[Sca-cooks] ancient Roman cookery

[Volker Bach]

Am Donnerstag, 29. September 2005 23:14 schrieb lilinah at earthlink.net:
> Aurelia Coritana wrote:
> >  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.
>
> Giano answered:
> >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.
>
> Yeah, bagoong is way too strong, in my opinion, for Roman food - at
> least that of the upper classes...

I would consider it as a substitute for the strong, chunky filter-residue 
sauce (often equated with 'allec') sold cheap. Good for lower class food or 
soldiers' fare, which I am particularly inrterested in and amtrying to 
research and foster. I know we're all supposed to be nobles, but I'm a tad 
sick of every banquet being the period equivalent of cordon bleu. Especially 
since a farmer's feast can be very tasty.

> I prefer Thai fish sauce, much more delicate. The common brand around
> here (California) is Tiparos - the Thai company that makes it, also
> makes at least 1/2 dozen fish sauces.

Lucky you. Here, I can get two varieties - bagoong and filtered. But that's 
enough as few enough people actually like it. 
I think I'll be making Parthian chicken this weekend. It's National holiday 
weekend, I get three days off.

> >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.
>
> Whoa! Really?
>
> I made a somewhat expansive Greco-Roman feast a few years ago - no
> problem. A couple people (ok, three) were squeamish about fish sauce,
> but most people (close to 100) had no such problem.

Very, very delicious... I don't know what it is here, exactly. Some people are 
just opposed to antiquity (in the long run I'll have to start my own club for 
that). Some people want familiar foods on the table and balk at the idea of 
seafood and strange sauces. Cost is also a factor, especially now that we got 
people used to the idea that you can serve a big feast for EUR 5 per head. I 
don't see that working for Greco-Roman food with the prices for seafood, 
lamb, goat and fresh Mediterraean vegetables. 

But then, the same goes for Arabic food and I talked people into eating that 
several times at smaller events. Maybe it just takes time.

Giano


		
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