Roman recipes
- Written
- Compiled about 300–500 from older recipes; the surviving manuscripts were copied in the 800s
- Place
- The Roman Empire
- Language
- Latin
- Kind of source
- recipes
- Reading time
- 5 minutes
- Difficulty
- Accessible
- Intensity
- Low: nothing violent or distressing; one recipe uses brains
To make a sweet, take dates, pull out the stones, stuff them with nuts or pepper, touch them with salt, fry them in honey, and serve. That is the whole recipe. Most of the recipes in this book are as short, written as quick orders to a cook who already knew how much to use and how long to cook it.
The book is known as Apicius. Marcus Gavius Apicius (the name is also spelled Gabius) was a rich Roman of the early first century CE whose name became a byword for costly eating. The philosopher Seneca, who lived in the same years, wrote that Apicius taught the "science of the cookshop" in Rome, spent a vast fortune on food, and poisoned himself when he found he had only ten million sesterces left. Apicius did not write this book. Its editors of 1922 judged it a shortened version, made in the fourth or fifth century and partly in everyday late Latin, of an older collection named after him. The cook who used it may have had recipes centuries apart side by side.
It survives in two manuscripts copied in the ninth century from an older copy at the monastery of Fulda in Germany. One is in the Vatican Library; the other belonged in 1922 to the Phillipps library at Cheltenham, England. Later copies descend from them. Their text is often damaged, and the editors marked the words they added or would delete.
The book is a collection, not a diary of real meals. It cannot tell us what most Romans ate. Many of its ingredients were costly: pepper came from India, and the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, in the first century, gave its price in the market as four to fifteen denarii a pound. By our count pepper appears in about three of every four recipes, and fish sauce in seven of every ten. The recipes kept here favor sauces, honey, fruit, eggs, and things to drink. Elsewhere the book cooks flamingo, dormouse, and sow's womb.
Notice how much each recipe leaves to the cook, and which instructions are about keeping food, or about making a cheaper thing pass for a dearer one.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note. Point at or tap a phrase to see the original behind it. Phrase links checked in a separate review.
Book 1: Drinks and keeping food
1.1.2Spiced honey that keeps for good, for travelers on the road.1 Put ground pepper and skimmed honey in a small cask, to keep as a store. When it is time for a drink, take out just as much honey as you need, or mix in as much wine. If the cask is larger, put some wine in with the honey mixture, so that the honey pours out more easily.
1.3.1To make rose wine: Take rose petals and cut off their white bases. Thread them on a linen string to make strings of petals, and soak as many strings as you can in wine for seven days. After seven days, take the roses out of the wine. Put in fresh strings of petals the same way, let them rest in the wine for another seven days, and take the roses out. Do the same a third time: take the roses out and strain the wine. When you want to drink it, add honey, and your rose wine is made. Be sure to use only the best roses, and dry of dew. Make violet wine from violets the same way, and blend it with honey the same way.
1.3.2To make rose wine without roses: Put green citron leaves2 in a small basket woven of palm leaves, and lower it into a jar of must3 before the must begins to ferment. After forty days, take it out. When you need it, add honey and use it as rose wine.
1.5To turn dark wine white: Put bean meal or the whites of three eggs into a flask of the wine and shake it for a very long time. The next day it will be white. Ashes of the "white vine"4 do the same.
1.7.1To have fresh meat at any time without salting it: Cover fresh meat of any kind you like with honey, but hang the jar up. Use it whenever you want. This works better in winter; in summer it will last only a few days. You can do the same with cooked meat.
1.11.2To make bad honey good: You can make bad honey good enough to sell by mixing one part of the bad with two parts of good.
1.11.3To test whether honey has gone bad: Dip elecampane in the honey and set it alight. If the honey is sound, it burns brightly.5
1.12.1To keep grapes for a long time: Pick grapes from the vine without damaging them. Boil rainwater down to a third, and pour it into a jar; put the grapes in the same jar. Have the jar sealed with pitch and plaster, and have it stored in a cold place that the sun cannot reach. Whenever you want, you will find the grapes fresh. Give the water itself to the sick in place of honey water.6 Grapes buried in barley will also keep without damage.
1.21Herb sauce:7 Mint, rue, coriander, and fennel, all fresh; lovage,8 pepper, honey, and fish sauce.9 If needed, add vinegar.
Book 4: Patinas
4.2.9A patina10 of roses: Take roses and pull off the petals. Cut off the white bases, put the petals in a mortar, pour on fish sauce, and grind them. Then add one and a half cyathi11 of fish sauce, and strain the juice. Take four brains, remove the sinews, and grind them with eight scruples12 of pepper. Pour on some of the rose juice and grind again. Then break eight eggs and add one and a half cyathi of wine, one cyathus of raisin wine,13 and a little oil. Grease a pan, set it on hot ashes, and pour in the mixture described above. When it has cooked over the hot ashes, sprinkle it with ground pepper and serve.
4.2.35A patina of pears: Boil some pears and take out their cores. Grind them with pepper, cumin, honey, raisin wine, fish sauce, and a little oil. Add eggs and make a patina. Sprinkle pepper on top and serve.
Book 5: Peas and beans
5.3.1Peas: Cook the peas. When the foam has been skimmed off, put leek, coriander, and cumin on top. Grind pepper, lovage, caraway, dill, and fresh basil; pour on fish sauce, and season it with wine and fish sauce. Bring it to a boil. When it boils, stir it. If anything is missing, add it, and serve.
Book 7: Sweets and eggs
7.13.1Homemade sweets: Take dates14 and remove the stones. Stuff them with nuts, pine nuts, or ground pepper. Touch the outsides with salt, fry them in cooked honey, and serve.
7.13.3Another sweet: Take loaves of fine white bread,15 scrape off the crusts, and break them into fairly large pieces. Soak them in milk, fry them in oil, pour honey over them, and serve.
7.13.7Milk patina:16 Take as much milk as you think the dish will need, and sweeten it with honey, as for milk dishes. Add five eggs to a sextarius17 of milk, or three eggs to a hemina. Beat them into the milk until it is all one mixture. Strain it into a dish of Cumaean ware18 and cook it over a low fire. When it has set, sprinkle it with pepper and serve.
7.13.8Sponge eggs with milk: Beat four eggs, a hemina of milk, and an uncia19 of oil together until they are all one mixture. Put a little oil in a thin pan, heat it until it bubbles, and pour in the mixture you have prepared. When it has cooked on one side, turn it out onto a plate. Pour honey over it, sprinkle it with pepper, and serve.
7.19.3For soft-boiled eggs: Pepper, lovage, and soaked pine nuts. Pour on honey and vinegar, and season with fish sauce.
