[Sca-cooks] Tuna, tuna, tuna

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

So, Master Adamantius, what (affordable) canned tuna would you 
recommend for the Apician Tuna with Date Sauce?

Anahita

----- Apician Recipes -----

432. Sarda ita fit: coquitur sarda et exossatur. teritur pipere, 
ligustico, thymo, origano, ruta, caryota, melle. et in uasculo ouis 
incisis ornatur impensa. uinum modice, acetum, defritum et oleum 
uiridem.

432. Bonita make thus: Cook tuna and bone it. Pound pepper, lovage, 
thyme, oregano, rue, dates, honey. And [put it] in a small vessel, 
cut eggs. A little wine, vinegar, defritum, and green oil.

One modern redaction mashes the tuna with the ingredients, but i 
cannot assume this from the recipe.

My intention is to facilitate service by cutting the tuna in small 
even pieces, dish them (i think we have tables of 8), sauce them, and 
serve them. I've considered putting toothpicks in them, but i think 
that will be too modern.

Here's another recipe:

435. Ius in Cordula Assa: piper, ligusticum, apii seme, mentam, ruta, 
caryotam, mel, acetum, vinum et oleum. convenit et in Sarda.

435. Sauce for young grilled tuna: Pepper, lovage, celery seed, mint, 
rue, date, honey, vinegar, wine, and oil. This goes also with bonita.

And a third:

438. Ius in siluro, in pelamyde er in thynno salsis. piper, 
ligusticum, cuminum, cepam, mentam, rutam, calvam, caryotam, mel, 
acetum, sinape, oleum.

438. Sauce for salt sheat-fish, young tuna (but older than cordula), 
tuna. Pepper, lovage, cumin, onion, mint, rue, hazelnuts, dates, 
honey, vinegar, mustard, oil.

Note that for this feast i cannot use hazelnuts - or at least cannot 
serve them to the Princess, who is deathly allergic to most nuts (but 
not pine nuts).

Again, i cannot assume the tuna is anything but cooked then served 
with the sauce. I would assume grilled, given the large size of tuna, 
but i suppose tuna steaks could have been cooked in a skillet.