Moretum Recipe – Ancient Roman Herbed Cheese Spread

Moretum – Ancient Roman Herbed Cheese Spread (Roman Feast Recipe)

This dish was served as part of the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast.

Originally published: June 29, 2025 | Updated: June 5, 2026

Updated 6/5/2026: This post has been expanded to current Give It Forth standards with additional historical background, Roman dining context, feast and camp service notes, a recipe scaled for 8 diners, dietary notes, FAQ, internal feast links, and structured recipe data.

What is Moretum? Moretum is an ancient Roman herbed cheese spread made by pounding cheese, garlic, herbs, vinegar, and olive oil together in a mortar. It is pungent, salty, green, sharp, and excellent with bread as part of a Roman gustum, or appetizer course.

Moretum – Roman Herbed Cheese Spread

Course: Gustum (Appetizer)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Cold or Room Temperature
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Moretum is one of those ancient dishes that feels startlingly immediate. Garlic, salty cheese, fresh herbs, vinegar, and olive oil are pounded together until they become a spread strong enough to wake the appetite and simple enough to serve with bread. It is not delicate food. It is rustic, fragrant, sharp, and lively, the kind of dish that makes a table feel inhabited rather than merely decorated.

For a Roman feast, Moretum works beautifully as a first taste. A small spoonful spread onto flatbread gives diners salt, fat, acid, herb, and heat all at once. It is also deeply practical for modern feast cooks: no stove is required, it can be made ahead, and it travels well if kept cold. That makes it especially useful for camping events, dayboards, and Pennsic-style service, where flavor, safety, and simplicity all have to sit at the same table.

Historical Background

Moretum was a common Roman dish combining fresh herbs, garlic, cheese, vinegar, and olive oil. The recipe appears in a short Latin poem once attributed to Virgil, describing a farmer preparing this flavorful spread as part of his daily breakfast. Its name likely comes from the mortar used to pound and mix the ingredients.

Did You Know?
The Moretum poem details the rustic preparation of this dish and includes an ode to garlic. It offers a vivid look into the humble meals of rural Romans.

For an English translation of the Moretum poem, see the Poetry in Translation version here.

The poem gives us more than a list of ingredients. It preserves a small domestic scene: a farmer rising early, grinding garlic and herbs, mixing cheese with oil and vinegar, and eating the finished spread with bread before beginning his work. That makes moretum especially useful for interpretation. It is not an elite showpiece dish, but a practical food with strong flavors, simple ingredients, and deep roots in everyday Roman eating.

This is part of what makes Moretum so valuable for historical cooking. Many surviving Roman recipes are associated with elite households, banquet culture, or the literary world of refined dining. Moretum, by contrast, feels close to ordinary life. It belongs to bread, work, garden herbs, dairy, and the mortar. It reminds us that historical food is not only peacocks, sauces, and spectacle. Sometimes it is a bowl of cheese and garlic eaten before a long day begins.

Garlic, Mortars, and the Roman Table

The name moretum is generally connected to the mortar, or mortarium, used to pound the ingredients together. This matters because texture is part of the dish. Moretum is not meant to be a delicate modern dip whipped into perfect smoothness. It is a pounded spread: coarse enough to show herbs and cheese, but unified by olive oil and vinegar into something that can be scooped up with bread.

A mortar changes how the ingredients behave. Garlic becomes softer, stronger, and more aromatic as it is crushed. Herbs bruise and release their oils. Cheese breaks down and absorbs the sharper flavors. Vinegar brightens the mixture, while olive oil softens the edges and helps bind everything together. A food processor is very useful for feast preparation, but the mortar helps explain the original character of the dish.

The flavor should be bold. Garlic gives the dish its heat. Cheese provides salt and body. Herbs bring freshness and color. Vinegar keeps the spread from becoming heavy. Served beside flatbread, olives, cucumbers, sausages, vegetables, and wine, Moretum makes a Roman appetizer board feel complete.

🏛️ Roman feast note: Moretum works beautifully as the flavorful center of a Roman dayboard. A small amount goes a long way, especially when paired with Piadina, olives, cucumbers, sausages, and other gustum dishes.

Moretum in the Gustum Course

In a Roman meal, the gustum served as the opening course, meant to wake the appetite and prepare diners for what followed. Dishes in this part of the meal might include eggs, olives, salads, cucumbers, small sausages, fish sauces, herbs, and bread. Moretum fits beautifully here because it is assertive without being heavy.

For modern diners, it also has an advantage: it is familiar enough to invite tasting, but different enough to feel historical. People understand bread and cheese. The surprise comes from the intensity of the garlic, the green herbs, and the vinegar. That balance makes Moretum a useful teaching dish. It lets the cook introduce Roman food through something approachable while still preserving a flavor profile that feels older than a modern cheese ball or party dip.

At the Push for Pennsic Roman feast, Moretum helped establish the tone of the meal. It gave the table a rustic, herbal, communal beginning and worked well beside the other opening dishes. Diners could take a little, spread it on bread, taste it with olives, or use it as a sharp counterpoint to richer foods. That is exactly where this dish shines.

Modern Interpretation

This version uses pecorino romano and fresh herbs like coriander and celery leaf to evoke the original blend. It is simple, pungent, and perfect with bread.

Pecorino romano is salty and assertive, which makes it a good modern choice for this dish. Fresh coriander, or cilantro, gives the spread a bright green herbal quality, while celery leaves echo the bitter-green flavors often found in older herb mixtures. If cilantro is not liked by your diners, parsley may be substituted, though the flavor will be milder.

The goal is a spread that tastes alive: garlicky, salty, herbal, tangy, and rich. If it tastes flat, add a little more vinegar. If it feels too harsh, add olive oil or a bit more cheese. If the garlic seems overwhelming, let the spread rest overnight. The flavors will settle and knit together, though the garlic will still remain the herald at the gate.

⚖️ Humoral note: In later medieval dietary theory, garlic was considered strongly heating and drying, while cheese could be heavy and moist depending on age and type. Vinegar and fresh herbs help sharpen and balance the dish. Although Moretum is Roman rather than medieval, the practical flavor balance is clear: rich cheese, hot garlic, bright herbs, sharp vinegar, and smoothing olive oil.

Krambe – Roman Cabbage with Caraway, Fish Sauce, and Herbs

Course: Mensa Prima (Main Course / Vegetable Side)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Warm or cold
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Originally published: June 29, 2025 | Updated: June 3, 2026

Updated 6/3/2026: This post has been refreshed to current Give It Forth standards with expanded historical context, clearer recipe formatting, feast service notes, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the Roman feast series, and updated structured recipe data.

What is Krambe? Krambe is cabbage, a humble but important vegetable in the Roman diet. This Roman-inspired version is boiled until tender, chopped, and dressed with olive oil, wine, liquamen or fish sauce, caraway, onion, coriander, salt, and pepper.

Krambe in the Roman Feast

This cabbage dish was served as part of the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast, where it appeared in the mensa prima, the more substantial part of the meal. After the opening course of olives, flatbread, sausages, cucumbers, and cheese spread, dishes like cabbage, chickpeas, and smoked ham gave the feast its heartier center.

Krambe works especially well for large feast service because it is inexpensive, sturdy, and flexible. It can be served warm, cooled, or chilled, and its dressing gives a plain vegetable enough brightness to stand beside richer Roman-inspired dishes.

The combination of olive oil, wine, fish sauce, onion, caraway, and herbs gives the cabbage a sharp, savory flavor. It is not a modern mayonnaise-based cabbage salad. It is closer to a dressed cooked vegetable: tender, seasoned, aromatic, and practical for event cooking.

🏛️ Roman feast note: Krambe pairs well with Lucanicae, Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis, and Petaso paro Mustacei. Its acidity and herbs help balance the richer dishes on the table.

Historical Background

“Krambe,” from Greek krambē, refers to cabbage, a vegetable that appears frequently in discussions of ancient food and medicine. Cabbage was a common food, but it also carried a strong reputation as a useful household remedy.

Roman authors such as Cato the Elder praised cabbage for its supposed medicinal properties. In De Agricultura, Cato gives cabbage an almost heroic place among garden plants, treating it as useful for digestion, health, and recovery. Whether or not we accept those claims today, they show how seriously Romans could regard an ordinary vegetable.