Notes
- A conditum was a spiced wine. The book's first recipe makes one from wine, honey, pepper, and other spices; this one keeps the honey and pepper in a cask, to be mixed with wine as needed. back
- Latin citrus usually means the citron, a lemonlike fruit tree, but the same word also named an African tree prized for its fragrant wood. back
- Mustum, the juice of freshly pressed grapes, before it ferments into wine. back
- Vitis alba, "the white vine," a plant usually identified as white bryony. back
- Elecampane (helenium) is a plant, Inula helenium. The editors suspected the text is damaged here; Vollmer guessed that it once said to pour the honey into a lamp and light it. back
- A drink of honey mixed with water, called hydromel. back
- Moretaria, sauces in the manner of moretum, a country dish of garlic, rue, vinegar, oil, and other ingredients. Rue is a bitter herb. back
- Ligusticum, "the Ligurian [herb]," lovage, named for Liguria in northwest Italy. back
- Liquamen, a fish sauce like the better-known garum, which Pliny the Elder describes as made from fish innards steeped in salt. back
- A patina was a shallow pan, and also the dish cooked in it. Many of the book's patinas are set with eggs. back
- A cyathus was a ladle for serving wine and a measure of one-twelfth of a sextarius: a little under 50 milliliters, about three tablespoons. back
- A scruple (scripulum) was the smallest Roman weight in common use, one twenty-fourth of an uncia, a little over a gram. back
- Passum, a sweet wine made from grapes dried in the sun until they had lost about half their weight. back
- The Latin gives two words for dates, palmulae and dactyli; how they differed is not clear. back
- Made from siligo, a very white wheat, or the fine flour ground from it. back
- The Latin name, tyropatina, joins Greek tyros, "cheese," to patina, though the recipe uses no cheese. back
- A sextarius held a little over half a liter, a little more than a US pint. A hemina was half a sextarius. back
- Pottery from Cumae, a town on the coast of Campania, in southern Italy. back
- The uncia was one-twelfth of a pound. As a measure of liquid it was one-twelfth of a sextarius, the same as a cyathus. back
Las palabras entre corchetes se añadieron para que se entienda mejor.
Libro 1: Bebidas y conservación de alimentos
1.1.2Miel especiada que se conserva para siempre, para los viajeros en camino.1 Pon pimienta molida y miel espumada en un barril pequeño para guardar la mezcla como reserva. Cuando sea hora de beber, saca solo la miel que necesites, o mezcla con ella tanto vino como haga falta. Si el barril es más grande, echa algo de vino en la mezcla de miel, para que la miel salga con más facilidad.
1.3.1Para hacer vino de rosas: Toma pétalos de rosa y córtales la base blanca. Ensártalos en un hilo de lino para hacer sartas de pétalos, y remoja en vino tantas sartas como puedas durante siete días. Pasados siete días, saca las rosas del vino. Pon sartas de pétalos frescos de la misma manera, déjalas reposar en el vino otros siete días y saca las rosas. Haz lo mismo una tercera vez: saca las rosas y cuela el vino. Cuando quieras beberlo, añade miel, y tu vino de rosas estará hecho. Asegúrate de usar solo las mejores rosas, y secas, sin rocío. Del mismo modo, haz vino de violetas con violetas, y mézclalo con miel de la misma manera.
1.3.2Para hacer vino de rosas sin rosas: Pon hojas verdes de cidro2 en una cestita tejida con hojas de palma, y bájala a una tinaja de mosto3 antes de que el mosto empiece a fermentar. Pasados cuarenta días, sácala. Cuando lo necesites, añade miel y úsalo como vino de rosas.
1.5Para volver blanco el vino oscuro: Pon harina de habas o las claras de tres huevos en un frasco de ese vino y agítalo durante muchísimo tiempo. Al día siguiente estará blanco. Las cenizas de la «vid blanca»4 hacen lo mismo.
1.7.1Para tener carne fresca en cualquier momento sin salarla: Cubre con miel carne fresca del tipo que quieras, pero cuelga el recipiente. Úsala cuando quieras. Esto funciona mejor en invierno; en verano durará solo unos pocos días. Puedes hacer lo mismo con carne cocida.
1.11.2Para convertir miel mala en buena: Puedes volver la miel mala lo bastante buena para venderla mezclando una parte de la mala con dos partes de la buena.
1.11.3Para comprobar si la miel se ha echado a perder: Moja énula campana en la miel y préndele fuego. Si la miel está buena, arde con brillo.5
1.12.1Para conservar las uvas mucho tiempo: Recoge uvas de la vid sin dañarlas. Hierve agua de lluvia hasta que quede un tercio, y échala en una vasija; pon las uvas en esa misma vasija. Haz sellar la vasija con pez y yeso, y haz que la guarden en un lugar frío al que no llegue el sol. Cuando quieras, encontrarás las uvas frescas. Esa misma agua dásela a los enfermos en lugar de agua con miel.6 Las uvas enterradas en cebada también se conservan sin daño.
1.21Salsa de hierbas:7 Menta, ruda, cilantro e hinojo, todos frescos; levístico,8 pimienta, miel y salsa de pescado.9 Si hace falta, añade vinagre.
Libro 4: Patinas
4.2.9Una patina10 de rosas: Toma rosas y arráncales los pétalos. Córtales la base blanca, pon los pétalos en un mortero, vierte encima salsa de pescado y machácalos. Luego añade un cyathus11 y medio de salsa de pescado, y cuela el jugo. Toma los sesos de cuatro [animales], quítales los nervios y machácalos con ocho escrúpulos12 de pimienta. Vierte encima un poco del jugo de rosas y vuelve a machacar. Luego rompe ocho huevos y añade un cyathus y medio de vino, un cyathus de vino de pasas13 y un poco de aceite. Engrasa una cazuela, ponla sobre cenizas calientes y vierte en ella la mezcla descrita arriba. Cuando se haya cocido sobre las cenizas calientes, espolvoréala con pimienta molida y sirve.
4.2.35Una patina de peras: Hierve unas peras y quítales el corazón. Machácalas con pimienta, comino, miel, vino de pasas, salsa de pescado y un poco de aceite. Añade huevos y haz una patina. Espolvorea pimienta por encima y sirve.
Libro 5: Guisantes y habas
5.3.1Guisantes: Cocina los guisantes. Cuando les hayas quitado la espuma, pon encima puerro, cilantro y comino. Machaca pimienta, levístico, alcaravea, eneldo y albahaca fresca; vierte encima salsa de pescado y sazona con vino y salsa de pescado. Haz que hierva. Cuando hierva, revuélvelo. Si falta algo, añádelo y sirve.
Libro 7: Dulces y huevos
7.13.1Dulces caseros: Toma dátiles14 y quítales el hueso. Rellénalos de nueces, piñones o pimienta molida. Pásalos ligeramente por sal, fríelos en miel cocida y sirve.
7.13.3Otro dulce: Toma panes de harina blanca fina,15 ráspales la corteza y pártelos en trozos bastante grandes. Remójalos en leche, fríelos en aceite, échales miel por encima y sirve.
7.13.7Patina de leche:16 Toma tanta leche como creas que necesitará el plato y endúlzala con miel, como para los platos de leche. Añade cinco huevos por cada sextarius17 de leche, o tres huevos por cada hemina. Bátelos en la leche hasta que todo sea una sola mezcla. Cuélala en una fuente de loza de Cumas18 y cuécela a fuego lento. Cuando haya cuajado, espolvoréala con pimienta y sirve.
7.13.8Huevos esponja con leche: Bate juntos cuatro huevos, una hemina de leche y una uncia19 de aceite hasta que todo sea una sola mezcla. Pon un poco de aceite en una sartén fina, caliéntalo hasta que burbujee y vierte la mezcla que has preparado. Cuando se haya cocido por un lado, vuélcala en un plato. Échale miel por encima, espolvoréala con pimienta y sirve.
7.19.3Para huevos poco cocidos: Pimienta, levístico y piñones remojados. Vierte encima miel y vinagre, y sazona con salsa de pescado.
