[Sca-cooks] Apicius question(s)
Patricia Dunham
chimene at ravensgard.org
Tue Nov 3 12:36:51 PST 2009
Welllll.... Vehling is very Victorian, and German.
I've just checked on-line, and most of the pages that give
translations don't say which sources(!)
Have you tried your local public library? "Cookery, Roman" is the
official subject heading. pretty victorian there too, eh!? There
have been several fairly "popular" books in the last decade or so
(Mark Grant, Patrick Faas, Sally Grainger, Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa),
any of which would probably be closer to the mark than Vehling.
Flowers & Rosenbaum, if you're REALLY lucky.
************
I did find some info on "Laser" on-line. (On-line sources; take with
at least a pinch of salt and cross-check often.)
Laser, laserpitium, silphium- Flowers and Rosenbaum suggest
replacing this herb with asafoetida.
www.housedragonor.org/A&S/herbs-gwen.html oh! reading further on
that page, one finds Laser is still used today in India and can be
found in many of the larger import markets. It is commonly known as
heeng. I have no idea about the accuracy of that second statement.
See the Wiki articles about both Silphium and Asafoetida, very
interesting. Apparently cooked asafoetida is leek-like, and "giant
fennel" is part of the same Genus.
a second site said ...
Silphium: Its other names are 'Laser' or 'ferula asa
foetida'. I've noticed that it's also called 'hing' in the Indian
cuisine. It is an onion and garlic substitute and should be used
rather sparingly because of its very strong taste and smell.
users.forthnet.gr/ath/vasard/uk1.html
-- my reaction to this was, OH! silphium! This was something that
went extinct from over-use in the Roman period. It was an extremely
popular herb, both culinary and medical uses, including birth-control
side-effects! (Wiki silphium article.) See M Didius Falco's
adventures in North Africa! (Two for the Lions, I think?)
**************
Hope that helps some.
chimene
>On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 09:58:15 -0800
> Patricia Dunham <chimene at ravensgard.org> wrote:
>>Before first? Which Apicius are you using? just curious, but it
>>might have a bearing.
>
>Vehling. I know there is a more recent, and perhaps better one, but
>Vehling fit the budget, even at Amazon.
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