Roman Style Nosh

[caldrail]

Well I had to didn't I? I saw barley on sale in Sainsbury's and with Jamie Oliver inspired enthusiasm, I attempted to recreate a gladiators meal. Probably didn't turn out quite like the real stuff, but I guess it wasn't too far removed from what these people ate.

 

It was bland and almost tasteless. I remember a talking head on tv describing the meal as 'boring' - he was spot on - but it was filling and certainly not unpleasant.

 

No, I haven't sprouted muscles overnight....

 

Has anyone else done things like this? I'm curious as to whether this sort of re-enactment goes on behind the scenes amongst us enthusiasts. There was a thread a little while ago where someone was doing a school project on this sort of thing.

[Vibius Tiberius Costa]

Well I had to didn't I? I saw barley on sale in Sainsbury's and with Jamie Oliver inspired enthusiasm, I attempted to recreate a gladiators meal. Probably didn't turn out quite like the real stuff, but I guess it wasn't too far removed from what these people ate.

 

It was bland and almost tasteless. I remember a talking head on tv describing the meal as 'boring' - he was spot on - but it was filling and certainly not unpleasant.

 

No, I haven't sprouted muscles overnight....

 

Has anyone else done things like this? I'm curious as to whether this sort of re-enactment goes on behind the scenes amongst us enthusiasts. There was a thread a little while ago where someone was doing a school project on this sort of thing.

 

I went to a school fete where someone had made some kind of mini-pastry-like parcels, they were also quite bland but oddly filling and addictive, It was filled with olives and a few other ingredients, so if you could find the ingredients that might be worth checking out.

 

However i am not so extreme to make stuff like that myself.

 

vtc

[ASCLEPIADES]

Has anyone else done things like this? I'm curious as to whether this sort of re-enactment goes on behind the scenes amongst us enthusiasts. There was a thread a little while ago where someone was doing a school project on this sort of thing.

I suppose you remember this not so recent post of our dear Viggen, which I transcribed given the risk of the original webpage's reprocessing.

 

Gladiators 'fat vegetarians' 03/03/2004 14:13 - (SA)

Vienna - Austrian researchers reported on Tuesday that the gladiators of Ancient Rome were probably fat vegetarians.

The Austrian Archaeological Institute is heading excavation work at the gladiator cemetary in the ancient city of Ephesus, which is located on the west coast of today's Turkey.

Analysis of trace elements in bones have led to the findings.

"First spot probes probably confirm the handed-down story that they nourished themselves as vegetarians", said Karl Grossschmidt of Vienna Medical University institute of histology and embryology.

He added that the gladiator cemetary at Ephesus is considered unique in the world, containing the bones of about 70 individuals.

But some of the graves had been robbed, and the skeletons were no longer complete.

Much of the research so far has focused on studying the bones for evidence of the kinds of injuries suffered by gladiators in the arena.

Fat

Now, the Medical University and Vienna University institute of analytical chemistry are studying the bones for evidence of what the gladiators ate.

"The composition of trace elements in the bones allows conclusions about what kind of nourishment the people mostly took during their lives," said Grossschmidt. The proportions of fish, meat, grain, fruit and berries could be determined.

First results indicated that the gladiators' main foods were beans, legumes (vegetables), and certain types of fruit. This filling mixture would confirm the historical accounts that the fighters were obese.

To a certain extent, a good layer of fat also gave protection against buffets and blows.

However, it is no longer possible to estimate the weight of a person from bones of so long ago, researchers say.

The Austrian research has already attracted international interest, with a major London newspaper report about the fat gladiators. Further contributions are planned by British, German and Japanese TV stations.

 

South African Press Association.

[Pertinax]

Caldrail , now you know why garum was so popular.

Quite a lot of people find barley a taxing food, certainly it can "clean" the kidneys .It does have the very beneficial effect of keeping the gut wall free of mucoid plaque, somewhat like eating plenty of linseed. The digestion should therefore proceed "steadily" one might say, nutrients readily absorbed ,exhausted matter excreted .So ulcerative colitis would be minimised , and general levels of alkalinity enhanced (again general digestive wellness).Barley is also vitamin rich , the protein content being roughly 15 times greater than milk.

So we can at least suggest that a man fed on barley has decent digestion and is more likely to ingest and retain other nutrients from his food.Ironically its one food that obese westerners should try and use as a substitute for all the corn starch syrup filled trash they swallow.

 

btw, I sampled a dish by Sally Grainger (Cooking Apicius) and I will post on this and give gallery illustrations, there was nothing bland about it! The care given to mixing and adding strong spices was most illuminating.

[Lost_Warrior]

I've wanted to try something like this, but I can't find the recipes. I'm quite fond of barley myself.

[Pertinax]

For a "plain" dish I was able to find a lentil potage recipe from Grainger (but no reference to barley as a side dish):

 

250g red lentils

3 medium leeks

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp defrutum

20g coriander

pinch asafoetida resin

3 tsp fresh mint chopped

bunch of fresh coriander (nice)

1 tsp (!) take care , of rue

pepper to taste

 

 

soak the lentils overnight, drain cover with water or white wine . Boil and simmer till just softening.Add sliced leeks, continue to boil. Add oil, vinegar, honey and defrutum.Dry roast the coriander seed and asafoetida, grind up and add to mix.Add the mint next.When fully cooked add the fish sauce and coriander leaf , rue and fresh mint.

 

So a basic foodstuff with lots of spicey additives.

[docoflove1974]

Defrutum...I know that's usually a jelly (see the recent wine threads)...but is that what you're referring to, Pertinax? If so, where does one get it? And what are rue and asafoetida resin?