Notas
- Un conditum era un vino especiado. La primera receta del libro lo prepara con vino, miel, pimienta y otras especias; esta guarda la miel y la pimienta en un barril, para mezclarlas con vino cuando haga falta. volver
- En latín, citrus suele significar el cidro, un árbol de frutos parecidos al limón, pero la misma palabra nombraba también un árbol africano apreciado por su madera aromática. volver
- Mustum, el jugo de uvas recién prensadas, antes de que fermente y se convierta en vino. volver
- Vitis alba, «la vid blanca», una planta que suele identificarse con la brionia blanca. volver
- La énula campana (helenium) es una planta, Inula helenium. Los editores sospechaban que aquí el texto está dañado; Vollmer supuso que antes decía que se echara la miel en una lámpara y se encendiera. volver
- Una bebida de miel mezclada con agua, llamada hydromel. volver
- Moretaria, salsas al estilo del moretum, un plato campesino de ajo, ruda, vinagre, aceite y otros ingredientes. La ruda es una hierba amarga. volver
- Ligusticum, «la [hierba] de Liguria», el levístico, llamado así por Liguria, en el noroeste de Italia. volver
- Liquamen, una salsa de pescado parecida al garum, más conocido, que según Plinio el Viejo se hacía con tripas de pescado maceradas en sal. volver
- Una patina era una cazuela poco honda, y también el plato que se cocinaba en ella. Muchas patinas del libro se cuajan con huevo. volver
- Un cyathus era un cucharón para servir vino y una medida igual a la duodécima parte de un sextarius: un poco menos de 50 mililitros, unas tres cucharadas. volver
- El escrúpulo (scripulum) era el peso romano más pequeño de uso común, la vigesimocuarta parte de una uncia: algo más de un gramo. volver
- Passum, un vino dulce hecho con uvas secadas al sol hasta perder cerca de la mitad de su peso. volver
- El latín da dos palabras para los dátiles, palmulae y dactyli; no está claro en qué se diferenciaban. volver
- Hechos de siligo, un trigo muy blanco, o de la harina fina que se obtenía al molerlo. volver
- El nombre latino, tyropatina, une el griego tyros, «queso», a patina, aunque la receta no lleva queso. volver
- Un sextarius contenía algo más de medio litro. Una hemina era medio sextarius. volver
- Cerámica de Cumas, una ciudad de la costa de Campania, en el sur de Italia. volver
- La uncia era la duodécima parte de una libra. Como medida de líquidos era la duodécima parte de un sextarius, lo mismo que un cyathus. volver
Conditum melizomum perpetuum, quod subministratur per viam peregrinanti: piper tritum cum melle despumato in cupellam mittis conditi loco, et ad momentum quantum sit bibendum, tantum aut mellis proferas aut vini misceas. sed si <maius> vas erit, nonnihil vini melizomo mittas, adiciendum propter mellis exitum solutiorem.
Spiced honey-mixture [conditum melizomum], everlasting, which is supplied to one traveling on the road: you put ground pepper with skimmed honey into a small cask in place of a store [conditi loco?], and at the moment, as much as is to be drunk, so much you bring out of the honey or mix [in] of wine. But if the vessel is ⟨larger⟩, you should put some wine into the honey-mixture, to be added for the sake of a looser outflow of the honey.
Spiced honey that keeps for good, for travelers on the road. Put ground pepper and skimmed honey in a small cask, to keep as a store. When it is time for a drink, take out just as much honey as you need, or mix in as much wine. If the cask is larger, put some wine in with the honey mixture, so that the honey pours out more easily.
Miel especiada que se conserva para siempre, para los viajeros en camino. Pon pimienta molida y miel espumada en un barril pequeño para guardar la mezcla como reserva. Cuando sea hora de beber, saca solo la miel que necesites, o mezcla con ella tanto vino como haga falta. Si el barril es más grande, echa algo de vino en la mezcla de miel, para que la miel salga con más facilidad.
2. Gewürzte Honigbrühe, welche den auf der Straße wandernden Reisenden stets dargereicht wird. (Daher solche, welche sich lange unverdorben hält). Geriebenen Pfeffer und abgeschäumten Honig tue mit gewürztem Wein in ein Gefäß und mische nur so viel als auf einmal getrunken werden soll mit Wein; aber tue auch nicht zu wenig Wein zur Honigwürze. (Es ist wegen des leichteren Ausfließens der Honigwürze, oder auch wegen der besseren Haltbarkeit derselben.)
2. Honey Refresher for Travelers. The wayfarer's honey refresher (so called because it gives endurance and strength to pedestrians) with which travelers are refreshed by the wayside is made in this manner: flavor honey with ground pepper and skim. In the moment of serving put honey in a cup, as much as is desired to obtain the right degree of sweetness, and mix spiced wine not more than a needed quantity; also add some wine to the spiced honey to facilitate its flow and the mixing.
- A conditum was a spiced wine. The book's first recipe makes one from wine, honey, pepper, and other spices; this one keeps the honey and pepper in a cask, to be mixed with wine as needed.
Rosatum sic facies: folia rosarum, albo sublato, lino inseris et sutilis facias, et vino quam plurimas infundes, ut septem diebus in vino sint. post septem dies rosam de vino tollis, et alias sutiles recentes similiter mittis, ut per dies septem in vino requiescant, et rosam eximis. similiter et tertio facies, et rosam eximis, et vinum colas, et, cum ad bibendum voles uti, addito melle rosatum conficies. sane custodito ut rosam a rore siccam et optimam mittas. Similiter, ut supra, et de <viola> violatium facies, et eodem modo melle temperabis.
Rose wine you will make thus: rose petals, the white removed, you thread on linen and make strings [sutiles], and soak as many as possible in wine, so that they are in the wine for seven days. After seven days you take the rose out of the wine, and you put in other fresh strings in the same way, so that they rest in the wine for seven days, and you take out the rose. In the same way you will do it a third time, and take out the rose, and strain the wine, and, when you wish to use it for drinking, with honey added you will make rose wine. Of course, take care that you put in rose dry of dew and the best. In the same way, as above, you will make violet wine from ⟨violets⟩, and in the same way you will blend it with honey.
To make rose wine: Take rose petals and cut off their white bases. Thread them on a linen string to make strings of petals, and soak as many strings as you can in wine for seven days. After seven days, take the roses out of the wine. Put in fresh strings of petals the same way, let them rest in the wine for another seven days, and take the roses out. Do the same a third time: take the roses out and strain the wine. When you want to drink it, add honey, and your rose wine is made. Be sure to use only the best roses, and dry of dew. Make violet wine from violets the same way, and blend it with honey the same way.
Para hacer vino de rosas: Toma pétalos de rosa y córtales la base blanca. Ensártalos en un hilo de lino para hacer sartas de pétalos, y remoja en vino tantas sartas como puedas durante siete días. Pasados siete días, saca las rosas del vino. Pon sartas de pétalos frescos de la misma manera, déjalas reposar en el vino otros siete días y saca las rosas. Haz lo mismo una tercera vez: saca las rosas y cuela el vino. Cuando quieras beberlo, añade miel, y tu vino de rosas estará hecho. Asegúrate de usar solo las mejores rosas, y secas, sin rocío. Del mismo modo, haz vino de violetas con violetas, y mézclalo con miel de la misma manera.
