Dining with Emperors:
A Taste of Ancient Rome
Viscountess Muriel von Schrecken
West Coast Cooks Symposium
February 11, 2012, A.S. XLVI
Table of Contents
I. Introduction and Scope
This class was inspired by a wine tasting class where the fledgling wine connoisseurs tasted the elements of wine to determine which flavors they appreciated most. So, each wine drinker tasted sugar, alcohol, tannin, and acid in purer forms. After tasting each element, they then tasted a few wines that featured that element in different combination with the other elements. At the end of the class, the wine drinker had a better understanding of the elements and combinations of them that pleased their palates. As a result of being more informed, these fledging connoisseurs could better appreciate various wines by understanding how the elements come together.
As the title of this class states, the Rome in questions is the Roman Empire , from the first through the fifth century AC. This class attempts to answer the question, what is the quintessential Roman food, or in other words, what makes Roman food Roman?
So I began to ask myself, what are the elements of Roman food and how do they combine to create the quintessential Roman food?
This class is a journey through flavors. We will begin with a brief historical perspective on Roman food, mainly from the only two oldest known surviving cook cooks. Then we will review the statistics that tell us what ingredients the Roman’s used most and in what combinations. We will delve into a few details on production methods of the more unique ingredients. We will then taste the most common of these ingredients individually. You will prepare of blend of spices and liquids that suites your palate. As time allows, we will use these blends to finish preparing dishes for this evening’s dinner. By the end of the class you will have a greater appreciation for what makes Roman food Roman.
II. The Sources
At the height of Imperial Rome, the Empire extended from Britannia to North Africa and from Spain to Syria across all of Western Europe, the Mediterranean and Anatolia (Turkey
Apicius is a collection of recipes organized into 10 books or chapters. It is unlikely that the entire collection was written by a single person. Based on references within the chapters to later gourmands like Vitellius and the fact that Athanaeus in the third century makes no mention of this book, and the Vulgar Latin used, it is conjectured that the book was written no earlier than 300 A.D. It was copied around 900A.D. and kept in the Vatican Italy Roman Academy [2] was established by Pomponio Leto, whose members adopted Greek and Latin names and discussed classical questions and also celebrated the birthday of Romulus
Historians have been able to identify three real Apicius from history. The most likely inspirer of this tome was Marcus Gavius Apicius, a rich and noble lord who lived in the first century A.D. during the reign of Tiberius (14-37 A.D.). Much of what we know about M. Gavius Apicius comes from Anthenaeus in the third century who indicates that Apicius created many dishes, had many dishes named after him, had started a cookery school and even wrote a book on luxurious living. We learn from Juvenal that, by the second century, Apicius was the name given to any gourmet or to one who was obsessed and excessive when it came to food.
There are two stories that clearly illustrate Apicius’ luxurious life. In one story, Apicius at Miturnea while indulging in local seafood hears of fantastically juice and gigantic prawns off the coast of North Africa . He immediately hops into a ship and sets sail. Upon reaching the cost of North Africa after a rough voyage, the villagers row out to meet the rich visitor with their catches. After Apicius sees the local prawns he refuses them as no better than the Miturneans and returns home without ever setting foot on shore. In another story, after spending 100 million Sesterces (HS) on a meal and learning he has only 30 million HS[3] left, he commits suicide by drinking poison at a banquet[4] set up for just this occasion. This story is retold by at least four different ancient authors. If nothing else it is an illustration of the excess in ancient Rome that was not constrained to Emperors like Caligula and Queens like Cleopatra[5].
Apician Excerpts by Vindarius is a collection of 30 recipes dated between 300-550 AC based on its form of Latin and the spices mentioned. This book begins with a listing of spices to be kept in the kitchen. The author, Vindarius, was likely a Goth who lived between 460 and 550 and was well acquainted with Roman culture through his senior positions in the Empire. The recipes here, while sharing similarities with those in Apicius are additional Roman recipes, not just copies.
The following timeline gives a taste of food history from Around the time that Apicius was compiled.
7th -8th c B.C. Archeological evidence from this time shows the fish sauce industry in southern Spain and around the Black Sea
600 B.C. Greeks and Egyptians share secrets of leavened breads.
356-323 B.C. Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire and brings citrus fruits, peaches, pistachio nuts, and peacocks back to Greece
250-184 B.C. A Plautus’ comedy ridicules the Roman’s cuisine likening it to cattle be fattened on fresh greens of coriander, fennel, garlic, alexanders, sorrel, cabbage, beet, silphium, mustard seeds.
2nd c B.C. The Greeks introduce the Romans to sausage, lucanicae
180 B.C. Cato writes De Agricultura documenting how to create a layered cake.
150 B.C. Rome conquers and enslaves Greece and bakers appear in Rome
44 B.C. Roman Republic declines and Roman Empire begins.
44 A.C. De Re Rustica written by Columella including instructions on wine making. Marcus Gavius Apicius lived during reign of Tiberius.
