Have You Tried Recreating Recipes from Apicius?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around attempts to recreate ancient Roman recipes from Apicius, exploring the ingredients, cooking methods, and the linguistic aspects of the recipes. Participants share their experiences and interpretations of specific recipes, as well as engage in light-hearted guessing games about the dishes.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant shares their attempt at recreating a specific recipe (Ova spongia ex lacte) and invites others to guess its appearance.
  • Another participant mentions a recipe (Tisanum farricam) from "A Taste of Ancient Rome," describing its ingredients and cooking process.
  • A participant presents a recipe involving flamingo, discussing the recognizable Latin terms and the overall cooking style, while also making a humorous comparison to modern dishes.
  • There is a playful exchange about the identity of the dish, with one participant confidently declaring it to be waffles, while others engage in banter about the ingredients and their historical context.
  • Some participants reflect on the linguistic connections between Latin and modern languages, particularly Italian, noting how this aids in understanding the recipes.
  • Discussion includes humorous remarks about the dietary habits of flamingos and the challenges of recreating ancient dishes, with some participants expressing skepticism about the palatability of the food from that era.
  • One participant shares their background in Latin and various dialects, highlighting the diverse linguistic influences in their culinary learning.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of agreement and playful disagreement regarding the identification of dishes and the feasibility of recreating ancient recipes. There is no consensus on the palatability of the food or the accuracy of historical interpretations.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the historical accuracy of the recipes and the ingredients used, as well as the linguistic interpretations of the Latin terms. There are references to modern dietary practices that may not align with ancient methods.

rachmaninoff
Has anyone here attempted to recreate these mysterious, centuries-forgotten recipes? I've just finished XIII/8. I won't tell you what it looks like just yet, I want to keep you guessing. :biggrin:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16439/16439-h/apicius.htm

Ova spongia ex lacte: ova quattuor, lactis heminam, olei unciam in se dissolvis, ita ut unum corpus facias. in patellam subtilem adicies olei modicum, facies ut bulliat, et adicies impensam quam parasti. una parte cum fuerit coctum, in disco vertes, melle perfundis, piper aspargis et inferes.
 
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I have the book "A Taste of Ancient Rome". This is a really good recipe.

Apicius 174

Tisanum farricam: Infundis cicer, lenticulum, pisam. Defricas tisanum et cum leguminibus elixas. Ubi bene bullierit, olei satis mittis et super viridia concidis porrum, coriandrum, anetum, feniculum, betam, malvam,coliculum mollem; haec viridia minuta concisa in caccabum mittis. Coliculos elixas et teres feniculi semen satis, origanum, silfi, ligusticum. Postquam triveris, liquamine temperabis et super legumina refundis et agites. Coliculorum minutas super concidas.
 
See if you can guess which delicacy this is.

Fenicopterum eliberas, lavas, ornas, includis in caccabum, adicis aguam, salem, anetum et aceti modicum. Dimidia coctura alligas fasciculum porri et coriandri ut coquatur. Prope cocturam defritum mittis, coloras. Adicies in mortarium piper, cuminum, coriandrum, laseris radicem, mentam, rutam, fricabis, suffundis acetum, adicies careotam, ius de suo sibi perfundis. Reexinanies in eudem caccabum, amulo obligas. Ius perfundis et inferes. Idem facies et in psittaco.

It's amazing how many words are easily recognizable from latin, you can get the overall idea of ingredients and style of cooking without even knowing latin. If you know Italian, there's very little that is not recognizable.
 
I know what it is: Waffles
 
Evo said:
If you know Italian, there's very little that is not recognizable.
Ancient Sanskrit
 
tribdog said:
Ancient Sanskrit
:smile: :smile: I missed this post.
 
busy making waffles?
 
Evo said:
See if you can guess which delicacy this is.
Fenicopterum eliberas, lavas, ornas, includis in caccabum, adicis aguam, salem, anetum et aceti modicum. Dimidia coctura alligas fasciculum porri et coriandri ut coquatur. Prope cocturam defritum mittis, coloras. Adicies in mortarium piper, cuminum, coriandrum, laseris radicem, mentam, rutam, fricabis, suffundis acetum, adicies careotam, ius de suo sibi perfundis. Reexinanies in eudem caccabum, amulo obligas. Ius perfundis et inferes. Idem facies et in psittaco.
It's amazing how many words are easily recognizable from latin, you can get the overall idea of ingredients and style of cooking without even knowing latin. If you know Italian, there's very little that is not recognizable.
Damn, no one trying to show off their knowledge of latin, eh? Hey, I don't know much latin but I can surely tell the difference between a baked flamingo and roasted doormice.

This is flamingo, btw. Let's see Alton Brown tackle this one.
 
IT's the other pink meat
 
  • #10
tribdog said:
busy making waffles?
Yeah, with garum (sun rotted fish) that liquefies into a sauce. YUM!

I swear I would not be able to eat the food they served back then.
 
  • #11
tribdog said:
IT's the other pink meat
You know they only turn pink from the shellfish they eat. Or is that a myth? Damn, I'm too tired to check.

edit: HAH! I was right, AS ALWAYS! The young hatch with white plumage, but the feathers of a flamingo in adulthood range from light pink to bright red, due to carotenoids obtained from their food supply

I'm such a wealth of useless knowledge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo
 
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  • #12
I'm pretty sure we never had the word for flamingo on our vocabulary lists when I took Latin.
 
  • #13
Evo said:
You know they only turn pink from the shellfish they eat. Or is that a myth? Damn, I'm too tired to check.
edit: HAH! I was right, AS ALWAYS! The young hatch with white plumage, but the feathers of a flamingo in adulthood range from light pink to bright red, due to carotenoids obtained from their food supply
I'm such a wealth of useless knowledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo
did you also know that most zoos can't feed them that diet so they have to add food coloring or else they end up with white flamingos. They can also add different colors and have a rainbow of flamingos, but zoos aren't as adventurous or artistic as I would be. About the only color flamingo I wouldn't have would be pink.
Http:www.Imightbefullofit.com[/URL]
I don't fact check.
 
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  • #14
I learned Latin in Church and then in cookbooks. I have a very skewed view of latin. :bugeye: My ex-fiance was actually schooled in latin and speaks it fluently as well as Greek, Italian, Palermitan & Sicilian dialects, French, English, Spanish & Polish. I had to learn cookbooks in Palermitan, Siciilian and Corsican & Sardinian. I have one cool cookbook that translates between the different dialects.
 
  • #15
tribdog said:
did you also know that most zoos can't feed them that diet so they have to add food coloring or else they end up with white flamingos. They can also add different colors and have a rainbow of flamingos, but zoos aren't as adventurous or artistic as I would be. About the only color flamingo I wouldn't have would be pink.
Http:www.Imightbefullofit.com[/URL]
I don't fact check.[/QUOTE]The rainbow koolaid flamingos are the best. :biggrin:
 
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