SC - Anthimus Class Notes and Commentary - Long

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, the list!

As I mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to teach a class at an
event held by the group to our immediate north, an annual early-period
university event called Hrim-Schola. My topic was Anthimus' _De
Obseruatione Ciborum_, and my format was mixed hands-on and lecture,
which proved to be a good way to keep things moving. Much of it was
off-the-cuff, but we had enough people in concentration (maybe 12)
sufficiently interested in the subject matter that we managed to have a
good time and try three dishes in the two-hour class, with plenty of
time to talk about things. [My deepest thanks to my seneschale, Lady
Andrea Caitlin MacIntyre, C.M., C.S.C., etc., whose help and use of the
wonderful cooking equipment she had on site proved invaluable, since the
class was held in what appeared to be a chemistry lab, a
not-totally-inappropriate place for such a class.]  Here are the revised
class notes...
 

Some Recipes from Anthimus’ “De Obseruatione Ciborum Epistula” (roughly,
“A Little Letter Of Observations On Foods”) Translation by Mark Grant, ©
1996 Mark Grant, published by Prospect Books, Devon ISBN 0907325 750

Steamed Beef Stew

"III. De carnibus uero uaccinis uaporatas factas et in sodinga coctas
utendum, etiam et in iuscello, ut prius exbromatas una unda mittat, et
sic in nitida aqua, quantum ratio poscit, coquantur, ut non addatur
aqua, et cum cocta fuerit caro, mittis acetum acerrimum quantum media
bucula, et mittis capita porrorum et puledium modicum, apii radicis uel
finiculum, et coquat in una hora, et sic addis mel quantum medietatem de
aceto uel quis dulcedinem habere uoluerit, et sic coquat lento foco
agetando ipsa olla frequenter manibus, et bene ius cum carne ipsa
temperetur, et sic teri: piper grana L, costo et spicanardi per singula
quantum medietatem solidi, et cariofili quantum pinsat tremissis I. ista
omnia simul trita bene in mortario fictile addito uino modico, et cum
bene tribulatum fuerit, mittis in olla et agetas bene ita, ut, antequam
tollatur de foco, modicum sentiat et remittat in ius uirtutem suam. ubi
tamen fuerit mel aut sapa uel carenum, unum de ipsis, sicut superius
contenit, mittatur, et in bucculare non coquat, sed in olla fictile
meliorem saporem facit."

“3. Beef which has been steamed can be used both roasted in a dish and
also braised in a sauce, provided that, as soon as it begins to give off
a smell, you put the meat in some water. Boil it in as much fresh water
as suits the portion of meat; you should not have to add any more water
during the boiling. When the meat is cooked, put in a casserole about
half a cup of sharp vinegar, some leeks and a little pennyroyal, some
celery and some fennel, and let these simmer for one hour. Then add half
the quantity of honey to vinegar, or as much honey as you wish for
sweetness. Cook over a low heat, shaking the pot frequently with one’s
hands so that the sauce coats the meat sufficiently. Then grind the
following: 50 peppercorns, 2 grammes each of costmary and spikenard, and
1.5 grammes of cloves. Carefully grind all these spices together in an
earthenware mortar with the addition of a little wine. When well ground,
add them to the casserole and stir well, so that before they are taken
from the heat, they may  warm up, and release their flavour into the
sauce. Whenever you have a choice of honey or must reduced either by a
third or two-thirds, add one of these as detailed above. Do not use a
bronze pan, because the sauce tastes better cooked in an earthenware casserole.”

Text notes: 

Based on some disagreement between the two texts I’ve worked with, it’s
being borne upon me that either the text is simpy open to a broad
spectrum of interpretation, or one or both of the translators is wrong
on certain points. Today, for example, we usually think of beef as the
meat of steers, and Grant translates “carnibus uero uaccinis” as “beef”,
while the other translation I have suggests it is “the meat of cows”. A
small point, perhaps, but since understanding the characteristics of
this main ingredient may help understand the cooking process, one worth
pursuing, I think. Beef in the late Roman world, as well as in the
middle ages, appears to have been the meat of various cattle, including
both mature and immature bulls, ditto cows, and oxen. I’m not sure if
steers were gelded specifically for docility and tenderness as they made
their way to the table, so we may be talking about meat considerably
tougher and perhaps stronger in flavor than what we are used to today
when we think of beef. Both translations speak of roasting or steaming
the beef before braising, but only Grant believes the meat may not be
fresh, requiring to be put in water as soon as it begins to smell.The
other translation says something like, “Cow’s meat, steamed and cooked
in a casserole should be eaten in a gravy. First, it should be soaked in
one water...” etc.  I wonder if perhaps Anthimus is telling us we can
steam it or roast before braising, provided we only roast it until it
has a toasted aroma. I chose to solve this by steaming the meat in a
tiny amount of water, in a sealed pot, until somewhat tender, before
adding the sauce ingredients and the vegetables. I also wonder why the
earlier translator should equate “apii radicis”with parsley root, and
Grant with celery, when it seems to me to suggest celery root, celeriac.
  

