Quod ad carnis temperiem attinet, sunt in quatuor [349] qualitatibus temperati, quare multum alunt, et venerem augent, teste Isaac, qui alibi etiam Capum avibus omnibus praefert, ut qui melius nutrimentum, et perfectum generet sanguinem. Villanovanus Capos in cibo probat circa aetatem sex, vel septem, vel octo mensium.

As to temperament of the flesh, they have the four kind of humors of the temperament, hence they nourish quite a lot and increase the sexual desire, as Isaac Iudaeus affirms, who also elsewhere prefers the capon to any bird, as that giving rise to best nourishment and perfect blood. Arnaldus of Villanova praises the capons as food when they are about 6-7-8 months aged.

In Gallinacei historia permulta, a nobis recitata sunt, quae omni harum avium generi, tum salubritatis in cibo, tum apparatus ratione communia sunt: itaque hic ea tantummodo, quae ad Capos privatim pertinent, afferemus[1]. Quod modo ad coquendi, ac apparandi rationem attinet, haec sane varia est, et pro cuiusque libitu instituta. Vel autem elixantur, vel assantur. Iulius Alexandrinus inter recentiores scriptores Medicos illustris Capos subsequenti modo elixans medici potius, quam coqui partes agit. Capum prius per se elixat, huius pulpas, praecipue vero alarum, ac pectunculorum cum apii una ac betae radicibus sumit, addit caseum, et friati panis parum, ova sex circiter, uvarum passularum aliquid, cinnamomum, zinziberis, piperis, {caryophillorum} <caryophyllorum> quantum satis esse existimat, butyri cochlear magnum: componit omnia simul, comminutis prius, quae comminui, tritis, quae teri debeant, in massam, quam deinde in offas dividit figura, et magnitudine ovali fere. Rapeolos, inquit, multi vocant, quod ex friatis prius id epuli genus forte rapis concinnatum fuerit, dein minutim etiam concisis herbulis, demum et animalium carne. Has tenui ex subacta farina, quam pastam vocat aliquoties, folio seorsim singulas involvit offulas, eodem Capi iure recoquit: exemptis, patinaeque iniectis caseum infriat, et calidi affundit butyri satis. Est vero talis mixtura plurimae alimoniae, sed quae sanguinem, ut ipsemet attestatur, inflammet, vitiosumque succum generet, meatusque obstruat. Nostri vero coqui eiusmodi herbas, ut quae ingratum potius, quam gratum saporem carni concilient, minime adijciunt, sed vel simpliciter elixant, vel ex caseo recenti pil{l}ulas adijciunt, et friatum caseum veterem superinspergunt: qui sane cibus gratissimus est.

In the chicken's account I said a lot of things which are in common with all the genus of these birds both regarding their healthfulness as food and the methods of preparing them: hence at this point I will report only what is specifically concerning the capons. And, as far as methods of cooking and preparing is concerned, they are various indeed and suited to the pleasure of whoever. In fact they are either boiled or roasted: Iulius Alexandrinus, renowned among recent medical writers, when boiling the capons in the following way, he plays rather the part of physician than of cook. At first he boils the capon alone, takes its soft flesh, but especially of wings and breast along with roots of fennel and beet, adds cheese and little breadcrumbs, more or less six eggs, some raisins, and as much as he thinks enough of cinnamon, ginger, pepper, cloves, a big spoon of butter, he puts them all together in kneading after first minced what must be minced and crushed what must be crushed, and then he divides the mixture in bites which have almost the shape and the size of an egg. He says that many people call them radishes because perhaps this kind of course was made with grated turnips, then with thin chopped up herbs too, finally also with flesh of animals. He separately wraps one by one these small bites in a sheet of pastry made with kneaded flour, which sometimes he calls pasta, and he cooks them again in the same capon broth: after he removed them from broth and put them on a plate, he grates cheese upon and pours enough hot butter. In truth this mixture is very nourishing, but it is such that it inflames the blood, as he himself affirms, it produces a bad body fluid and obstructing drain ways. In truth our cooks don't add these vegetables at all because they give an unpleasant rather than a pleasant taste, but either they simply cook them or add little balls of fresh cheese and sprinkle grated old cheese, and in truth it is a very pleasant food.

Molesta vero etsi pariter, multique laboris assatio est, quam idem Iulius Alexandrinus praescribit paulo post, elegans tamen, et laudanda, si herbas eas ante nominatas excipias. Coques, inquit, eadem materia conclusum integrum Capum, excepto quod alae, pedesque {iefracti} <infracti>, et collum retorquentur in corpus, ut angustius iaceat: ovorum, luteis duratis aliquot infarcies, ea configes {caryophillis} <caryophyllis> binis, ternisve, singula salita prius, tum pruna accipies, et si haec ad manus non sunt, uvae passae, aliquid, {limoniive} <limonisve> tenuius concisi, aut utriusque partem, ova sex fere: tudicula miscentur, agitanturque haec: tum butyri bene recentis adijcitur pro Capi pinguedine plus minus, sed quod liquaminis tamen instar efficiat, hoc madescet immersus intus Capus: postremo factum ex eadem farina imponetur vasi operculum. Hoc modo immittitur furno farinacea patella, sive olla, sive testa, sive escarium vas id, ovorum prius albumine illitum. Si anniculus fuerit Capus, non ante tertiam horam extrahi furno debet. Cautio erit, si quid furni calore agitatius factum effundi visum fuerit, vulgata charta nostra texisse, statim id reprimere effervescentiam illam solet. Calidum inferre mensae vult. Nonnulli ante perfectam cocturam vini aliquid affundunt, convivisque iam apposituri luteum ovi aceto dilutum adijciunt. Haec ille.

