[Sca-cooks] Seeking leaves and crust

[Jeff Elder]

> I think the Libum recipe you are attributing to Apicius is
> actually Cato's.
<snip>
>
> Bear

To go off of Bear's post, to an earlier one I found in the Florilegium
(brd-mk-flat-msg)
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BREADS/brd-mk-flat-msg.html
(This BTW Was also posted by Bear!)

Libum  (Cato 75)

Libum hoc modo facito.  Casei P. II bene disterat in mortario.  Ubi bene
destriverit, farinae siligineae libram, aut, si voles tenerius esse,
semilibram semilaginis eodem indito, permiscetoque cum caseo bene.  Ovum
unum addito et una permisceto bene.  Inde panem facito, folia laurea
subdito:  in foco caldo sub testu coquito leniter.

Make a libum thus:  Thoroughly grind 2 librae of cheese in a mortar,  When
it is well ground, add 1 libra of fine flour or, if you want [the loaf to
be] softer still, 1/2 libra of the finest flour; mix well with the cheese.
Add 1 egg and mix well.  Then form a loaf, placing the bay leaves beneath.
Cook slowly under a testo on a hot hearth.

1 1/2 lb. ricotta or other soft cheese
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2-3 bay leaves per loaf

Mix the ingredients as prescribed in the recipe and form small loaves,
placing bay leaves beneath each one.  Bake in a medium oven (350 degrees F)
for around 30 minutes.

This bread is called libum (related to libare, to make an offering) because
it was also used as a sacrificial offering.  The farmer, for whom Cato wrote
these recipes, was expected to make ritual sacrifices to the Lares, the
guardian gods of home and property, " for the feast of the Compitalia,
either at the crossroads or the hearth."  We may thus assume that what was
once good enough for the gods should certainly be appealing to us as well.

Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome, pp. 169-170.


Simon Hondy
Bread, did some one say bread?