[Sca-cooks] Dormouse was Boar Meat

[Lonnie D. Harvel]

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Would you happen to still have your redactions for these two dormouse  
> dishes,  (and maybe the original recipes since I'm not sure if both  
> are in the Florilegium or not)? 

Well, I wasn't much into writing recipes back then, I was about 26 at 
the time and assumed my memory would always serve. :)

You have the following in the Florilegium (provided by Bear):

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Stuffed Dormice
Recipe By     : Apicius
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NOTES : Glires:  Isicio pocino, item pulpis ex omin membro glirium
trito, cum pipere, nucleis, lasere, liquamine farcies glires et sutos in
tegula positos mittes in furnum aut farsos in cilbano coques.

Dormice:  Stuffed dormice with pork filling, and with the meat of whole
dormice ground with pepper, pine nuts, silphium, and garum.  Sew up and
place on a baking tile, and put them in the oven; or cook the stuffed
[dormice] in a pan. 

Translation from Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini; A Taste of Ancient Rome, 
University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Stuffed Dormouse:  Is stuffed with forcemeat of pork and small pieces of
dormouse meat trimmings, all pounded with pepper, nuts, laser, broth.
Put the dormouse thus stuffed in an earthen casserole, roast it in the
oven, or boil it in the stock pot. 

Translation from Vehling, Joseph Dommers; APICIUS Cookery and Dining in 
Imperial Rome,dover Publications, 1977.

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I used rabbit instead of dormouse. I acquired two skinned rabbits from 
the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I cut the saddle away from the bone in as 
big a piece as possible, then pounded them flat. Then minced the 
remaining meat and added it to about 1/2 pound of ground pork. I added 
chopped walnuts, pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and a tiny bit of 
anchovy paste. (the last two items were my fake for garum.) I wrapped 
the mince into two bundles inside the pounded rabbit and tied them up. 
Those went into a dish (pottery cassoulet IIRC). I then poured a mixture 
of red wine, vinegar, and olive oil over them (maybe 1/2 cup or so) and 
stuck them in the oven. This made for four good-size servings. I took 
the dish to a covered-trencher at a collegium, where we sliced it into 
about six pieces each, a total of about 12 tasting servings.

As for the honey-glazed dormouse, that was more playing around. Working 
from a frozen, cut-up rabbit bought at the grocery store. Of course, we 
thawed it. Working with the pieces like chicken, we dredged it in flour 
and baked it. In the last few minutes of baking, we glazed it with a 
mixture of honey, white wine, and crushed pepper. As we took it out of 
the oven, we rolled the pieces in toasted sesame seeds. Very yummy. 
Works great for chicken. (Oh, I had salt and a little peper in the flour 
dredge.)

Aoghann