The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-05-13
ROMAN COOKING.
Extraordinary nesses in Which the
EpiCurean Palates Delighted.


table where he and his friends had,
by way of eXcitment, been regaling
themselves with a meal iancienne.
Personally, says the London stand
ard we agree with the author of the
above remark, for Roman dishes, with
the exception of a very few, would
hardly appeal to the modern palate.
No doubt 'salacacaby' tasted very
nice to the members of Rome's AM
phytrion Club, or the equivalent there
of. Strawberry sauce as prepared IN
the time of Tiberius may have suited
the fastidious taste of the gourmets OF
that Emperor's court, though at pres
ent it might possibly raise a storm OF
we'll bred protest if it were offered at
a society garden party in England The
first of the above named dishes was,
SO far as can be gathered, the inven-
ton of a certain Apicius Coehus. He
was suffered to live during the reign
of the Emperor Tiberius, and held the
position of concocter of nastiness to the
court 4Ie was the Beeton of the Ro-
mans, and wrote cookery book, the
manuscript of which is still eXtant, its
title being DE re Coquinaria."
Apicius finished UP his career by COM
llllLIlnS Su!cIUe AFTER lie HGu liit14ets Gu
to run through a fortune equivalent
to several millions sterling, which he
spent entirely upon the pleasures of the
table. Evidently much eating had made
him mad. And such eating, too. The
following is the recipe for a 'salaca-
caby": BruiSe in a mortar parsley seed,
dried mint, dried penEToyal, ginger, rue,
corlander, stoned raisins, mustard seed
and few boned anchovies. Pound
them well, and add salt, oil, wine, pep
per, vinegar and honey, the Roman
equivalent for sugar. Stir these until
they are thoroughly mixed. This is
the liquid part of 1.-THE dressing, so
to speak. To continue: In another dish
put three crusts of Pycentine bread,
the flesh of two pullets, four goats kid
neys, and one goats tongue. Put the
mixture, dressing and all, into a ca
cabulum, and throw in some Vestine
cheese minced onions, garlic, cucum-
bers, filberts and pine kernels. Stir the
mixture we'll, and set the vessel aside
in a warm place for three days. AT
the end of this time pour soup over
it, garnish with snow, and serve it UP
in the cacabulum. Apicius' talents,
however, did not END here.
He claims, too, to have invented a tet
rapharmacon, which sounds lordly, and
we feel confident that nobody disputed
his claims of invention. The principal
ingredients for this dish were a gamy
peacock and freshly killed pheasant,
the udder and hook of a wild SOW with
falloW, and bread pudding which had
to be baked over the whole dish This
sounds more or less reasonable, and
was practically a game pie; but unfor-
tunately, the above We're only the foun-
dations of the dish-the sine qua non OF
it. Every cook who undertook its manu-
facture had practically carte blanche
as to what he added besides. Nightln-
galest colipha-that is, Jumps of flesh,
pieces of fat pork, not unlike the mod
ern spec which is eaten in Germany
the hearts of chickens, the livers OF
geese, oysters, etc, together with vari-
Gus fruits, fiavors and spices; these We're
the most common trimmings of tet-
rapharmacon-
Almost any dish which had to recon-
mend it rarity, costliness indigestibility,
and, to our way Of thinking. nastiness,
was sure to take with the Roman cpl
cure And, if he We're unable to make
it costly any other way, he would add
powdered precious stones or gold dust.
Nero dined on one occasion from pea
cock which was sprinkled with diamond
dust, and specimens of that bird dressed
with gold or with crushed pearls were
by no means a rarity at the trlcllma OF
the moneyed Romans. A dish OF par
rOts' tongues was a great delicacy. But
a dish of parrots tongues which had
been capable, when in their proper place,
of framing words, was of almost meal
culable value which increased in a di-
rect ratio with the vocabularies of the
defunct parrots. Another bird for which
the Roman epicure was in the habit of
paying fabulous prices was the phene-
coptrix, which is believed to have been
the ptarmigan. 1t had it's home in the
most northerly parts of Scotland and
Norway, and as this made it hard to get
at, the Romans appreciated it all the
more, and put it in the same rank with
the ostriches, buzzards and peacocks-
The tongues of these birds were special
ly prepared, together with the brains,
and took the place which a hors d'oeuvre
would now take. A description OF
garum, the black green sauce of the
Romans, would not be out of place here.
1t was a species of universal condiment,
but its principle use was not for fish.
The recipe is as follows: Let the cook
take several fishes, it matters not much
which, but mackerel are the best for the
purpose. Let him take out their entrails
and put them in vinegar and leave them
there for ten days. Then let them be
taken out and dried and powdered in a
mortar with pepper, fromenty, roots OF
dandelion, mint, thyme, sage, and lit !
tie ginger, and well mixed after which
the powder must be put in jars, together
with honey, and left to ferment during
several weeks. When ready for the |
table it must be mixed with Faiernlan
wine.
If we are to believe the legends of |
history, Farmer George was consld- /
erably puzzled as to the how OF apples |
getting inside the dumplings. 1t is
very probable, however. that George |
III was not the only person to whom |
this problem presented difficulties. 1t
must have struck the children of near !
ly two thousand years ago that it was I
not in the natural order of things for a |
solid substance, such as an apple. 10 |
pass through an equally solid sub !
stance such as the crust of a dumping, !
without leaving traces OF its passage !
And it is probable too that unless they |
CHANGED to see the dumplings prepared, |
the mystery was not cleared up until |
they arrived at man or Womanhood |
Apple dumplings were not of the rev