4. Rosatum (Rosenwein) mache so: Nimm Rosenblätter, von denen man die weißen Stellen entfernt, tue sie in ein leinenes Tuch und nähe sie ein; hierauf übergieße man mehr als die Hälfte mit Wein, in welchem man sie 7 Tage liegen läßt und dann herausnimmt. Nun füge man wiederum frische Blätter hinzu und lasse sie wieder 7 Tage ziehen; nach abermals 7 Tagen entferne man auch diese Blätter und gieße den Wein durch einen Durchschlag. Soll der Wein getrunken werden, so gibt man einen Honigzusatz dazu. Natürlich darf nur eine vorzügliche, gut getrocknete Rosenart verwendet werden. Auf dieselbe Weise verwendet man Veilchen zu Violatum (Veilchenwein).
4. Rose Wine. Make rose wine in this manner: rose petals, the lower white part removed, sewed into a linen bag and immersed in wine for seven days. Thereupon add a sack of new petals which allow to draw for another seven days. Again remove the old petals and replace them by fresh ones for another week; then strain the wine through the colander. Before serving, add honey sweetening to taste. Take care that only the best petals free from dew be used for soaking. 5. Violet Wine. In a similar way as above like the rose wine violet wine is made of fresh violets, and tempered with honey, as directed.
Rosatum sine rosa sic facies: folia citri viridia in sportella palmea in dolium musti mittes antequam ferveat, et post quadraginta dies exime. cum necesse fuerit, mel addes et pro rosato utere.
Rose wine without rose you will make thus: green citron leaves in a little palm-leaf basket you will put into a jar of must before it ferments, and after forty days take [it] out. When it is needed, you will add honey and use it for rose wine.
To make rose wine without roses: Put green citron leaves in a small basket woven of palm leaves, and lower it into a jar of must before the must begins to ferment. After forty days, take it out. When you need it, add honey and use it as rose wine.
Para hacer vino de rosas sin rosas: Pon hojas verdes de cidro en una cestita tejida con hojas de palma, y bájala a una tinaja de mosto antes de que el mosto empiece a fermentar. Pasados cuarenta días, sácala. Cuando lo necesites, añade miel y úsalo como vino de rosas.
Rosatum ohne Rosenblätter. Die grünen Blätter des Zitronenbaumes werden in einem Bastkörbchen in ein Fäßchen mit Most getan, bevor er gärt. Nach 40 Tagen nimm das Körbchen mit den Blättern heraus, füge Honig hinzu und brauche es als Rosatum.
6. Rose Wine without roses. Rose wine without roses is made in this fashion: a palm leaf basket full of fresh citrus leaves is immersed in the vat of new wine before fermentation has set in. After forty days retire the leaves, and, as occasion arises, sweeten the wine with honey, and pass it up for rose wine.
- Latin citrus usually means the citron, a lemonlike fruit tree, but the same word also named an African tree prized for its fragrant wood.
- Mustum, the juice of freshly pressed grapes, before it ferments into wine.
Vinum ex atro candidum facies: lomentum ex faba factum vel ovorum trium alborem in lagonam mittis et diutissime agitas: alia die erit candidum. et cineres vitis albae idem faciunt.
You will make white wine from dark: you put bean meal [lomentum made from bean] or the white of three eggs into a flask and shake [it] very long: the next day it will be white. And ashes of the white vine do the same.
To turn dark wine white: Put bean meal or the whites of three eggs into a flask of the wine and shake it for a very long time. The next day it will be white. Ashes of the "white vine" do the same.
Para volver blanco el vino oscuro: Pon harina de habas o las claras de tres huevos en un frasco de ese vino y agítalo durante muchísimo tiempo. Al día siguiente estará blanco. Las cenizas de la «vid blanca» hacen lo mismo.
6. Dunkel glänzenden Wein mache so: Bohnenmehl mit drei Eiweiß tue in ein Mischgefäß, schüttele es längere Zeit (mit dem Weine) und andern Tags wird der Wein glänzend klar sein. Auch mit der Asche der Weinrebe kann es so gemacht werden.
8. To Clarify Muddy Wine. Put bean meal and the whites of three eggs in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whip and add to the wine, stirring for a long time. The next day the wine will be clear. Ashes of vines have the same effect.
- Vitis alba, "the white vine," a plant usually identified as white bryony.
Vt carnes sine sale quovis tempore recentes sint: carnes recentes quales volueris melle tegantur, sed vas pendeat, et, quando volueris, utere. hoc hieme melius fit, aestate paucis diebus durabit. et in carne cocta itidem facies.
So that meats may be fresh at any time without salt: let fresh meats, of whatever kind you wish, be covered with honey, but let the vessel hang, and when you wish, use [them]. This is done better in winter; in summer it will last a few days. And with cooked meat you will do likewise.
To have fresh meat at any time without salting it: Cover fresh meat of any kind you like with honey, but hang the jar up. Use it whenever you want. This works better in winter; in summer it will last only a few days. You can do the same with cooked meat.
Para tener carne fresca en cualquier momento sin salarla: Cubre con miel carne fresca del tipo que quieras, pero cuelga el recipiente. Úsala cuando quieras. Esto funciona mejor en invierno; en verano durará solo unos pocos días. Puedes hacer lo mismo con carne cocida.
8. Wie Fleisch eine längere Zeit ohne Salz frisch zu erhalten ist. Das frische Fleisch wird mit Honig bestrichen, doch muß es im Gefäß hängen (es darf nirgends an den Wandungen anliegen). Im Winter hält es sich besser, im Sommer nur wenige Tage. Auch mit gekochtem Fleische kann ebenso verfahren werden.
10. To Keep Meats Fresh without Salt for any Length of Time. Cover fresh meat with honey, suspend it in a vessel. Use as needed; in winter it will keep but in summer it will last only a few days. Cooked meat may be treated likewise.
Vt mel malum bonum facias: mel malum bonum facies ad vendendum, unam partem mali et duas boni si simul miscueris.
That you may make bad honey good: you will make bad honey good for selling, if you mix together one part of the bad and two of the good.
To make bad honey good: You can make bad honey good enough to sell by mixing one part of the bad with two parts of good.
Para convertir miel mala en buena: Puedes volver la miel mala lo bastante buena para venderla mezclando una parte de la mala con dos partes de la buena.
15. Schlecht gewordenen Honig gut zu machen. Schlecht gewordenen Honig mische zum Verkauf einen Teil schlechten mit zwei Teilen guten.
17. Spoiled Honey Made Good. How bad honey may be turned into a saleable article is to mix one part of the spoiled honey with two parts of good honey.
Mel corruptum ut probes: helenium infundes in melle et incende: si incorruptum est, lucet.
That you may test spoiled honey: you will steep elecampane [helenium] in the honey and set [it] alight: if it is unspoiled, it shines.
To test whether honey has gone bad: Dip elecampane in the honey and set it alight. If the honey is sound, it burns brightly.
Para comprobar si la miel se ha echado a perder: Moja énula campana en la miel y préndele fuego. Si la miel está buena, arde con brillo.
16. Wie verdorbener Honig erprobt wird. Tue Alantkraut in den Honig und zünde es an; wenn er unverdorben ist, leuchtet es (brennt es).
18. To Test Spoiled Honey. Immerse elencampane in honey and light it; if good, it will burn brightly.
- Elecampane (helenium) is a plant, Inula helenium. The editors suspected the text is damaged here; Vollmer guessed that it once said to pour the honey into a lamp and light it.
