Suu explores Roman food and drink!

[Suu]

This coming weekend, we have a local SCA event involving food with various categories for judging. I'm not a huge foodie, but I have a copy of recipes from Apicius I got for class last year. One of them, a sweet and sour pork recipe, sounded damn good, so I've been meaning to try it. I found a decent modern redaction online, so I shall be gathering ingredients today and cooking it Saturday night/Sunday morning of next week for the event.

It's called Minutal ex Praecoquis, and here is the best modern redaction I could find:

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/roman/fetch-recipe.php?rid=roman-minutal-ex-praecoquis

[Suu]

I dood eet!

To avoid image bombing, my new blog has all the info.

http://annasrome.blog.com/2013/02/10/roman-pork-success/

But here's a pic of the finished casserole.

[Ben Shapiro]

Is this like stuffing?

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Don't click on "liquamen". 

[Suu]

Don't click on "liquamen". 

Garum, baby. It's what's for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert/salting your wine/currency!

[Don Coyote]

Don't click on "liquamen". 

Garum, baby. It's what's for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert/salting your wine/currency!

WUT

And

WUT???

[Suu]

My exploits with making Roman wine:

http://syrakousina.wordpress.com/tag/wine/

Do never cook with pine resin, it gets EVERYWHERE and does not COME OUT. However, my kitchen smells lovely.

But here's my vinos. I started with a muscat wine kit. This yielded about 4 gallons of wine when all was said and done. Then, to create the "resined" wine that was popular in Rome and Byzantium, now called Retsina in Greek, I threw a few chunks of boiled resin into a gallon of wine. Why is the resin boiled? One: To remove all the gunk, and two: to remove the terpenes.

Why were wines flavored with resin? They used it to seal amphorae, and then eventually it was added to the brewing process once vessels changed to barrels and glass. I do not have a wine amphora, and after looking into getting one, found they are very expensive (yes, they are still being made.) So I decided to see if I could infuse the flavor in a glass jug.

I am also flavoring one with an infusion of dried roses. I got this idea from Pliny the Elder's "Natural History." He says to leave it in for 3 months, I don't think I will go that long. I'm sure he meant fresh roses, which means that my dried ones are far more concentrated, and have already turned the must (wine) to a darker color.

The other recipe I did is from Apicius, it's called Conditum Paradoxum, or, Wine of Spice and Surprise. It's an infusion of honey, black pepper, saffron, more resin (they called for mastic, I used the pine I had,) bay leaf, and dates. I added a cinnamon stick to give more of a pop. This made the moscato I made double in sweetness (think about that) which is why they diluted the wine. I diluted it first with regular water, and found that it made the flavors come out. Adding saltwater created a whole new experience. It wasn't disgusting at all, in fact, it reminds me of a sweet and sour dish or a caramel and sea salt candy. The Romans would have used actual seawater. So I will be getting some from the ocean before I panel this for my brewer's guild. Sometimes the drink was served with warm water, this was called calidum, and gives more of a hot mulled wine experience. All you really taste is the honey and saffron, with a pepper finish and a pine nose, but we'll see after it ages a few months.