is considered one of the invaluable sources on the history of Neapolitan cuisine of the Renaissance period. However, after glancing a bit at the above recipes, one can not help asking: Is Scappi referring to the same Neapolitan pizza that this forum is dedicated to? Or, is he dealing with something of a different class of comestibles that has only the name, "pizza", in common with what we reckon as Neapolitan pizza? Might it be the case that different generations or epochs have their own peculiar construals of pizza of Naples? What Scappi interpreted as pizza—within his specific cultural milieu—may not fit the standards of the cultural milieux within which Dumas, Bouchard, Esposito, and Sen. Antonio Pace (the founder of APVN) found themselves. Take the eternal music of J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, which are part of the classical tradition that is documented for the most part, although sometimes poorly: almost every generation of musicologists and conductors keep coming up with slightly or substantially different interpretations of their music. Who knows?—a millennium from present, Neapolitan pizza may not be the same! As Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic philosopher, figuratively stated in an aphorism that has been ascribed to him: "No man ever steps twice in the same river", meaning that "flux" or becoming is a fundamental law of the cosmos.

Making interpretations and speculations about the oral tradition of Neapolitan pizza—that did not inscribe itself, for the most part, within the pages of history, and what literature has survived is either scanty or fragmentary—can be a tricky business. In interpreting the extant texts, it is difficult not to impose our own modes of thinking and thoughts upon them. In other words, it is easy to fall in the trap of wishful, prejudicial, or out-of-cultural-context thinking and construe these works in our own terms, without regarding the cultural frameworks that set the tradition in motion. It seems to me that we can only make educated conjectures for the most part, given the scanty or fragmentary nature of the original or doxographical texts that have survived.

The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas (b. 1929) insists that we are interpretive beings, that interpretation is fundamental to human condition, and even operative in formation of the human self. We are always interpreting others’ or our physical and mental states. Am I sad or cheerful, displeased or pleased, chubby or skinny? When we stop at a red traffic light, we are already engaged in an act of interpreting the color red. The color red can have many other meanings: danger, communist, sexy, or etc. This demonstrates the ubiquity of interpretation—and diversification—in human societies. Perchance, the New York pizza is an example! History appears, as Hegel puts forth, to be pregnant with paradoxes, ironies, contradictions, and unintended consequences—with "change", however gradual and undetected, being the principle underlying them all.

[tinroofrusted]

Very fascinating Omid. I will immediately move to secure a supply of doves for roasting and boiling!

And although I am a bit late in commenting, your most recent pizzas are stunning.  So beautiful! 

Well done. 

Best regards,

TinRoof

[Pizza Napoletana]

I will immediately move to secure a supply of doves for roasting and boiling!

. . . And, I will make sure the "tourte pan" is nicely greased and ready for you!

Dear Tinroof, it is great to see you back, and I thank you for your generous compliment! Good night.

Respectfully,
Omid

[TXCraig1]

I have made sweet terrines of dove and duck that are not all that dissimilar to the Lady's lips pizza. I have not used marzipan, but pistachios and pine nuts.

CL

[tinroofrusted]

I have made sweet terrines of dove and duck that are not all that dissimilar to the Lady's lips pizza. I have not used marzipan, but pistachios and pine nuts.

CL

I'll bet you are a hunter.  No one else would have dove to make into a terrine these days. 

Regards,

TinRoof