SC - Recipe challenge

[Philip & Susan Troy]

L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt wrote:
 
> What sort of redacted recipe can you make from this Apecius translation (the
> Vehling trans., all I have at the moment):
> 
> (129)ALITER PATINA VERSATILIS
> 
> THE DISH, CALLED A TURN-OVER, IS THUS MADE: CRUSH VERY FINE WALNUTS AND
> HAZLENUTS TOAST THEM AND CRUSH WITH HONEY, MIX IN PEPPER, BROTH, MILK AND
> EGGS AND A LITTLE OIL.

Hmmm. I've just looked at the Flower and Rosenbaum translation, and
short of an actual redaction, I have a few comments to throw into the
ring. As Aoife says, the endless variations on an interpreted recipe are
fascinating:

"II. ALITER PATINA VERSATILIS: nucleos, nuces fractas; torres eas et
teres cum melle, pipere, liquamine, lacte et ovis. olei modicum (122)

2. TURNOVER. Toast pine-kernels and chopped nuts, pound with honey,
pepper, liquamen, milk, and eggs. <Cook in> a little oil."

Okay. Yes, this is quite similar to another recipe a bit further on,
which is specified as a sweet dish. I assume that the liquamen is used
in small quanitiy instead of salt. The only real textual difference
between the two recipes is that the second calls for some wine to be
added, and instructs the cook to turn the dish out (many patinae were
apparently served in the pan in which they were cooked).

Most likely the dish would have been cooked like an omelette (i.e.
stirred while cooking to help the center cook before the bottom burns).
It almost certainly would have been cooked on the stove rather than in
the oven.

I suspect the thing to do would be to toast the nuts in an omelette pan
or skillet, crush them, and put them in a mixing bowl. I would wipe out
the pan of any semi-burnt nut crumbs that might be sticking to it, and
add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat them
together.

After that I would reheat the pan, add the oil, and cook the batter like
a thick omelette until almost set. (A well-seasoned ceramic pan behaves
quite a lot like a Teflon or Silverstone pan,  BTW.) I would push the
pan to the back or other cooler part of the stove to finish setting, and
THEN turn it over onto a serving dish.

A bit on the lines of a moist, slightly heavy fritatta/upside-down cake,
is my guess.

Keep 'em flying!
Adamantius