Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome Part 17

[1] V. _Ad ventrem_, "for the belly," simple home laxative.

[2] V. This sentence in Torinus only. Possibly a contraction of the foregoing formula, No. 66.

[3] V. _minutas_, "small," i.e., young.

[68] A SIMILAR DISH _SIMILITER_

PARBOIL POLYPODY [1] ROOT SO AS TO SOFTEN THEM, CUT THEM INTO SMALL PIECES, SEASON WITH GROUND PEPPER AND c.u.mIN, ARRANGE IN A BAKING DISH, FINISH ON THE FIRE AND SERVE [2].

[1] V. Roots of the fern herb.

[2] V. Although these instructions for vegetable dinners are rather vague, they resemble primitive _chartreuses_--fancy vegetable dishes developed by the Carthusian monks to whom flesh eating was forbidden.

Elsewhere in Apicius we shall find the _chartreuse_ developed to a remarkable degree.

[69] ANOTHER LAXATIVE _ALITER AD VENTREM_ [1]

SCRUB AND WASH BUNDLES OF BEETS BY RUBBING THEM WITH A LITTLE SODA [2]. TIE THEM IN INDIVIDUAL BUNDLES, PUT INTO WATER TO BE COOKED, WHEN DONE, SEASON WITH REDUCED MUST OR RAISIN WINE AND c.u.mIN, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER, ADD A LITTLE OIL, AND WHEN HOT, CRUSH POLYPODY AND NUTS WITH BROTH, ADD THIS TO THE RED-HOT PAN, INCORPORATING IT WITH THE BEETS, TAKE OFF THE FIRE QUICKLY AND SERVE.

[1] This formula wanting in Tor.

[2] V. Ingenious method to skin tender root vegetables, still in vogue today. We remove the skin of tender young root vegetables, carrots, beets, etc., by placing them in a towel, sprinkling them with rock salt and shaking them energetically. The modern power vegetable peeler is really built on the same principle, only instead of salt (which soon melts) carborundum or rough concrete surfaces are used, against which surfaces the vegetables are hurled by the rotary motion; often enough, too much of the skin is removed, however.

[70] BEETS a LA VARRO _BETACEOS VARRONIS_ [1]

VARRO BEETS, THAT IS, BLACK ONES [2] OF WHICH THE ROOTS MUST BE CLEANED WELL, COOK THEM WITH MEAD AND A LITTLE SALT AND OIL; BOIL THEM DOWN IN THIS LIQUOR SO THAT THE ROOTS ARE SATURATED THEREBY; THE LIQUID ITSELF IS GOOD DRINKING. IT IS ALSO NICE TO COOK A CHICKEN IN WITH THEM.

[1] G.-V. _Betacios_; Tor. _B. Varrones_. Probably named for Varro, the writer on agriculture.

[2] Roots on the order of parsnips, salsify, oysterplant.

[71] ANOTHER LAXATIVE _ALITER AD VENTREM_

ANOTHER VEGETABLE DISH, PROMOTING GOOD HEALTH; WASH CELERY, GREENS AND ROOTS, AND DRY IT IN THE SUN: THEN ALSO COOK THE TENDER PART AND HEAD OF LEEKS IN A NEW [1] POT, ALLOWING THE WATER TO BOIL DOWN ONE THIRD OF ITS VOLUME. THEREUPON GRIND PEPPER WITH BROTH AND HONEY IN EQUAL AMOUNTS PROPERLY MEASURED, MIX IT IN THE MORTAR WITH THE WATER OF THE COOKED CELERY, STRAIN, BOIL AGAIN AND USE IT TO MASK THE [cooked]

CELERY WITH. IF DESIRED, ADD [the sliced root of the] CELERY TO IT [2].

[1] V. "new," i.e., cook leeks in a separate sauce pan; NOT together with the celery, which, as the original takes for granted, must be cooked also.

[2] V. We would leave the honey out, make a cream sauce from the stock, or, adding bouillon, tie same with a little flour and b.u.t.ter, and would call the dish Stewed Celery and Leeks. The ancient method is entirely rational because the mineral salts of the vegetables are preserved and utilized (invariably observed by Apicius) which today are often wasted by inexperienced cooks who discard these precious elements with the water in which vegetables are boiled.

III

[72] ASPARAGUS _ASPARAGOS_

ASPARAGUS [Tor. IN ORDER TO HAVE IT MOST AGREEABLE TO THE PALATE] MUST BE [peeled, washed and] DRIED [1] AND IMMERSED IN BOILING WATER BACKWARDS [2] [3].

[1] V. Must be dried before boiling because the cold water clinging to the stalks is likely to chill the boiling water too much in which the asparagus is to be cooked. Apicius here reveals himself as the consummate cook who is familiar with the finest detail of physical and chemical changes which food undergoes at varying temperatures.

The various editions all agree: _asparagos siccabis_; Schuch, however, says: "For the insane _siccabis_ I subst.i.tute _siciabis_, _isiciabis_, prepare with _sicio_ [?] and cook." He even goes on to interpret it _cucabis_ from the Greek _kouki_, cocoanut milk, and infers that the asparagus was first cooked in cocoanut milk and then put back into water, a method we are tempted to p.r.o.nounce insane.

