[Sca-cooks] herb seasoning question
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius1 at verizon.net
Wed Feb 28 19:19:40 PST 2007
On Feb 28, 2007, at 8:40 PM, Suey wrote:
> Apicius calls for silphium root in his recipes while Flower uses
> asafoetida when trying
> them. She indicates that it must be used sparingly but states that the
> flavor is delicious. She recommends it for fish especially. In North
> Africa "it" was grown especially in Cyrene where "it" was
> cultivated for
> export. There "it" was used in medicine and in cooking. The Anonymous
> Al-Andalus 13th Century Cookbook calls for it in "Tabahaja," a dish of
> fried goat's meat. Today several Middle Eastern recipes call for
> asafoetida. [Anónimo/Huici.1966:250:149; Apicius/Flower.
> 1958:28-29; ES:
> Anonymous/Perry. Sep 5, 02 and Pullar. 1970:242]
> Unfortunately I have not had time yet to review Flower's
> translation
> to see what recipes call for it. I have no data on medieval
> cookery in
> North African or on modern Middle Eastern recipes as I do not handle
> those subjects.
Here's what Flower and Rosenbaum have to say on laserpitium (the term
I believe most often appearing in Apicius) in the introduction to
their 1958 edition of De Re Coquinaria:
> Finally, at least a word must be said about the famous silphium,
> also called laserpitium and laser. Pliny has devoted a long chapter
> to this herb (XIX, 3, 15 if. (38 ff.)). From him and Theophrastus
> (Hist. plant. VI, 3) we gain a great deal of information about it.
> The silphium grew in abundance in Cyrenaica, and was one of the
> chief exports of that province. It had become a kind of symbol of
> Cyrenaica, so that it appears on the coins of Cyrene, and even on
> reliefs. But in spite of all this no one has been able to identify
> the plant. In fact, it was already extinct in Cyrenaica in Pliny's
> time. He says that only a small quantity could be discovered under
> Nero, and this was sent to him. Otherwise it was only from Persia,
> Armenia, and Media that silphium was still imported, but this was
> of far inferior quality to that of Cyrenaica. The silphium from
> Cyrenaica was apparently expensive even when it was still grown in
> great quantities. Pliny mentions that under the consulate of C.
> Valerius and M. Herennius B.c.) thirty pounds of silphium were sent
> to Rome and given to the State.
>
>
>
> Although the identity of the Cyrenaican silphium cannot be
> established, that of the Persian variety is fairly certain: it was
> most probably the asafoetida, also called Devil's dung. This plant
> has retained its importance in the Middle East to this day, and it
> is used for pharmaceutical purposes also in the north.
>
>
>
> We know from Pliny that the juice of both the stem and the root was
> used. Its costliness is well illustrated by our recipe I, x: how to
> make an ounce of silphium last. The Cyrenaican variety is mentioned
> expressly only twice in our book; usually it simply prescribes
> 'laser.' Apicius himself may still have known and used the
> Cyrenaican silphium, but our late fourth or early fifth‑century
> compiler could only have known the Persian or Armenian varieties.
>
>
>
> In recipes where laser is prescribed we have used asafoetida
> extract obtainable at chemists. It is very strong, and must be used
> with the utmost caution. The tiniest drop gives just enough
> flavour. If more than a minute quantity is taken the entire dish
> may be spoiled. But, used with care, it gives a delicious flavour,
> especially in combination with fish.
Adamantius
"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils mangent de la
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, let them eat cake!"
-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
"Confessions", 1782
"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry
Holt, 07/29/04
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