Alan Davidson

Ravioli

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

ravioli the archetypal stuffed pasta of the western world, can be presumed to be Italian in origin but had started to appear as far away as England by the 14th century (when the forme of Cury gave a recipe for ‘rauioles’), and was known in the south of France in medieval times.

So far as Italy is concerned, the earliest records of ravioli seem to be in some of the 140,000 preserved letters of Francesco di Marco, a merchant of Prato in the 14th century. They are described as being stuffed with pounded pork, eggs, cheese, parsley, and sugar; while in Lent a filling of herbs, cheese, and spices was used. There were both sweet and savoury kinds.