Vvae ut diu serventur: accipies uvas de vite inlaesas, et aquam pluvialem ad tertias decoques, et mittis in vas, in quo et uvas mittis. vas picari et gypsari facies, et in locum frigidum, ubi sol accessum non habet, reponi facies, et, quando volueris, uvas virides invenies. et ipsam aquam pro hydromelli aegris dabis. et si in hordeo obruas, inlaesas invenies.
That grapes may be kept long: you will take grapes from the vine undamaged, and you will boil down rainwater to a third, and you put it into a vessel, into which you also put the grapes. You will have the vessel pitched and plastered, and you will have it put away in a cold place, where the sun has no access, and, when you wish, you will find green [fresh] grapes. And the water itself you will give to the sick as [in place of?] hydromel. And if you bury [them] in barley, you will find them undamaged.
To keep grapes for a long time: Pick grapes from the vine without damaging them. Boil rainwater down to a third, and pour it into a jar; put the grapes in the same jar. Have the jar sealed with pitch and plaster, and have it stored in a cold place that the sun cannot reach. Whenever you want, you will find the grapes fresh. Give the water itself to the sick in place of honey water. Grapes buried in barley will also keep without damage.
Para conservar las uvas mucho tiempo: Recoge uvas de la vid sin dañarlas. Hierve agua de lluvia hasta que quede un tercio, y échala en una vasija; pon las uvas en esa misma vasija. Haz sellar la vasija con pez y yeso, y haz que la guarden en un lugar frío al que no llegue el sol. Cuando quieras, encontrarás las uvas frescas. Esa misma agua dásela a los enfermos en lugar de agua con miel. Las uvas enterradas en cebada también se conservan sin daño.
17. Weintrauben aufzubewahren. Nimm unverletzte Trauben vom Weinstock. Regen- oder Flußwasser koche zum dritten Teil ein, tue es in ein Gefäß, in welches die Trauben getan werden sollen. Das Gefäß muß ausgepicht und gegipst sein und in einem kalten Raume stehen, wohin die Sonne keinen Zutritt hat. Auf diese Art behandelt, wirst du, wenn du willst, die Trauben frisch finden. Dasselbe Wasser kannst du nach Befinden den Kranken als Honigmet geben. Bedeckt man die Trauben noch mit Gerste (Kleie), wirst du sie unverletzt finden.
19. To Keep Grapes. Take perfect grapes from the vines, place them in a vessel and pour rain water over them that has been boiled down one third of its volume. The vessel must be pitched and sealed with plaster, and must be kept in a cool place to which the sun has no access. Treated in this manner, the grapes will be fresh whenever you need them. You can also serve this water as honey mead to the sick. Also, if you cover the grapes with barley [bran] you will find them sound and uninjured.
- A drink of honey mixed with water, called hydromel.
Moretaria: mentam, rutam, coriandrum, feniculum, omnia viridia, ligusticum, piper, mel, liquamen. si opus fuerit, acetum addes.
Herb sauces [moretaria]: mint, rue, coriander, fennel, all green [fresh], lovage, pepper, honey, liquamen. If it is needed, you will add vinegar.
Herb sauce: Mint, rue, coriander, and fennel, all fresh; lovage, pepper, honey, and fish sauce. If needed, add vinegar.
Salsa de hierbas: Menta, ruda, cilantro e hinojo, todos frescos; levístico, pimienta, miel y salsa de pescado. Si hace falta, añade vinagre.
36. Mortaria (Kalte Schale — Kräuter-Mischung). Minze, Raute, Koriander, Fenchel, alles grün bezw. frisch, Liebstöckel, Pfeffer, Honig, Brühe, zuletzt Essig dazu.
38. Mortaria. Mortaria are preparations made in the mortar. Place in the mortar [Tor.] mint, rue, coriander and fennel, all fresh and green and crush them fine. Lovage, pepper, honey and broth and vinegar to be added when the work is done.
- Moretaria, sauces in the manner of moretum, a country dish of garlic, rue, vinegar, oil, and other ingredients. Rue is a bitter herb.
- Ligusticum, "the Ligurian [herb]," lovage, named for Liguria in northwest Italy.
- Liquamen, a fish sauce like the better-known garum, which Pliny the Elder describes as made from fish innards steeped in salt.
Patinam de rosis: accipies rosas et exfoliabis: album tolles, mittes in mortarium, suffundes liquamen, fricabis. postea mittes liquaminis cyathum unum semis, et sucum per colum colabis. accipies cerebella IV, enervabis et teres piperis scripulos VIII. suffundes ex suco, fricabis. postea ova VIII frangis, <mittis> vini cyathum unum semis et passi cyathum unum, olei modicum. postea patinam perunges et eam impones cineri calido, et sic impensam supra scriptam mittes. cum cocta fuerit in thermospodio, piperis pulverem super asperges et inferes.
Patina of roses: you will take roses and strip off the petals: you will remove the white, put [them] into a mortar, pour on liquamen, rub [grind]. Then you will put in one and a half cyathi of liquamen, and strain the juice through a strainer. You will take 4 brains, remove their sinews, and grind 8 scruples of pepper. You will pour on [some] of the juice, rub. Then you break 8 eggs, ⟨add⟩ one and a half cyathi of wine and one cyathus of raisin wine [passum], a little oil. Then you will grease a pan and set it on hot ash, and so put in the mixture written above. When it is cooked in the hot ashes [thermospodium], sprinkle powdered pepper over [it] and serve.
A patina of roses: Take roses and pull off the petals. Cut off the white bases, put the petals in a mortar, pour on fish sauce, and grind them. Then add one and a half cyathi of fish sauce, and strain the juice. Take four brains, remove the sinews, and grind them with eight scruples of pepper. Pour on some of the rose juice and grind again. Then break eight eggs and add one and a half cyathi of wine, one cyathus of raisin wine, and a little oil. Grease a pan, set it on hot ashes, and pour in the mixture described above. When it has cooked over the hot ashes, sprinkle it with ground pepper and serve.
Una patina de rosas: Toma rosas y arráncales los pétalos. Córtales la base blanca, pon los pétalos en un mortero, vierte encima salsa de pescado y machácalos. Luego añade un cyathus y medio de salsa de pescado, y cuela el jugo. Toma los sesos de cuatro [animales], quítales los nervios y machácalos con ocho escrúpulos de pimienta. Vierte encima un poco del jugo de rosas y vuelve a machacar. Luego rompe ocho huevos y añade un cyathus y medio de vino, un cyathus de vino de pasas y un poco de aceite. Engrasa una cazuela, ponla sobre cenizas calientes y vierte en ella la mezcla descrita arriba. Cuando se haya cocido sobre las cenizas calientes, espolvoréala con pimienta molida y sirve.
129. Rosen-Platte. Nimm entblätterte Rosen, die weißen Blätter werden weggenommen, tue sie in den Mörser, füge Brühe zu und reibe es; dann tue ½ Weinglas Brühe zu und streiche es durch einen Durchschlag. Nimm 4 Kalbs- (Schweins-) Hirn, reibe 8 Scrupulos Pfeffer zu der Masse; dann nimm 8 Eier, ½ Glas Wein, ein Glas Rosinenwein und etwas Öl. Streiche eine Pfanne aus und setze es in glühende Asche, füge alles vorher angegebene hinzu, damit es in der Hitze (Wärmröhre) gar wird, streue Pfeffer darüber und trage es auf.
