Garum

[The_Mariner]

Here is the Modern one I use, turns out really nice and is simple, have
not done the Ancient one yet.....

Try the modern recipe for yourself, leave the ancient one for.....Thy Enemy?

Garum Fish Sauce

As they are with modern Romans, sauces and marinades were an
essential element in ancient Roman cuisine. One of the most popular was
garum, a salty, aromatic, fish-based sauce. Like so many other Roman
treasures, it was borrowed from the ancient Greeks. Apicius used it in all
his recipes, and the poet Martial wrote of it: "Accept this exquisite garum,
a precious gift made with the first blood spilled from a living mackerel."


I won't recommend you try the ancient version (see below). Instead, try
the easier modern recipe.

Ancient Garum Recipe
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Use fatty fish, for example, sardines, and a well-sealed (pitched)
container with a 26-35 quart capacity. Add dried, aromatic herbs
possessing a strong flavor, such as dill, coriander, fennel, celery, mint,
oregano, and others, making a layer on the bottom of the container; then
put down a layer of fish (if small, leave them whole, if large, use pieces)
and over this, add a layer of salt two fingers high. Repeat these layers
until the container is filled. Let it rest for seven days in the sun. Then mix
the sauce daily for 20 days. After that, it becomes a liquid.

- Gargilius Martialis, De medicina et de virtute herbarum, reprinted from
A Taste of Ancient Rome


Modern Garum Recipe
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Cook a quart of grape juice, reducing it to one-tenth its original volume.
Dilute two tablespoons of anchovy paste in the concentrated juice and
mix in a pinch of oregano (Or Curry or Celery spice, or rosmary,
experiment) but DO NOT USE GRAPE PUNCH,use only Grape Juice!.