Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

[Philippa Alderton]

Anthimus gives the following advice about liver:

"Fried pig's liver is not at all suitable for either healthy or sick people.
But if those in health wish, they may eat it as follows:  when it has been
cut up well and placed on a metal gridiron with broad rods, it is coated
with oil or fat, and when grilled gently over burning charcoal.  When it is
hot, but still underdone, it can be eaten sprinkled with oil, salt and
coriander."

The notes concerning this passage are:

"Apicius used to stuff sows with dried figs and when they were full, he gave
them honeyed wine to drink before slaughtering them (Pliny, Natural History
8.209).  Their livers were cooked in herbs and wine, sometimes wrapped  in
sausage casings (Apicius On the Art of Cooking 7.3.1-2, Atheneaus
Deipnosophists 3.106e).  Ancient cooks often specified the degree of heat to
be used for a recipe, although quantities of ingredients are omitted (cf.
Apicius On the Art of Cooking 7.3.2 for liver cooked over a gentle flame).

"Gridirons were a standard piece of equipment in the ancient kitchen
(Maritial Epigrams 14.221, Petronius Satyricon 31.11, Apicius On the Art of
Cooking 7.2.1, 7.4.2).  Fat was sometimes used in cooking instead of olive
oil, especially when deep frying (e.g. Cato On Agriculture 79: 'pour fat
into a hated bronze pot.')"

Grant, Mark, Anthimus On the Observance of Foods; Prospect Books, Devon,
England, 1996.

Bear