Recipes in Latin-Original and Apicius stuff

Composition and Communication Composition Board
21

Okay I worked on the lucanian sausage thing more, maybe will do a video soon but here is some text:

Edit: video here

First, Apicius’ recipe:

LVCANICAE
lucanicas similiter ut supra scriptum est. [lucanicarum confectio]: teritur piper cuminum satureia ruta petrosilenu condimentum bacae lauri liquamen et admiscetur pulpa bene tunsa ita ut denuo bene cum ipso subtrito fricetur; cum liquamine admixto pipere integro et abundanti pinguedine et nucleis inicies in intestinum perquam tenuatim productum et sic ad fumum suspenditur.

now my nonsense, link to another book I bought that someone told me has good additional texts about the recipes but it’s in German:

Hodie emi alium librum de Apicio nomine “De re coquinaria/Über die Kochkunst: Lateinisch/Deutsch” Latine et germanice est. sed non iam habeo, iam habeo solum unum librum de Apicio, anglice. tegumen siccaneum de amazon dot com habeo, tegumen in aquam pono et tegumen fit mollior. iam carnis in tegumen effercīre possum.

sed primus facio fartum. [filling lol]

Neque myricam neque rutam graveolens habeo; origanum, petroselinum crispum, et coriandrum. Foeniculum vulgare, paprikam, allium, Salviam officinalis, piper, garum, cuminum, oxycoccum [i’ve seen blueberry sausage, thus, i tried dried cranberries!] habeo. est bene VALDE magnam partem de herba et de conditurā uti

nuces pini non habeo, itaque nuces helianthi utor. avunculus meus archimagister est et quoque dicit, nuces helianthi uti potes.

omnes misceo et carnem in tegumen, in intestinum pono. cum manu. maschinam de botello non habeo. Apicus scripsit “intestinum” sed “tegumen” sonit mihi melior.

foras, bottellum in fumam pono. cum ligno. sabor de fumo in botello bonus est. necesse est satis herbam et condituram uti. aliter solus carnis est neque botellus, botellus condituram habet. apicius scripsit, lucanicae “in fumam suspenditur”

apicius scripsit, botellus multum pinguem et nuces habet, “pingues et nuclei abundant.”

botellum torqueo et iam quattuor partes sunt, |sausage links| facio anglice

iam botellum habeo. euge. iam botellum coqui possum vel botellum congelāre possum.

botellum cum cepa et pipere coquo et edo, canes quoque partem de botello edunt, sapor bonus est.

botellus explodit quod nimis carnis in intestino erat, doleo

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Here’s another recipe, this one in ancient Greek. I haven’t tried it, and it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but at least it doesn’t have garum. Good for halloween perhaps? (But beware lead poisoning.)

λαβὼν μυγαλὸν ἐκθέωσον πηγαίῳ ὕδατι καὶ λαβὼν κανθάρους σεληνιακοὺς δύο ἐκθέωσον ὕδατι ποταμίῳ καὶ καρκίνον ποτάμιον καὶ στῆρ ποικίλης αἰγὸς παρθένου καὶ κυνοκεφάλου κόπρον, ἴβεως ὠὰ δύο, στύρακος δραχμὰς βʹ, ζμύρνης δραχμὰς βʹ, κρόκου δραχμὰς βʹ, κυπέρεως Ἰταλικῆς δραχμὰς δʹ, λιβάνου ἀτμήτου δραχμὰς δʹ, μονογενὲς κρόμμυον· ταῦτα πάντα βάλε εἰς ὅλμον σὺν τῷ μυγαλῷ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς καὶ κόψας καλλίστως ἔχε ἐπὶ τῶν χρειῶν ἀποθέμενος εἰς πυξίδα μολιβῆν.

Translation (slightly abridged):
Take a field-mouse, two moon beetles, a river crab, the fat of a spotted virgin goat, dung of a dog-faced baboon, two ibis eggs, 2 drachms of storax, 2 dr. myrrh, 2 dr. saffron, 4 dr. Italian galingale, 4 dr. unbroken frankincense, a single onion.
Throw all into a mortar, grind well and keep ready for use by storing in a lead box.

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Lol! Yeah some of them… don’t sound so appetizing anymore. Which is why i was going to do the “ne lactucae laedant” one, because all it’s really talking about is regular old Greek or Italian oil/vinegar dressings on salads, and talking about the digestive benefits of ginger. I planted some ginger.

Also, if you do like ginger and have the root on hand and make dressings, grinding a bit of fresh with the cheese grater is excellent and makes you not want to use the powder ever again.

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Thanks for putting up with my little bit of fun, Amy. The “recipe” actually goes along with a magician’s spell from greco-roman Egypt, and calls for first deifying the fieldmouse and beetles. Apparently this sort of stuff was taken seriously by some poor souls.

Whenever I can I shop at Chinese markets, and I always make a point of buying fresh ginger. Unfortunately it won’t grow where I live—too cold.

