[Sca-cooks] "What Did the Romans Eat?"

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear quoted a text as saying:
<<< According to Curtis (Curtis, Robert I., Garum and Salsamenta; E.J.Brill, 
Leiden, 1991.), Roman fish sauces come in four forms; garum, allec, liquamen 
and muria.  Garum is the liquid decanted from a couple of months of salted, 
fermenting fish.  Allec is the residue left after the garum is removed. 
Liquamen seems to be a sauce leeched from fermenting fish (apparently 
similar to modern fish sauces like Worchestershire).  And muria is a 
somewhat broadly defined term to refer to salt solutions extracted from or 
used to preserve meats, fruits and vegetables.  All of these sauces were 
used and made around the entire Mediterranean, up into the Black Sea and far 
south down the Nile. >>>

Interesting. Thank you. I’ve heard a few of these terms before, but this is the first time I’ve seen them differentiated.

Is there any connection between this “muria” and the “murri”, which we’ve discussed before. The fermented (rotted?*) Arabian barley paste condiment?

Stefan
* I had this described in the Florilegium file description as “rotted”, but I guess one person’s rotted is another’s fermented. Maybe I need to revisit the Florilegium file description.
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THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
  Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****