Ingredients:

~2 lbs beef suitable for moist heat cooking (I used chuck steak)
3/4 cup vinegar of your choice: red wine, white wine, cider, malt, etc.
1 large leek, mostly white part, slit into quarters and sliced 1/2 inch thick
Pennyroyal or mint, dried, 1 tsp
1 small celery root, peeled, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 head fennel, 1/2 inch dice
~3/8 cup honey, or to taste as well as thicken sauce
50 peppercorns
~1 tsp spikenard
Costmary was unavailable, use same amount as spikenard, I guess
3/4 tsp cloves
1/4 cup wine

*Note that salt is not mentioned in this recipe, however it does appear
in some of the others; I can only assume this particular recipe doesn’t
call for it, while others do, and I therefore would not add salt to this
on the grounds that the author simply failed to mention it.

Recipe notes:
As stated above, I used chuck steak, which I cooked partially in a
tightly sealed pot with a small amount of water, then added the vinegar
and the vegetables, and somewhat later the honey and the spices. Note
that while Anthimus is careful to include quantities for the spices, but
doesn’t say how much beef this is intended for. I solved this, I
believe, by making up a spice mixture in the stated proportions, then
adding enough to aggressively season the meat and sauce. I had some
leftover spices when I was done, so perhaps the recipe was for more than
two pounds of beef, or this stuff is supposed to be really spicy. The
spikenard proved an unexpected problem; I bought it ground in little
chunks, then ground it to a powder in a coffee grinder. It seems,
though, as if there may have been some grit in the stuff I bought, so
the texture of the sauce wasn’t all it might have been. Maybe fresh
spikenard roots would help, or perhaps a sachet bag of the larger chunks
would have helpred. Something to consider in the future. What I ended up
doing was to simply allow the grit to settle in the bottom of the pot
and leave some of it behind when transferring the stew to another
container. The end result, though, was sweet and spicy, the beef tender,
if slightly dry, although kept moist by the vegetables.
 
Steamed Afrutum of Chicken Breast

“XXXIV. ‘afrutum’ graece quod latine dicitur ‘spumeum’, quod de pullo
fit et de albumen de ouo; sed multum albumen ouorum mittatur, ita ut
quomodo spuma sic deueniat opus ipsud afruti, quod desuper iuscello
facto et hygrogario in gauata componatur quomodo monticulus, et sic
gauata ponitur in carbones et sic uapore ipsius iuscelli coquatur ipsud
afrutum; et sic ponitur in medio missoiogauata ipsa, et superfinditur
modicum merum et mel, et sic cum cocleari uel nouella tenera mandacatur.
solemus et de pisce bono in ipso opere admiscere aut certe de pectinibus
marinis, quia et ipsi optimi sunt et satis apud nos abundant. et de
ipsis puris pectinibus fient sferae niueae.”

“34. What is called in Greek afrutum and in Latin spumeum is made from
chicken and egg whites. Lots of egg white must be used so that the
afrutum becomes foamy. It should be arranged in a mound on a shallow
casserole with a previously prepared gravy and diluted fish sauce
underneath. Then the casserole is set over the charcoal and the afrutum
cooked in the steam of the sauce. The casserole is then placed in the
middle of a serving dish, and a little wine and honey poured over it. It
is eaten with a spoon or a small ladle.  I often add to this recipe some
good fish or even some sea-scallops, because they are extremely tasty
and are particularly plentiful around where I live. From clean scallops
are made ‘snow balls’. “

Text notes:

Different manuscript sources disagree as to what the gravy for this dish
is made of. Iuscello is a diminutive of ius, the French jus, or what the
English used to call gravy once upon a time. The defatted drippings from
a roast or boiled chicken would probably be excellent for this. I used
some chicken stock which I reduced to a gel, having some on hand, and
not having a roast chicken. The real question is what was meant by
hygrogario, hydrogario, megroario, egroario, oxygario, and oenegario, as
the space in the sentence is variously filled in different manuscript
copies, and translators’ opinions vary accordingly. Most seem to agree
that this is some product connected to garum, the salted Roman fish
sauce, of which there were several variations and mixtures based on the
basic theme. Oenegarum, for example, was garum mixed with wine, while
oxygarum was garum mixed with vinegar. Some translators feel the
original word may have been hydrogarum, which would suggest garum mixed
with some water. 

