Antique Roman Dishes - Collection

Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 11:12:07 +0200

Contents

MARCUS GAVIUS APICIUS: DE RE COQUINARIA

The book I have is edited and translated from Latin by Robert Maier. My humble person only translated the German translations into English. I hope the recipes are still rather near to the originals...

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First I have to introduce you to some native Roman ingredients, such as:

-- Caroenum: Boiled must (you have to boil the new wine or grape juice until it is only half the amount you started with).

-- Defritum: Either thick fIg syrup, or must that's boiled until you have only a third of the amount with which you started.

-- Liebstoeckl: I didn't find an English translation. In Latin it's called 'levisticum officinale'. It's an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice. It seems to be a kind of celery.

-- Liquamen: a salty fish sauce. Most of the time you can replace it by salt.

-- Passum: Very sweet wine sauce, made by boiling the must (new wine or grape juice) to thicken it. (maybe add honey? - just my guess)

-- Poleiminze: A kind of mint that's growing in inundated areas. Just replace it by ordinary mint.

-- Saturei: I didn't find an English translation. In Latin it's called 'satureia hortensis'. It's a violet or white flowered kind of labiate plants which grows mainly in Southern Europe. It's used as a spice plant, especially for bean dishes.

-- Silphium: Its other names are 'Laser' or 'ferula asa foetida'. I've noticed that it's also called 'hing' in the Indian cuisine. It is an onion and garlic substitute and should be used rather sparingly because of its very strong taste and smell.

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And here are some useful conversions, taken from the FAQ maintained by mara@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (great job!)

5ml = 1 tsp 15ml = 1 tblsp 28.3g = 1 ounce ( ==> 100g = 3.5 ounces ) 454g = 1 pound ( ==> 1kg = 2.2 pound ) 250ml = 1 cup 1 l = 4 cups 180 deg C = 350 deg F 220 deg C = 425 deg F ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately the exact cooking temperatures and times haven't been handed down in all cases. You have to rely on your gut feeling. But I hope you enjoy all of it nonetheless!

ISICIA OMENTATA (a kind of Roman Burgers)

(Apic. 2, 1, 7) Ingredients: ------------ 500g minced meat 1 french roll, soaked in white wine 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 50ml Liquamen (can be replaced by 1/2 tsp salt + a little white wine) some stone-pine kernels and green peppercorns a little Caroenum Baking foil Instructions: ------------- Mix minced meat with the soaked french roll. Ground spices and mix into the meat. Form small burgers and put pine kernels and peppercorns into them. Put them into baking foil and grill them together with Caroenum.

(Apic. 3, 7) Ingredients: ------------ 1/2 honey melon \ both peeled, diced 1/2 water melon / and stoned 500ml Passum a little bit of honey (or Passum) 1 tblsp minced parsley 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper a little bit of Liquamen, or a dash of salt Poleiminze, Silphium, vinegar, if wanted Instructions: ------------- Cook diced melons in a pan together with spices and herbs until done. Sometimes Silphium is added.

(Apic. 4, 2, 30) Ingredients: ------------ 500g boiled fillet of small fishes or whole sardelles 150g dried raisins (sultanas) 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 1 tblsp Liebstoeckl 1 tblsp oregano 2 small diced onions 200ml oil 50ml Liquamen, or 1/2 tsp salt some cornstarch Instructions: ------------- Mix raisins, pepper, Liebstoeckl, oregano, onion, wine, Liquamen and oil together and put in a casserole. Cook until done. Then put small boiled fish fillets or boiled small whole fishes into it. Thicken with a bit of cornstarch and serve.

(Apic. 4, 2, 35) Ingredients: ------------ 1kg pears (peeled and without core) 6 eggs 4 tblsp honey 100ml Passum a little bit oil 50ml Liquamen, or 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground cumin ground pepper to taste Instructions: ------------- Mesh cooked and peeled pears (without core) together with pepper,cumin, honey, Passum, Liquamen and a bit of oil. Add eggs and put into a casserole. Cook approximately 30 minutes on small to moderate heat. Serve with a bitt of pepper sprinkled on the soufflee.

(Apic. 4, 3, 1) Ingredients: ------------ 500g fish fillet (e.g. salmon) 250ml white wine 500ml beef broth 3 leek branches (I hope branch is the correct expression...) 100ml oil Liquamen or salt, coriander, pepper, Liebstoeckl, Oregano to taste a little bit of starch or flour to thicken the sauce Instructions: ------------- Put the fish in a pan, add Liquamen, oil, wine and broth. Chop leek branches and coriander. Chop fillets into a kind of fish goulash.bszRC Cook approximately 30 minutes on small to moderate heat. When well done ground coriander, Liebstoeckl and oregano and add to the fish fricassee. Boil again shortly. Then thicken sauce with starch, sprinkle pepper on the fricasse and serve.

(Apic. 4, 5, 4) Ingredients: ------------ 1kg firm ripe apricots or nectarines 200ml white wine 250ml Passum ^D:-y?1 peppermint tea bag (portion for one cup) pepper, Liquamen or salt, cornstarch, a little vinegar and honeykE)T@wfC>r7wZ {L,i&6sSyv: ------------- Wash, cut and stone apricots. Put them with a little cold water in a pan. Ground pepper and dried mint (that's where the tea bag comes handy...), add Liquamen, honey, Passum, wine and vinegar. Pour into the pan with a little oil. Cook approximately 20 minutes on small to moderate heat. After it boiled add a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce, sprinkle with pepper and serve.

