[Sca-cooks] the Smithsonian's take on the history of the hamburger

[Terry Decker]

The general group of recipes appears to fall in the section of Book II 
entitled Isicia or forcemeat and, if I am correct, the recipe they are 
following is Book II, Section 1, Recipe 7; Isicia Omentata.  That translates 
to Forcemeat in Caul.  Flower and Rosenbaum translates it as Forcemeat 
Sausages.  Vehling translates it as kromesky which is generally a meat 
croquette wrapped in bacon.

Besides using the worst translation of Apicius, they chose to use beef, 
where based on perusal of the recipes, pork or veal would be more likely. 
Looking over Apicius's sauce, I also question the use of mustard as a 
condiment rather than as a minor ingredient in the a condiment.

I don't have a copy of the Milham translation of Apicius, but it would be 
interesting to see her take on the recipe.

Bear



They go as far back as Apicius, though they used the Vehling translation. 
It might be interesting to compare other translations to see what they have 
to say about the recipe:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/taste-testing-history-hamburger-180959789/

Sandra