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I was just looking up some stuff about beetles in ancient Egypt.

Still waiting on this new version of Apicius before I do anything else, maybe it’s shipping from overseas, I don’t know, it’s taking its time!

26

Hey Amy,

I watched the video and you mentioned adding more spice, herbs, and general flavourings to this batch of Lucanian sausages. Did it make a difference in terms of taste? Last time you mentioned it mostly tasted like pork and was on the plain side.

Are you waiting on the ancient version of Apicius or a modern rendering of it (Like Sally Grainger’s) ? And what recipe are you thinking of attempting next?

Cheers.

27

I’m waiting on one with the original Latin and notes in German right now, supposed to be here in a week or so. Notes are great, I’ve seen things saying “just use “rocket” as one of the greens,” and I thought, what the heck is rocket? Here I had some growing in my garden but it’s called arugula here and rocket in the UK.

I’ll probably do an easy thing like salad dressing before that.

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We call that type of lettuce rocket here in Australia as well. I didn’t know it had another name in the US!

Awaiting updates on the Salad dressing with great interest :smiley:

29

I had to look it up:

“Arugula” is an English corruption of the word in some Italian dialect, perhaps from Lombardy where they call it “arigola.” In Latin, “eruca” was a type of cabbage, and the English word “rocket”, the German word “Rauke” and the Italian “rucola” can be traced back to that word"

“Once again, “arugula” is taken from Italian and is popular in the US, while “rocket” is simply an English version of the French word “roquette””

" it was mostly used among Italian-Americans, who used the word “rucola” or “arugula” to refer to the plant, depending on what part of the Old Country they came from. Rucola is the Standard Italian word for the plant today, but the OED notes that the word in Calabria (the toe of the boot) is aruculu."

https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-word-arugula

Eruca vesicariais the scientific name, and I guess with all those related words it makes some sense how it could start with eruca and end up with things like rucola, arugula, roquette, and rocket. Have never heard “rocket” before I bought the Apicius book!

I forgot half the veggies I wanted (maybe I SHOULD throw in some rocket/arugula! lol) and ginger root, so I have to go back to the store in the next couple of days.

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Eruca vesicariais the scientific name, and I guess with all those related words it makes some sense how it could start with eruca and end up with things like rucola, arugula, roquette, and rocket. Have never heard “rocket” before I bought the Apicius book!

Hey Amy,

As long as no one’s calling it a “verruca” I’m happy :laughing:

Cheers.

31

so finally the book arrived! Here’s an image from a left-side page, the right-side pages are in German and there is an appendix and notes in the back! I like this one better because the other just had the Latin titles! and most of the titles were, I’m not joking, called “aliter!” :laughing:

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Hi Amy,

So is the salad dressing the next on the list that you will make as per your previous notes? I love a good salad so if it’s a good dressing I too will give it a go!

Cheers.

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Thanks for the suggestion and yes, I did that last night but am still writing it up. Until I get that done, here are some of my notes breaking down the original Apicius recipe which is in bold here:

**XVIII. Intuba et lactugae.

  1. Intuba ex liquamine et oleo modico +medere+ cepa concisa. pro lactucis vero hieme intuba ex embammate vel melle et aceto acri.
    \

  2. Lactucas cum oxyporio et aceto et modico liquamine.
    \

  3. Ad digestionem et inflationem et ne lactucae laedant: cuminum unc. II, gingiber unc. I, rutae viridis unc. I, dactilorum pinguium scripulos XII, piperis unc. I, mellis unc. IX, cuminum aut Aethiopicum aut Syriacum aut Libycum. tundes cuminum et postea infundes in aceto. cum siccaverit, postea melle omnia comprehendes. cum necesse fuerit, dimidium cochlearum aceto et liquamine modico misces aut post cenam dimidium cochlearem accipies.**

  4. salad, i guess, i break this down better in the video, basically we’re talking vinaigrettes, start with base of oil and vinegar (3:1), add salt, pepper, spices to taste. He uses honey but we can use whatever sweetener; he mentions broth and garum in places rather than vinegar, i’d decide this is whatever you like here, cumin, ginger.

  5. you can sautee the onion in oil and infuse the lettuce with honey and vinegar, i assume again, we’re discussing how to best eat salad here

