[Sca-cooks] satura

[Ursula Georges]

The fourth-century grammarian Diomedes quotes the earlier Roman writer 
Varro on the subject of a food called "satura", which might be the 
origin of our word "satire".  One book on satire translates the passage 
as follows:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VvObMS6AtwgC&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false

"Or else satura comes from a certain kind of stuffing which Varro says 
had this name applied to it because it had many ingredients.  There is 
also this observation in the second book of his Plautine Inquiries: 
'Satura is raisins, barley, and pinenuts sprinkled with winehoney 
[sic]'.  Others add pomegranate seeds to these ingredients."

I've seen some writers speculating that satura was a cake or a sausage, 
but "stuffing" sounds like a good use of these ingredients to me.  Has 
anybody made an interpretation of satura?  Does anyone have good ideas 
for what the Romans might have stuffed with this mixture?

Ursula Georges.