#marinade

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PAPAL CONCLAVE BABY BACK RIBS (1570)

Having much more time on my hands than I expected this weekend, I felt it was the perfect time to spend it making a Tasting History dish that was eaten at the 1549 papal conclave in the Vatican: Papal Conclave Baby Back Ribs. Bartolomeo Scappi, the personal chef of Pope Pius IV and known as one of the first 'celebrity chefs', cooked baby back ribs for the cardinals deliberating over who would become the next pope in 1549. Scappi later wrote down the recipe for his ribs in his 1570 cookbook, Opera dell’arte del cucinare, known today as the Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi. This cookbook is unique for the time period, as Scappi not only describes the preparation of dishes, but also depicts illustrations showing steps for preparing and transporting the food. The food served to the papal conclave cardinals varies greatly depending on time period, as you could guess. In general however, the dishes served to the cardinals would be tested for poison, inspected for secret messages, put in special containers, and delivered to the cardinals using a turntable called Ruota del Conclave. For the conclave of 1549, the cardinals were not deliberating in the Sistine Chapel specifically, but in the Pauline Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was actually used as their dormitory, and each cardinal would have a curtained off wooden cell there where they would eat and sleep separately. Despite all of these measures however, the conclave of 1549 is known as one of the more controversial, as pretty much all of the rules of secrecy had been broken and the deliberations were therefore almost entirely known by the public. At least they had good food, though! I've never made ribs before, and what better way to try making them than with a recipe fit for a pope. See Max’s video on how to make this dish here or see the ingredients and process at the end of this post, sourced from his website.

My experience making it:

I had originally intended to halve this recipe, purchasing only 500g of baby back ribs instead of 1kg, but I noticed that mine didn't look too much smaller than Max's, so I decided to follow the rest of the recipe as written. I didn't find any saba to use for my defrutum, so I reduced some grape juice down to 1/3, as Max suggests. Unforunately, my measuring was a little off, so I ended up with one less tablespoon than needed for the sauce. To compensate for this in an attempt to keep the ratio of ingredients for the sauce balanced, I also reduced to the amount of red wine vinegar to 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon. I think it helped!

The night before I wanted to serve the ribs, I prepared them so they could marinate in the fridge overnight. I pulled the silverskin off the back of the ribs using the method Max describes: first cutting with a knife, then pulling it all the way off with a paper towel. To my surprise, this worked quite well! I mixed the salt and 1 teaspoon of ground coriander seed together, then rubbed it on both sides of the ribs. Following this, I prepared the marinade by chopping 3 cloves of garlic (mine were pretty big cloves, but when it comes to garlic, the more the merrier, in my opinion!) and mixing it with another teaspoon of ground coriander seed, a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and a tablespoon of the reduced grape juice. It didn't completely combine, but I pushed forward anyways and brushed it over the front and back of the ribs until they were covered. I did all of this over a large piece of aluminum foil, which I then wrapped around the meat tightly so the juices would seep into the meat as it sat in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I preheated the oven, peeled and chopped the onions into quarters, then brought the tinfoil package of ribs out of the fridge. Unwrapping it, I placed the onion quarters in a row under the concave part of the ribs, then wrapped the package up again. I don't have a wire baking rack, so I just placed the package on a baking tray and put it in the oven. I left it in there for two and a half hours before deciding to check it with a meat thermometer (I wanted to make sure it hit a safe temperature for eating). Online it said the internal temperature should reach 190 degrees Fahrenheit when ready, so I aimed for that. The first time I checked it, it was still around 170 degrees, so I popped it back in the oven for another half hour. The next time I checked it, at the three-hour mark, the temperature was 187 degrees, so I put it back in for another 5 minutes. I figured that was close enough, because I did want to pop the ribs uncovered under the broiler to get a crisp on it, and I figured this would push it to the right temperature in the end. While I put the ribs under the broiler at 250 degrees Celsius, I made the sauce. I chopped the last clove of garlic, let that cook in some hot oil in a saucepan, added the last teaspoon of ground coriander seed, and kept stirring until it smelled nice. Then, I added the rest of the reduced grape juice and the teaspoon of red wine vinegar and simmered for a couple minutes. Max was right - it did not really thicken at all. As it simmered, I took the ribs out from under the broiler, and they looked like they had finally gotten a nice crisp on them (before they had looked fairly gelatinous). I cut them in two parts, drizzled about half the sauce on top, and surrounded the ribs with the roasted onions on a plate. I served them forth feeling quite proud of myself - they really looked like ribs you might see in a restaurant! Although I will admit, they didn't smell quite as good as real barbecue.

