A new dessert from the past, at Marcello’s
A new dessert that comes from the past but looks to the present has arrived at Osteria da Marcello: Bianco mangiare, a dessert that goes back to the ancient Sicilian tradition.
What does it have to do with Rome? Let us pick up the thread of history.
Once upon a time, in 14th-century France, there was the king’s famous cook, Guillaume de Tirel, known as Taillevent, to whom a recipe book is attributed: a cookbook, indeed a book of medieval haute cuisine, Le Viandier. And the recipe for Bianco mangiare, believe it or not, is in it. As it happens, one of the work’s four manuscripts is in the Vatican Library!
White, pure, a sort of heavenly pudding, it could not fail to tempt the palates of the greedy prelates. The papal cooks prepared it for the court’s rich banquets and for the cardinals’ residences, while its costly ingredients kept it away from the far more austere tables of monasteries and convents.
At Osteria da Marcello we offer a version, also enjoyed by vegans, made with almond milk and visciole, so dear to the Romans: wild sour cherries whose dark red colour breaks the soft whiteness of the dessert.
Don’t miss it.