Apicius also includes cabbage preparations, reminding us that cabbage was not only medicinal or humble. It could be dressed, seasoned, and brought to table as part of a flavorful meal. Roman cooks often relied on combinations of oil, wine, vinegar or wine-based liquids, herbs, spices, and liquamen to make simple ingredients lively.

This version reflects that Roman habit of treating vegetables with strong seasoning. The fish sauce provides salt and depth, the wine sharpens the dressing, the olive oil enriches the cabbage, and the caraway gives a warm aromatic note.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval dietary theory often treated cabbage as a vegetable that could be heavy or windy if poorly prepared. Boiling, draining, seasoning, and dressing it with warming spices and sharp liquids would have made practical sense to later cooks, even though this recipe is Roman-inspired rather than medieval.

Roman Chickpeas with Saffron (Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis) – Ancient Roman Recipe

Roman Chickpeas with Saffron – Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis

Course: Mensa Prima (Main Course / Legume Side)

Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Warm
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Originally published: June 29, 2025 | Updated: June 3, 2026

Updated 6/3/2026: This post has been refreshed to current Give It Forth standards with expanded historical context, clearer recipe formatting, feast service notes, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the Roman feast series, and updated structured recipe data.

What are Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis? Erebinthoi are chickpeas, and this Roman-inspired preparation simmers them simply with saffron and salt. The dish is warm, fragrant, filling, and useful as a legume-based side in an Early Roman feast.

Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis in the Roman Feast

These saffron chickpeas were served as part of the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast. They belong naturally in the mensa prima, the more substantial part of the meal, where legumes, cooked vegetables, and meats helped anchor the feast after the opening gustum.

Chickpeas are practical feast food. They are inexpensive, filling, easy to scale, and able to hold flavor without needing complicated service. For a primitive or outdoor event, a warm legume dish can be especially useful because it brings substance to the table without relying on fragile last-minute plating.

This recipe is intentionally simple. The chickpeas are soaked, simmered, seasoned with salt, and colored and perfumed with saffron. The result is not a heavily sauced dish. It is a minimalist preparation that lets the creamy texture of the chickpeas and the fragrance of saffron stand forward.

🏛️ Roman feast note: Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis pairs especially well with Krambe, Lucanicae, and Petaso paro Mustacei. It gives the meal a sturdy legume component and balances richer meat dishes.

Historical Background

Chickpeas, known in Greek as erebinthoi, were a familiar food in the ancient Mediterranean. They could be eaten in a variety of ways: boiled, roasted, seasoned, used in porridges, or served as part of broader vegetable and legume dishes.

Roman and Greek medical writers discussed legumes in terms of digestion, nourishment, and bodily effect. Authors such as Galen and Celsus refer to foods not only as ingredients, but as part of a wider understanding of health and diet. Chickpeas, like other legumes, were valued because they were sustaining, accessible, and substantial.

The addition of saffron makes this otherwise humble dish feel more refined. Saffron was an expensive aromatic spice, valued for its color, fragrance, and association with luxury. In the Roman world, saffron could appear in food, scent, ceremony, and elite display. Even a small pinch changes the dish: the chickpeas take on a golden hue and a warm, floral aroma.

Did You Know?
Saffron was so precious in Roman times that it was sometimes used as perfume, scattered in public spaces, or associated with elite entertainments. In this dish, it elevates a humble legume into something suitable for a feast table.

This contrast between ordinary chickpeas and costly saffron is part of the appeal. The dish remains simple and nourishing, but the saffron adds a small golden flourish, turning a basic legume into a feast-worthy side.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval dietary theory often treated legumes as substantial and sometimes difficult to digest if poorly prepared. Soaking, simmering until tender, and serving warm would all make practical sense. Although this is a Roman-inspired recipe rather than a medieval one, the concern for digestibility and balance carries forward into later food writing.

Itria – Sesame Seed Biscuit & Basyniai – Fig and Walnut Cakes: Ancient Roman Sweets

Course: Mensa Secunda (Final Course / Dessert)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Itria cooled; Basyniai warm
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Originally published: June 29, 2025 | Updated: June 3, 2026

Updated 6/3/2026: This post has been refreshed to current Give It Forth standards with expanded historical context, clearer recipe formatting, feast service notes, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the Roman feast series, and structured recipe data.

What are Itria and Basyniai? These two Roman-inspired sweets were served as part of the mensa secunda, the final course of the feast. Itria is interpreted here as a honeyed sesame-and-nut sweet, while Basyniai are small fig-and-walnut pastries fried in oil and finished with warm honey.

Itria and Basyniai in the Roman Feast

The final course of a Roman-style meal was not always a modern dessert course in the strict sense. Roman diners enjoyed fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, honeyed sweets, cakes, and small confections, but sweet and savory flavors could appear throughout the meal. A final course might refresh the palate rather than act as a heavy sugary ending.

For the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast, these two sweets were served alongside assorted fresh and dried fruit and sugared nuts. Together, they offered the kind of small, rich, portable treats that work beautifully at the end of a large feast.

Both recipes are practical for event cooking. The sesame sweet can be made ahead, portioned into small bites, and served cooled. The fig-and-walnut pastries are best warm, but the filling and dough can be prepared in advance, making final service easier.

🏛️ Roman feast note: These sweets were part of the mensa secunda, served after the more substantial dishes of the feast. They pair especially well with fruit, nuts, grape juice, apple juice, lemonade, or other light beverages for a modern event table.

Historical Background

Sesame and honey confections were beloved across the ancient Mediterranean. Greek and Roman foodways both made use of small sweets made from seeds, nuts, dried fruits, and honey. These were compact, rich, and easy to portion, making them especially useful for feast service.

The Greek pasteli and Roman iritia or itria bear some resemblance to seed-and-honey sweets, although ancient food terms can shift in meaning depending on source, period, and context. For this feast, Itria was interpreted as a honey-bound sesame-and-nut confection: simple, fragrant, and portioned as small bites for the end of the meal.

Basyniai reflects another familiar ancient pattern: fruit and nuts enclosed in simple dough, fried in oil, and finished with honey. Figs, walnuts, olive oil, and honey were all well-suited to Roman-style sweets. The result is rustic rather than delicate, but rich, memorable, and feast-friendly.

These sweets also help modern diners understand that Roman final courses were not necessarily the same as modern desserts. A Roman-inspired ending could include fruit, nuts, honeyed cakes, fried pastries, and small confections rather than a single large cake or pudding.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval dietary theory often treated nuts as rich and substantial, dried fruits as warming and nourishing, and honey as warming and drying. Although these are Roman-inspired sweets rather than medieval recipes, the practical balance is clear: dense nuts and figs are lifted by crisp pastry, toasted sesame, and warm honey.

Recreating an Early Roman Feast – Push for Pennsic 2004

Served at Push for Pennsic 2004 · SCA Event · Early Roman Style

Originally published: November 19, 2015 | Updated: June 3, 2026

Updated 6/3/2026: This feast hub has been refreshed to current Give It Forth standards with clearer menu organization, links to the recreated recipe posts, additional Roman meal context, practical feast-planning notes, dietary notes, FAQ, and FAQ structured data.

What was the Push for Pennsic Roman Feast? This was an Early Roman-style feast served at Push for Pennsic in 2004. It was designed for more than 100 diners and built around dishes that could be prepared ahead, transported, and served at room temperature under primitive site conditions.

About This Feast

Another blast from the past! This three-course feast was presented in the Roman style, allowing a diverse selection of savory and sweet items across all three courses. Designed to accommodate over 100 diners, the menu focused on dishes that could be made ahead and served at room temperature, with only a few heated on-site using a grill.

The feast site lacked a kitchen, with only a hose for water access, making this my third, possibly fourth, large-scale feast executed under primitive conditions. Because of that, the menu needed to be practical as well as historically inspired. Dishes had to travel well, hold safely, and make sense for service without a modern kitchen.

This is one of the reasons Roman food can be so useful for SCA and event cooking. Many Roman-inspired dishes are boldly flavored, served warm or at room temperature, and built from ingredients that can be prepared in advance: olives, cheese spreads, legumes, greens, sausages, breads, fruits, nuts, and honeyed or spiced sweets.

The Roman Meal Structure

A Roman-style meal is often described in three broad parts: the gustum, or appetizer course; the mensa prima, or main course; and the mensa secunda, or final course. This structure gave the feast a historical framework while still allowing the menu to be practical for a large modern event.

