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07-12-2003, 05:27 PM

Greetings all. A friend sent me a few dish ideas and I would like to share them with all of you. Sorry for any incorrectness this is the original e-mail and I myself have not tried them yet: 
 
Here are some ingredients of ancient Rome that you may need to know: 
 
*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: Lovage. In Latin it is 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: Savory. 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; in Germany it is called the 'bean herb'. 
 
*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. 
 
Conversions: 
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 
 
Isicia Omentata 
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. 
 
Pepones Et Melones 
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. 
 
Patina De Pisciculius 
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. 
 
Patina De Piris 
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. 
 
Minutal Marinum 
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. 
 
Gustum De Praecoquis 
Ingredients: 
------------ 
1kg firm ripe apricots or nectarines 
200ml white wine 
250ml Passum 
1 peppermint tea bag (portion for one cup) 
pepper, Liquamen or salt, cornstarch, a little vinegar and honey 
------------- 
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. 
 
Dulcia Domestica 
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). 
 
Scillas 
Ingredients: 
------------ 
500g cooked and prepared big shrimps 
1 tsp green pepper 
1 tblsp Liebstoeckl 
1/2 tsp ground celery seeds 
2-3 tblsp vinegar 
100ml Liquamen (or 1/2 tsp salt) 
4-5 hacked hard-boiled egg yolks 
 
Instructions: 
------------- 
Cook shrimps. Then ground pepper, celery seeds and Liebstoeckl. Pour 
vinegar, Liquamen and egg yolks over it and mix thoroughly. Pour the 
mixture over the shrimpsand serve. 
 
Aliter Baedinam Sive Agninam Excaldatam 
Ingredients: 
------------ 
10 lamb cutlets 
1 l white wine 
100ml oil 
2 big onions, diced 
2 tblsp ground coriander 
1 tsp ground pepper 
1 tblsp Liebstoeckl 
1 tsp ground cumin 
200ml Liquamen (or 2 tsp salt) 
 
Instructions: 
------------- 
Put cutlets into pot, together with diced onion and spices. Add Liquamen, 
oil and wine. Cook 45-60 minutes. Pour sauce into a pan and thicken it 
with starch. Serve cutlets together with the sauce. 
 
In Vitulinam Elixam 
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.

**richsc** · 07-13-2003, 06:18 PM

Those look good: could eat those I think. Thanks; have to try them out on the Legio XX soon.

07-13-2003, 08:12 PM

Glad I could help. Hope the legion likes them. 
 
Jason

Arturius Britannicus · 07-14-2003, 11:52 AM

Ah, always glad to hear about food!! I would note though that Sally Grainger, talking of garum noted " I have conducted experiments with recipes, using salt instead of fish sauce and found the result to be far less appetizing." 
 
I am also told that Philippine "baboong" is a great substitute for garum. 
 
I like a meal of bulgar cooked in safron and chicken stock, and mixed with cooked sliced sausages, and onions and garlic that have been sauted in a nice olive oil. With salt and pepper, you have a dish that would have all the common items that would have been available to the Romans--even out on the wall!! It even tastes good!! 
 
Arturius Britannicus 
coh.III.gal.et.br 
(attached to LXF) 
Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub27.ezboard.com/bromancivtalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=arturiusbritannicus>Arturius Britannicus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.quiknet.com/~fifi/index4.html" BORDER=0> at: 7/14/03 1:54 pm

07-14-2003, 03:30 PM

did some honeyed mushrooms at the w/e and was asked by Joe Public what the correct ratio of ingredients was................................................ 
 
 
I said I didn't know, I just added stuff til it tasted right 
 
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Caius Fabius · 07-14-2003, 08:55 PM

for Garum, I use Vietnamese fish sauce (nuc bmamb) okay I didn't spell it right... 
All of my modern sources tell me that Lybian laser (Silphium) is extinct and has been for over 1000 years. The modern substitutes probably have a different taste. asa foetida is available, but is probably not what the 1st century Romans used. 
 
Of course, we must remember that the tastebuds of the ancients might not be the same as our modern tastes. Even from culture to culture today, there are differing ideas of what tastes good and what is too much spice or sweet or whatever, and what flavors go well together, so we can't really say if what we like is what the Romans would have liked at a certain time and in a certain region! Romans living in Rome might have different tastes than those living in Ostia or Pompeii, or even further afield! "Just before class started, I looked in the big book where all the world's history is written, and it said...." Neil J. Hackett, PhD ancient history, professor OSU, 1987

venicone · 07-28-2003, 09:01 AM

Term &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Translation 
Acetum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Sour wine 
Axungia &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Pork fat 
Bracis &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Cereal 
Cervesa &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Beer 
Cervina &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Venison 
Condimenta &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Spices 
Faba &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Beans 
Frumentum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Wheat 
Hordeum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Barley 
Malum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Apples 
Muria&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Fish sauce 
Oleum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Oil 
Olivae&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Olives 
Ostria &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Oysters 
Ova &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Eggs 
Perna&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Ham 
Piper &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Pepper 
Pullus &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Chicken 
Sal&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Salt 
Vinum &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Wine 
 
 
from the Vindolanda tablets 
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venicone · 07-29-2003, 09:28 AM

another useful and interesting message board for discussion on Roman Food is Apicius 
 
you can see it at groups.yahoo.com/group/Apicius/ 
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