There's nothing difficult about cooking Ancient Roman food, the hard part is deciphering a recipe which lists ingredients without measurements and makes no mention of cooking times. The part I enjoy is understanding what the ingredients actually are, and most of the time finding a substitute for … [Read more...]
A Noble Wine
Near the city of Speyer, Germany, the 4th century tomb of a noble Roman protected a bottle of fine wine. We assume it's fine wine, why else would it be buried? I once saw a bottle of Bundaberg Rum in a coffin, it's the same principle, something of comfort to carry into the next life. Perhaps … [Read more...]
Best Roman Wine
Just like us, Romans regularly enjoyed wine (vinum) of fine, aged vintage. Some wines, such as Falernian, were higher in alcohol content than others, but it was the flavour of Falernian that was praised. There is now no wine known that ranks higher than the Falernian; it is the only one, too, among … [Read more...]
Garum
When I first came across garum in ancient Roman recipes, I substituted fish sauce. Sometimes worcestershire, sometimes fish sauce from the Asian supermarket. Then I found an anchovy sauce in Naples which claimed to be the real thing. Magnifico! And I can now order it from Salerno, via … [Read more...]