(Apic. 5, 6, 1) Ingredients: ------------ )500g soybeans with pod, or green beans 50ml Liquamen, or 1/2 tsp salt with 50ml wine 1-2 tblsp oil 1 tblsp minced coriander leaves (or 1/2 tblsp ground coriander seed) 1 tsp cumin seeds 1/2 minced branch of leek Instructions: ------------- Cook beans with Liquamen, oil, leek and spices. Serve.

(Apic. 6, 9, 13) Ingredients: ------------ 1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg) 100ml oil 200ml Liquamen, or 200ml wine + 2 tsp salt 1 branch of leek fresh dill, Saturei, coriander, pepper to taste a little bit of Defritum Instructions: ------------- Start to fry chicken and season with a mixture of Liquamen and oil, together with bunches of dill, leek, Saturei and fresh coriander. Then cook approximately 1 hour with 220 deg C in the oven. When the chicken is done, moisten a plate with Defritum, put chicken on it, sprinkle pepper on it, and serve.

(Apic. 6, 9, 15) Ingredients: ------------ 1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg) 300g minced meat (half beef, half pork) 100g groats (of oat) 2 eggs 250ml white wine 1 tblsp oil 1 tblsp Liebstoeckl 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground pepper 1 tsp green peppercorns 50g stone-pine kernels Liquamen or salt to taste Instructions: ------------- Ground pepper, Liebstoeckl, ginger, minced meat and cooked groats. Add eggs and mix until you have a smooth mass. Season with Liquamen, add oil, whole peppercorns and stone-pine kernels. Fill this dough into the chicken. Cook approximately 1 hour with 220 deg C in the oven.

(Apic. 7, 13, 1) Ingredients: ------------ 200g fresh or dried dates 50g coarsely ground nuts or stone-pine kernels a little bit salt honey, or red wine with honey (to stew) Instructions: ------------- Take the stones out of the dates and fill them with nuts or stone-pine kernels. Sprinkle a bit of salt on the filled dates and stew them in honey or honey-sweetened red wine. The dates have to be cooked in on low heat until their paring starts to come off (approximately 5-10 minutes). Note: ----- You may also fill some dates with ground pepper. (I wonder how this might taste - but that's a suggestion made in the original recipe.)

(Apic. 7, 13, 5) Ingredients: ------------ 250g coarsely ground nuts 100g coarsely ground stone-pine kernels 3-4 tblsp honey 1 tsp minced rue 50ml Passum 50ml milk 2 eggs honey to drip on afterwards a small amound of ground pepper Instructions: ------------- Mesh pepper, pine kernels, honey, rue and Passum with milk and eggs, and boil the dough. Serve topped with honey and sprinkle with pepper.

(Apic. 7, 13, 7) Ingredients: ------------ 500ml milk 6 eggs 3 tblsp honey a little bit of ground pepper Instructions: ------------- Sweeten milk with honey, add eggs and mix together until smooth. Cook on low heat until stiff, sprinkle pepper on it and serve.

(Apic. 7, 13, 8) Ingredients: ------------ 8 eggs 600ml milk 100ml oil a little bit honey a little bit ground pepper Instructions: ------------- Mix eggs, milk and oil until you have a pancake dough. Fry in a pan and serve topped with honey and a little pepper.

(Apic. 7, 19, 3) Ingredients: ------------ 8 hard boiled eggs (not too well done - boil ca. 4 minutes) 50g stone-pine kernels honey, pepper, vinegar, Liebstoeckl, Liquamen (or salt) to taste Instructions: ------------- Dressing for boiled eggs: Mix together pepper, Liebstoeckl, soaked pine kernels. Add honey and vinegar and season with Liquamen. Serve together with the eggs.

(Apic. 8, 5, 1) Ingredients: ------------ 800g - 1kg veal 300g dried raisins (sultanas) 1 tblsp honey 2 tblsp vinegar 200ml wine 100ml oil 100ml Defritum 100ml Liquamen (or 1tsp salt) pepper, celery seeds, Liebstoeckl, cumin, oregano, dried onion to taste Instructions: ------------- Fry veal in olive oil until well done. Mix raisins, wine, vinegar, honey, oil, Liquamen and spices together in an extra pan, shortly boil the sauce. Pour over the veal, then leave the meat for 10 minutes in the sauce and cook on low heat. Serve.

(Apic. 8, 5, 3) Ingredients: ------------ 800g - 1kg veal pepper, Liebstoeckl, cumin, celery seeds to taste 2 tblsp honey 2 tblsp vinegar 100ml oil 100ml Liquamen (or 100ml white wine + 1 tsp salt) a little bit of cornstarch Instructions: ------------- Cook the veal for about 1 1/2 hour until well done. Mix together honey, vinegar, oil, ligamen and spices in an extra pan. Boil the sauce only shortly and thicken it with cornstarch. Then pour sauce over the veal and let boil on low heat for another 10 minutes. Serve.