On another tack, you’ll notice that Anthimus speaks of adding fish to
this preparation, then speaks of using scallops, and in another section,
pike. This might be seen to argue that this dish can be made, as with
quenelles, with a variety of light, easily-digested meats, and may not
be intended to portray a mixture. It is also significant that he really
doesn’t tell us how to make this dish, except to refer obliquely to the
egg whites making the dish resembles foam. It’s tempting to assume this
is a sort of soufflee, or in the case of scallop “snowballs”, something
very close to quenelles de poisson, with beaten egg whites being
carefully folded in to make the dish puff up and whiten as it cooks.
This is speculation, though, a possible downside to allowing an
experienced cook near this recipe in the absence of specific
information. 

Ingredients:

1 large skinless, boneless chicken breast piece, ~1/2 lb.
(alternately use pike or other white fish or scallops)
~6 egg whites
Optional: 1/8 tsp cream of tartar for emergencies
3/4 cup “gravy”, chicken stock reduced till syrupy
1/4 cup, or to taste, patis or other SE Asian fish sauce
wine
honey

Recipe notes:

As mentioned above, we proceeded on the questionable assumption that the
egg whites were to be beaten till foamy and folded into minced raw meat.
This may or may not actually be the method Anthimus is speaking of, but
the dish, cooked in that way, was quite pleasant. I minced the chicken
breast as finely as possible, which was pretty fine with a sharp chef’s
knife, then quickly grew impatient with attempts to process it further
in a mortar. I wonder if perhaps the egg whites could be added before
putting the meat in a mortar, to aerate the mass at the same time as
pounding it smooth. Again, something to experiment with in future. 

Re the gravy/steaming base, we added our jellied stock to a non-stick
electric skillet (I found out on Thursday or so that we wouldn’t be
doing this class in an actual kitchen), added some of our garum (patis),
and listened to the ritual loud complaints regarding fishy aromas. We
laid a mound of our afrutum on top of it, then covered it, so the steam
of the simmering sauce cooked the top of our afrutum. Watching it cook
through the transparent top of our electric skillet was fun, especially
when we (myself and Master Arval Benicoeur d’Espas Nord, O.P.) tried to
decide amicably which branch of the SCA peerage the expanding mound
reminded us of . There being no members of our Chivalry in the room, we
decided it was neither the Laurellate _nor_ the Pelicans, after all. In
deference to Countess Brekke, we also decided it looked nothing at all
like a Lady of the Rose.

Having the modern cook’s caution about undercooked chicken, yet being
aware that the success of this dish might depend on undercooking the
meat, we cooked it a bit too much. I had checked the temperature with a
thermometer a couple of times, and it suddenly went from being
marginally raw to being overcooked in less than a minute. As a result,
the dish was slightly rubbery, but still light and tasty. I think
perhaps the best results might be achieved with fish or scallops, unless
one wants to take a risk with chicken and salmonella, which I could not
in good conscience advise. Maybe with experience and a careful watch of
the thermometer it can be fully cooked through without overcooking. For
people interested in cooking this in quantity for a feast or something,
it’s worth noting that this dish could have made four good-sized
servings with half a pound of chicken breast, and provided decent-sized
tasting portions to the ten or twelve people in the class. It can
probably be baked between two disposable aluminum pie pans and served
immediately to the table in its pan. It really needs to be eaten fresh
and hot.

Hot Lentil Salad with Sumach

“LXVII. lenticula uero et ipsa bona lauata et bene elixa in aqua pura,
ita ut illa prima calda fundatur, et alia calda missa cum ratione, non
satis, et sic coquatur lente in carbonibus, ita ut cum cocta fuerit,
acetum modicum mittatur pro sapre, et addatur ibi species illa, quae
dicitur rus Syriacus, puluere facto quantum coclear plenum, et spargatur
super lenticulam dum in foco est, et commisceatur bene; tollatur de foco
et manducetur. tamen oportet pro sapore oleum gremiale, dum coquitur in
secunda aqua, mitti coclear bonum plenum, et coriandrum unum aut duo cum
radicibus suis, non minutatim sed integrum, et modicum de sale pro
sapore faciendum.”

“67. Lentil are good when washed and carefully boiled in fresh water.
Make sure that the first lot of water is poured away, and a second lot
of hot water added as required, but not too much, and then boil the
lentils slowly on the hearth. When they are cooked, add for flavour a
little vinegar, together with the addition of that spice which is called
Syrian sumach. Sprinkle a spoonful of this spice over the lentils while
they are still on the fire, and stir in well. Take the lentils off the
fire and serve. You can for flavouring add a good spoonful of oil from
unripe olives to thr second lot of water while the lentils are still
cooking, as well as one or two spoonfuls of coriander including the
roots  -- not ground but whole -- and a pinch of salt for seasoning.”

Text notes:

An early example of the process similar to the quick-soak method of
cooking legumes. Lentils don't really need this, but soaking, and to a
lesser extent, the quick-soak (usually involving covering the legumes by
an inch or two in water, bringing it to a boil, and letting it sit,
covered, for an hour or so before finishing coo
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