[Sca-cooks] Roman food for kids - long, was: demos, Help

[King's Taste Productions]

I have been asked to do a cooking demo at my son's school.  They want
Roman. 
Any suggestions?

Jana 


I have done a couple of Romano-British feasts for my students.  Here are
some of my notes.  Yes, Stephan, you may.  
Christianna


Simple food ideas for what to bring to a Romano-British Feast  
(handout for parents)

hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts 

crabapples, raspberries, blackberries

Apples, grapes, figs, pears, plums, cherries

Turnips, cabbages, lettuce, peas, lentils, carrots, artichokes, 

cucumber, asparagus, parsnip, celery

Salmon, trout, crab

Beef, pork, lamb

Dates, almonds, olives

Grape juice, apple juice, cider




Simple Roman Recipes
(handout for students and parents)

Stuffed Dates
6 dates per person
shelled almonds, hazelnuts or pine nuts (1 per date)
pepper and salt
3 tablespoons honey

Buy pitted dates or remove the pits.  Stuff one nut and a little pepper
into each date.  Roll the dates in salt, then heat the honey in a frying
pan, heat the dates in the honey.  Can be served hot or cold. 


Chick-peas in Saffron 
'And then chick-peas marinated in saffron, plump in their tender youth'
[Piloxenus "The Dinner" quoted in Anthenaeus (circa AD170-239)]

200 grams dried chick-peas
Generous pinch of saffron
Sea salt

Soak the chick peas overnight. Drain them and put them in a heavy pan
with 1 litre of water and salt. Bring to the boil, add the saffron, stir
and simmer, covered, very gently for at least one hour.  Taste to check
on saltiness. 
Serve Warm.


Braised Cucumbers (Cucumeres)
'When scraped and cooked in olive oil, vinegar and honey, cucumbers are
without doubt more delicious'  [Pliny's "Natural History" (circa AD
23-79)]

1 large cucumber
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp clear honey
Sea salt (optional)

Peel and cut the cucumber into thick slices.  Pour the white wine
vinegar, olive oil and honey into a heavy pan and cook the slices of
cucumber gently in the sauce until they are tender, shaking the pan
occasionally to redistribute the cucumber slices and ensure even
cooking.  Serve hot as a side dish.


Granita di Limone - Lemon Ice (you can cheat and buy this at the store!)




ROMAN BANQUET MENU
(served in class)

GUSTUM VERATILE
(Appetizers)
Olives, Pita Bread
Moretum (Herb and Cheese Spread)
Aqua Granata (Pomegranate Water)

CEUROS
(From the Garden)
Cymas Et Caulicules (Young Cabbage Sprouts)
Tisana Farrica (Rice, Lentils, Chickpeas, and Herbs)

POLYTELES
(Sumptuous Dishes)
BOLETO FUNGOS (Seasoned Mushrooms)
ASSATURAM SIMPLICEM (Roman Roast)
PULLUS CUM ANETHI (Chicken with Dill Sauce)

DULCIA
(Sweets)
       Dried Apricots, Dates, and Cherries




ROMAN BANQUET 
Ingredients

AQUA GRANATA (Pomegranate Water) - POM pomegranate juice and water

ASSATURAM SIMPLICEM (Roman Roast) - fresh beef brisket, sea salt, black
pepper, wildflower honey

BOLETO FUNGOS (Seasoned Mushrooms) - button, French Horn and shiitake
mushrooms, Pacific mushroom broth, cilantro, white peppercorns, white
wine vinegar, red wine, red vermouth

CUCUMERES (Braised Cucumbers) - organic cucumbers, white wine vinegar,
wildflower honey, e.v. olive oil, fresh mint sprigs

CYMAS ET CAULICULES (Young Cabbage Sprouts) - broccoli, cauliflower,
scallions, cumin, cilantro

DRIED FRUITS AND NUTS - Dried Apricots, Cherries, and Pine Nuts

Moretum (Herb and Cheese Spread) garlic, cilantro, Italian flat-leafed
parsley, celery leaves, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Pecorino Romano
cheese, salt

OLIVES -Kalamata, Orando Gaeta

PITA BREAD - Commercial Wheat

PULLUS CUM ANETHI (Chicken with Dill Sauce) - chicken cooked in aromatic
broth, dill seed, brown mustard, figs, red wine.  

TISANA FARRICA (Rice, Lentils, Chickpeas and Herbs) brown rice, brown
lentils, French green lentils, chickpeas, olive oil, salt, chopped fresh
cilantro, Italian flat-leafed parsley, fennel bulb and leaf, scallions




Foods in Roman Britain
(handout for younger students)

Foods native to Britain before the Romans
Salmon, eels, trout, pike, crab, lobsters
cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, red deer, roe deer, wild ox, wild boar
otter, beaver, hare
grouse, ptarmigan, greylag goose, whooper swan 
milk (but not cheese, according to Pliny)
honey, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, beech nuts, acorns
crabapples, raspberries, bilberries, blackberries, elderberries, wood
strawberries 
wheat (emmer), spelt, oats, barley, rye (developed more under the
Romans)
asparagus, wild chives, Celtic bean, sea kale, sea holly, hogweed,
bracken, chestnuts, wild garlic, wild cabbage, sea spinach, chard,
mallow, fat hen, purslane, nettle, lily bulbs, puffball mushroom


