[Sca-cooks] Fish Sauce!!!

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Nov 16, 2006, at 1:26 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Phlip gave use this link:
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/13/spanish.shipwreck.ap/
> index.html

<snip>

> The article does mention fish bones inside these amphoras. I thought
> the Roman fish sauce was sans bones.

There are different products, made in different ways in different  
locations. Some are made from fish entrails alone, some with whole  
fish, and some with gutted fish.

> Were these later strained out?
> Or did the bones usually get dissolved in the fish sauce? If the
> latter, then why were these bones still there?

My own feeling is that this may, in fact, have been a consignment of  
pickled fish, and not garum/liquamen, per se. Archaeologists just  
seem to have this fixation on garum, though. Someday they'll unearth  
a Long John Silver's franchise and claim it's a garum factory.

> Perhaps the fish sauce
> was aged on the way to Rome instead of being aged first, and the
> bones dissolved or removed, and then shipped to Rome.

Maybe, but if this product is like just about anything else  
fermented, it's generally not wise to move it it an unstable state,  
and bottling it while actively fermenting can lead to all manner of  
unfortunate gaseous surprises. Surstrømming, anyone?

Adamantius