• Gustum: The appetizer course. These were small dishes meant to awaken the appetite. Olives, egg dishes, salads, spreads, sausages, and light vegetables could all belong here.
• Mensa Prima: The main course. This was the more substantial portion of the meal, often including meats, legumes, cooked vegetables, and richer sauces.
• Mensa Secunda: The final course. This might include fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, cakes, sweets, and other small delicacies. Roman meals did not always separate sweet and savory flavors as sharply as modern diners do, so sweet elements could appear throughout the meal.

Many dishes in this feast reflect the rich culinary heritage of Rome, inspired by texts such as Apicius and other classical sources. Some historical accuracy was necessarily interpreted through available ingredients, modern safety expectations, and the realities of cooking for a large event, but the goal was to preserve the spirit, flavor, and structure of an ancient Roman meal.

🏛️ Feast planning note: This menu works especially well for events because many dishes can be made ahead and served cold or at room temperature. That makes it useful for outdoor events, camping, Pennsic-style conditions, and sites with limited kitchen access.

Piadina – Ancient Roman-Inspired Flatbread Recipe

This dish was served as part of the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast.

Originally published: June 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM | Updated: June 5, 2026

Updated 6/5/2026: This post has been expanded to current Give It Forth standards with additional Roman bread history, feast service notes, Pennsic and camp cooking guidance, a recipe scaled for 8 diners, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the full Roman feast menu, and structured recipe data.

What is Piadina? Piadina is a simple Italian flatbread with roots in the broader world of ancient Mediterranean griddle breads. This feast version is made with flour, fat, salt, and warm water, then cooked on a hot griddle or pan. It is quick, sturdy, and especially useful for Roman-inspired feast service or camp cooking.

Piadina – Roman-Inspired Flatbread

Course: Bread
Origin: Roman-inspired Italian flatbread tradition
Served: Warm or Room Temperature
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Bread is the quiet workhorse of a feast. It holds sauces, softens sharp flavors, stretches a meal, and gives diners something familiar to reach for while exploring less familiar historical dishes. In this Roman-inspired menu, Piadina served as that edible anchor: simple flatbread cooked on a hot surface and served with cheese spread, olives, sausages, vegetables, and other first-course foods.

This is not a fussy bread. It needs no yeast, no oven, and no long rise. Flour, fat, salt, and water become a workable dough that can be rolled, griddled, stacked, wrapped, and carried to table. That makes it especially useful for camp kitchens, dayboards, and feast service, where a reliable bread can save the meal from feeling scattered.

Historical Background

Piadina as it is known today is a later regional Italian flatbread, especially associated with Romagna, but it belongs to a much older Mediterranean family of simple breads cooked on hot stones, hearths, tiles, pans, or griddles. For a Roman-inspired feast, this method makes practical historical sense: a basic dough cooked on a hot surface without requiring a built bread oven.

Flatbreads occupy an important place in Roman food history because they are practical. Before every household had ready access to a dedicated oven, doughs could be cooked on heated surfaces. Bread served not only as food, but also as a utensil, a scoop, a trencher-like base, and a way to carry sauces, cheeses, meats, olives, and vegetables from plate to mouth.

For feast interpretation, this distinction matters. I am not claiming that modern piadina is an unchanged ancient Roman recipe. Rather, this redaction uses piadina as a practical modern bridge to ancient breadmaking habits: simple ingredients, direct heat, fast cooking, and service alongside the strongly flavored foods of a Roman table.

🏛️ Roman bread note: This is a Roman-inspired flatbread rather than a claim that modern piadina is unchanged from antiquity. The method reflects an ancient and practical style of breadmaking: a simple dough cooked on a hot surface without requiring a bread oven.

Bread at the Roman Table

Roman meals used bread in many ways. It could be served plainly, dipped in sauces, eaten with cheese, used to accompany pulses and vegetables, or paired with preserved and salted foods. In a feast setting, bread also helps balance richer dishes. A bite of flatbread softens the intensity of fish sauce, garlic, olives, smoked meat, or heavily seasoned sausage.

This is why Piadina works so well in the Push for Pennsic Roman menu. It is not merely a side dish. It is the edible architecture of the meal: a carrier for spreads, a companion for sausages, and a reliable anchor for the rest of the course.

With Moretum, the flatbread becomes a vehicle for garlic, herbs, and cheese. With Epityrum, it carries olives and oil. With Lucanicae, it gives diners a way to eat rich sausage without needing modern sandwich bread. It does exactly what feast bread should do: quietly make everything else easier to enjoy.

🍞 Feast service note: For Push for Pennsic, I prepared about 12 flatbreads per table for 8 diners so guests could share and take an extra portion if desired. Bread disappears quickly when served with olives, sausages, spreads, sauces, and vegetables.

Modern Interpretation

This version of piadina uses only basic ingredients: flour, fat, salt, and water. It cooks quickly on a griddle or open fire, making it ideal for period events with limited kitchen access.

Olive oil keeps the bread vegetarian, vegan, and dairy-free, while lard gives a richer and more tender result. Either choice works well. For a Roman-inspired feast, olive oil is the more flexible option, especially if serving guests with dietary restrictions.

The finished bread should be flexible enough to fold or tear, but sturdy enough to hold a spread. If the dough feels dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If it feels sticky, dust with flour as you roll. The goal is not perfect bakery uniformity. The goal is practical bread that can move from pan to platter without drama.

Camp and Pennsic Notes:

• No oven needed: Cook on a griddle, skillet, cast iron pan, or clean flat cooking surface.
• Good for primitive sites: The dough uses simple pantry ingredients and can be mixed by hand.
• Make-ahead friendly: Cook ahead and rewarm briefly on a dry pan or grill.
• Feast service: Stack wrapped breads in a towel to keep them warm and flexible.
• Sharing: Serve whole for tearing, or cut into halves or wedges for a dayboard or appetizer table.

Lucanicae – Ancient Roman Sausages Recipe

This dish was served as part of the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast.

Originally published: June 29, 2025 at 3:44 PM | Updated: June 5, 2026

Updated 6/5/2026: This post has been expanded to current Give It Forth standards with additional historical context, Roman feast placement, Pennsic and camp cooking guidance, an appetizer-sized recipe for eight, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the full Roman feast menu, and structured recipe data.

What are Lucanicae? Lucanicae were seasoned sausages associated by Roman writers with Lucania in southern Italy. This version is inspired by Roman sausage traditions and the flavors of Apicius: minced meat, pepper, pine nuts, and liquamen or fish sauce, shaped small for feast service and grilled or gently cooked before finishing.

Lucanicae – Grilled Roman Sausages

Course: Gustum (Appetizer)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Warm or Room Temperature
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Lucanicae are exactly the kind of dish that makes a Roman feast feel generous from the first course. Small, savory, highly seasoned sausages sit beautifully beside flatbread, olives, cucumbers, herbed cheese, cabbage, and chickpeas. They are rich enough to feel substantial, but when made small they remain appropriate for the gustum, the appetizer course meant to wake the appetite rather than exhaust it.

For modern feast cooks, they are also practical little flavor engines. The mixture can be prepared ahead, shaped small, chilled, transported, and cooked quickly on a grill or skillet. That makes Lucanicae especially useful for Pennsic-style service, primitive sites, and SCA dayboards where food needs to be flavorful, sturdy, and manageable without a full modern kitchen.

Historical Background

Lucanicae, the seasoned sausages of Roman origin, were named after the region of Lucania in southern Italy. Roman writers connect them with the Lucanians, and the name survived into later sausage traditions such as Italian luganega and Spanish longaniza.

Did You Know?
The Roman author Varro explains Lucanicae as sausages named from Lucania, describing the practice of stuffing minced meat into casings with seasonings. Whether read as food history, etymology, or both, the passage shows that Romans associated this style of sausage with a specific regional tradition.

For more on ancient Roman cookery, see the digitized Latin and English text of Apicius – De Re Coquinaria.

The surviving Roman cookery tradition does not give us a modern sausage recipe with neat measurements, temperatures, and timing. Instead, it gives us a flavor-world: pepper, liquamen, herbs, nuts, wine, vinegar, smoke, roasting, and meats prepared for household tables, taverns, military travel, and feasts. This redaction is therefore not a claim of exact reconstruction. It is a practical, feast-tested interpretation designed for SCA service, camp conditions, and modern food safety.

