[Sca-cooks] ancient Roman cookery

[Susan Fox]

Volker Bach wrote:

>Am Donnerstag, 29. September 2005 15:52 schrieb Aurelia Coritana:
>
>>Greetings all!
>>
>>I decided it really was about time for me to officially speak up on this
>>list! I am Aurelia Coritana in Ansteorra, a 1st c. Roman-Brit.
>>
>>My culinary interests are ancient Roman recipes (with fresh ingredients, of
>>course, har har.) Does anyone else out there experiment with ancient
>>cookery? If you've ever made anything with garum, I'd love to hear from
>>you.
>>
>>Aurelia
>>
>
>Me, I did. Regularly do. Not that being 'pre-period' is regarded highly in 
>central Drachenwald, but my secondary persona, Titus Flavius T.f. Artemidorus 
>is something of a gourmet. 
>
>I find that garum is a matter of quality and quantity. If you are using 
>Philippine 'bagoong balayam' as your substitute (barely filtered stuff, 
>grey-brown and opaque, quite nasty) it goes only with savoury fish or meat 
>dishes, and even then it usually 'tastes through' more delicate flavours. I 
>only use it in dishes with plenty of onions and/or garlic. A good (filtered, 
>liquid, brownish-red) Nuoc Mam or Nam Pla, on the other hand, harmonises with 
>almost any dish. I used a dash of it instead of the obligatory pinch of salt 
>with a honeyed pear patina, and eveybody praised it highly (unawares. Nobody 
>ever eats anything they know contains garum...)
>
>Have you ever managed to get a Roman feast served? They're dead against it in 
>my Shire.
>
>Giano
>
Sure.  I was the court provisioner [lunch wagon, grin] for a king who 
was into Roman Stuff, who trusted me implicitly to make Nice Things and 
nothing nasty.  If I had come up with wolf nipple chips and candied 
hummingbird tongues, I would have been summarily dismissed, don't you 
think?  

But it's not like cooks abandoned Apicius in the year 1000, after all. 
 Try out some of the dishes on your Drachwalders and just don't tell 
them the documentation until after they have tried it.  I suggest the 
ham and fig pie, nicknamed "Pig Newtons" [takeoff on popular cookie in 
the US, Fig Newtons], available in the Florilegium here: 
 <http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MEATS/ham-msg.html>  The Vehling 
translation cites a graffito claiming it's so good that you will lick 
the dish it was cooked in.

For garum, I use Nuoc Nam, which in is easily available in Southern 
California with its rich pan-Asian immigration.  Just a dash will do, 
like a dash of any other condiment in a larger dish.

Selene