Foods introduced to Britain by the Romans
		Pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, rabbits, fallow deer
Apples, grape vines, fig, walnut, medlar, mulberry, damsons, pears,
plums, cultivated cherries, sweet chestnut
Parsley, borage, dill, fennel, mint, thyme, garlic, leek, onion,
shallot, rosemary, sage, savory, sweet marjoram, radish, thyme
Turnips, cabbages, lettuce, endive, peas, lentils, carrots, artichokes,
cucumber, asparagus, parsnip, celery


	Imported Commodities
Dates, almonds, olives, wine, olive oil, pine nuts, 
fish sauce (liquamen or garum), pepper, ginger, cinnamon





Foods and Farming
(handout for older students)
	
Foods introduced to Britain by the Romans
		Pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, fallow deer
Apples, grape vines, fig, walnut, medlar, mulberry, damsons, pears,
plums, cultivated cherries, sweet chestnut
Parsley, borage, dill, fennel, mint, thyme, garlic, leek, onion,
shallot, rosemary, sage, savory, sweet marjoram, radish, thyme
Turnips, cabbages, lettuce, endive, peas, lentils, carrots, artichokes,
cucumber, asparagus, parsnip, celery

	Imported Commodities
Dates, almonds, olives, wine, olive oil, pine nuts, 
fish sauce (liquamen or garum), pepper, ginger, cinnamon

Enclosed Game Parks 
	The Romans were probably the first people with the idea of
enclosing vast tracts of land for game parks.  They kept and hunted
deer, wild boar, and bears.  They used dogs to help them hunt.  They
kept snails in jars for cleaning and fattening, and kept dormice in
pottery vessels and fed on acorns and chestnuts.  They built columbaria
or pigeon houses to keep wood pigeons 

Farming Techniques
	Scientific management of livestock
	Turnips introduced as winter feed for livestock
improvements in tools such as hammers, saws, axes, planes
	Benefits of Free Food for poor citizens
Irrigation
	
	Kitchens & Cooking
	Complex Roman recipes required more cooking technique than the
simpler stews, roasts and pottages of the prehistoric cooking tradition.
They used a raised brick hearth, with cooking vessels raised on
gridirons and tripods.  Ovens were built for baking and roasting.
Stoves were heated with wood or charcoal.
 Wooden spoons were common. Food was ground up and mashed with a mortar
and pestle. Bronze graters, saucepans and strainers were used, along
with bronze pans that were coated with silver because bronze can have a
toxic reaction with certain foods. Some pans were made of lead. Pans
included a round pan called a patella; a patera was a hemispherical pan;
a patina was a deep pan. An olla was a wide-mouthed container for
cooking food.  When a commercially-purchased bottle was empty of
whatever it had originally contained, it was kept and reused to store
food in the kitchen. Because pots were not glazed, they would sour as
they aged, so the Romans threw a lot of them away.



Read More About Food in Roman Britain
(handout for parents and students)

Apicius - The surname of several men in Ancient Rome, of whom at least
two were known for setting a good table.  Marcus Apicius lived around
100 B.C., and M. Gabius Apicius, who lived under Augstus and Tiberius,
80 B.C. to 40 A.D.  This collection of recipes was augmented many times,
the latest additions coming from sometime in the 3rd century.  

Flower, Barbara & Rosenbaum, Elizabeth, Translators. Apicius, The Roman
Cookery Book. Peter Nevill, Ltd, London & New York: 1958.

Vehling, J.D., Translator. APICIUS: COOKING AND DINING IN IMPERIAL ROME
Dover edition, printed in 1977, an unabridged edition of the work
originally published in 1936.  Generally considered inferior to the F&R
translation noted above.   (noted as  [V. AP]  and  [F&R AP]  on the
menu)

Ancient Arts On-Line: The Roman Cookery Page
http://www.ancientartsonline.com/theromancookingpage.htm

Dalby. Andrew Siren Feasts, A History of Food and Gastronomy in 
Greece. Routledge, London & New York: 1996.

Dalby. Andrew Empire of Pleasures, Luxury and Indulgence in the Roman
World. Routledge, London & New York: 2000.

Dalby. Andrew.  Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices. University of 
California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles: 2000.

Dalby, Andrew and Grainger, Sally. The Classical Cookbook. British 
Museum Press, London: revised edition 2000.

Faas, Patrick.  Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient 
Rome. Translated by Shaun Whiteside. Palgrave Macmillan, New York and
Hampshire UK: 1994, 2003.

Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini. A Taste of Ancient Rome. Translated by Anna 
Herklotz. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London: 1992.

Grant, Mark.  Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens 
Interlink Pub Group  July 2000 ISBN: 1897959397 

Renfrew, Jane. Food & Cooking in Roman Britain.  English Heritage, 1985.
ISBN 1 85074 534 x