[2] V. Backwards! G.-V. _rursum in calidam_; Tac.

_rursus in aquam calidam_; Tor. _ac rursus ..._

This word has caused us some reflection, but the ensuing discovery made it worth while. _Rursus_ has escaped the attention of the other commentators. In this case _rursus_ means backwards, being a contraction from _revorsum_, h.e. _reversum_. The word is important enough to be observed.

Apicius evidently has the right way of cooking the fine asparagus. The stalks, after being peeled and washed must be bunched together and tied according to sizes, and the bunches must be set into the boiling water "backwards," that is, they must stand upright with the heads protruding from the water. The heads will be made tender above the water line by rising steam and will be done simultaneously with the harder parts of the stalks.

We admit, we have never seen a modern cook observe this method. They usually boil the tender heads to death while the lower stalks are still hard.

Though this formula is incomplete (it fails to state the sauce to be served, also that the asparagus must be peeled and bunched, that the water must contain salt, etc.) it is one of the neatest formulae in Apicius. It is amusing to note how the author herein unconsciously reveals what a poor literateur but what a fine cook he is. This is characteristic of most good pract.i.tioners.

One may perfectly master the vast subject of cookery, yet one may not be able to give a definition of even a single term, let alone the ability to exactly describe one of the many processes of cookery. Real poets often are in the same predicament; none of them ever explained the art satisfactorily.

[3] G.-V. add to the formula _callosiores reddes_--give back [eliminate] the harder ones. This sentence belongs to the next article. And Torinus, similar to Humelbergius, renders this sentence _ut reddas ad gustum calliores_--to render the harder ones palatable--the squash and pumpkin namely--and we are inclined to agree with him.

IV

[73] PUMPKIN, SQUASH _CUCURBITAS_

TO HAVE THE HARDER ONES PALATABLE, DO THIS: [1] [Cut the fruit into pieces, boil and] SQUEEZE THE WATER OUT OF THE BOILED FRUIT AND ARRANGE [the pieces] IN A BAKING DISH. PUT IN THE MORTAR PEPPER, c.u.mIN AND SILPHIUM, THAT IS, A VERY LITTLE OF THE LASER ROOT AND A LITTLE RUE, SEASON THIS WITH STOCK, MEASURE A LITTLE VINEGAR AND MIX IN A LITTLE CONDENSED WINE, SO THAT IT CAN BE STRAINED [2] AND POUR THIS LIQUID OVER THE FRUIT IN THE BAKING DISH; LET IT BOIL THREE TIMES, RETIRE FROM THE FIRE AND SPRINKLE WITH VERY LITTLE GROUND PEPPER.

[1] Cf. note 3 to No. 72.

[2] List. _Ut coloretur_--to give it color; Tor. _ut ius coletur_--from _colo_--to strain, to filter.

Cf. also note 2 to No. 55.

[74] PUMPKIN LIKE DASHEENS _ALITER CUCURBITAS IURE COLOCASIORUM_ [1]

BOIL THE PUMPKIN IN WATER LIKE COLOCASIA; GRIND PEPPER, c.u.mIN AND RUE, ADD VINEGAR AND MEASURE OUT THE BROTH IN A SAUCEPAN. THE PUMPKIN PIECES [nicely cut] WATER PRESSED OUT [are arranged] IN A SAUCEPAN WITH THE BROTH AND ARE FINISHED ON THE FIRE WHILE THE JUICE IS BEING TIED WITH A LITTLE ROUX. BEFORE SERVING SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER [2].

[1] V. _Colocasia Antiquorum_ belonging to the dasheen or taro family, a valuable tuber, again mentioned in No.

172, 216, 244 and 322. Cf. various notes, princ.i.p.ally that to No. 322. Also see U. S. Dept. of Agr. Farmer's Bulletin No. 1396, p. 2. This is a "new" and commercially and gastronomically important root vegetable, the flavor reminding of a combination of chestnuts and potatoes, popularly known as "Chinese potatoes" which has been recently introduced by the U. S. Government from the West Indies where it received the name, Dasheen, derived from _de Chine_--from China.

[2] Tor. continues without interruption into the next formula.

[75] PUMPKIN, ALEXANDRINE STYLE _ALITER CUCURBITAS MORE ALEXANDRINO_

PRESS THE WATER OUT OF THE BOILED PUMPKIN, PLACE IN A BAKING DISH, SPRINKLE WITH SALT, GROUND PEPPER, c.u.mIN, CORIANDER SEED, GREEN MINT AND A LITTLE LASER ROOT; SEASON WITH VINEGAR. NOW ADD DATE WINE AND PIGNOLIA NUTS GROUND WITH HONEY, VINEGAR AND BROTH, MEASURE OUT CONDENSED WINE AND OIL, POUR THIS OVER THE PUMPKIN AND FINISH IN THIS LIQUOR AND SERVE, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER BEFORE SERVING.