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Aug 24 2023
Update to Spanish Cuisine’s Flavors From the Spanish Golden Age
1607. Los Fogones del Colegio highlights Spanish recipes from the 16th and 17th centuries
A new book entitled 1607. Los Fogones del Colegio Mayor, by Santiago Huete, Luis Lorenzo, and César Niño has recently been in the spotlight. The book, by three authors from Salamanca, is an exhaustive update of the cookbook entitled Libro de Arte de Cozina, originally written by Domingo Hernández de Maceras in the Colegio Mayor de Oviedo, at the University of Salamanca, in 1607.
This new book offers an exhaustive analysis of the 17th century cookbook and includes original texts written by Huete about life in Salamanca, the local university, the city’s Jewish quarter, among other aspects, during that period. Says Huete, the book “pays homage to Hernández de Maceras, author of one of the few cookbooks from that time period in Spain. It’s a very original cookbook, with dishes that reflect day-to-day life and there are barely any copies in circulation. We endeavored to put those recipes from Salamanca in 1607 into context and explain how they reflect life in the city at that time.”
The original book reflects how batter technique was already used in that time and that arroz con leche, a signature dessert recipe today in Spain was also a popular recipe then. “The range of ingredients available in the 17th century was very limited. As a result, the book reflects what is considered zero kilometre cuisine, which makes it quite up to date. But what is also amazing is the great imagination of Hernández de Maceras, something that helped him make some powerful récipes,” says Niño.
This is a Castilian, Muslim, Romany, and pre-Columbian cookbook with very powerful gastronomic contributions, and the new book goes even further by telling the story of the Renaissance Salamanca of the 16th and 17th centuries (Spain’s Golden Age) by updating the original cookbook, maintaining the flavors of those centuries at all times.
This book also features more than 30 recipes from Niño, the chef behind El Alquimista restaurant, along with spectacular photographs. All of the recipes have been inspired in Hernández de Maceras’ original cookbook.
There are 750 copies of the book 1607. Los Fogones del Colegio Mayor available, and they can be found in various bookstores in the city of Salamanca.