SC - Re The Periodicity of Digby (SILLY)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Decker, Terry D. wrote:

<snip>

> Recipe By     : Apicius
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> NOTES : Glires:  Isicio pocino, item pulpis ex omin membro glirium
> trito, cum pipere, nucleis, lasere, liquamine farcies glires et sutos in
> tegula positos mittes in furnum aut farsos in cilbano coques.
> 
> Dormice:  Stuffed dormice with pork filling, and with the meat of whole
> dormice ground with pepper, pine nuts, silphium, and garum.  Sew up and
> place on a baking tile, and put them in the oven; or cook the stuffed
> [dormice] in a pan.
> 
> Translation from Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini; A Taste of Ancient Rome,
> University of Chicago Press, 1992.
> 
> Stuffed Dormouse:  Is stuffed with forcemeat of pork and small pieces of
> dormouse meat trimmings, all pounded with pepper, nuts, laser, broth.
> Put the dormouse thus stuffed in an earthen casserole, roast it in the
> oven, or boil it in the stock pot.

Just thought I'd throw a small note in here: laser and silphium are not
the same thing. IIRC (which is as close as you're going to get on a
Sunday morning before I've had my tea) silphium was a more or less
unidentified (at least to us) plant resin which appears to have gone
extinct or otherwise unavailable between the lifetime of Marcus Gavinus
Apicius, and the time at which the earliest Apicius manuscript (7th
century?) is dated. Laser appears to be the more readily available
substitute for silphium, and is believed to be asafeotida gum,
presumably ground to a powder. This is available as an extract in some
herb or health-food stores, and as the genuine article, powdered resin,
in Indian markets under the name "hing powder".

G. Tacitus Adamantius, always interested in Soul Food ;  ) 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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