My experience tasting it:

My husband and I dug in immediately, leaving our manners behind and pulling the ribs apart with our fingers after a more than three-hour wait to eat. Ribs are supposed to be messy, and these were just a little bit. Because the sauce was thinner than your average barbecue sauce, they left less residue behind. The meat came off the bone well, as we tore in, but did not quite 'fall off the bone'. We didn't care though, they tasted really, really wonderful. I can't say I've tasted a sauce quite like it: while garlic was a forward flavour, the salt and ground coriander were the main flavour, with just enough sweetness from the reduced grape juice and just enough acidity from the red wine vinegar. I was really happy I adjusted the amount of red wine vinegar to keep the ratio constant with the amount of reduced grape juice I had, because otherwise the main flavour of the sauce would be vinegar! The rub, marinade, and sauce had really worked together perfectly to bring a wonderful taste to the ribs, and the ribs were also still pretty tender. I was so impressed I didn't mess those up, since I sometimes have problems cooking meats properly. The roasted onion also tasted fantastic with the sauce, so we dipped those into the remaining sauce. We finished the papal conclave ribs in record time, wishing we had more but thankful we didn't, since we were, in fact, full. Even though this recipe takes a long time to make and requires some overnight waiting, I will definitely make them again, perhaps for friends or family when they come for a visit. They are impressive visually, not to mention flavour-wise, and the sauce is wonderfully unique - something special. It's no surprise Scappi's food was well-loved by the cardinals of the papal conclave, and I can totally see why some conclaves lasted up to three years in those early days. I would also want more of that delicious conclave food! If you end up making this dish, if you liked it, or if you changed anything from the original recipe, do let me know!

Papal Conclave Baby Back Ribs original recipe (1570)

Sourced from the Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi (1570) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Different ways to cook the back ribs of a domestic pig If the pig is young, the ribs can be roasted on the spit with the rind, or without, and with onions split in the pan, which are cooked with the fat that drips from the meat as it cooks…and before it is put on the spit, it is sprinkled with salt and ground coriander seed. You could also let the ribs stand in a marinade of vinegar, grape must syrup, garlic cloves and coriander, and then cook it on the spit in the above way, serving it hot with a sauce on top made of the same seasoning…

Links to Harder-To-Find Ingredients:

Saba

Modern Recipe

Based on the recipe from the Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi (1570) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Ingredients:

Ribs

1 rack, about 2 lbs (1 kg) baby back ribs

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2-3 small onions, I used white

Marinade

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sapa/saba*

Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 to 4 tablespoons sapa/saba*

*Saba, or sapa, is grape must that has been reduced down to a syrup. It can be expensive, so you can reduce some grape juice instead to about 1/3 of your starting amount. It won't be as complex as saba, but it will work just fine.

Method:

To prepare the ribs: If your ribs still have the silver skin on the back, you can remove it if you’d like. This isn’t necessary, but it makes for a more pleasant texture in the end. To remove the silver skin, carefully pry it up with a sharp knife (often easier said than done), then you should be able to peel it off. A paper towel is helpful for getting a better grip on the silver skin.

Sprinkle the salt evenly over both sides of the ribs and rub it in, then do the same with the ground coriander.

For the marinade: Crush the garlic, then whisk it together with the ground coriander, red wine vinegar, and sapa.

Set the ribs on a large piece of aluminum foil. Brush the marinade evenly over both sides of the ribs, using all of the marinade. Wrap the ribs up tightly in the foil and place them in the fridge to marinate overnight.

To cook the ribs: Preheat the oven to 275°F (135°C). Place a wire rack on a baking sheet.

Peel and chop the onions into quarters. Unwrap the marinated ribs and place the onion quarters underneath the ribs.

Rewrap the ribs tightly and place them on the wire rack and baking sheet, and bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

When the meat is falling off the bone, they’re done. For extra authenticity, you can open up the foil and place the ribs under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes to darken them and better emulate Scappi’s open fires.

To make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Crush the garlic clove and add it to the pan along with the ground coriander. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in the red wine vinegar and the sapa and bring it to a simmer, then simmer for 2 minutes. The sauce will be fairly thin, much thinner than a modern barbecue sauce.