This is the useful place where historical cooking meets real-world feast work. A cook has to ask not only “what did the source say?” but also “how do I serve this safely, attractively, and generously to a table of modern diners?” For Lucanicae, the answer is to preserve the Roman flavor profile while making the shape and cooking method flexible.

Lucania, Soldiers, and Sausage-Making

The Roman explanation for lucanicae ties the sausage to Lucania, a region of southern Italy. Whether the Roman army truly learned the technique there or later writers preserved a convenient food etymology, the association matters. Sausages are portable, efficient, flavorful, and well suited to feeding groups. Minced meat mixed with salt, spice, and fat can stretch ingredients, cook quickly, and serve neatly in small portions.

That practicality explains why sausage belongs so comfortably on a Roman-inspired feast table. It is not merely meat in a casing. It is preserved knowledge: how to season meat strongly, how to divide it into portions, how to make it easy to cook, and how to carry rich flavor into a meal without requiring a large roast or elaborate carving.

For a feast cook, that ancient practicality still applies. A platter of small, bite-sized sausages looks abundant, serves cleanly, and works beautifully in an appetizer course. At Push for Pennsic, these are best treated as a gustum: a savory opening bite served with other small Roman-inspired dishes rather than as a large modern entree.

🏛️ Feast-cook note: A mound of small, meatball-sized sausages is pleasing to the eye and gives a generous impression while keeping portions appropriate for an appetizer course. About 1 tablespoon of meat mixture per sausage gives two or three bites, and 1 pound of meat makes roughly 30 small sausages.

Modern Interpretation

This simplified grilled version uses bulgur to approximate the grainy texture of some Roman-style forcemeats and mixes pork and beef for richness. Pine nuts add a distinctly Roman touch, and liquamen, or modern fish sauce, gives the meat its salty, savory backbone.

Historically, sausage could be stuffed into casings, but feast conditions are not always generous. This version may be shaped into small patties, rolled into bite-sized sausage logs, stuffed into casings, or gently poached in plastic wrap when casings are unavailable. The goal is not to make a modern deli sausage, but to create a flavorful Roman-inspired bite that can survive real event conditions.

The flavor should be peppery, savory, and slightly rich from the pine nuts. The fish sauce should not make the sausage taste fishy. It should deepen the meat, much as Roman liquamen does throughout Apicius-style cooking. If your fish sauce is very strong or salty, use a little less and add more only after cooking a test piece.

Why These Ingredients?

• Ground meat: Pork is especially appropriate for Roman cookery, though a pork and beef blend gives a rich, accessible modern texture.
• Bulgur: This is a modern practical choice that gives texture and helps the mixture hold together. It also echoes the use of grains and fillers in historic forcemeat traditions.
• Liquamen / fish sauce: Roman cookery used fermented fish sauces extensively. Modern fish sauce is the easiest substitute.
• Pine nuts: Pine nuts appear frequently in Roman recipes and add richness, texture, and a distinctly ancient Mediterranean character.
• Pepper: Black pepper was a prized imported spice and appears often in Apicius-style seasoning.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval dietary theory often treated pork and beef as heavy meats that benefited from warming spices, salt, vinegar, mustard, or sharp sauces. While this recipe is Roman rather than medieval, the flavor logic still makes sense at table: pepper, fermented fish sauce, and accompaniments such as mustard, olives, herbs, or wine help cut the richness of the meat.

Roman Smoked Pork with Must Cakes – Petaso paro Mustacei

Petaso paro Mustacei – Smoked Pork with Sweet Wine Cakes

Course: Mensa Prima (First Course)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Warm
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Historical Background

Petaso, or pork, was widely enjoyed in Ancient Rome. In this dish, it is sweetened with honey and figs and served alongside mustacei—wine cakes traditionally baked atop bay leaves for flavor. These cakes were often served at celebrations, symbolizing hospitality and indulgence. Recipes for mustacei appear in Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura, one of the oldest surviving Latin texts.

Did You Know?
Mustaceum comes from "mustum"—fresh grape must—used to flavor celebratory cakes in Roman weddings and feasts.

Modern Interpretation

Ingredients – Pork & Broth

• 2 pounds smoked ham
• 2 ½ cups pearl barley
• 10 dried figs
• 1 celery stalk
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 cup honey

Instructions

1. Soak ham overnight. Discard water.
2. In a pot, cover ham with fresh water. Add barley, figs, celery, peppercorns, and ½ cup honey.
3. Boil, skim, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove meat and reserve broth. Cool, then glaze with remaining ½ cup honey.

Sweet Wine Sauce

• 1 ¼ cups red wine
• 1 ¼ cups raisin wine (or substitute sweet red wine)
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

1. Simmer wines and pepper until reduced slightly. Serve as sauce with pork.

Sweet Wine Cakes (Mustacei)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp lard
• 2 oz grated cheese
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp aniseed
• 3–4 tbsp red wine
• Bay leaves
• ½ tsp dried yeast

1. Rub lard into flour. Mix in cheese, cumin, and aniseed.
2. Dissolve yeast in wine with bay leaf. Remove bay leaf and mix into flour.
3. Knead dough, divide into 8, shape into buns. Place on greased tray. Cover and let rise 1½ hrs.
4. Bake at 375°F for 25–30 minutes until golden.

Serving Suggestions

Slice glazed pork and serve with the wine reduction sauce and a warm mustaceum. Ideal paired with olives or soft cheese for a full Roman plate.

Sources

• Cato the Elder – De Agri Cultura: LacusCurtius
• On Roman cakes: CooksInfo – Mustaceum
• Additional Texts: Apicius via Gutenberg

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🍷 Want more recipes from this feast?

Explore the other dishes served at the Early Roman Feast – Push for Pennsic, July 9–11, 2004:

• Cucumeres (Braised Cucumber)
• Lucanicae (Grilled Sausages)
• Epityrum (Olives)
• Moretum (Herbed Cheese Spread)
• Piadina (Flatbread)
• Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis (Chickpeas with Saffron)
• Krambe (Roman Cabbage)
• Itria (Sesame Seed Biscuit)
• Basyniai (Fig and Walnut Cakes)

Epityrum – Seasoned Olives from Ancient Rome (Apicius)

Epityrum – Roman Herbed Olive Spread

Course: Gustum (Appetizer)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Cold
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Historical Background

Epityrum is a Roman olive paste found in De Agri Cultura by Cato the Elder. A mix of olives, herbs, and vinegar, it was served as a flavorful appetizer. It highlights the Roman love of seasoned preserves and showcases the Mediterranean pantry of antiquity.

Did You Know?
Cato writes: “Lucanicae are so called because soldiers learned to prepare them from the Lucanians...” Oops! That’s for sausages. For Epityrum, he writes: “Pound green, black, or mottled olives. Add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, and mint.”

Read the digitized text at the Perseus Digital Library – Cato’s De Agri Cultura.

Modern Interpretation

This version captures the herbal punch of the original while using accessible pantry ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 cup pitted black or green olives (or a mix)
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp dried coriander
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp fennel seed
• Pinch of dried mint
• Pinch of dried rue or substitute arugula
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Crush the olives roughly using a mortar and pestle or food processor.
2. Add oil, vinegar, and all herbs/spices. Mix into a coarse paste.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning. Store with a thin layer of olive oil on top.

Serving Suggestions

Serve with rustic bread, Piadina, or crackers alongside cheese and Roman sausage for a full gustatio experience.

Sources

• Cato – De Agri Cultura 119: Perseus Digital Library
• Apicius – De Re Coquinaria: LacusCurtius

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🍷 Want more recipes from this feast?

Explore the other dishes served at the Early Roman Feast – Push for Pennsic, July 9–11, 2004:

• Cucumeres (Braised Cucumber)
• Lucanicae (Grilled Sausages)
• Moretum (Herbed Cheese Spread)
• Piadina (Flatbread)
• Petaso paro Mustacei (Smoked Ham with Sweet Wine Cakes)
• Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis (Chickpeas with Saffron)
• Krambe (Roman Cabbage)
• Itria (Sesame Seed Biscuit)
• Basyniai (Fig and Walnut Cakes)

Ancient Roman Braised Cucumbers – Apicius Recipe (Cucumeres)

Cucumeres – Braised Cucumbers

Course: Gustum (Appetizer)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Room Temperature
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Cucumeres – Braised Cucumbers

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber
• 3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. clear honey
• Salt to taste

Part of the Push for Pennsic Roman Feast Series!
This recipe was originally served as part of the Early Roman Feast at Push for Pennsic, July 9–11, 2004. Explore the full menu and other Roman recipes from this event.