 

I love cooking up pearl barley in chicken stock, and then keeping it in the fridge. Makes an outstanding salad--put some vinaigrette on it and throw in some chopped tomatoes, green onions, olives, feta or goat cheese, perhaps some bell peppers, and it's wonderful! I do the same with Israeli cous cous. Also, if I want to make a veggie soup a bit more hearty, I cook in a handful of pearl barley...adds a wonderful nuttiness to the soup.

Edited September 8, 2007 by docoflove1974

[Pertinax]

Defrutum, Faas defines this as the must syrup which has been nicely reduced in a lead pan. The consistency need sto be near that of treacle (as described by Palladius) ,Pliny suggested a 50 percentum reduction off the original must to achieve a decent consistency.Faas says "not the same a s grape-juice syrup we get today , though that makes an adequate substitute". Faas also remarks that it is not the same as the savoury residue from reduced wine used in France (again he says "a decent substitute" , and the version I use in my own food)

 

Rue is Ruta graveolens a bitter herb , actually an abortefactant if used in a significant quantity . It was placed in the marital bed post partum to sign to an over amorous husband to desist from libidinous advances. It smells pretty "robust".This is where "Rutin" comes from for capillary fragility (ie: keeps your pipework nice and bendy), otherwise called vitamin P.

http://www.gfmer.ch/TMCAM/Atlas_medicinal_...ages/mp0095.jpg

 

Asafoetida ( Ferula asafotida) resin is very pungent, sulphorous (technically "alliaceous") in fact. Its common name "Devil's Dung" gives the game away.I believe it is "Heeng"or hing in a lot of Indo-Aryan languages , (Doc does that hint at its properties or odour?).Its normal medicinal use is as a digestive aid for bad bloating and poor digestion.The resin is a pathological product of the incised roots.Chemistry wise we are talking a collection of sulphides and coumarins.

 

So we have a sweet and sour mix in fact.

[docoflove1974]

Sounds very interesting! The reduction is easy enough to reproduce...I would imagine that one would take wine and reduce to the desired amount. As for the herbs, are they available commercially?

[ASCLEPIADES]

Defrutum, Faas defines this as the must syrup which has been nicely reduced in a lead pan.

Asafoetida ( Ferula asafotida) resin is very pungent, sulphorous (technically "alliaceous") in fact. Its common name "Devil's Dung" gives the game away.I believe it is "Heeng"or hing in a lot of Indo-Aryan languages , (Doc does that hint at its properties or odour?).

Gratiam habeo. I think I will leave all this stuff to C.

 

(If he survives the saturnism, I mean)

Edited September 9, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[caldrail]

Caldrail , now you know why garum was so popular.

 

btw, I sampled a dish by Sally Grainger (Cooking Apicius) and I will post on this and give gallery illustrations, there was nothing bland about it! The care given to mixing and adding strong spices was most illuminating.

yes, I understand the romans were big on spices (understandably), but did they bother where slaves were concerned? Household staff probably fed off kitchen scraps as much as regular meals so I guess they had an advantage. A slave who ran a food stall for a master had even more of an advantage. But the food doled out o slaves without these opportunities? Spices weren't always so cheap.

 

Which begs another question. Was garum cheap to purchase. On the one hand it was very popular, on the other tons of the stuff crossed the mediterranean every day.

[Pertinax]

There were considerable differences in the actual and perceived qualities of garum/liquamen/muria (or the cooking paste equivalent ):

 

aha here we have it from the horses mouth , I was going to say that I beleive the head and gills of the tuna were consdered to be the "top end " of the market .This post stresses the anaeorbic nature of the fermentation process (ie: no rotting) :

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/8337/c_garum.html

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

These are the critical verses quoted by S. Grainger on his 1999's paper about Garum (Pertinax's link), where the production of fish condiments is described in some detail, ie. how juices and fluids are extracted and the three kinds of sauce that can be created. Sorry, but I found no translation.

The source is Manilius' Astronomica (I Century AD), Liber V, lines 670 to 681, from the Latin Library:

 

"illa datis melior, sucis pars illa retentis.

hinc sanies pretiosa fluit floremque cruoris

evomit ex mixto gustum sale temperat oris;

illa putris turbae strages confunditur omnis

permiscetque suas alterna in damna figuras

communemque cibis usum sucumque ministrat.

aut, cum caeruleo stetit ipsa simillima ponto

squamigerum nubes turbaque immobilis haeret,

excipitur vasta circum vallata sagena

ingentisque lacus et Bacchi dolia complet

umorisque vomit socias per mutua dotes

et fluit in liquidam tabem resoluta medullas."

 

Grainger tell us : "Fish are brought on to the beach whole and cut up The precious fluid, literally 'flower of the gore' is saved and mixed with salt. He does not say that fermentation takes place but is surely must, before the finished product 'soothes the sense of taste' ... 'From the one body are put two different purposes....one kind is better with its juices drained and another with them kept in'. He then says that a separate mass of dead fish, presumably mixed with salt and fermented, sinks to the bottom and dissolves to provide a 'soft complement to foods' He appears to be talking about the fish paste called allec with was hardly ever added to food during cooking but served separately. There would have been a liquid brine at the top of this paste which was itself a fish sauce of some kind. We then here about another kind of process where vast numbers of small fish are dredged up in a net and turned into a large wine jar called a dolia.

[docoflove1974]

Sounds almost similar to the SE Asian fish sauce (nam pla)...salty, fishy...and yet, I can't have pho or many other Thai and Vietnamese dishes without it!

[caldrail]

Are they related? The reason I ask is that Garum made it to India, where it got reinvented as Worcester Sauce by the british (and reimported!) Perhaps 'Garum' also spread eastward too?

Edited September 11, 2007 by caldrail