Forcemeat Faggots (aka Meatballs)

“Forcemeat Faggots: you pound chopped meat with fresh white breadcrumbs soaked in wine, with pepper and liquamen; if you wish, you pound crushed myrtle berries with them. You shape the faggots with pine nuts and pepper placed inside. Wrap them in caul fat and roast them with Caroenum” Apicius, 2.1.7

I first read this and thought it sounded similar to meatloaf, mostly because of the ground meat and bread crumbs. I wasn’t sure what caul fat was, and after asking a few people I determined that it’s kind of like lacey sausage casing. Sally Grainger has a modern recipe for this in her book “Cooking Apicius”. She suggests making them more of a burger size. Considering that I knew I had to feed around 300 people, I decided to go with a smaller meatball size and to skip the caul fat. I wound up having to make several substitutions.  I could not find myrtle berries, but Grainer suggests juniper berries as a substitute. Liquamen is similar to garum, which is a fish sauce. I know there are a lot of fish allergies, so I just used sea salt instead. Apicius also calls for white wine, but again I know there are several people allergic to wine, so I used white grape juice as a substitute.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground beef (or lamb)

2 cups Bread Crumbs

¼ cup White Grape juice (or use white wine)

½ tbsp. Sea Salt (or 2 tbsp fish sauce)

1 tbsp whole black peppercorns

6 Juniper Berries (or 10 myrtle berries)

Pine nuts (1-2 per meatball)

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 400
2. Combine mix bread crumbs with grape juice. Combine with ground beef. Mix thoroughly until mixture is pretty smooth
3. Combine peppercorns and juniper berries in a morter until well ground. Add salt and grind some more.
4. Add peppercorn/juniperberries/salt mixture to ground beef mixture, and mix thoroughly.
5. Take 1-2 tbsp of mixture and form into a ball. Press 1-2 pine nuts deep into the meatball (If you leave the pine nuts on top, they will fall off during baking). Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Continue making meatballs until mixture is gone.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink inside.

Posca

Posca is an Ancient Roman drink very similar to sekanjabin, frequently mentioned as something soldiers drank, and as an ingredient in cooking. Soldiers would carry Posca with them, and add it to water when they found it. The vinegar would act as a disinfectant, making the water safer to drink. In its most basic form, it consists of vinegar (most likely red wine vinegar), and water, though honey and herbs and spices were sometimes added.

I experimented quite a bit with the ratios of vinegar and water, but my sweet tooth was not happy until I added the honey. Lots of honey. I added the mint and coriander to make the drink even more refreshing on a hot summer day.

Ingredients (makes enough for 4-5 gallons of water)

1.5 c Honey
.5   c Vinegar (Red wine vinegar, White wine vinegar, or Apple Cider vinegar)
1 T Ground Corriander
Mint to taste

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into sauce pan, and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and let cool
3. Store mixture in glass bottle or other sealed container.
4. For one glass:
   Add 1-2 T to 12-16oz of water and stir.For 5-gallon water cooler
   Fill water cooler with 4-5 gallons of water. Pour in entire Posca mixture (2 c.).
   Make sure lid is sealed on cooler, and shake cooler to mix.

Honeyed Dormice

“The dishes for the first course included… some small iron frames shaped like bridges supporting dormice sprinkled with honey and poppy seed.” – Petronius, Trimalchio’s Feast, The Satyricon

I have seen and heard many references to Romans eating dormice. And I have seen many different recipes online for this, some of them getting quite complicated. I decided to make mine super simple. Brushing the chicken with olive oil before baking gives the chicken skin a wonderful golden brown color when cooked, and makes the skin a little crispy.

Ingredients

Chicken thighs and drumsticks
Olive Oil
Honey
Poppy Seeds

Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 350
2. Leave skin on chicken pieces. Rinse and pat dry.
3. Place chicken pieces on greased baking sheet or baking dish
4. Brush chicken pieces with Olive Oil
5. Bake chicken until skin is crispy and juices run clear (about 40 minutes)
6. While chicken is baking, warm honey in small pan, until it is thin and runny (do not boil)
7. When chicken is done, brush each piece with honey and sprinkle with poppy seeds.