54-60 A.C. Emperor Nero eats the last Cyrenaica Laser plant. It is now extinct. Now we settle for Pithian Laser, Ferula asafoetida.
170-230 A.C. Anthenaeus lives and writes The Partying Professors, a discourse on food and related subjects. Juvenal equated Apicius with gourmets and luxurious living.
300 A.C. Apicius compiled
476 A.C. Huns invade Corinth Rome
500 A.C. Vindarius compiles Apician Excerpts including one of the first food recipes using clove and cinnamon, which were previously used in only perfumes
800 A.C. Crete becomes Muslim and begin their abstinence from Pork. Bulgars share secrets of yogurt making with Greeks.
900 A.C. Apicius is copied and placed in Vatican
III. The Statistics
The following statistics were compiled from the translation of Apicius by Grocock and Grainger using Books 2 through 10, which consist of 424 entries. Book one was intentionally omitted since the majority of these recipes were not dishes to be served at a meal, but were recipes for cooking broths, pickles, or digestives. Excluding non-recipe entries (12) and including optional preparations (13 additional) there are a total of 427 recipes that form the basis for the statistics below. See Appendix A for a discussion on the methods used to collect the data and generate the statistics.
A. Categories of Recipes
The recipes are grouped by standard categories such as dairy, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetable, etc. There categories unique to the Apicius data are sauce, meat, and various. The category sauce is a count of recipes that is a sauce for a main ingredient of a dish and where there are no instructions on how to prepare the main ingredient (e.g. sauces for ostrich in section 6.1). The category, meat, includes recipes where “meat” is mentioned, but the type of meat (beef, pork, etc) is not specified. Book two in Apicius is called “Meat Dishes” which is devoted to items called isicia, or as Grocock and Grainger refer to them, forcemeat. They are various forms of sausages and meatballs in which any variety of meat might be used. The category various is used to indicate that there is no predominate main ingredient. Salads are a type of dish that falls into this category. Figure 1 shows the distribution of recipes by category.
This recipe collection is predominantly of sauces and vegetables. Given that sauces are meant to be eaten with another item, this distribution of recipes does not fully reveal the actual food we would see on a Roman table. If we redistribute the sauces to the category of food for which they are intended (e.g. 6.1 Sauces for Ostrich are counted in the category of “fowl”; and 8.2 Sauces for Deer are count in the category of “Deer”) then we arrive a more revealing distribution of the recipes.
Figure 2. Recipe Categories (including sauces in each category)
The top five most common categories of recipes in Apicius according to Figure 2 were for the following items with or without sauce: vegetables, pork/boar, seafood, fish, and egg. Vegetables included cabbage, parsnips, and bulbs, typically hyacinth. Pork recipes included piglet, meatballs, sows wombs, and wild boar. Seafood recipes included lobsters, sea urchins, and cuttlefish. Fowl included chicken, duck, goose, guinea hen, flamingo, crane and partridge. Fish included tuna, mullet, bream, and bonito. These are rather broad categories. Let’s take a look at the main ingredient in these recipes.
B. Main Ingredients
Main ingredients are defined as the item making up the majority or base of a recipe. Figure 3 shows the top 20 most common main ingredients in Roman cooking.
Figure 3. Top 20 Main Ingredients in Roman Cooking
Figure 3shows us that a guest at a Roman table is twice as likely to see meat on the table, then gourds; twice as likely to see meat, then piglet; and twice as likely to see piglet then either mussels, birds, or eggs with fish.
So where did the vegetables and seafood go? This graph combined with the first one tells us that there was no single vegetable or seafood that was more frequent then meat, although gourds, fish, and mussels (seafood) still made the top 10. The single most common item to be found on the Roman table would be meat. Based on the figure 3, it is likely that the unspecified meat is pork in one of many forms piglet, boar, or the generic pork.
Figure 4 breaks out the recipes for the Top 10 main ingredients by how the dishes would be served, either with or without sauce.
Figure 4. Top 10 Main Ingredients including sauce recipes
C. Seasonings
Seasonings are defined as additions to the main ingredient to add flavor. I have broken seasonings into two categories: dry and liquid.
Dry seasonings include spices, herbs, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. Liquid seasonings include liquamen, oil, honey, wine and various syrups.
1. Dry Seasonings
There are 71 different dry seasonings mentioned in Apicius and 84% of the recipes in Apicius have at least one dry seasoning. Figure 5 shows the most common dry seasonings in Roman recipes and whether they are used for cooking, sauces, or garnishing.
