[Sca-cooks] Fw: Roman Cookery - Pear Patina

[Susan Laing]

Someone recently asked about the Apicius Pear Patina recipe.  Last October I
made the Ilaria Gozzina Giacosa "A Taste of Ancient Rome" version and had
some questions about it (see below email)

I'm yet to remake this using the original Apicius version but when I do I
will be *definately* substituting the Pear Liquamen (Liquamen ex Piris) for
the Fish Liquamen - mostly so that I can continue to assure my vegetarian
friends that "Yep! you can eat that - no meat or fish in it" :-)

Huggles

Mari de Paxford

----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Laing <paxford at gil.com.au>
To: scacooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2002 12:51 PM
Subject: Roman Cookery - Pear Patina (Pre-period OT)


> Hi Everyone - Here's another of the recipes I made for my recent "Let's
eat
> Roman" dinner party...
>
> As before I followed the authors redacted version (I wanted to see how
their
> version turns out versus how I would then make it myself - as to date I
> haven't yet remade this cause of a few niggling questions)
>
> I've found that Ilaria Gozzina Giacosa - author of "A Taste of Ancient
Rome"
> seems to have a positive dislike of Garum (Liquamen) and constanly omits
it
> from her recipes - I substituted the pear Liquamen (from Mark Grant's
"Roman
> Cookery") instead of a fish based one cause I had it to hand, so I'm not
> sure if I've altered the final taste of the dish but it really was Tre
> nummy!
>
> The questions I need to ask are - why would the author of TAR add in the
> milk? - is this to make it more of a "pudding" type dessert?  (I had extra
> goat milk left from my "Roman Bread making experiment" [more of that in a
> later post] so used it instead of cows milk)
>
> And...  does anyone know what is the dish supposed to end up like? - I
> cooked it a little past the specified time and the result was that it was
> slightly set around the edges of the dish but still gloopy in the middle.
> We ate it as it was and it was devine (being anachromistic we added cream
> with it YUMM!).  Does anyone know if a traditional "Patina" is a set
desert
> or a goopy one??
>
> Mari
> (planning on remaking it possibly next week if I can rat up some more
> tasters :-p)
>
> ***********
> Pear Patina (Apicius #162)
>  A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, Anna Herklotz
> (Translator)
>     University of Chicago Press ISBN:0226290328 Reprint edition (March
1994)
>
> Patina de piris: Pira elixa et purgata e medio teres com pipere, cumino,
> melle, passo, liquamine, oleo modico, Ovis missis patinam facies, piper
> super aspargis et inferes.
>
> A pear Patina: Grind boiled and cored pears with pepper, cumin, honey,
> passum, garum, and a bit of oil.  When the eggs have been added, make a
> patina, sprinkle pepper over, and serve.
>
> Serves 4
> 4 pears
> water or white wine (in which to cook the pears)
> 1 Tbsp honey
> pinch each of pepper and cumin
> ½ cup passum (see recipe below)
> 1 tbsp garum (see recipe for liquamen ex Piris below)
> 3 eggs
> 1 ½ cups milk (optional) [I used goats milk]
> 1 tbsp olive oil
>
> Poach the whole pears in water or white wine. When they are done, peel and
> core them, then crush them into a puree, mixing in the honey, pepper,
cumin,
> and passum. (the author of the book recommends to omit the garum but I
used
> the sweet garum instead).
>
> Beat the eggs, adding the milk if desired. Then blend this into the pear
> mixture with the olive oil. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for around
> 20 minutes at 350F.
>
> ********************************
> Passum (unsweetened version is Sapa)
> *author of "Taste of Ancient Rome" suggests using Raisin wine here.  Sapa
> recipe from "Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens" by Mark
> Grant.
> Sweetened version of Passum from "The Roman Basics" page by John David of
> "The Foody UK & Ireland" ? URL ? http://thefoody.com/hsoup/roman.html
>
> 1 litre Red grape juice
> Honey
>
> Vigorously boil the grape juice until liquid is reduced by 1/3rd.
> Add honey to sweeten taste.
> Leave to cool and store in a sterilised bottle.
>
> *****************************
> *to make Liquamen ex Piris (Piquant pear Sauce)
> (from: Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens by Mark Grant
> Interlink Pub Group  ISBN:1897959397 (July 2000)
>
> From Palladius' "On Agriculture" (4th cent. A.D)  "A Liquamen from pears
> suitable for those avoiding meat can be made like this: the ripest pears
are
> mashed with pure salt.  When their flesh has been pulped, leave to mature
> either in small wooden tubs or in earthenware pots that have been treated
> with pitch. After the third month the suspended flesh releases a juice of
> pleasant taste and
> of whiteish colour. Alternatively, the following works well: at the moment
> when the pears are being salted you should stir in some rather dark wine'
>
> The Author of "Roman Cookery" Mark Grant suggests the following faster
> method
> 125ml red wine
> 6 large pears
> 700ml water
> 400grams sea salt
>
> Take a large pan and pour in the water and sea salt. Dissolve the sea salt
> in the water over a low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent a crust
from
> building up on the side of the pan. Meanwhile core the pears and pulp them
> in a blender. When the salt has dissolved in the water, add the pear pulp
> and the wine.  Simmer gently for half an hour, giving the mixture a stir
> once or twice,
> then leave to cool.  When cold, decant into sterilised jars ready for use
in
> cooking.
>