136. Rose Pie, Rose Custard or Pudding. Take roses fresh from the flower bed, strip off the leaves, remove the white [from the petals and] put them in the mortar; pour over some broth [and] rub fine. Add a glass of broth and strain the juice through the colander. [This done] take 4 [cooked calf's] brains, skin them and remove the nerves; crush 8 scruples of pepper moistened with the juice and rub [with the brains]; thereupon break 8 eggs, add 1 glass of wine, 1 glass of raisin wine and a little oil. Meanwhile grease a pan, place it on the hot ashes [or in the hot bath] in which pour the above described material; when the mixture is cooked in the bain maris sprinkle it with pulverized pepper and serve.
- A patina was a shallow pan, and also the dish cooked in it. Many of the book's patinas are set with eggs.
- A cyathus was a ladle for serving wine and a measure of one-twelfth of a sextarius: a little under 50 milliliters, about three tablespoons.
- A scruple (scripulum) was the smallest Roman weight in common use, one twenty-fourth of an uncia, a little over a gram.
- Passum, a sweet wine made from grapes dried in the sun until they had lost about half their weight.
Patina de piris: pira elixa et purgata e medio teres cum pipere, cumino, melle, passo, liquamine, oleo modico. ovis missis patinam facies, piper super asparges et inferes.
Patina of pears: boiled pears, cleaned out from the middle, you will grind with pepper, cumin, honey, raisin wine, liquamen, a little oil. With eggs put in, you will make a patina, sprinkle pepper over [it] and serve.
A patina of pears: Boil some pears and take out their cores. Grind them with pepper, cumin, honey, raisin wine, fish sauce, and a little oil. Add eggs and make a patina. Sprinkle pepper on top and serve.
Una patina de peras: Hierve unas peras y quítales el corazón. Machácalas con pimienta, comino, miel, vino de pasas, salsa de pescado y un poco de aceite. Añade huevos y haz una patina. Espolvorea pimienta por encima y sirve.
168. Platte mit Birnen. Blanchiere die Birnen, nimm das Innere (das Kernhaus) heraus und reibe sie mit Pfeffer, Kümmel, Honig, Rosinenwein, Brühe und ein wenig Öl, mische es mit Eiern, tue es auf die Platte, streue Pfeffer darüber und richte es an.
161. A Dish of Pears. A dish of pears is made this way: stew the pears, clean out the center [remove core and seeds] crush them with pepper, cumin, honey, raisin wine, broth and a little oil; mix with eggs, make a pie [custard] of this, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Pisam coques. cum despumaverit, porrum, coriandrum et cuminum supra mittis. teres piper, ligusticum, [careum hoc est caravita] careum, anethum, ocimum viride, suffundis liquamen, vino et liquamine temperabis, facies ut ferveat. cum ferbuerit, agitabis. si quid defuerit, mittis et inferes.
Peas: you will cook the pea. When it has been skimmed, you put leek, coriander and cumin on top. You will grind pepper, lovage, [caraway, that is caravita] caraway, dill, green basil, pour on liquamen, you will blend [it] with wine and liquamen, you will make it boil. When it has boiled, you will stir. If anything is lacking, you add [it] and serve.
Peas: Cook the peas. When the foam has been skimmed off, put leek, coriander, and cumin on top. Grind pepper, lovage, caraway, dill, and fresh basil; pour on fish sauce, and season it with wine and fish sauce. Bring it to a boil. When it boils, stir it. If anything is missing, add it, and serve.
Guisantes: Cocina los guisantes. Cuando les hayas quitado la espuma, pon encima puerro, cilantro y comino. Machaca pimienta, levístico, alcaravea, eneldo y albahaca fresca; vierte encima salsa de pescado y sazona con vino y salsa de pescado. Haz que hierva. Cuando hierva, revuélvelo. Si falta algo, añádelo y sirve.
193. Erbsen. Koche die Erbsen, wenn sie abgeschäumt sind, tue Porree, Koriander und Kümmel daran; reibe Pfeffer, Liebstöckel, Feldkümmel (Carve), Dill und grünes Basilikum, fülle Brühe auf, schmecke es mit Wein und Brühe ab, laß es kochen, wenn es gekocht ist, rühre es um, wenn es fertig sein wird, richte es an.
185. Peas. Cook the peas, when skimmed, lay leeks, coriander and cumin on top. Crush pepper, lovage, cumin, dill and green basilica, wine and broth to taste, make it boil; when done stir well, put in what perchance should be missing and serve.
Dulcia domestica: palmulas vel dactylos excepto semine, nuce vel nucleis vel pipere trito infercies. sale foris contingis, frigis in melle cocto, et inferes.
Homemade sweets: you will stuff palm dates or dates [palmulas vel dactylos], the stone removed, with nut or pine kernels or ground pepper. You touch [them] with salt outside, you fry [them] in cooked honey, and serve.
Homemade sweets: Take dates and remove the stones. Stuff them with nuts, pine nuts, or ground pepper. Touch the outsides with salt, fry them in cooked honey, and serve.
Dulces caseros: Toma dátiles y quítales el hueso. Rellénalos de nueces, piñones o pimienta molida. Pásalos ligeramente por sal, fríelos en miel cocida y sirve.
300. Süßigkeiten fürs Haus. Gefüllte Datteln, deren Kerne herausgenommen sind, werden mit Nüssen bzw. Nußkernen oder auch mit Pfeffer gefüllt, außen mit Salz bestreut, in kochendem Honig geröstet und aufgetragen.
294. Home-made sweets. Little home confections (which are called dulciaria) are made thus: little palms or (as they are ordinarily called) dates are stuffed—after the seeds have been removed—with a nut or with nuts and ground pepper, sprinkled with salt on the outside and are candied in honey and served.
- The Latin gives two words for dates, palmulae and dactyli; how they differed is not clear.
Aliter dulcia: siligineos rasos frangis, et buccellas maiores facies. in lacte infundis, frigis, ex [in] oleo, mel superfundis et inferes.
Another [way], sweets: you break scraped [loaves] of fine wheat [siligineos], and make largish morsels. You soak [them] in milk, you fry [them] in oil, you pour honey over and serve.
Another sweet: Take loaves of fine white bread, scrape off the crusts, and break them into fairly large pieces. Soak them in milk, fry them in oil, pour honey over them, and serve.
Otro dulce: Toma panes de harina blanca fina, ráspales la corteza y pártelos en trozos bastante grandes. Remójalos en leche, fríelos en aceite, échales miel por encima y sirve.
302. Abgeschältes (von der Rinde befreites) Weizenbrot. Zerbrich (zerkleinere) abgeschältes Weizenbrot, mache größere Mundbissen (Zwieback) daraus, tauche sie in Milch, röste sie in Öl, gieße Honig darüber und richte sie an.
296. Another Sweet Dish. Break [slice] fine white bread, crust removed, into rather large pieces which soak in milk [and beaten eggs] fry in oil, cover with honey and serve.
- Made from siligo, a very white wheat, or the fine flour ground from it.
Tyropatinam: accipies lac, quod adversus patinam aestimabis, temperabis lac cum melle quasi ad lactantia, ova quinque ad sextarium mittis, si ad heminam, ova tria. in lacte dissolvis ita ut unum corpus facias, in Cumana colas et igni lento coques. cum duxerit ad se, piper aspargis et inferes.
Cheese-patina [tyropatina]: you will take milk, as much as you will judge [enough] for the patina; you will blend the milk with honey as for milk dishes [lactantia?]; you put five eggs to a sextarius, if to a hemina, three eggs. You dissolve [them] in the milk so that you make one body, you strain [it] into a Cumaean [dish] and you will cook [it] on a slow fire. When it has drawn itself together [set], you sprinkle pepper and serve.