Figure 5. Top 20 Dry Seasonings
The most common spice by far was pepper. It occurred in 97% of the recipes and was the most common dry seasoning for both cooking and garnishing. Lovage is the most commonly used herb in Roman cooking. It occurred in 38% of the recipes. There are at least 50 recipes that begin with ‘pound pepper and lovage’.
a) Pepper
Pepper was imported from India Northern India . The peppercorn, both black and white, were also known, however, this was imported from Southern India and was introduced to Rome
b) Lovage, Rue
Lovage is related in taste to celery and parsley. Any part of the plant could be used. However since it was commonly coupled with pepper, it is likely that the seed was the most commonly used. Pliny, reported rue to be of such effect for the preservation of sight that the painters of his time used to devour a great quantity of it.
c) Cumin, Coriander
Coriander and cumin were commonly found in recipes together and were believed to prevent meat from rotting. Coriander is more commonly known as cilantro in Spanish. The coriander leaf has a sharp bite and can be quite spicy depending on the amount. It also has a metallic smell. The coriander seed has a fragrant flavor that is reminiscent of both citrus peel and sage.
From Pliny we know cumin was used medicinally and was considered the best of condiments. It has a strong spicy-sweet warm aroma with a pungent, powerful, sharp and slightly bitter taste that is somewhat hot. Apicius contains at least three different references to cumin sauce used in recipes. Additionally, there are three separate recipe for cumin sauce (1.29a, 1.29b, 9.1.3).
d) Onion
There are two basic types of onions used in Apicius, cepa ascalonia and cepa pallacan. The varieties of onions used in Apicius have not yet been identified. Grocock and Grainger recommend the use of plain onion or large spring onions in the case of ascalonia; and using the tops of green onions or full grown chives for pallacan.
e) Silphium (Laser / Asafoetida)
Silphium, imported to Rome from North Africa, was the most revered seasoning in ancient Rome Iran / Afghanistan / Iraq
f) Mint, Oregano, Celery
Pliny tells us that the Greeks and Romans crowned themselves with Peppermint at their feasts and adorned their tables with its sprays, and that their cooks flavored both their sauces and their wines with its essence. There is some uncertainty whether true peppermint was used by the Romans, however, a related plant, pennyroyal occurs separately also.
Oregano is also known as Wild Marjoram. It has a fragrant, balsamic odor and a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste. It appears 39 times in combination with Pepper and Lovage in Apicius.
Both the celery leaf and the celery seed are identified as seasonings in Apicius, although celery leaf is mentioned more often.
2. Liquid Seasonings
Liquid seasonings include liquamen, oil, honey, wine, vinegar, and various grape derived syrups. There are a total of 17 different liquids used to impart flavor. Liquid seasonings are used in 90% of the recipes in Apicius. Figure 5 shows the top ten liquid seasonings in Apicius and whether they are used for cooking, sauces, or garnishing.
Figure 6. Top 10 Liquid Seasonings
a) Liquamen, Oenegarum
Liquamen is a fish product high in salt with a strong nutty, cheesy, or meaty flavor. It is used in Apician recipes as a flavoring for cooking liquid (called Hydrogarum) or a component of a complex sauce (called Oenegarum). The best liquamen was the juice of whole spelt or sardines leached out by huge amounts of salt and some wine and left to ferment in the sun for up to three months. For those who could not wait the four months, a simpler recipe was to boil the fish with oregano in brine, reduce it in volume, then add wine.
Today, a fish sauce can be found in local grocery stores in the oriental isle. In Vietnam
Oenegarum is a blend of different wines (sweeten, reduced, plain) with liquamen, mixed with pepper. Sometimes other herbs/spices (most commonly coriander, rue, lovage) and often oil are added to create the gravy of Roman cuisine. Apicius contains 14 separate recipes for Oenegarum. A few are reproduced in the Appendix below.
b) Olive Oil
In the empire, as today, there were different qualities of oil for different purposes. Omphacium olive oil was used mostly for perfumes. It was the most expensive and was pressed from unripe olives in August. Acerbum, green olive oil, was pressed from green, unripe olives before October. This was used on athletes prior to their exertions. After the games, the oil and dirt were easily scraped off together. Viridium olive oil was the common cooking oil and was pressed from late harvest olives. It was available in the qualities described in Table 1 much like we find it in markets today. The best cooking olive oil came from Libernia in Dalmatia . African oil was used only as lamp fuel.
