People have cooked for a very, very long time - some scientists claim that human culture started with cooking in the first place. But only around 1570 appeared the first textbook for professional chefs. It was written by the Italian Bartolomeo Scappi.

The man of the people became the personal chef of a total of five popes and raised the art of cooking in the Vatican to a whole new level. He pampered the Roman church superiors with worldly pleasures, such as duck with plums and dried sour cherries or braised stare with edible thistles under grated cheese.

Scappi's opulent menus with many, many courses were carefully composed and arranged. Among other things, he invented the Zabaglione, a fluffy whipped cream with the sweet Marsala wine, until today a popular Italian dessert.

Scappi's baked mozzarella rice seems rather simple at first glance before all this culinary splendor. But rice had just been introduced in Europe at the time. And Scappi was the first who mentioned the buffalo milk cheese mozzarella in a recipe by name - for the clergy in the Vatican, the food should have been quite a surprise.

The fact that the hearty dish is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, seems quite strange today. But then, at exquisite tables, sprinkled spices and sugar over almost everything, not least to demonstrate that you could afford the expensive ingredients.

Does that taste good? TV chef Christian Rach himself was curious when he re-cooked the 16th-century dish. So much is revealed: the papal rice is a real feel-good food. And more historical recipes can be found in the current issue of "SPIEGEL Geschichte".

The recipe:

300 g round grain rice
800 ml of chicken broth
50 g butter
50 g of grated Parmesan
4 egg yolks
200 g mozzarella, cut into strips
Cinnamon and sugar at will

1. Cook the rice in the chicken broth for about 30 minutes.

2. Lift the grated Parmesan under the rice.

3. Put two-thirds of the mass in a buttered casserole dish.

4. Press in four tablespoons with a tablespoon and give each egg yolk.

5. Place mozzarella strips over the hollows

6. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

7. Cover with the remaining rice and bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes in the oven.

Good Appetite!

  • More dishes with history , tested by TV chef Christian Rach, can be found here.