THE ART OF COOKING by Maestro Martino da Como – 1450

"The Art of Cooking” by Maestro Martino da Como (15th cent.), composed around 1450, is not only one of the two culinary works upon which the fifteenth century stands, together with “Il Piacere Onesto e la Buona Salute” by Bartolomeo Sacchi, but it also marks the entry of butter-based cuisine into Italy.

This kind of cuisine, developed in Northern Europe as an alternative to spicy flavors, would in later centuries come to prevail, especially in the northern part of Italy.

The author, the cook from Ticino Martino de Rubeis, known as “da Como” and originally from Blenio in Ticino, is the first major signature in Italian cooking. Having worked at the court of Francesco Sforza and between the Kingdoms of Naples and France, Maestro Martino’s gastronomic vision is open to various regional experiences and even to the influence of Catalan, Arab and Eastern culture.

His recipes propose vegetables and greens - wrongly considered at the time a sign of poverty - as the foundation of a healthy diet, and they exalt the authentic flavor of ingredients, avoiding the overuse of those spices then so common in medieval cuisine. He would make the chromatic aspect of his dishes a distinctive trait, choosing the ingredients also by primary color as well as by their link to the territory. Thus a work of inestimable historic value, offering insight into the creativity of a great sixteenth-century chef.