Quality
|
Modern Equivalent
|
Pressing
|
Use
|
Olio Flos
|
Extra Virgin
|
First cold press from the olives
|
Salad dressings and drizzles on fresh veggies or bread dipping
|
Oleum Sequens
|
Superfine, Fine or Virgin Olive Oil
|
Second press
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Sauces
|
Oleum Cibrarium
|
Pure olive oil
|
Last press from heated slightly ripe olives, to extract the remaining oil
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Slightly more bitter, best for frying and cooking
|
c) Honey
Honey is used in 39% of the recipes in Apicius. One source indicates that the best honey came from thyme, good quality came from alfalfa and thick honey came from rosemary. In the Roman Empire honey cost about the same as olive oil. Similar to olive oil, honey had different qualities. The honey running from the comb was the best and most expensive.
d) Wines
Grape flavors can be subdivided into wine, vinegar and syrups. Wines[6] were used both to drink and to cook. Based on archeological evidence the two most favorite wines were sweet white wine and sweet red wine. Most wine was imported from Greece
Table 2. Roman Wines
Wine
|
Qualities
|
Albanum
|
Dry or sweet, high quality, aged 15 years
|
Falernum
|
One of the most famous wines of antiquity. A white wine, made from grapes of the Falernia region picked after a brief freeze and, aged 10-20 years. It had relatively high alcohol content, possibly 15% (30 proof).
|
Spolentinum
|
Sweet golden wine, better than young Falernum
|
Calenum
|
A favorite of patricians, lighter than Falernum
|
Fundanum
|
Strong high alcohol wine
|
Massilitanum
|
Heavy smoked wine, very inexpensive
|
Nomentanum
|
Mediocre wine aged 5 years
|
Sorrentinum
|
Light, sour and tasting of earth, a young wine perhaps aged 1-5 years
|
Tarentinum
|
Light taste and low in alcohol
|
Trifolinum
|
Comparable to Sorrentinum because of earthy taste
|
Passum
|
Sweet wine made from raisins like Vino Passita, Vin Santo – equivalent to a
|
e) Vinegar
Roman vinegars were made from either figs or wine. Romans also knew of the many uses for vinegar besides just cooking. Above all Pliny mentions that vinegar is the best dressing for food. Choosing which vinegar to use depends on how it is used within a recipe. When some recipes call for vinegar to add color, red or dark vinegar is indicated, such as red wine vinegar. Otherwise, white vinegar with the tangier flavor is a good starting point for many Roman dishes.
f) Syrups
Syrups in Apician recipes are characterized by their consistency and color. Defrutum, a fruit flavored syrup is the most commonly used syrup. The characteristics of each type of syrup are described in Table 3.
Table 3. Characteristics of Roman Syrups
Name
|
Consistency / Use
|
Substitution
|
Defrutum
|
Consistency of honey. Used as a coloring and flavoring.
|
Red grape juice / must boiled down to one-third original volume with 5 dried figs or quince
|
Caroenum
|
Thick liquid, less sweet then syrup and lighter in color.
|
White grape juice or boiled down to two-third original volume.
|
Sapa
|
Consistency of honey, but without the added fruit flavor.
|
Red grape juice boiled down to one-third original volume
|
Mulsum
|
Drinking liquid. Used often as an aperitif.
|
Mixture of wine and honey that is drinkable
|
IV. What Roman Food Tastes Like
According to the data above, the quintessential Roman food is likely a pork dish with liquamen, oil, honey, wine, syrup, pepper, and lovage. Even with this knowledge, it is still difficult to answer the question, what does Roman food taste like? With a close reading of the recipe and trial and error we may be able to determine what we think it should taste like. Given the frequency of syrups/honeys combined with vinegar, one could assume Roman food should taste sweet and sour with a tingling with the pepper and lovage.
V. Bibliography
Carluccio, Antonio. Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feast (Great Foods). West 175 Enterprises, 1999.
Dalby, Andrew and Grainger, Sally. The Classical Cookbook. J. Paul Getty Museum , Los Angeles
Downie, David. Cooking the Roman Way Rome
Faas, Patrick. Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome University Of Chicago
Grainger, Sally. Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today. Prospect Books, 2006.
Grant, Mark. Roman Cookery Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens. Serif Publishing; 2 Rev Updated edition, 2008.
Grocock, Christopher and Grainger, Sally. Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and an English Translation of the Latin Recipe Text Apicius. Prospect, 2006.
Le Burguillun, John. Dining with Platina: An overview of De Honesta Voluptita Et Valetudine” (“On Right Pleasure and Good Health”). University of Atlantia
Smith, Jeff. The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines China, Greece , Rome
Steele, Philip. Food & Feast in Ancient Rome Hampshire , England
Vehling, Joseph Dommers. Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome Dover
Nemeton, Home of Ancient Recipes. Found at http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/roman/fetch-recipe.php?rid=roman-rhodomeli. September 19, 2008.
VI. Further Reading
Anthenaeus. The Partying Professors, 3rd Century A.D.
Bassus, Cassianus. Country Matters. 7-10th Century A.D.
Cato, MarcusPorcius. On Agriculture, 2nd Century B.C.
Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus. De Re Rustica. 1st Century A.D.
