Cervellata

Cervellata: No Brains Needed 

Wulfric of Creigull 

Affare cervellata. Chi voi e fare uno cervallato, tolla molglica de pane et cascio gratusato et ova et spetie, et mictilo dentronel budello, et azi uno aco et foralo, et faccia bollire et coca in acqua, et po se arostire in fra lo pane, sete piace. 

To make cervellata. He who wants to make a sausage, take bread crumbs and grated cheese and eggs and spices, and put it in a gut, and get a needle and pierce it, and make it boil and cook in water, and then roast it in among the bread, if you like that. 

(Due Libre B, early 15th century) 

• 40 g bread crumbs 

• 250 g grated Parmesan 

• 6 large eggses (350-400 g in shell) 

• 2 g black pepper 

• 3 g white pepper 

• 2 g ginger 

• ½ g nutmeg 

• a few threads saffron 

• 1 g cinnamon (cassia) 

• 35 mm hog casings 

Beat the eggs and mix in the bread crumbs, cheese, and spices. Rinse 60” of 35mm hog casings as needed. Double-knot the bottom of the casing and stuff, only filling halfway – the egg mixture will expand during cooking. 

Bring a large skillet of water to a low simmering boil. Carefully ease in the filled sausage and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, until set. Flip once halfway through if the sausage is not fully submerged. Or cook sous vide at 165º for 30 minutes. 

Remove, drain, and dry. Roast the sausage at 425º for 10-15 minutes to brown, flipping over halfway through if desired; serve warm. 

The spices are all cited in the manuscript. Cassia is distinguished from (presumably) true cinnamon. I chose Parmesan cheese as a standard type of hard cheese that is likely to have been available. Salt is mentioned in a few recipes (albeit not as a spice), but the Parmesan was salty enough to not need adding in any additional. 

I am assuming “roast it in among the bread” is putting it in an oven with baking bread, which usually is a fairly high heat. 

Sources 

Boström, Ingemar ed. Anonimo meridionale: Due libri di cucina. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1985. Friedman, Rebecca trans. Self-published. 

Due Libre B is an early 15th century recipe collection from southern Italy. 

Stomach (ventricula) from Apicius is a stomach filled with eggs and then boiled; it directs you to “fill the stomach, leaving a little space so that it does not burst during cooking.” 

“Cervellata”, or later Anglicized to “saveloy”, is a common name for sausages going back to at least the 14th century; the ingredients vary. It is a common misconception that it involves brains, presumably due to the word itself that means “brains”. It is a period mistake: Scappi says “You can also put in the parboiled brains of the calf, if you are making saveloy sausages with them.” 

Two other recipes I have tried that are similar sausage subtleties: 

Another Preparation [Herb Omelette Sausage] (Anonimo Toscano, late 14th c.): 

Take cleaned intestine, washed and scraped in cold and hot water; and salt it; then wash it again with water. Take beaten eggs, grated cheese, saffron, spices and savory herbs minced and ground in a mortar; and put them in a platter or bowl, and mix together; and fill it, and set it to boil until it is well cooked. And when this is done, put it on a spit, or on the grill; and serve it. 

To make white saveloy (Messisbugo, 1557): 

Take a pitcher [enghistara] of milk, twelve egg whites, and two pounds of grated fatty cheese, and half a pound of wheat starch [or possibly almonds], and put it in a pot, and beat all these things together well, with one pound of sugar, and one pound of clean raisins, and half an ounce of cinnamon and a quarter of an ounce of ground pepper, and incorporate all these things together well. And have your intestines well washed, and make your saveloy as long as you want them, and then put them in a cauldron of water, and give them a good boil, and then let them cool, and fry them in fat.