[Sca-cooks] Vehling's Apicius

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Chris Stanifer wrote:

> Hello List,
>
> Just thought I'd mention that I  got my copy of
> Vehling's Apicius from Poison Pen Press.  Great
> condition, and speedy delivery.  Thanks, Devra.
>
> Is it just me, or does it seem like this book, though

Yes, it's just you. No, seriously, what you have is, to some extent, a
reworking of Apicius by Vehling, a twentieth-century chef who had worked
in restaurants in Europe and America. IIRC, his rather loose translation
of Apicius was done in the 1930's, and you'll find, for example, that
his version of isicia (or exicia) ex sphondylyx, which is supposed to be
made from mussels, is gratuitously made from scallops, possibly because
Vehling thought they should be white. Similarly, while Apicius and
various of his other translators refer to this recipe including spelt
grits, Vehling's recipe calls for pate a choux instead. What he's doing
is filtering Apicius's recipes through late-nineteenth/early-twentieth
century haute cuisine.

In short, it is good fod, but not necessarily historically accurate.

> it was written many centuries before some of the other
> popular period cookbooks, contains more precise
> information, measurements, and technical direction
> than most of the books written later in period?  Or,
> is this a product of an astute and intuitive
> translator?  I have not had an opportunity to read any
> other translations.  Comments, anyone?

I've found Flower and Rosenbaum to be the best overall translation of
Apicius, Latin on one side and English on the other, fill in your own
cooking times, temps, and some ingredient interpretations, with the
exception of a very few recipes which they describe as having cooked
with these such-and-such quantities, etc. The John Edwards edition is
fun but somewhat filtered through modern British cooking, and he
occasionally forgets and has you sauteeing things in butter, for
example. I believe Sally Grainger and Andrew Dalby have done some good
work with Apicius, but I haven't actually seen it.

>
> Balthazar of Blackmoor
>
> =====
> Let the people hate, as long as they also fear.

I have an apron that says this, with attributions...
	"Let them fear me, so long as they obey me."
		Tiberius Claudius Nero, second emperor of Rome

	"Let them hate me, so long as they fear me."
		Gaius Lucius Germanicus Caligula, third emperor of Rome

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com