VII. Appendix A. Methods
The statistics presented above were compiled in MS Excel from the translation of Apicius by Grocock and Grainger using Books 2 through 10, which consist of 424 entries. Book one was intentionally omitted since the majority of these recipes were not dishes to be served at a meal, but were recipes for cooking broths, pickles, or digestives.
Of the 424 entries, 413 were identified as recipes. There were 11 entries whose format did not follow that of the others, and were more instructive in nature. These were not included in the count of recipes. The entries that were excluded from the recipe count were:
2.2.6
|
Description of alternative meats for forcemeat
|
2.5.4
|
Description of alternate way to cook and serve sausage
|
3.15.4
|
Description of how to preserve greens
|
3.17
|
Description of when to pick nettles
|
5.1.2
|
Description of alternative Pottage additions
|
8.6.3
|
Description of when to season kid vs lamb
|
4.3.7a
|
Cross reference to 8.8.5
|
6.2.8
|
Notes on cooking partridge
|
6.8.15
|
Recipe missing significant portions
|
6.2.23
|
Tip to prevent Birds from spoiling
|
9.10.12
|
Remedy
|
Another 12 entries contained optional preparations totaling 14 additional recipes. As a result, a total of 427 recipes are used as the source of the statistics below. The 14 additional operational preparations were identified from these entries:
3.4.6
|
Recipes for boiled and fried gourd
|
3.6.3
|
Cucumber recipe, plus option to add silphium
|
3.7
|
Long and Round sweet melons recipe, plus option to add silphium
|
3.8
|
Mallows recipe for both young mallows and larger mallows
|
3.16
|
Rustic greens can be served as a salad or cooked in a dish
|
3.18.1
|
Three separate recipes for endive
|
4.2.19
|
Patella of alexanders recipe can also be used for pot herbs
|
4.2.37
|
Patina of quince in oenegarum or honey
|
5.8.2
|
Another black-eyed pea or chick-pea recipe
|
7.11.9
|
Curds, two recipes
|
7.12.3
|
Bulb recipe, plus two more from Varo
|
7.17.2
|
Boiled eggs, two recipes
|
Each recipe was read and then entered into a spreadsheet with the following Columns:
Recipe #
|
Recipe Number used by Grocock and Grainger
|
Cooking method
|
The method of cooking (or in some cases, chemically altering) the ingredients was recorded as identified in the recipe. The following methods were identified in the translation: liquid, roast, pie, fry, poach, salt, boil, roast, cook, curdle, glaze, spit, boil. Any combination of these methods were recorded.
|
Type of dish
|
If a unique category of recipes was identified in the section heading the Type of dish was filled in: Minutal, Patina, etc.
|
Type of Recipe
|
The options were limited to the following based on the main ingredient: Sauce Fish, Poultry/Fowl, Seafood, Pork/Boar, Meat, Rabbit, Beef, Sheep/Goat, Deer, Grain, Dairy, Legume, Nuts, Fruit, Vegetables.
|
Main Ingredient
|
Typically taken from the title of the recipe, this is assumed to be the major component of the dish.
|
Dry Seasonings
|
Any spices, herbs, fruits, nuts, or liquids used to flavor the dish
|
Garum
|
Any garum product used to season the dish: (O)enegarum, (H)ydrogarum, (O)xygarum, (L)iquamen,
|
Oil
|
The use of oil in the recipe was indicated with a Y. Recipes provided no further descriptions of the oil being used.
|
Honey
|
The use of honey in the recipe was indicated with a Y. Recipes provided no further descriptions of the honey being used.
|
Vinegar
|
The use of vinegar in the recipe was indicated with a Y. Recipes provided no further descriptions of the vinegar being used.
|
Wine or Syrup
|
Any wine or syrup product used to season the dish was recorded: Wine, Defrutum, Caroenum, Sapa, Passum. If the quality of wine was identified, this was also recorded: spiced wine, white wine, etc.
|
Sauce Dry Seasonings
|
Any spices, herbs, fruits, nuts, or liquids used to create a sauce within the recipe after it had been cooked.
|
Sauce Liquid Seasonings
|
Any liquid used create a sauce within the recipe after it had been cooked. Any liquid from above could be used.
|
Thickener
|
A record of any thickener identified: Starch, etc
|
Garnish
|
A record of any item that was identified to be placed on the dish just before service.
|
Cooking Liquid
|
Any liquid used in the process of cooking the main ingredient. Water is included in addition to the list of liquid seasonings.
|
Recipe category
|
The options were limited to the same as used for “Type of Recipe” except Sauce was replaced with one of the other options based on the main ingredient.
|
A pivot table was then generated and a graph created from the pivot table for each of the columns above except Recipe# and Type of dish. The data from those columns have not yet been processed. The pivot table was then used to create a graph.
All metrics are presented in total count of recipes.