Instructions:
Peel and cut the cucumber into thick slices. Pour the vinegar, olive oil, and honey into a heavy pan and cook the slices of cucumber gently in the sauce until tender, shaking the pan occasionally to redistribute the cucumber slices and ensure even cooking.

Note: Best served at room temperature.

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🌿 A Note on Ancient Cucurbits

The word cucumeres in Latin is commonly translated as “cucumbers,” but Roman references to cucurbits were broader than our modern definitions. Roman cooks had access to a wide variety of cucurbit species, including:

• Old World cucumbers (Cucumis sativus): Likely thinner, with more bitterness than modern varieties.
• Melons and gourds (Cucumis melo, Lagenaria spp.): Young melons or gourds were used like vegetables.
• Bottle gourds (Lagenaria siceraria): Also used for food when harvested young.
• Snake melon/Armenian cucumber (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus): Treated culinarily as a cucumber.

If you're cooking this dish today, any firm, mild cucumber will work. For historical flavor and texture, the following heirloom varieties are excellent options:

• Suyo Long – A crisp, curling cucumber with tender skin.
• Armenian cucumber – Technically a melon, but ideal for cucumber-like preparations.
• True Lemon cucumber – A round, yellow heirloom closer to older Mediterranean cultivars.
• Bottle gourd – Available from specialty grocers or heirloom seed sources.

Where to Source Seeds:
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
- Seed Savers Exchange
- Monticello Heritage Seeds

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🍷 Want more recipes from this feast?

Explore the other dishes served at the Early Roman Feast – Push for Pennsic, July 9–11, 2004:

• Lucanicae (Grilled Sausages)
• Moretum (Herbed Cheese Spread)
• Epityrum (Olives)
• Piadina (Flatbread)
• Petaso paro Mustacei (Smoked Ham with Sweet Wine Cakes)
• Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis (Chickpeas with Saffron)
• Krambe (Roman Cabbage)
• Itria (Sesame Seed Biscuit)
• Basyniai (Fig and Walnut Cakes)

Ancient – A Harvest Day Lunch with the "Vikings" (Bronwyn's Kettle Worms to be Eaten Cold with Mustard)

 

What did early medieval Scandinavians eat? It is an intriguing question that is difficult to answer. Part of the difficulty is that what has been written about them, was written after their time period, and is considered by many modern historians to be inaccurate.

Some information is available through what has been written within the Icelandic Sagas. Another resource that has provided a wealth of information is the excavation of midden pits, latrines, and old fireplaces. By recovering the remains of plants and animals as well as the various kinds of cooking vessels archeologists and food historians are able to hypothesize what could have been eaten based on what has been discovered.

This is an example of such a recipe. I took two recipes, one for Kettle Worms from Daniel Serra's "An Early Meal" and the other for Guest House sausages, and combined them to create my own sausage.

If you have not purchased Daniel Serra and Hanna Tunberg's "An Early Meal; A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Odyssey", do so. It is full of plausible recipes based on extensive research. I also recommend visiting the Ribe Viking Center website to learn a little more about early Scandinavians.

Bronwyn's Kettle Worms to be Eaten Cold with Mustard- Serves 8

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 pound 80/20 ground beef

2 slices of uncured bacon minced

1 small apple cut into small dice

1 shallot (you could use ramps, leeks or wild garlic)

Thyme, salt, and pepper to taste

Plastic wrap

Instructions

1. Mix together the first three ingredients along with a couple of tablespoons of water until the meat becomes sticky

2. Add apples, shallot and your seasoning, and continue to mix until all are well incorporated

3. Divide the meat mixture into fourths. Roll each out into a log of similar size and shape.

4. Wrap each in plastic wrap and tie off the ends. NOTE: The plastic wrap will be taking the place of sausage casings you would need to remove if serving cold.

5. While you are wrapping your meat, place a pot of salted water on the stove and bring it to a simmer.

6. Place your sausages into the water and allow to simmer until they are cooked through. Remove from the heat.

NOTE: If you have a smoker, prepare it, and smoke your sausages instead. Instead of cooking them thoroughly in the water, cook them only long enough that they will hold together. Remove the plastic wrap, and then smoke overnight or for several hours. I personally find that simmering them first in the water keeps them moist.

I used commercial whole grain stone ground mustard, but if you are looking for one that is slightly more fitting, I recommend this recipe for mustard.

For more information on what has been discovered (food and cooking ware), I recommend the following resources:

• Hurstwic - Food, Diet, and Nutrition in the Viking Age

• Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 31, June 2020, 102361 - Fragments of meals in eastern Denmark from the Viking Age to the Renaissance: New evidence from organic remains in latrines

• Nationalmuseet i København - Prehistoric period (until 1050 AD) / The Viking Age / Food

• Sons of Vikings - Viking Diet: Why you should eat like the Vikings did!

Sources:

Hald, Mette Marie et al. "Fragments Of Meals In Eastern Denmark From The Viking Age To The Renaissance: New Evidence From Organic Remains In Latrines". Journal Of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol 31, 2020, p. 102361. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102361. Accessed 12 Sept 2022.

Hurstwic: Food, Diet, And Nutrition In The Viking Age". Hurstwic.Org, 2022, http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/food_and_diet.htm. Accessed 12 Sept 2022.

København, Nationalmuseet. "Meat And Fish". National Museum Of Denmark, 2022, https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/food/meat-and-fish/. Accessed 12 Sept 2022.

Ribe Viking Centre: Viking Cooking At Home". Ribevikingecenter.Dk, 2022, https://www.ribevikingecenter.dk/en/learn-more/viking-slow-food/recipes/guest-house-sausages-served-with-root-vegetables.aspx. Accessed 12 Sept 2022.

Viking Diet: Why You Should Eat Like The Vikings Did!". Sons Of Vikings, 2021, https://sonsofvikings.com/blogs/history/eat-like-a-viking. Accessed 12 Sept 2022.

Ancient – A Harvest Day Lunch with the Vikings (Flatbreads (Scandinavian))

 

The Ribe Viking Center offered an intriguing recipe for making flatbreads from various flours and then gave suggestions on how to flavor them. This is their recipe, with a few tweaks of my own.

First, I was unable to locate barley flour, so I made my own. I also added the milk that separated from the butter when I made it along with some of the whey from making the fresh cheese. In lieu of dried bilberries or dried lingonberries, I used the dried cranberries as suggested, along with hazelnuts. You could also substitute blueberries or raisins, or any dried fruit you favor.

To make your own flour

You do not need a grain mill to make your own flour. If you have a blender you can make your own flour.

I make the flour 1 cup at a time. Simply add the flour to the blender, pulse for a few seconds, and then turn it up to your highest setting, and allow it to continue to blend until the flour reaches the consistency you want. It's that easy. It should go without saying that if the blender seems like it is struggling, stop.

Before using the flour you might want to sift once or twice. You should only grind enough flour to use immediately. However, if you do make extra it can be stored in the refrigerator for about ten days, or in a freezer for a month.

Full disclosure, I have ground rice, barley, and a grain and pea mix to make various flours. The grain and pea mix was for soup originally, and it contained wheatberries.

Basic Flatbreads

Makes approximately 8 flatbreads

Ingredients

3 cups flour (I used the mix that was suggested on the Ribe Viking Site - 1 cup each of stoneground whole wheat, stoneground dark rye, and barley.

1 cup whey

Butter milk or water (in this case it was about 2 tablespoons) to make a dough that does not stick to the table

1-2 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Mix salt and flour together

2. Add whey and water (buttermilk) and mix until the dough is formed

3. Cover the dough and set it aside for approximately 30 minutes

4. Mix in optional add-ins before dividing into 8 pieces and shaping into rounds approximately 1/2" thick. Allow the bread to set again for 20 more minutes.

5. Heat a dry pan over medium heat. Cook the flatbreads until they are golden. Serve.

NOTE: I placed the still hot bread into a ziplock bag because I was not going to serve it right away. Don't be alarmed when you see moisture build-up, leave the bag open, and the moisture that builds up will keep the bread from turning into hockey pucks.

Opt. Flavorings

Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts and dried fruit

Honey & Thyme

Garlic or Savory

Let your conscious be your guide

Ten Easy Ancient Roman and Medieval Recipes You Can Try at Home

Roman banquet fresco, Casa dei Casti Amanti (Pompeii). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Kitchen’s under remodel? Same. So here’s a quick-start guide: ten reliable ancient Roman and late-medieval dishes you can make right now, with links to my recipes. Click through for details and modern notes.