  6. “ad digestionem” for digestion and “ad inflationem” for bloating and/or flatulence
    -cuminum aut Aethiopicum aut Syriacum aut Libycum-or whatever cumin you have, or if you’re my old roommate who hated it, leave it out!
    -gingiber-ginger-fresh and grated is best
    -rutae viridis-rue, haven’t ever tried it, i think you can order it dried online though
    -dactyli-dates-i would compare this to the dressings these days with raspberry juice, also compare with the honey for sweetness
    -[sal], piper-in some recipes apicius uses broth or garum to add saltiness, but salt would also work
    -mel (or whatever sweetener you have on hand, or leave it out!)
    -acetum (remember there are many types of vinegar! experiment, but i like red wine vinegar)
    -lĭquāmĕn-sauce or liquid, incl fish sauce
    -take a half spoonful for digestion
    oleum-i use the handy old olive oil, but it’s not the only option, sesame oil is used more in Asian salads, etc for example, i use it sometimes in cooked spinach

so basically what we have is there: there are 2 main types of dressings. vinaigrette (i can’t spell this word) and creamy, which is like the vinaigrette but with dairy lol. you basically need the oil and vinegar (though Apicius substitutes broth and garum sometimes), something salty (salt is fine with me), black pepper, then the optionals would be things like: mustard powders, garlic, onions/onion powder, red peppers, cumin, ginger, honey/sugar/fruit juices, depending on whether you want something like a honey/mustard dressing or something more garlicky, etc. still working on it!

Recipe: https://internetkindness.com/Recipes/ius.jpg
PDF with notes: https://internetkindness.com/Recipes/HarmlessSalad.pdf
video: https://youtu.be/N1lvpzpG3qk

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Hi Amy,

I enjoyed your video as always and it’s inspired me to think about some more flavoursome additives to my usual dressing of olive oil, lemon, herbs and salt ( sometimes a touch of chilli for zing also) We have summer ( allegedly ) coming here and I am hosting a Christmas lunch for my family in law so I am going to experiment a bit before then to come up with something new and zesty for the lunch :smiley:

In 2019 before the world went covid crazy I was in the UK for 2 month visiting family in Scotland and England. One day we took a day trip from Edinburgh to see what’s left of Hadrian’s Wall at my son’s request. That day trip also included a visit to Roman Vindolanda which in it’s time was the northern most city of the Roman Empire. Well worth a trip if you are ever in the neighbourhood! :smiley: Whilst wandering among the thousands of amazing artifacts I spotted some cutlery and eating equipment and saw to my great delight and wonder a few sets of Roman oyster tongs. As someone who loves oysters I was fascinated to see the delicately carved implements and thought about how they obtained and kept fresh oysters when they were so far inland. They certainly knew a trick or two about food and how to prepare it and we’re still fascinated 1800 years later!

Keep cooking and inspiring us with your recipes and food journey through Rome!

Cheers.

35

Thanks and good to hear!

Sounds fun! I keep meaning to make a video about the Roman ruins in Vienna, Austria since I have some video I took!

On the topic of spices, I attended a city event-related dinner last night. Potatoes, turkey, corn…but NO SALT or PEPPER. I was devastated, haha. Should’ve brought my own…

I made crab cakes using some Apicius parts but haven’t edited that stuff yet.

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Hi Amy,

Let me know when you do post the video of Roman ruins in Vienna! I haven’t been there so would be interested to see them.

Next time definitely BYO spices and seasonings. Was that for a Thanksgiving dinner?

Crab cakes would be DELICIOUS! Please do share the recipe/ video for that when you can. Did you used tinned crab?

Cheers.

37

Yes, my uncle bought a bunch of crab in a tin for my grandma, who didn’t want it, so I figured I would use it for a video. It was good though. I got parsley and panko crumbs.

Yes, it was a local dinner for an association that does things like gives out free blankets and such to those in need, my neighbor runs the thing so i was talked into being there.

I just recorded a video in Latin about the salad dressing again, trying to remember all the terms for spices through repetition I suppose! Balsamic vinegar rather than red wine vinegar this time.

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I am working on a pizzelle recipe video in Latin also, still researching exactly how old they are, but some things say they are related to ancient Roman crustula/cookies. In any case, they are tasty snacks! My mom has an electric pizzelle maker; the ancient Romans did not!


pizzelles sunt crustula italica.

dua pocula de farina
unum poculum de sacharro
unum poculum de butyro
duae lingulae de pulvere pistorii
sex ovae
una lingula de anetho vel vanilla vel extracto de citro
lingula de oleo
dimidia lingulam de sale

necesse est būtȳrum tepidum habere. ova sunt tepida, non frigida. facilior est omnes miscere. misce in scaphio et in maschinam cum lingula pōnĕ. coque.

Pizzelle crustula antiqua sunt. Cannolis cum pizzeles facere potes sed necesse est explēmentum facere. habeo formas de cannolis, ut cannolis facere, tubi sunt, necesse est pizzeles circum tubos ponere.

homines pizzelles in feria faciunt, nativitatis, Pascha, inter alia

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Hey Amy how did these end up tasting?

Cheers.

40

good but i like the anise ones and i use a lot of anise, more than you’re supposed to usually. you can also put in lemon or orange zest with lemon/orange extract for other flavors, anise is more traditional I think. (my mom tells me I like “old person flavors,” anise, clove, etc. lol).

they are crispy but are soft right after you take them off the iron, so i’ve made cannoli with them by wrapping them around a cannoli form (small metal tube) right away, then they harden in that shape. I have never made vanilla but the internet tells me it’s possible!