But to roast them it is troublesome and anyway requires alike a marked care, and soon after Iulius Alexandrinus himself gives instructions of this, however to roast them it is refined and praiseworthy if you rule out the above-mentioned herbs. He says: you will cook an entire capon wrapped by only its own skin, except that broken wings and legs and neck are turned toward the body so that it may lie in a narrower place: you will stuff it with some hard-boiled egg yolks piercing them with two or three cloves, every thing has first to be salted, then you will take some plums, and if these are not available, some raisins or lemon cut up rather thin, or a little of both, more or less six eggs: they are mixed and beaten using a crusher: then a certain quantity of very fresh butter is added according to the fatness of the capon, however so that it becomes as a juice, and the capon getting submerged in it has to become soaked inside: finally a pot-lid but made of flour has to be placed on it. Prepared in this way, it is introduced in the oven into a floured frying pan, or in a pot, or in an earthenware pot, or in a  kitchenware first smeared with white of eggs. If the capon is one year old do not remove it from the oven before three hours have passed. You have to beware if it seems that something made rather bubbling by the heat of the oven is pouring out, to have covered it with our common paper usually stops such a bubbling. He says it  must be served hot. Some people pour on some wine before the cooking is completed and when are about to present it to the guests they add egg yolk diluted in vinegar. Thus far Alexandrinus.

Nostris coquis in veru assare Capones usitatum est, et cum vel malis aurantiis, vel {limoniis} <limonibus> in frusta conscissis convivis exhibere. Quod si vero sese offerat occasio, ut neque elixare, neque assare ad ignem Capum queamus, uti fit in longo itinere, ubi saepe hospitia desunt, tunc domo abeuntes chalybem ignitum nobiscum feremus, eumque in deplumem Capum, ac exenteratum inijciemus, accurate uno, alterove mantili obvolventes, ne calor evanescat: sic enim esui aptum reddemus etiam inter equitandum, modo meminerimus subinde alitem versare. Verumenimvero tetro inficietur odore, sed ferendo tamen, ac grato famelicis. Iam de preparationis varietate dicendum.

Our cooks are in the habit of roasting capons on spit and of presenting them to guests with either sweet oranges or lemons cut into little pieces. But if it happens that we don't want either to boil or roast a capon on fire, as it happens on a long journey when often hotels are lacking, then leaving home we will carry with us an object of red-hot steel and place it into the plucked and disemboweled capon, wrapping it carefully in one or two towels so that heat is not lost: for in this way we will make it fit for be eaten even while we are riding, if we only remember to turn the bird repeatedly. But truly it will be soaked by a repugnant smell, but bearable and pleasant for those people who are hungry. Now we have to speak about the various ways of preparing it.

Mirause[2] Catellanicum[3] lauti genus cibi est a Platina his verbis descriptum: Catellani gens quidem lauta, et quae ingenio, ac corpore Italicae solertiae haud multum dissimili<s>[4] habetur, obsonium, quod mirause illi vocant, sic condiunt: Capos, aut pullastras, aut Pipiones, bene exenteratos et lotos in veru collocant, volvuntque ad focum tantisper quoad semicocti fuerint. Inde exemptos, ac {tessalatim} <tessellatim> divisos in ollam indunt: amygdalas deinde tostas sub cinere calido, abstersasque lineo panno terunt. His buccellas aliquot panis {subtosit} <subtosti> addunt, mixtaque cum aceto, et iure per cribrum setaceum transmittunt. {Postea} <Posita> in ollam haec omnia {inspersoque} <inspersaque>[5] cinnamo, zinzibere, et saccaro multo, tamdiu effervere simul in car{bo}nibus[6] procul a flamma, lento igne permittunt, quo ad iustam cocturam pervenerint, miscendo semper cum cochleari, ne seriae adhaereant. Hoc nihil suavius e<di>sse memini. Multi est alimenti: tarde concoquitur, hepar, et renes concalefacit, corpus obesat, ventrem ciet.

The Catalan mirause is a kind of sumptuous food described by Platina by these words: The Catalans, a polished people indeed and who are thought not very dissimilar in character and body traits from Italic ingeniousness, season in the following way a dish they call mirause: they place on the spit capons, or pullets, or pigeons well cleaned from entrails and well washed, and turn them on the fire until are half cooked. After removed them from fire and squared them off, they place them into a pot: then mince almonds toasted under hot ash and cleaned with a flax cloth. They add morsels of just toasted bread, and pass the things mixed with vinegar and broth through a horsehair sieve. After they placed into a pot all these ingredients and sprinkled with cinnamon, ginger and a lot of sugar, they let them boil together with meat away from flame on a slow heat until they did reach a right cooking, stirring all the time with a spoon so that they don't stick to the pot. I don't remember to have eaten something sweeter than this dish. It is very nourishing: it is slowly digested, heats liver and kidneys, fattens the body, moves the bowels.