SC - Re: A Harmless Salada LONG

[ChannonM at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/8/00 8:19:07 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org writes:

<< <<  It was from Apicius, and had endive, fresh  herbs, balsalmic vinegar, 
 olive oil, and sea salt.  Noemi, could you post that one since you did it? >>
  >>

I have worked with the recipe as well, here is my work on it. Let me know if 
the proportions come out with strange characters and I'll repost. I'm getting 
ready to go to work at the moment and don't have time to redo them now.

Hauviette

VNe Agrestes Lactucae Laedant/ A Harmless Salad of Lettuces
Fresh Greens
Original Recipe
ApiciusBook III-XVIII-

1 Endives (a) dress with liquamen, a little oil, wine and chopped onion
(b) In winter use endives instead of lettuce with a dressing or with honey 
and strong vinegar
2 Dress lettuces with oxyporum, vinegar, and a little liquamen, to make them 
more easily digestible , to prevent flatulence and so that the lettuces 
cannot harm your system ;2 oz cumin, 1 oz ginger, 1 oz fresh rue,  12 
scruples  juicy dates, 1 oz pepper , 9 oz honey; the cumin may be Aethiopian, 
Syrian, or Libyan. When it has become dry bind everythign with the honey. 
when needed mix half a teaspoonful with vinegar and a little liquamen, or 
take half a teaspoonful after the meal.





Dressing
Original Recipe
Apicius #111
Ne Lactucae Laedant/A harmless salad
2 ounces of ginger, 1 ounce of green rue, 1 ounce of meaty dates, 12 scruples 
of ground pepper, 1 ounce of good honey, and 8 ounces of either aethiopian or 
syrian cumin. Make an infusion of this in vinegar, the cumin crushed, and 
strain, Of this liquor use a small spoonful mix it with stock and a little 
vineagar:you may take a  small spoonful after the meal.
Modern Adaption
For the  Romans, salad was served as an appetizer beginning sometime under 
Domitin , as Waverly Root conveys the translation:”Telle me why Lettuce, 
which our Grandsires last did eate,? Is now of late become, to be the first 
of meat? 
The recipe for the preparation to ” render the salad harmless” is a medicinal 
treatment “which helps digestion and is taken to conteract inflation” . The 
fresh greens I chose to use included endive, arugula,  leaf lettuce and 
romaine lettuce.
Arugula  was descibed as an aphrodisiac by the Roman Martial, and considering 
its velvety texture and slightly bitter taste it is no wonder people fell in 
love eating it . Endive is specified in the aforementioned recipe. As for 
Romaine lettuce  by virtue of its alternative name “Cos” according to Waverly 
Root, tells us where the Romans got it.  “It is still an important crop on 
the Greek island of Cos, a place which gets a good deal of sun; Romaine, 
accordingly, is the only lettuce able to resist heat”  Leaf lettuce was used 
as it is a sweet lettuce, and is reminiscent of the loose leafed variety of 
lettuces that were available to the Romans. Sliced red onion was added for 
colour and flavour. The salad dressing pulls from all three preseeding 
recipes and combines olive oil, vinegar, and the seasoning of the Rx to “make 
the salad harmless”.
½ bunch endive
½ head leaf lettuce     or any combination of these greens washed and torn
1 bunch arugula
½ head romaine lettuce

Dressing
The dressing recipe utilises the basic medium of oil and vinegar and then 
incorporates the spicing from the Apicius recipe. I reduced the original 
recipe down to a manageable quantity of 1/16 as a trial, then to 1/8 for the 
quantity of a feast. The quantity was based on the unit measurement of the 
ounce and converting “scruples” into ounces(1/16 ). In addition I measured 
the quantity where possible to convert the measurement into standard teaspoon 
or  tablespoons wherever possible. This was done by using a weight scale then 
transferring the ingredient to a spoon measure. I have found it to be very 
helpful in making the redacted recipe understandable yet maintaining it’s 
integrity. The infusion is then refrigerated until required at which time it 
is added to the typical oil and vinegar dressing base.
original recipe measurements                            1/16    1/8     
cumin 2oz   2 TB      1 TB

ginger  1oz         1 TB    ½ TB

rue 1oz*        1 ½ TB  ¾ TB

pepper  1 oz  1 ½ tsp 3/4tsp
dates  12scrupples(1/2oz)        2-3 dates     1-2 

honey 9oz      2 Tbsp  1Tblsp



Vinegar 1 litre**  2 cups   1 cup

 
· the rue was dry vs fresh therefore ½ of the end weight was used
** an infusion is described as 30g of dry ingredient to 500 ml of liquid per 
The Complete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope Ody

Method
The Original recipe does  not explain how to combine the spices. I chose to 
combine the dry ingredients in a marble mortar. I added the dates chopped and 
honey last working the mass into a dry paste (this follows the translation by 
Flowers and Rosenbaum of the above recipe)    I heated the white vinegar to a 
boil and poured over the spices in a heat proof bowl. The infusion was 
allowed to steep for 10 minutes then strained. I kept the infusion in a small 
canning jar in the refrigerator until I was ready to make the salad dressing.
The Dressing
Utilizing the smallest quantity  of the infusion 2 TB  were incorporated into 
the following:
¼ C olive oil
1/8 C  red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
brine (1/4 tsp salt in 2 TB water)
This can be adjusted to serve your purposes. The above recipe can be made at 
any quantity following the proportions. 
The ingredients were whipped together and served over fresh greens.
This recipe is quite complicated, but the results are fantastic. I was quite 
pleased with the dressing and have stored the spice infusion in the 
refridgerator for  a week  or so. It does require some time to follow the 
steps, but I’m sure you’ll be happy with the results.