Around The Roman Table

[Pertinax]

I have just got hold of a copy of this book (by Patrick Faas) it looks like it wil be a discourse on manners and etiquette as well as actual recipes.I will post a short review when I have read it through.

[Pertinax]

Well im a little way into the text and must share this with you: "(Elegabalus) regularly ate camels'feet and cockscombs that had been cut from living birds,because this was supposed to leave one immune to the plague. He also served.. ..innards of morays,flamingo brains ,partridge eggs, thrushes' brains , the heads of parrots ,pheasents and peacocks"

Ok the pheasant I could manage.

[longbow]

I read somewhere that the Romans would eat eggs with a nearly ready to emerge chick inside.How gross,wouldnt the feathers get stuck in the teeth.

[Pertinax]

I think that many celebrated Roman cooks liked the idea of "disguise" as a way of impressing a rich hosts dinner guests ,there are certainly a number of illustrations of that in this particular book-one guest is horrified thinking that he has some living creature in a pastry before him only to have been outguessed by a cook who has produced a dormouse confit. The thing that comes across is the desire to produce outrageously sophisticated meals with "multi media" experiences eg; your toe nails are being cut by a couple of singing slaves whilst wine is being served by another (singing) the meal has a considerable number of courses ,three pairs of gladiators perform!(not everyone though this at all clever -it smacked of being a parvenu).

I am half way through the book and it is clearly a specialist read-its ideal for myself covering materia medica and culinary herbs ,Id say it is a useful desk reference for detailed snippets of authenticity ,but its no entertainment for tough Legionnaires or wolfish Barbarians.By the way,dont eat with both hands if you want Roman friends to think you are capable of becoming a Citizen, right hand only please: also do not gnaw bones to get at the meat your hosts slaves will carve it for you first.

More guidance on Etiquette later.

[Pertinax]

I have finished "Around the Roman Table"-excellent as a desk reference for detailed authenticity for set design or some interesting recipes that re-enactors could easily undertake "in the field" or have ready prepared a s field rations or a civilian picnic. Quite good on manners and interesting tidbits on everyday items and fashions-beer is for the proles , kebabs are available on the street corner, beer, kebabs and girls can be bought in the same place along with straw for your horse or donkey. I dont think it could be read through by anyone other than a chef or a herbalist-this is not a criticism, it just isnt a "good read"in terms of a story.

 

as Primus Flavius Pertinax :-

I wish to share with you my tips for how best to present Sow's Nipples to your esteemed guests:

"remove unwanted fat from the udder,sprinkle with coarse sea salt and pepper.Leave overnight.Sow's udder is long so it can be rolled like a roulade ,with the nipple's outward.Boil slowly for a few hours making sure they retain their shape (note) . Cut the roulade into single or double breasts and barbecue them. Make a sauce with a little rice flour,olive oil and dry white wine flavour with garum,pepper and lovage.

 

and a couple of tips to visiting Barbarians:remember you are not in Gaul now-do not urinate or belch whilst reclining on the triclinium though vomiting with the aid of a feather may be permissible if you need to eat more ( a slave will tickle your throat with the feather). If you are offered snow to eat dont show your provincial backwardness, it may be nicely flavoured with wine and be a fantastically expensive luxury brought to Rome by special fast sled. And finally,ivy leaves cool the head when drinking dont get it wrong and wear vine leaves you will get totally smashed (as we say in Brittannia)-if the person next to you refuses any wreaths they probably belong to the proscribed sect known as Christians

[Primus Pilus]

LOL, well done Pertinax...

 

do not urinate or belch whilst reclining on the triclinium

 

I'll do my best to comply. Can we expect more 'colorful' reviews?

[Pertinax]

Perhaps not quite that colourful! I might return to the topic of Mithras next, I did a lot of work in that area in the past but my memory does not serve me well on the main texts.

I might however post "recipes for special events" from time to time-and I feel that the Barbarians probably need a lot more tips on how to behave in civilised company, they are so backward they probably think there is something wrong with wiping your greasy hands on a slaves hair.

 

Thank you for your appreciation.

[Pertinax]

My copy of Galen -"on food and diet" has arrived I will see how that ties into the "Roman Table". Galen I really should have read a long time ago , though the survivng work is only a fragment.

[Pertinax]

My gastronomic researches move forward again-I must share another excellent snippet , firstly it appears that the keeping of fish in the later republic had become the apex of decadent self indulgenge-Lucullus sulking mightily at Pompeys grandstanding retired to the countr and achieved prodigies in the ostentatiously expensive provision of saltwater fish pens. Secondly you will recall the sad death of the greatly mourned eel and the famous eel with decorative jewellery but did you know that Hortensius the retired orator in his introspective dejection could not contemplate eating one of his own bearded mullet? " You would sooner get him to let you take his carriage mules from his stable and keep them than remove a mullet from his pond' (McEwan -Rubicon).

Gastronomic indulgence was the rich boys coke habit crossed with the cult of celebrity tv chefs.Fish= Ennui, the curse of dissapointed intellect.