Ancient – SCA Feast (Ceilidh XV's Early Roman Feast Held March 9, 2002)

Menu: 

Rose Wine
Snow Cooled Alexandrian Loaf
Roman Coleslaw
Lentils with Chestnuts
Sausages with Mustard
Stuffed Chicken in Sour Sauce
Trimalchio's Pastry Eggs
Raisin-stuffed Beets
Fried Carrots
Char-Broiled Leeks
Bulger with Nuts and Raisins
Stuffed Dates in Honey



Libation--Toast to the Gods--Sutis verborum (Let's Eat!)Wednesday, January 16, 2002

Rosatum--Rose Wine--Eubulus, the Greek comic poet, reminds us that, “the first cup of wine is for health, the second for love and pleasure. the third for sleep: here all should go home. The fourth is for wildness, the fifth for’ shouting. the sixth for riot, the seventh for black eyes. the eighth for police, the ninth for anger. the tenth for insanity.”

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 sicam et optimam mittas.  Similiter, ut supra, et de <viola> violatium facies, et eodem modo melle temperabis.

Rose wine.  Rose wine you will make like this:  Thread together rose-leaves from which the white part has been removed, and steep as many as possible in wine for seven days.  After seven days take the rose-leaves out of the wine, and in the same way put in other fresh rose leaves threaded together, to rest seven days in wine, then take them out.  Repeat a third time, take out the rose-leaves, strain the wine, and, when you want to use it for drinking, add honey to make rose wine.  But take care to use the best rose-leaves, when the dew has dried off them.  Make violet wine in the same way as above, and mix with honey in the same way.

Rose Wine

2 bottles red wine

1/4 cup honey

1/8 tsp. rose water

2 fresh roses (old fashioned pink), washed

Pour the wine into a punch bowl.  Add the honey and rose water, and stir gently.  Scatter the petals from the two fresh roses over the surface of the wine.  Serve in individual glasses, cups or goblets.  Serves 4-6

Gustum (Gustatio, Promulsis) Hor d'oevres--accompanied by mulsum.  It could consist of eggs prepared in various ways, raw and cooked vegetables including, asparagus, cucumbers, pumpkins, herbs, lettuces, mushrooms, salt fish, dormice, mussels and snails.

Alexandrian Cumin Bread*--I could not find a recipe for this particular bread per se in the book that I have but I did find a reference to it "Alexandrian bread was presumably a bread invented by the people of Alexandria, possibly made of grain from there.  It contained according to Pliny (Nat. Hist., XX, 15, 58 (163)), cumin. 

Alexandrian Cumin Bread

3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

1 package dried yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cumin seed ground

1 cup plus 3 ounces lukewarm water

Place the flour, yeast, salt and ground cumin in a large mixing bowl.  Blend well.  Add the water, and mix the dough for 2-3 minutes.  Until all the water is absorbed and evenly distributed.  The dough will be damp and very sticky, but no internal dry areas should appear by the end of the mixing, if they do, mix a few minutes more or add a little more water and mix again. 

Let the dough rest 5 minutes.  Now sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons flour over the dough and knead, either in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and slightly sticky (add more flour if needed).  Let dough rest for 2 minutes more.  The dough should now be very smooth and easy to handle.  Knead 30 seconds more, return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with a dish towel or large plate and let rise at room temperature at least 3 hours.  The dough should almost triple in size.

Flour the top of the dough lightly and punch it down, remove the dough from the bowl, form the dough into a rectangular loaf and place in a well greased loaf pan, 9 1/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches.  Cover with a towel and let rise 1 hour until nicely risen. 

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until browned on top.  The bottom should sound hollow when tapped with one finger.   Yield:  1 Loaf.

Aliter Sala Cattabia--Snow Cooled Alexandrian Loaf

Aliter Sala Cattabia:  panem Alexandrinum excavabis, in posca macerabis.  adicies in mortarium piper, mel, mentam, alium, coriandrum viride, caseum bubulum sale conditum, aquam,  oleum.  insuper nivem, et inferes.

Sala Cattabia, Another Method.  Hollow out an Alexandrian loaf, soak in water mixed with vinegar.  Put in the mortar pepper, honey, mint, garlic, fresh coriander, salted cows milk cheese, water and oil.  <arrange similar ingredients as in two previous recipes (trust me...no chicken liver or goat sweetbreads will be present ;-P >, cool in snow, and serve.

Snow Cooled Alexandrian Loaf

1 loaf Alexandrain  bread (see recipe above)

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1 ounce cold water

2 chicken breasts or 1/2 chicken

1 cucumber peeled and sliced thin

4 ounces dry ricotta or feta cheese

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 tsp. capers

1 ounce onion finely chopped

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp. mint

2 cloves garlic finely minced

2 coriander leaves choppped (Opt.)

3 ounces olive oil

Bake broil or saute chicken until cooked thoroughly.  Let cool, then bone and dice. 

Prepare the bread loaf to make a "box" witha detached cover:  With a long sharp knife, make an incision through the top crust of the loaf parallel with one end of hte loaf about 1/2 inch from that end.  Leaving a half inch border all around the loaf, remove carefully the top crust.  Cut and pull out the soft part of the bread, try to make a container with interior walls as straight as possible, leaving 1/2 inch thick sides and a 1/2 inch thick bottom.  Leave the top crust 1/4 inch thick.

Sprinkle the interior of the boxed loaf and the underside of it's top crust or the cover with the vinegar mixed with one ounce cold water.  Fill the box first with a layer of chicken, sliced cucumbers, cheese, pine nuts, capers and chopped onion. 

Combine the pepper, honey, mint, garlic, coriander and 1/4 cup olive oil, mix well and pour into the box.  Replace top crust, and chill the entire loaf in the refrierator or in snow, 1 hour.  Slice and serve.  Serves 8

*to serve fill a bowl with "snow" (shaved ice), lay the loaf on a plate, and lay the plate on the snow.  The use of snow and garlic suggest that this dish is from non-urban origins.

Aliter Cymas--Roman Coleslaw

Aliter:  cauliculi elixati in patina compositi condiuntur liquamine, oleo, mero, cumino, piper asparges, porrum, cuminum, coriandrum viride super concides.

Another Method: Arrange bioled cabbages in a shallow pan and dress with liquamen, oil, wine, cumin.  Sprinkle with pepper, chopped leeks, caraway-seed, and fresh coriander.

*the recipe suggests that this could be prepared ahead of time and served cold or room temp, or served immediately warmed.

Roman Coleslaw

1 medium cabbage

3 ounces olive oil

1 tablespoon liquamen*

1 tbs. white wine

1tsp. caraway seeds

1 leek, trimmed and chopped fine

1 coriander leaf chopped

S&P to taste

Peel off the tough outer layers of the cabbage and core the remainder.  Boil the cabbage in enough water to cover 15-20 minutes until tender.  Drain, then rinse in cold water until cool, drain again and chop well.

Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over the chopped cabbage.  Mix well and serve. Serves 8

Lenticula de Castaneis--Lentils with Chestnuts

Lenticulam De Castaneis:  accipies caccabum novum, et castaneas purgatas diligenter mittis.  adicies aquam et nitrum modice, facies ut coquatur.  cum coquitur, mittis in mortario piper, cuminum, semen coriandri, mentam rutam, laseris radicem, puleium, fricabis.  suffundis acetum, <adicies> mel, liquamen, aceto temperabis, et super castaneas coctas refundis.  adicies oleum, facies ut ferveat.  cum bene ferbuerit, tudiclabis [ut in mortario teres].  gustas: si quid deest, addes. cum in boletar miseris, addes oleum viride.

Lentils with Chestnuts <Boil the lentils> Take a new saucepan and put in the carefully cleaned chestnuts.  Add water and a little cooking-soda.  Put on the fire to cook.  When cooked put in the mortar pepper, cumin, coriander-seed, mint, rue, asafoetida root, and pennyroyal; pound.  Moisten with vinegar, add honey and liquamen, blend with vinegar, and pour over the cooked chestnuts.  Add oil, bring to the boil.  When it is boiling well, stir.  <Mix with the lentils.> Taste:  if something is missing, add it.  When you have put it in the serving-dish add best oil.