VIII. Appendix B. Recreating Roman Recipes
The Appendix contains recipes for the uniquely Roman liquid seasonings, plus recreated recipes by Viscountess Muriel von Schrecken.
A. Liquamen
Liquamen is the fish sauce that includes wine and occasionally herbs. Based on recommendations from Grocock and Grainger I created the recipe below. Grainger also recommends infusing the fish sauce with fresh sprigs of oregano or rue before combining it with the reduced grape juice. I personally use Pufina Patis brand fish sauce made in the Philippines
Bring one carton of white grape juice to a simmer and reduce to 1/3 of the original volume. Allow the grape juice to cool then mix the grape juice with fish sauce until you get the right blend of salt and sweet. I use one part fish sauce and one part grape juice.
B. Hydrogarum
Hydrogarum is a cooking broth of liquamen, water and various spices/herbs. The hydrogarum is most commonly used to cook forcemeat (meatballs) called isicia. Two recipes in Apicius are given. From Grocock and Grainger, Recipe 2.2.2 calls for water, liquamen, pepper, lovage, and chamomile. Recipe 2.2.5 calls for Water, liquamen, celery leaf, and ground pepper. Ten parts water to one part liquamen is a good starting point with one handfuls of fresh celery leaves and a tablespoon of coarse ground black pepper.
C. Oenegarum
Oenogarum is a common vinaigrette used in both cooking and at the table to drizzle on salads or vegetables. The sweet and salty combination of oenogarum helps to balance all flavors in a dish. This is the gravy of Roman cuisine. It is believed these types of sauces were mixed at the table by the guests themselves (or their slaves).
Oenegarum is a base blend of different wines, syrups, and liquamen, mixed with pepper, and sometimes other herbs/spices (most commonly coriander, rue, lovage). About half of the recipes also include oil. If you prefer sour tastes to use as a condiment instead of Oenegarum, consider Oxygarum, which contains vinegar instead of (or in addition to wine).
A simple oenogarum is equal parts liquamen, medium white wine, passum, and olive oil with fresh ground pepper.
Alternatively, mix the following ingredients to your taste: liquamen, white wine, pepper, and lovage. Flavor it with any of the following: Caroenum, Passum, sweet wine, honey. Add other ground spices and herbs to taste like coriander, rue, thyme, pennyroyal, oregano, mint. Add olive oil and vinegar if you wish. Add oil, especially if for vegetables.
D. Passum
Columella gives the following recipe which creates an inexpensive alternative to vin santo. Take 1 pint of red wine and 4 oz of raisins. Soak the raisins in the wine 2-3 days until they are soft and swollen. Smash the raisins in the wine and put it through a strainer, pressing as much of the mash through as is possible.
E. A Sweet Minutal of Gourds
Latin, Grocker and Grainger, 4.3.5: minutal dulce ex cytriis: adicies in caccabo oleum liquamen cocturam porrum capitatum concides coriandrum minutatim; spatulam porcinam coctam et esiciola minuta; dum coquitur, teres piper cuminum coriandrum <uiridem> uel semen, rutam uiridem, laser radicem; suffundis acetum <mel liquamen> defritum ius de suo sibi; aceto termperabis. facies ut ferueat; cum ferbuerit citrium purgatum intro foras tessellatim concisum et elixatum in caccabum mittes. tracam confringes et ex ea obligas; piper aspargis et inferes.
Translation: Put in a pan, oil, liquamen, stock, chopped leek, finely chopped coriander, cooked pork shoulder and finely ground forcemeat. While it is cooking, pound pepper, cumin, green coriander or seed, fresh rue, laser root; pour on vinegar, honey, liquamen, defrutum, some of the cooking liquor and flavor with vinegar. Bring it to heat; when it is simmering, put into the pan the gourd which has been peeled, de-seeded, diced and boiled. Crumble a tracta and thicken with some of it. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Redaction:
1 Calabash Gourd peeled, de-seeded, diced into 1 inch cubes
|
¼ C Leek, green top finely chopped
|
Gourd Hydrogarum: 2 C water + ½ C liquamen + ½ C white wine + ¼ C chopped celery leaves
|
5 stems Cilantro leaves, finely chopped
|
1 lb boiled pork (see recipe below)
|
½ t. Pepper, fresh ground
|
½ lb sweet Italian sausage
|
¼ t. Coriander seed, fresh ground
|
3 t. Olive oil
|
1/8 t. Cumin seed, fresh ground
|
1 T. White wine vinegar
|
¼ t. Rue, dry
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1 T. Honey
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1/8 t. Asafoetida
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1 t. Liquamen (see above)
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¼ C. very finely powdered bread crumbs
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1 T. Defrutum (optional)
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2 C pork cooking liquid (see recipe below)
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Bring the hydrogarum to a boil then add the gourd and reduce heat to medium. Simmer gourd until tender-crisp about 5 minutes. Remove from heat leaving them in the liquid. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Sauté the leeks and cilantro with the Italian sausage, mashing the sausage into little bits. When the sausage is cooked through and lightly browned, add the pork shoulder and 1 ½ cups of stock from boiled pork, scraping the pan to loosen the browned bits of sausage. Reduce heat to medium low. Combine the pepper, coriander, cumin, rue, and asefoetida. Blend the dry spices with the vinegar, honey, liquamen, defrutum, and ½ cup of stock from boiled pork. Add a dash of vinegar. Add the combined seasonings to the meat mixture. Add the gourds to the meat mixture and combine. Add the bread crumbs and cook uncovered over medium low heat until thickened. Serve sprinkled with fresh ground black pepper.