Milk patina: Take as much milk as you think the dish will need, and sweeten it with honey, as for milk dishes. Add five eggs to a sextarius of milk, or three eggs to a hemina. Beat them into the milk until it is all one mixture. Strain it into a dish of Cumaean ware and cook it over a low fire. When it has set, sprinkle it with pepper and serve.
Patina de leche: Toma tanta leche como creas que necesitará el plato y endúlzala con miel, como para los platos de leche. Añade cinco huevos por cada sextarius de leche, o tres huevos por cada hemina. Bátelos en la leche hasta que todo sea una sola mezcla. Cuélala en una fuente de loza de Cumas y cuécela a fuego lento. Cuando haya cuajado, espolvoréala con pimienta y sirve.
306. Käsekuchen. Nimm Milch, so viel du denkst, daß in die Kasserolle geht, verarbeite die Milch mit Honig wie zu einer Milchspeise; tue 5 Eier zu einem Sextarium (½ Liter ca.), zu einem ¼ Liter, löse 3 Eier in Milch auf und brenne es zu einer steifen Masse ab, schlage es durch in ein irdenes Geschirr, koche es bei schwachem Feuer und wenn es sich zusammengezogen hat, streue Pfeffer darüber und richte es an.
301. Custard. Estimate the amount of milk necessary for this dish and sweeten it with honey to taste; to a pint of fluid take 5 eggs; for half a pint dissolve 3 eggs in milk and beat well to incorporate thoroughly, strain through a colander into an earthen dish and cook on a slow fire [in hot water bath in oven]. When congealed sprinkle with pepper and serve.
- The Latin name, tyropatina, joins Greek tyros, "cheese," to patina, though the recipe uses no cheese.
- A sextarius held a little over half a liter, a little more than a US pint. A hemina was half a sextarius.
- Pottery from Cumae, a town on the coast of Campania, in southern Italy.
Ova spongia ex lacte: ova quattuor, lactis heminam, olei unciam in se dissolvis, ita ut unum corpus facias. in patellam subtilem adicies olei modicum, facies ut bulliat, et adicies impensam quam parasti. una parte cum fuerit coctum, in disco vertes, melle perfundis, piper aspargis et inferes.
Sponge eggs from milk: four eggs, a hemina of milk, an uncia of oil you dissolve together, so that you make one body. Into a thin pan you will put a little oil, you will make it bubble, and you will add the mixture which you have prepared. When it has cooked on one side, you will turn it onto a dish, you pour honey over, you sprinkle pepper and serve.
Sponge eggs with milk: Beat four eggs, a hemina of milk, and an uncia of oil together until they are all one mixture. Put a little oil in a thin pan, heat it until it bubbles, and pour in the mixture you have prepared. When it has cooked on one side, turn it out onto a plate. Pour honey over it, sprinkle it with pepper, and serve.
Huevos esponja con leche: Bate juntos cuatro huevos, una hemina de leche y una uncia de aceite hasta que todo sea una sola mezcla. Pon un poco de aceite en una sartén fina, caliéntalo hasta que burbujee y vierte la mezcla que has preparado. Cuando se haya cocido por un lado, vuélcala en un plato. Échale miel por encima, espolvoréala con pimienta y sirve.
307. Schwammige Eier in Milch. 4 Eier, ¼ Liter Milch, 1 Unze Öl koche, daß eine Masse daraus entsteht. Auf eine Platte tue vorsichtig etwas Öl, laß es kochen, tue die Masse, welche du zubereitet hast (in Form von Eiern) hinein, einen Teil, wenn er gekocht hat, tue auf eine runde Schüssel, gieße Honig darüber, streue Pfeffer darüber und richte es an.
302. Omelette soufflée. Four eggs in half a pint of milk and an ounce of oil well beaten, to make a fluffy mixture; in a pan put a little oil, and carefully add the egg preparation, without letting it boil however. [Place it in the oven to let it rise] and when one side is done, turn it out into a service platter [fold it] pour over honey, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
- The uncia was one-twelfth of a pound. As a measure of liquid it was one-twelfth of a sextarius, the same as a cyathus.
In ovis hapalis: piper, ligusticum, nucleos infusos. suffundes mel, acetum: liquamine temperabis.
For soft eggs: pepper, lovage, soaked pine kernels. You will pour on honey, vinegar; you will blend with liquamen.
For soft-boiled eggs: Pepper, lovage, and soaked pine nuts. Pour on honey and vinegar, and season with fish sauce.
Para huevos poco cocidos: Pimienta, levístico y piñones remojados. Vierte encima miel y vinagre, y sazona con salsa de pescado.
Eier ohne Schale. (Verlorene Eier — Pochierte Eier?) Bereite sie mit Pfeffer, Liebstöckel, Pistazienkernen, Honig, Essig und Brühe.
328. With Poached Eggs. Serve pepper, lovage, soaked nuts, honey, vinegar and broth.
Questions a reader might ask, with short answers and the sections they rest on. Checked in a separate review.
What happens
How could meat be kept fresh without salting it?
By covering it with honey in a jar and hanging the jar up. The recipe says this works better in winter; in summer the meat lasts only a few days.
Read section 1.7.1
How do you make rose wine without roses?
Put green citron leaves in a small palm-leaf basket and lower it into a jar of fresh grape juice before it ferments. After forty days take the basket out, and add honey when you use it.
Read section 1.3.2
How could a cook tell whether honey had gone bad?
By dipping elecampane, a plant, in the honey and setting it alight; sound honey burns brightly. The editors of 1922 suspected the text is damaged here, so the test may once have been different.
Read section 1.11.3
Thinking further
Why do the recipes give so few amounts and cooking times?
They were written as quick orders to a cook who already knew the work. The milk patina says to take as much milk as you think the dish needs, and the peas end with "if anything is missing, add it."
Do these recipes show what ordinary Romans ate?
No. The book is a collection, and many of its ingredients were costly. Pepper, which appears in about three of every four recipes in the book, came from India, and Pliny the Elder gave its market price as four to fifteen denarii a pound.
Why are so many recipes about keeping food?
Book 1 of the collection deals mostly with drinks and keeping food, and most of the recipes here come from it. They keep honey for travelers, meat in honey, and grapes in sealed jars in a cold place out of the sun, and they note that meat keeps for less time in summer.
Why do some recipes make one thing look or taste like another?
The recipe for mending bad honey is plain about it: bad honey mixed with good is good enough to sell. Others make one drink look or taste like another, such as rose wine made without roses and dark wine turned white.
Who and what this source names, in the original. Each name links to every source in the library that mentions it. Checked in a separate review.
Ideas
- Fish sauce (liquamen, garum) A sauce made from fish or fish innards steeped in salt, the most common seasoning in the Roman cookbook called Apicius. Liquamen and garum named the same or closely related sauces. Sections 1.21, 4.2.9, 4.2.35, 5.3.1, 7.19.3.
- Pepper Black, white and long pepper, brought to Rome from India. Pliny the Elder, writing in the 70s CE, gives prices of four to fifteen denarii a pound and wonders that Romans went all the way to India for a spice whose only appeal was its bite (Natural History 12.26–29). Sections 1.1.2, 1.21, 4.2.9, 4.2.35, 5.3.1, 7.13.1, 7.13.7, 7.13.8, 7.19.3.