Lentils with Chestnuts

1 cup lentils, washed

12 chestnuts

1/4 tsp. each grd, pepper, coriander, cumin

1 tsp. mint

1/4 tsp. fresh rue (opt.)

1/4 tsp. pennyroyal (opt. *pennyroyal is an abortificant and should not be used or eaten by those expecting babies. I will not be using it in this feast, but include it here for historic purpose.)

pinch asafetida (opt.)

1 ounce wine vinegar

1 ounce honey

1 tablespoon liquamen*

1 ounce olive oil

If the lentils are not pre soaked, cover them with water and soak overnight, drain.  Boil the lentils in 3 cups water for 30-40 minutes, or until tender.  Drain any excess water.  Meanwhile boil chestnuts in water for 20 minutes.  Drain.  Rinse under cold water, then peel back the outer shell and inner skins from both haves.  Add the chestnut halves to the lentils, then add remaining  ingredients and stir well.  Heat thoroughly and serve warm.  If desired, add more honey, oil, wine, or salt.  Serves 8

Farcimina--Sausages

Aliter Farcimina--coctam alicam et tritam cum pulpa concisa et trita una cum pipere et liquamine et nucleis.  farcies intestinum et elixabis, deinde cum sale assabis et cum sinapi inferes, vel sic concisum in disco.

Another Method: Make a mixture of boiled spelt-grits and coarsely minced meat that has been pounded with pepper, liquamen, and pine-kernels.  Stuff a sausage skin and boil.  Then grill with salt and serve with mustard, or serve boiled cut up on a round dish.

*Mustard according to Columella, De re Rustica, XII, 57

Carefully clean mustard seed and sift, then wash in cold water and when well washed leave for two hours in the water.  Then remove, press it with your hands and put in a new or a thoroughly cleaned mortar, add pine-kernals which should be as fresh as possible and almonds, pound carefully and pour vinegar on.

*According to Pallidus, VIII, 9:  grind to a fine powder 1 1/2 pints mustard seed, add 5 pounds honey, 1 pound spanish oil, 1 pint strong vinegar, mix carefully and use.

Sausages with Mustard

1 pound meat (chuck cubes or pork shoulder cubes)

4 tablespoons bulgur (parched cracked wheat)

1 tsp. grd. pepper

2 1/2 tbs. liquamen*

2 tbs. pine nut

mustard

salt

Boil the bulgur in water to cover until tender. Drain

Chop the meat into small pieces about the size of pine nuts.  Transfer into a bowl and pound well with a mallet or pestle.  Add the cooked bulgur, pepper, liquamen and pine nuts.  Pound again.  If your liquamen is weak, you may want to add a little salt to the mixture.

Stuff this sausage mixture into small sausage casings, making 12 3inch by 1 inch sausages.  If sausage casings are unavailable.  Use cheesecloth.

Simmer sausages in 1/2 inch water for 1 hour covered, turning them occasionally.  Remove from the water and unwrap carefully.

Now place the unwrapped sausages on a charcoal grill, sprinkle with a little salt and grill for 15 minutes, turning them gently.  Serve with prepared mustard.  Makes 12 sausages.

*if using cheescloth in place of organic sausage casings, cut cheesecloth(double thickness) into twelve 8" x 5" rectangles.  Brush them with 1/2 pound (1 cup) melted shortening.  Then form one sausage from the meat mixture with your hands and place at the base of one  rectangle along the smaller edge.  Roll up the cheesecloth tightly, making sure that the sausage maintains it's cylindrical shape.  Tie each end of the sausage with a string, first twisting lightly to make the sausage compact.  Repeat.

Mensae Primae-- the Main Coarse--the primae mensae were devoted to roast and boiled meats, poultry and meat delicacies (some of which could be used in gustatio). During this course wine was drunk, usually mixed with water and in moderate quantities. 

Pullus Farsilis--Stuffed Chicken in Sour Sauce

Pullus Farsilis:  pullum sicuti liquaminatum a cervice expedies.  teres piper, ligusticum, zingiber, pulpam caesam, alicam elixam, teres cerebellum ex iure coctum, ova confringis et commisces, ut unum corpus efficias.  liquamine temperas et oleum modice mittis, piper integrum, nucleos abundanter.  fac impensam et imples pullum vel porcellum, ita ut laxamentum habeat. similiter in capo facies.  ossibus eictis coques.

Stuffed Chicken.  Draw chicken --as for chicken in liquamen--from the neck.  Pound pepper, lovage, ginger, chopped meat, boiled spelt-grits; pound a brain cooked in stock, break eggs into it, and work all this into a smooth mixture.  Blend with liquamen and add a little oil, whole peppercorns, and plenty of pine-kernels.  Stuff with this mixture a chicken or a sucking pig, leaving a little room.  You can use the same stuffing also for capon.  Cook it with the bones removed.

Pullum Oxyzomum:  olei acetabulum maius, <laseris> satis modice, liquaminis acetabulum minus, aceti acetabulum perquam minus, piperis scripulos sex, petroselini scripulum, porri fasciculum.

Chicken with Sauce Piquant A good 1/2 gill of oil, a little asafoetida, just under 1/2 gill liquamen, the same amount of vinegar, 6 scruples of pepper, 1 scruple of parsley, and a bunch of leeks.

Stuffed Chicken in Sour Sauce

1 whole chicken

Stuffing

1/4 tsp. grd. pepper

4 celery leaves chopped

2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 pound ground chuck or chuck cubes, or ground pork, or pork shoulder cubes

3/4 cup bulgur

1 pork or calf brain boiled and mashed (optional--not using, can't find any brains in the area)

1 egg beaten

1 ounce liquamen*

1 tbs. olive oil

10 peppercorns

1/4 cup pine nuts

Sour Sauce

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup liquamen*

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tbs.parsley

4 leeks or green onions chopped

pinch asafetida (optional)

Bone the chicken as follows: cut off the wings at tips. Slit the skin of the chicken down the middle of the breast, then pull the skin down each side of the bird all the way to the legs.  Try not to tear the skin. Separate the breast meat from the underlying breast bone and ribcage on each side.  Remove the breat meat and put aside.  Cut out the breast bone and ribs from the chicken and discard.  Also remove the wishbone.  Lastly, find the long white tendon in each half of the breast meat and pull it out of the meat, discard the tendon.  The chicken is now ready to stuff.

Boil the bulgur in the water to cover until tender.  Drain.  Cut the meat into very fine bits an dpound well, if using ground meat you may omit this step.  Combine the meat with ground pepper, ginger, celery leaves, bulgur and brain, blend well.  You may not need all of the bulgur, depending upon the size of the chicken.  Add the egg, liquamen, oil, peppercorns and pine nuts to the mixture and mix thoroughly.  Now fill the cavity of the chicken with the mixture.  Drape the breast meat over the filling and reconstruct the original shape of the chicken.  Gently stretch the skin back over the breast and sew the skin together.  Also sew closed the neck and rear openings.  Place chicken in a roasting pan and cook at 350 degree's for approximately  one hour, 15 minutes or until liquid runs clear when pierced with a fork (about 25 minutes per pound).

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.  Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven, take out the stitching and place on a serving dish.  Serve the sauce separately. Serves 4

Trimalchio's Pastry Eggs *I could not find a period recipe in the books I have, so offer up this selection from Petronius' Satyricon to support this dish.*

"...a tray was brought in with a basket on it. There sat a wooden hen, its wings spread round it the way hens are when they are broody. Two slaves hurried up and as the orchestra played a tune they began searching through the straw and dug out peahens' eggs, which they distributed to the guests.

Trimalchio turned to look at this little scene and said: 'My friends, I gave orders for that bird to sit on some peahens' eggs. I hope to goodness they are not starting to hatch. However, let's try them and see if they are still soft.'

We took up our spoons (weighing at least half a pound each) and cracked the eggs, which were made of rich pastry. To tell the truth, I nearly threw away my share, as the chicken seemed already formed. But I heard a guest who was an old hand say: 'There should be something good here.' So I searched the shell with my fingers and found the plumpest little figpecker, all covered with yolk and seasoned with pepper."

Trimalchio's Pastry Eggs

4 Large eggs, hard boiled and cooled

8 small (1 inch) shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tsp. liquamen*

1 1/2 cups flour

3 ounces olive oil

1 egg

1 tablespoon cold water.