Note: There is ongoing debate regarding melons, cucumber, and gourds used during the Roman empire . Grocock and Grainger identify Citrullus vulgaris citroides, the common watermelon as the possible gourd without further evidence other then it could not be the citron fruit because of the method in which recipe 4.2.5 has it prepared. I found the article “What the Roman emperor Tiberius grew in his greenhouses” by Paris and Janeck, which indicates that Cucumis melo (snake melon) and Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd, calabash gourd, opo) was most likely grown in the emperor’s greenhouse. It is supported by evidence from Dioscorides, Columella, Pliny, rabbinical commentary of the 1st and 2nd centuries, and images from the time of the Roman Empire . Therefore, I chose to use “Opo” available at my local Asian market to recreate this recipe.
F. Milk Fed Piglet, boiled and served hot with a cold uncooked Apician sauce
Latin, Grocker and Grainger, 8.7.6. porcellum lacte pastum elixum calidum iure frigidum crudo Apiciano: adicies in mortarium piper liqusticum coriandri semen mentam rutam, fricabis; suffundes liquamen, adicies mel uninum et liquamine <temperabis>. Porcellum elixum feruentum sauano mundo siccatum perfundes et inferes.
Translation: Put in a mortar pepper, lovage, coriander seed, mint, rue; pound them. Pour on liquamen, add honey and wine and flavour with liquamen. Wipe the boiled piglet with a clean cloth while it is still hot, pour on the sauce and serve.
Redaction:
2 lbs Pork loin or shoulder
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½ t. Pepper
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Pork Hydrogarum: 2 C water + ½ C liquamen + ½ C white wine + ¼ C olive oil
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½ t. Lovage
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1 Leek, ¼ of green top cut into half inch strips
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¼ t. Coriander
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10 stalks cilantro
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½ t. Spearmint
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2 T. Liquamen (see above)
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¼ t. Rue
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1 t. Honey
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4 T. White Wine
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Cut the pork into 1 inch cubes. Tie the cilantro stalks and leek strips together. Place the bundle into the hydrogarum and bring to a boil. Add the pork to the hydrogarum and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the pork until no longer pink in the middle, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make the oenegarum: combine the pepper, lovage, coriander, mint, and rue. Add the liquamen, honey and wine. Taste the oenegarum and adjust to taste as needed. Remove the pork from the hydrogarum and dry. Place the pork in a deep sided dish. Pour the oenegarum over the pork and toss. Serve warm.
G. Boiled Eggs
Latin, Grocock and Grainger,7.17.2. liquamine oleo mero, uel ex liquamine pipere lasere.
Translation: Serve in liquamen, oil, wine or in liquamen, pepper, and laser
Redaction (UNTESTED):
Dozen Eggs – hardboiled
¼ C Liquamen
1 t Pepper
¼ t Laser
Option 1: Combine the liquamen, pepper and laser in a bowl. Remove the shells from the hard boiled eggs and cut them in half. Lay them in a dish and pour the sauce over top sparingly (or pass the sauce with the eggs). Serve.
Option 2: Separate the eggs yolks from the whites, mix with the liquamen, pepper, and laser to taste. Return the egg yolks to the egg whites. Serve.
H. Lentils with Coriander
Latin, Grocock and Grainger, 5.2.3. Aliter lenticulam: coquis. Cum despumauerit porrum et coriandrum uiridem supermittis. (Teres) coriandri semen, puleium, laseris radicem, mentam et rute semen, seffundis acetum, adicies melle, liquamine, aceto, defrito temperabis, adicies oleum, agitabis, si quid opus fuerit, mittis. amulo obliges, insuper oleum viride mittis, piper aspargis et inferes
Translation. Another lentil recipe. Cook (the lentils); when they have been skimmed, add in leek and green coriander. Pound coriander seed, pennyroyal, laser root, mint and rue seed. Pour on vinegar, add honey, liquamen, wine, flavor with defrutum, add oil and stir. If it needs anything, add it. Thicken with starch, pour on green oil, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Redaction
250 g lentils
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1 Tbsp dried mint
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2 liters water
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1 ½ tsp g celery seed (substituted for rue)
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½ C white wine (pinot grigio) – optional for richer taste
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75 g fresh mint
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1 leek
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10 ml liquamen
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75 g fresh cilantro
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10 ml vinegar
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5 g coriander seed
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5 ml honey
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3 long peppers
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½ Tbsp defrutum
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2 Tbsp olive oil
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Place lentils in large pot and add water. Bring to boil and skim of the scum, reduce heat to simmer. Meanwhile thinly slice leeks and sauté in half the olive oil until translucent. Chop fresh cilantro. When water has cleared, add leeks and coriander. Grind the other dry seasonings (except the pepper) and mix with liquamen, vinegar, honey, defrutum, remaining olive oil and stir. Simmer until lentils are done and flavors have blended. Adjust to taste Serve with fresh ground pepper.
