Ancient Green Pancake

It looks like a dog's vomit after it has eaten grass. I assume it tastes better. The recipe was Another Asparagus Custard or Alia Patina de Asparagis. I found it in Miscellania, the fourth book in De re Coquinaria by Apicius. To start, I used my mortar and pestle to "grind" asparagus tips (12 heads), a small, diced scallion, and some celery leaves. The celery leaves replaced lovage, which was called for in the recipe, but which I could not locate in a timely manner. To this mixture I then added a small portion of wine and olive oil (I don't like to measure). This went into a frying pan on the stove, and after it had heated for a couple of minutes, I topped it with a scrambled egg. It basically came out like a green frittata. Although the recipe was supposed to serve four, I ended up with enough for myself only.

The source of my "pancake" was Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, edited and translated from Latin into German by Joseph Dommers Vehling. My English translation (isbn# 9780486235639) was published in 1936. De re Coquinaria is divided into ten parts--the surviving number. According to Vehling, there are indications that Apicius was not the sole author. He points out that there are plenty of repetitions in the recipes; the titles of the individual books are Greek, not Latin, and the literary style changes throughout the book.

The first part, Epimeles, is a miscellany of foods to be used for medicinal purposes (especially for bowel movement), spices and their combinations, and ways to bring foods back from the brink if they are spoiled. On page 51, for example, we are told to add two parts fresh honey to one part of bad honey to disguise its unpleasant flavor. A method for preserving meat longer is given; and there is a recipe for making a faux rose wine from citrus leaves instead of rose petals.

Sarcoptes (minces) is the title of the second part, and it refers to meat and dumplings. One of the recipes therein instructs us to soak almonds in water and white clay to make them whiter. The third part is dedicated to the garden. Pumpkin figured prominently into Roman cookery; an example recipe is the Alexandrine-style pumpkin found in this section. It basically calls for the pumpkin to be stewed in wine. Another recipe is "a harmless salad," in which we are advised, after eating lettuce, to make an infusion involving cumin (as commonly used in this book as we would use salt and pepper today) and meaty dates strained into a stock-and-vinegar mixture and then sipped from a spoon.

Some observations I've made about the entire book: over half of the recipes include cumin and raisin wine, often together. Laser (asafoetida--used today in Indian cookery, and pungent enough to be used in place of onions or garlic), mint, ginger, rue, pepper, and honey are also prominently featured. Another popular ingredient is must, which is an extremely reduced grape juice or wine. Some of the lesser used ingredients include the herb pennyroyal (used in modernity for herbal infusions), myrtle berries, mastic (a relative of the pistachio), Indian spikenard, citrons, saltpeter (a preservative), fig stones, dasheens (taro) and cardoons (relatives of thistle). Unusual meats employed include figpeckers (hummingbirds?), crane, dormice, chamois, and gazelle. Vegetables used in the dishes include grapes, figs, green olives, quinces, peas, parsnips, and turnips.

Very little is mentioned regarding utensils and serving dishes; straining ingredients seems to be the most exotic preparation technique.

While my source for this dish is strictly from the book mentioned earlier, two other recommended sites for information on ancient Roman and Apician cookery are:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical/ant-rom-coll.html

and

www.eattoblog.com