Cover the shrimp with water and boil  about 10 minutes, until thoroughly cooked. Drain.  Shell the hardboiled eggs.  Cut off the top of each egg where the yolk begins.  Carefully scoop out the yolk, leaving the white intact.  Reserve the white "caps".  Mix the yolks with the liquamen.  Place two shrimp in the hollow of each egg white and cover them with some of the egg youlk mixture.  Do not overstuff.  Replace the "caps". 

Prepare the pastry, blend thoroughly the flour, oil and egg and mix well.  Add cold water.  The dough should be slightly sticky. Divide the dough into four pieces and shape each piece by pressing with your palms, they should be circles of a 6inch diameter.  Wrap a circle of dough around each egg.  Patch or trim the dough as necessary.  Transfer to a bakinc pan, place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake until they are crusted brown and beginning to split.  Serve with any sauce used for chickent.  Serves 4

Betas--Raisin stuffed beets

Concides porrum, coriandrum, cuminum, uvam passam farinum, et omnia in medullam mittes.  ligabis et ita inferes ex liquamine, oleo et aceto.

Chop leeks, coriander, cumin, raisins, add flour, and add all this to the pith <of the incised beets>.  Thicken, and serve with liquamen, oil and vinegar.

Raisin-stuffed Beets

4 large beets, trimmed

1 leek or green onion, trimmed and chopped

2 coriander leaves, chopped (opt)

1 tsp. cumin seed, ground

1/2 cup raisins

2 tsp. flour

1 ounce liquamen*

1 ounce olive oil

1 ounce vinegar

With a small knife or apple corer cut out the center of each beet, start your cut from the top of the beet.  The amount removed from each beet should be the size of an apple core--a cylinder about 1/2 inch in diameter and about 2 inches long.  Do not go through the bottom of the beet. Discard cores.

Combine the chopped leek, coriander leaves, cumin and flour.  Chop the raisins fine and add them to the mixture, blend well.

Stuff each beet with 1/4 of the raisin mixture and place all in a saucepan small enough so that they can stand upright without falling over.  Add water to the pan until the water reaches halfway up the beats.  Sprinkle a little water into the stuffed cavities. Bring toa boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until tender.

When the beets are cooked, transfer them onto a serving plate.  Mix together liquamen, oil, vinegar and pour over beets.  Serves4 (8)

Caroetae Frictae--Fried Carrots

Caroetae frictae oenogaro inferuntur

Fried Carrots Serve with oenogarum

Oenogarum:  piper, ligusticum, coriandrum, rutam, liquamen, mel, <vinum> et oleum modice.

Oenogarum: Pepper, lovage, coriander, rue, liquamen, honey, wine and a little oil

Fried Carrots

6 medium sized carrots, peeled, trimmed and chopped into very thin rounds

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup liquamen*

1/4 cup red wine

1/4  cup honey

1/4 tsp. each pepper, coriander, rue (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the carrots, stir fry for approximately 4 minutes until tender crisp.  Transfer the carrots with their oil to a serving dish.  Mix together liquamen, wine, and honey and spices, and pour over the carrots. Serves 4 (8)

Aliter Porros--Char-broiled Leeks

Alliter Porros: opertos foliis cauliculorum [et] in prunis coques, ut supra [et] inferes

Another Method.  Cover the leeks with cabbage-leaves and cook in a red hot coal. Serve as above. (served with oil, liquamen and wine)

Char-Broiled Leeks

4 leeks (white part only) trimmed

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine

1 tablespoon liquamen*

Wrap each leek in it's own piece of aluminum foil, make sure no part of it is exposed.  Place the wrapped leeks amidst hot charcoals for 10 minutes.  Take up the packages, unwrap them, and place the leeks in a serving dish.  Mix together the oil, wine, and liquamen, and pour this mixture over the leeks. Serves 4 (8)

*note--to prepare this dish authentically, cover 1 head of cabbage with water and boil for 7 minutes to soften.  Drain, rinse under cold water.  Wrap one cabbage leaf around one piece of leek.  If the leeks are excessively long, you may have to cut them in half crosswise.  If any part of the leek is exposed, wrap a second cabbage leaf around the first.  Cook as you would the aluminum foil wrapped leeks by placing amidst hot coals for 10 minutes.  Discard the burnt cabbage.

Apothermum sic Facies--Bulgur with Nuts and Raisins

Apothermum sic Facies:  alicam elixa cum nucleis et amygdalis depallatis et in aqua infusis et lotis ex creta argentaria, ut ad candorem pariter perducantur.  cui ammiscebis uvam passam, caroenum vel passum, desuper <piper> confractum asparges et in boletari inferes.

Apothermum.  Make as follows.  Boil spelt-grits with pine-kernels and almonds skinned, soaked, and washed with chalk used for cleaning silver, so as to render them equally white.  Into this mix raisins, caroenum or passum, sprinkle ground pepper on top, and serve in a serving dish (boletar).

*to be historically authentic, this dish would have to be made from emmer wheat groats, but emmer wheat is hard to come by, so bulgar has been substituted which is readily available.

Bulger with Nuts and Raisins

1 cup bulgur, washed

1 1/2 cups water

2 tbsp. pine nuts

2 tbsp. blanched almonds

1/4 cup. raisins

1 ounce sweet wine or grape juice

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Bring the bulgur to a boil in the water along with the pine nuts and almonds.  Simmer for 15 minutes until bulgur is tender, but not mushy, all the water should be absorbed.  Drain if necessary.  Add the raisins, sweet wine or grapejuice, and the pepper, mix well and transfer to a serving dish. Serves 4 (8)

*note--modern taste may prefer a sprinkling of salt when serving this.

Mensae Secundae--Dessert course--The secundae mensae consists of fruits and various sweets. 

Dulcia Domestica--Home made Sweet

Dulcia Domestica:  palmulas vel dactylos excepto semine, nuce vel nucleis vel pipere trito infercies.  sale foris contingis, frigis in melle cocto, et inferes.

Home Made Sweet. Stone dates, and stuff with nuts, pine kernels or ground pepper.   Roll in salt, fry in cooked honey, and serve

Stuffed Dates in Honey

20 pitted dates

1/4 cup honey

10 almonds, blanched

salt

Split the almonds in half lengthwise.  Stuff each date with one almond half.  Heat the honey in a small saucepan.  When the honey begins to foam up, roll each date in salt, and drop into the honey.  Cook briefly in the honey, but do not let the honey start to carmelize.  With a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the dates from the honey and lay them on a lightly oiled dish, let cool, then serve.  Yield 20 dates.

*note--as a rule Romans preferred the taste of sweets sprinkled with ground pepper.  One variation of this recipe suggests stuffing the dates with pepper.

Fresh fruit in season;mala granata(Pomegranite),uvas (grapes),persica(peaches),pruna (plums),praecoquis (apricots), mala matiana(apples),pira (pears),fici (figs), cerasia(cherries) or any combination of the above.

Nuces(Nuts);nucleos pineos( pinenuts),nuces (walnuts),castaneae(chestnuts), pistachio, amygdali(almonds), pontica (hazel), calva (filberts)

*all spelling errors are uniquely my own! ;P

*Liquamen--

Liquamen (Fish Sauce)

This is one of the basics of Roman cooking, it is salty in flavour.

There are various Fish Sauces available in oriental shops.

One alternative mentioned, is to use 1 tablespoon of salt dissolved in 100ml (3½ fl oz) of wine.

To Make Liquamen-a modern equivilent for the stuff that was sold factory made in antiquity.

1 two ounce can anchovies packed in olive oil

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp. oregano

1 ounce grape juice (defrutum--a concentrated grape juice that was boiled down 1/3 in antiquity.  Todays grape juice need not be boiled down)

1/2 tsp. salt

Boil the anchovies, water, oregano, and salt over high heat for ten minutes, until the liquid is reduced 1/3.  Strain the liquamen through a tea strainer once or twice then add the grape juice.  Pour into a jar and it will keep for weeks if refrigerated.  Yield 1 cup.

Works Cited: 

Flower, Barbara and Elisabeth Rosenbaum; The Roman Cookery Book; a Critical Translation of The Art of Cooking by Apicius for Use in the Study and the Kitchen

The recipe for Alexandrian Cumin Bread can be found in numerous places over the internet, but mine came from a cookbook that I no longer possess due to flooding :-( Here is an identical recipe found on the web: http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/alexandrian-cumin-bread-63103

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