Notes: dried mint was used for the mint seed and celery seed was used for the rue seed.
I. Chicken with Laser or Garlic
Latin, Faas, 243. Pullum laseratum: pullum apeies a navi, lauabis, ornabis et in cumana ponis. Teres piper, ligusticum, laser uiuum, suffundis liquamen, uino et liquamine temperabis et mittis pullo. Coctus si fuerit, pipere aspersum inferes.
Translation. Chicken with Laser. Carefully open the chicken, wash, decorate and put into a ceramic pot. Grind pepper, lovage and fresh laser, moisten with garum, mix with wine and garum, pour this over the chicken. When cooked, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Redaction
2 Tbsp black pepper corn, freshly ground
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3 Tbsp (approx) liquamen (½ fish sauce + ½ white grape juice reduced by 1/3 volume)
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½ tsp lovage seed, freshly ground
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5 Tbsp white wine (Pinot Grigio) + ½ Tbsp liquamen
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¾ tsp asafoetida powder
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3.3 lb whole chicken
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Mix pepper, lovage, and asafoetida in small bowl. Taste the blend and adjust to taste. Add 3 T. liquamen. Herb mixture should be about the consistency of honey. Remove innards from chicken. Rub the herb mixture under chicken skin, in chicken cavity and on chicken skin. Place in rotisserie for 60 minutes, (or roast in oven with lid on at 350 F). Use wine and liquamen to baste chicken at least 3 times during the roasting. If roasting in oven and skin is not golden brown, remove lid for last few minutes of roasting.
Note: Fresh ground lovage root was used instead of lovage seed.
J. Another Patina, omelette-style
Latin, Grocker and Grainger, 4.2.2. aliter patina uersatilis: nucleos nuces fractas; torres eas et teres cum melle pipere liquamine lacte et obis; olei modicum.
Translation. Roast pine nuts and broken nuts and pound them with honey, pepper, liquamen, milk and eggs; add a little oil.
Redaction.
1/8 C. Pine nuts
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1/8 t. Pepper
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1/8 C. Almonds or Pistachios
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½ t. Liquamen
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1-1.5 Oz Honey
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2 T. Milk
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2 Eggs
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2 t. White wine
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Oil for frying
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In a dry non-stick frying pan, roast the pine nuts and almonds or pistachios until they begin to give off their oils. Do not let the nuts get brown, this will make them bitter. Put the nuts in a mortar and add the honey (sweeten to your taste). Mash the nuts and honey together. In a separate bowl, whisk all remaining ingredients together except the oil. Combine the honey mixture with egg mixture. Heat the oil in the non-stick pan on medium. Add the final egg mixture to the pan and gently scrape the sides and bottom of the pan to allow the liquid eggs to set (do this only for the first minute or two). Do not “scramble” the eggs, create an omlette. Finish the top of the omlette by placing the pan under a broiler until firm and puffy. Serve, drizzle with olive oil if desired.
Note: Apicius identifies pine nuts and other smooth nuts for this recipe. lmonds and pistachios both have smooth shells and nuts compared to Walnuts. See timeline above for earliest mention of pistachios.
[1] Sumptuary laws were passed as early as 161 B.C limiting expenditures to 25 sesterces for up to 5 guests on a feast day. By the time of Apicius, less than 200 years later, the maximum expenditure was 2000 Sesterces for a feast day.
[2] The Roman Academy Greece and Rome
[3] During this time it cost 3 Million sesterces to build an aqueduct for an entire city.
[4] A collegium was a collection of members who met to throw regular banquets. Women and slaves were allowed to be members of collegium. A symposium was specifically a drinking party.
[5] Cleopatra once bet that she could consume millions of dollars in a single meal. At the end of the extravagant banquet she dissolving pearls in vinegar and drank it.
[6] Romans had over 200 utensils and serving pieces for wine. That is more than all other serving dishes combined.
[7] Bars or Taverns (Tabernae) and Inns (Popinae) were quite common and provided takeout food. Pompeii
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