02-04-2004, 03:08 PM
Wendy, I have to admit that until I got the Lea and Perrins bottle out of the cupboard yesterday to check the ingredients I didn't know either!<br>
<br>
So, what is the verdict Aitor?<br>
I don't think swigging it straight out of the bottle is too advisable-as you might have discovered by now. But if you go for the glass add some vodka and tomato juice too.<br>
<br>
As Wendy said, it's good for seasoning stews etc...pretty much the same function as garum in fact.<br>
<br>
Jane Renfrew in Food and Cooking in roman Britain suggests using anchovy essence as a substitute for garum.<br>
There is also a translation from Geoponica XX 46,1-6 that gives three different ways of preparing garum. One was salting the fish and leaving them out into the sun to dry and then straining them through a fine meshed basket.<br>
Another method:<br>
"If you wish to use the garum at once i.e not expose it to the sun but boil it-make it in the following manner. Take brine and test it's strength by throwing an egg into it to try if it floats: if it sinks the brine does not contain enough salt. Put the fish (atherinae or red mullet or sprats or anchovy) into the brine in a new earthernware pot, add origan, put it on a good fire until it boils...let it cool and strain it over two or three times until clear, seal and store away."<br>
The third method-and the best garum-was produced from the entrails of tunny fish, it's gills, juice and blood and enough salt. These were to be left in a vessel for a maximum of two months before piercing the side of the vessel and letting the resulting garum flow out.<br>
<br>
The second one doesn't seem too difficult to try out.<br>
<br>
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<br>
So, what is the verdict Aitor?<br>
I don't think swigging it straight out of the bottle is too advisable-as you might have discovered by now. But if you go for the glass add some vodka and tomato juice too.<br>
<br>
As Wendy said, it's good for seasoning stews etc...pretty much the same function as garum in fact.<br>
<br>
Jane Renfrew in Food and Cooking in roman Britain suggests using anchovy essence as a substitute for garum.<br>
There is also a translation from Geoponica XX 46,1-6 that gives three different ways of preparing garum. One was salting the fish and leaving them out into the sun to dry and then straining them through a fine meshed basket.<br>
Another method:<br>
"If you wish to use the garum at once i.e not expose it to the sun but boil it-make it in the following manner. Take brine and test it's strength by throwing an egg into it to try if it floats: if it sinks the brine does not contain enough salt. Put the fish (atherinae or red mullet or sprats or anchovy) into the brine in a new earthernware pot, add origan, put it on a good fire until it boils...let it cool and strain it over two or three times until clear, seal and store away."<br>
The third method-and the best garum-was produced from the entrails of tunny fish, it's gills, juice and blood and enough salt. These were to be left in a vessel for a maximum of two months before piercing the side of the vessel and letting the resulting garum flow out.<br>
<br>
The second one doesn't seem too difficult to try out.<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
