[Sca-cooks] Roman Display, was Sugar Plate Again

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Alys Katharine wrote:
>Iago wrote:
>  >For sugar plate dishes you will need to make them
>  >a bit thicker, and make sure that they are kept very
>  >dry or they will fall apart when you try and lift them up.
>
>Agreed.  And, sugar paste is in _no way_ Roman.  I don't know when
>the first documented Italian recipe was printed, but the English was
>in the middle of the 1500s.  I don't believe that sugar paste
>existed (much? at all?) prior to 1500 or the late 1400s.  It's
>primary time is the 1600s and 1700s.

Indeed. We are aware that it isn't Roman. But i'm at a loss for what
to do to make something rather special, other than serving good tasty
food - and other than the sugar plate serving dishes and the "Peach
Pits", the food will be "period".

I read Petronius' Satyricon when i was in high school in the 1960s,
and and i've seen Fellini's Satyricon about 20 times. Anyway, i
refreshed my memory by re-reading the passages on the Feast of
Trimalchio.

I realize Trimalchio is nouveau riche and boorish, but the way the
food is brought in and displayed is cool. However, i don't have
life-size bronzes to use as serving dishes, nor can i roast a whole
pig just so it can be sliced open in front of the guests and yards of
sausages pulled out , and i doubt my ability to make a large scale
Priapus of pastry also as a serving device.

However, Gianetta and I can make sugar plate. So i though that making
some sort of dishes for serving nuts or "Peach Pits" (another OOP for
Roman food) would be a small step towards a bit of spectacle.

We are also trying to think of a way to make a faux pig that we can
slice open and pull out cooked sausages (an Apician recipe) and ham
with figs (another Apician recipe). Sorry, i'm not ready to make and
serve blood sausage at a feast yet.

We will be making a subset of servings without fish sauce for the
vegetarians. And because the Princess of the Mists is allergic to
almonds and walnuts, we'll have many dishes with pine nuts. We will
have some dishes with almonds - and we'll make sure that there is no
cross-contamination, and everything is clearly marked. I'm fond of
this Princess and i've no desire to make her sick.

But if anyone has any food display ideas for a Roman feast, i'd love
to hear it.

Anahita