Places
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Apicius, De re coquinaria, manuscript copied at Fulda, about 830
The New York Academy of Medicine Library (MS 1, Margaret Barclay Wilson Collection). No reuse terms stated on the holder's page. Linked only, not copied..
One of the two oldest surviving manuscripts of the book, copied at the monastery of Fulda in Germany in the second quarter of the 800s (Digital Scriptorium record DS11402). The whole manuscript can be paged through on the holder's site.
Apicius, De re coquinaria, manuscript copied at Tours, mid-800s (Urb. lat. 1146)
Vatican Apostolic Library. No reuse terms stated on the page we opened. Linked only, not copied..
The other of the two oldest manuscripts, 58 leaves, with gold capitals on purple on its first page; probably a presentation copy for the Frankish king Charles the Bald. The Vatican Library's digital copy is at digi.vatlib.it (MSS_Urb.lat.1146).
Apicii librorum X qui dicuntur De re coquinaria quae extant (Leipzig, 1922)
University of Toronto, Robarts Library, via Internet Archive. pp. 6–57 (image numbers n11–n62). Marked "not in copyright" on the Internet Archive record. Linked only, not copied..
The printing our text follows; every kept recipe was read against these pages.
Other translations of this passage. Links go to copies that are free to read online.
Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome (Chicago: Walter M. Hill, 1936)
Joseph Dommers Vehling, 1936. English. Public domain.
The whole book, with commentary, free to read at Project Gutenberg. Its translations of our seventeen recipes are shown section by section beside ours.
Altrömische Kochkunst in zehn Büchern (Leipzig: K. Däweritz, 1911)
Eduard Danneil, 1911. German. Public domain.
The whole book, in a free translation by a professional cook.
Difficulty: Accessible, short recipes in plain steps; the footnotes explain the Roman measures and ingredients.
Fits these units
- Running a home and a farm. What did ancient writers think a well-run home or farm needed, and who did the work?
Key terms
- fish sauce
- *liquamen*, a salty sauce made from fish; Pliny the Elder describes the similar *garum* as made from fish innards steeped in salt
- *patina*
- a shallow pan, and also the dish cooked in it, often set with eggs
- must
- the juice of freshly pressed grapes, before it ferments into wine
- raisin wine
- *passum*, a sweet wine made from grapes dried in the sun until they had lost about half their weight
- mortar
- a heavy bowl in which food is crushed or ground
- *sextarius*
- a Roman measure of liquid, a little over half a liter; a *hemina* was half of one
Questions
- Comprehension
How is rose wine made with real roses, and how long does it take before the wine is strained?
- Analysis
List the tools, containers, and cooking methods these recipes name. What kind of kitchen do they suggest, and what does the cook need to know how to do?
- Analysis (reliability)
The book carries Apicius’s name, but he did not write it. Its 1922 editors judged that it was shortened in the 300s or 400s from an older collection; it survives in copies made in the 800s. What problems does this raise if we want to use one recipe as evidence of how Romans cooked at a particular time?
- Connection
Cato’s How to run a farm, written in the second century BCE, also gives recipes, among them a cheese cake (libum) and cheese balls fried and spread with honey. Compare one of Cato’s recipes with the fried bread with honey or the sponge eggs here. How much does each writer tell the cook about amounts, tools, and cooking, and what might that suggest about the readers each book was meant for?
Activity
Each student takes one recipe, such as the peas or the milk patina, and rewrites it as a recipe card with a list of ingredients and numbered steps. Wherever the text leaves out an amount, a time, or a heat, the student writes a question mark. The class compares cards and counts which kinds of information are missing most often.
A printable worksheet for this source · More on Hearth Learning
New translation from the Latin text of Giarratano and Vollmer's edition (Leipzig, 1922), read in the Project Gutenberg transcription and checked against the page images of the 1922 printing.
Seventeen short recipes, each given whole. Schuch's edition numbers 478 recipes in the book's ten books, so this is just under 4 percent of them.
The recipes speak to the cook as "you" in the future and present tenses ("you will grind," "you put"); we give them as instructions. Untranslated measures are in italics and glossed once. Liquamen is translated "fish sauce." Patina is kept, since no English dish name fits. Words the editors would delete (in square brackets in the Latin) are left untranslated. Our insertions are in square brackets.
Nueva traducción al español sencillo, a partir del texto latino de la edición de Giarratano y Vollmer (Leipzig, 1922), con nuestra versión en inglés como guía. La redactó Claude (Anthropic). Una revisión aparte la comparó con el texto latino, sección por sección.
La mayoría de las medidas latinas y el nombre patina se dejan sin traducir, en cursiva; liquamen se traduce «salsa de pescado». Las palabras que añadimos van entre corchetes. Las palabras que los editores suprimirían no se traducen.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Apicii librorum X qui dicuntur De re coquinaria quae extant, ed. C. Giarratano and Fr. Vollmer (Leipzig: Teubner, 1922), pp. 6–57. Digital text: Project Gutenberg 16439 (2005, updated 2021), copied by code; only the Latin text of the recipes, without the critical apparatus, the editors' line numbers or their recipe headings in spaced type. Every kept recipe read against the page images of the University of Toronto copy, Internet Archive apiciilibrorvmxq00apicuoft. Angle brackets < > mark words the editors added; square brackets [ ] mark words they would delete.
- Transliterated
- Not needed: the original is in the Latin alphabet
- Close English
- Close translation drafted by Claude (Anthropic), kept as a working draft
- Simplified English
- Drafted by Claude (Anthropic) from the original and checked unit by unit against the original in a separate review, then compared with earlier translations and tested for borrowed wording.
- Simplified Spanish
- Drafted by Claude (Anthropic) and checked in a separate review.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: being checked. Our translations and notes: CC BY-SA 4.0; credit “Hearth Library, hearthinteractive.com” with a link.
Sources for the notes
- Apicius. Apicii librorum X qui dicuntur De re coquinaria quae extant. Edited by C. Giarratano and Fr. Vollmer. Leipzig: Teubner, 1922. The preface and list of manuscripts (front matter, unnumbered pages before p. 5; scan images n7–n9) and the text of books 1–7 (pp. 5–57), from which the recipes kept come (books 1, 4, 5 and 7), in Project Gutenberg 16439 and in the page images of Internet Archive apiciilibrorvmxq00apicuoft.
- Seneca. Ad Helviam matrem de consolatione 10.8–10. Latin text, The Latin Library.
- Pliny the Elder. The Natural History of Pliny. Translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley. London: Bohn, 1855–57. Book 12, chap. 14 (pepper; vol. 3) and book 31, chap. 43 (garum; vol. 5).
- Smith, William, ed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly; John Murray; Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1849. "Apicius" (which spells the name M. Gabius Apicius).
- Smith, William, and Charles Anthon, eds. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. New York: Harper, 1882. "Cotyla," "Cyathus," "Scrupulum," "Sextarius," "Uncia," and "Vinum" (on passum, must, and honey wines).
- Lewis, Charlton T., and Charles Short. Harpers' Latin Dictionary. New York: Harper, 1879. Entries consulted for the glosses: careum, citrus, conditum (under condio), Cumanus, dactylus, hapalus, hydromeli, inula, ligusticus, liquamen, lomentum, moretarius, moretum, mustus, patina, passum (under pando), ruta, siligo, simila, thermospodium, tyropatina, violacium, vitis alba (under ophiostaphylon).