Apicus recipes

Selected Sources:

Apicius. Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. Trans. Joseph Dommers Vehling. New York: Dover Publications. 1977.

Berriedale-Johnson, Michelle. The British Museum Cookbook. British Museum Publications, London. 1987.

Davie, R.W. "The Roman Military Diet." Britannia. 1971. Vol II.

Edwards, John. The Roman Cookery of Apicius. London: Century Hutchinson. 1984.

Sass, Lorna J. Christmas Feasts. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Smith, Jeff. The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines.

Woodman, Marian. Food Cooking in Roman Britain. Corinium Museum, Park Street, Cirencester, Glos, GL7 2BX, UK.

A note on Apicius: M. Gabius Apicius was a celebrated first century Roman gourmet who wrote a series of cookbooks that survive to this day. Several more volumes were added later in the Roman period by different authors, all writing under the name Apicius. The Edwards book is much preferable to the Vehling - his adaptions really work.

Steamed Fish Custard (Patina De Apua Sine Apua)

Source: Apicius IV ii 12

"Finely chop enough baked or boiled fish to fill a casserole dish of the size you want to use. Grind pepper and a little rue, and mix with sufficient fish stock and some olive oil. Mix these seasonings with the fish pieces. Then add raw eggs and blend all until the texture is smooth. Next, gently place sea nettles on top, taking care to see they do not mix with the eggs. Cook by steaming so that the sea nettles and the eggs may not mix. When they have become firm and dry, sprinkle it with ground pepper and serve."

[I elect to skip the anemones, but suit yourself.]

Recipe:

2 lbs cooked fish fillets

1/2 teaspoon pepper

pinch rosemary

2 t olive oil

2 c fish stock

4 raw eggs

Steam fillets and reserve liquid. Chop them and put them into a

cooking pot. Mix pepper with ground rosemary or rue, olive oil,

and fish stock. Stir this sauce into the fish. Now add well

beaten eggs and stir the mixture until it has a smooth texture.

[Finish by gently placing sea anemones on top.] Cover and steam

over low heat until eggs are firm. Serve with a sprinking of

pepper.

Lentils with Chestnuts (Lenticulam de Castaneis)

Source: Apicius V ii 2

"Take a new sauce pan, place therein the chestnuts carefully cleaned. Add water and a little soda and place on the fire to be cooked. This done, crush in the mortar pepper, cumin, coriander seed, mint, rue, laser root, and flea-bane moistened with vinegar, honey and broth- add vinegar to taste and pour this over the cooked chestnuts, add oil and allow to boil. When done, crush it in the mortar. Taste to see if something is missing and if so, put it in, and at last add green oil. Cook the lentils, skim them, add leeks, green coriander- crush coriander seed, flea-bane, laser root, mint seed and rue seed moistened with vinegar- add honey, broth, vinegar, then oil, stirring until it is done. Add chestnuts, sprinkle with pepper and serve."

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups beef stock

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 lb chestnuts

1/2 teaspoon coriander

2 leeks (approx. 2 cups)

1 teaspoon mint

1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon cumim

1 cup lentils

salt

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

(All measurements are approximate)

Soak and drain chestnuts. Simmer stock and chestnuts until tender. Add additional water to make approx. 2 1/2 cups of liquid. Grind the spices. Add spices, leeks, vinegar, and honey and bring to a boil. Add lentils and simmer until lentils are tender and liquid is absorbed. Add salt, pepper, and oil to taste.

Commentary: This recipe was derived from Apicius and from different variations on the original Apicius recipe published by Lorna J. Sass (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Jeff Smith ("The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines"). Some of the spices listed in the original recipe have been left out in deference to the modern palate and because there are some spices such as laser and laser root which, although Apicius considered them indispensible in cooking and they were known Roman trade goods, modern archeologists , anthropoligists, and chefs have been unable to locate.

Leeks (Porros)

Source: Apicius III x 1

"Well matured leeks are stewed in oil and in the best kind of broth. The leeks are cooked with juniper or laurel berries and served."

Recipe:

1 tablespoon whole juniper berries

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 leeks (approx. 3 cups)

1/2 cup stock

salt pepper

(All measurements are approximate)

Crush berries. Saute in oil briefly, add leeks and again saute briefly. Add broth, stew until tender.

Parsnips Cooked in Sweet Wine Sauce (Aliter)

Source: Apicius III xx 3

"Take boiled parsnips, half cook and then stew in olive oil, stock, and pepper. Color them with passum [raisin wine], thicken and serve."

Recipe:

6-8 parsnips

1/4 c sweet raisin wine

2 t olive oil (Malaga)

1/2 t pepper

flour

Slice parsnips lengthwise and half-cook in water. Drain and reserve liquid. Finish cooking them in the following sauce.

Combine olive oil, stock, pepper, and sweet wine. Bring to a boil, add parsnips, then simmer until parsnips are tender.

Thicken sauce with flour and serve with parsnips.

A Dish of Pears (Patina de Piris)

Source: Apicius IV ii 35

"A dish of pears is made this way: stew the pears, clean out the center, crush them with pepper, cumin, honey, passum, liquamen, and a little oil- mix with eggs, make a custard of this, sprinkle with pepper and serve."

Recipe:

2 lb pears, cored

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup raisin wine (Passum)

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon liquamen

2 medium eggs

1 teaspoon olive oil

Simmer pears, raisin wine, and water for 10 minutes or until pears are soft. Pound the mixture with the rest of the ingredients except the eggs. Combine the pear mixture and the eggs. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.

Garnish with pepper.

Passum was a raisin wine, very similar to today's Malaga wine, which we've used in this recipe. Liquamen was a popular Roman liquid that was used the way soy sauce is used in the East, to salt and to spice. Liquamen, a fish sauce flavored with anchovies and other spices, was brought to the British isles by the Romans. Later, the British would take it to India, where they would add tamarin and other Indian spices to create Worchestershire sauce. The closest modern equivalent to liquamen is nuoc mam, a salty Vietnamese sauce made with anchovy. Both passum and liquamen were exported to Britain.

Bread

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups tepid water

2 envelopes yeast

enough rye whole wheat flour combined to make approx. 2 lbs

flour

1 teaspoon salt dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Dissolve yeast in tepid water. Put four cups of the flour mixture into bowl with water and whip for 10 minutes. Add the salted water. Add remaining flour and knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Let dough rise once, punch it down, let it rise again. Punch down and form into 2 or 3 loaves. Let loaves rise