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Book II

This webpage reproduces a Book of the
De Re Coquinaria

of
Apicius

published by Walter M. Hill, 1936

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

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Book IV

Apicius
De Re Coquinaria

 p73  Book III. The Gardener
Liber III. Cepuros

Chap. I To Boil All Vegetables Green.
Chap. II Vegetable Dinner, Easily Digested.
Chap. III Asparagus.
Chap. IV Pumpkin, Squash.
Chap. V Citrus Fruit, Citron.
Chap. VI Cucumbers.
Chap. VII Melon Gourd, Melon.
Chap. VIII Mallows.
Chap. IX Young Cabbage, Sprouts, Cauliflower.
Chap. X Leeks.
Chap. XI Beets.
Chap. XII Pot Herbs.
Chap. XIII Turnips, Navews.
Chap. XIV Horseradish and Radishes.
Chap. XV Soft Cabbage.
Chap. XVI Field Herbs.
Chap. XVII Nettles.
Chap. XVIII Endive and Lettuce.
Chap. XIX Cardoons.
Chap. XX Cow-Parsnips.
Chap. XXI Carrots and Parsnips.

 p74  I

66 Vegetables, Pot Herbs
De holeribus

To keep all vegetables green.
Ut omne holus smaragdinum fiat.

All vegetables will remain green if boiled with cooking soda.​1

1 Nitrium. Method still in use today, considered injurious to health if copper vessel is used, but the amount of copper actually absorbed by the vegetables is infinitesimal, imperceptible even by the taste. Copper, to be actually harmful would have to be present in such quantity as to make enjoyment impossible.

II

67 Vegetable Dinner, Easily Digested
Pulmentarium ad ventrem​1

All green vegetables are suited for this purpose.2 Very young​3 beets and well matured leeks are parboiled; arrange them in a baking dish, grind pepper and cumin, add broth and condensed must, or anything else to sweeten them a little, heat and finish them on a slow fire, and serve.

1 V. Ad ventrem, "for the belly," simple home laxative.

2 V. This sentence in Torinus only. Possibly a contraction of the foregoing formula, No. 66.

3 V. minutas, "small," i.e., young.

68 A Similar Dish
Similiter

Parboil polypody​1 root so as to soften them, cut them into small pieces, season with ground pepper and cumin, arrange in a baking dish, finish on the fire and serve.​2

1 V. Roots of the fern herb.

2 Although these instructions for vegetable dinners are rather vague, they resemble primitive chartreuses — fancy vegetable dishes developed by the Carthusian monks to whom flesh eating was forbidden. Elsewhere in Apicius we shall find the chartreuse developed to a remarkable degree.

69 Another Laxative
Aliter ad ventrem​1

Scrub and wash bundles of beets by rubbing them with a little soda.​2 Tie them in individual bundles, put into water to be cooked, when done season with reduced must or raisin wine and cumin,  p75 sprinkle with pepper, add a little oil, and when hot, crush polypody and nuts with broth, add this to the red-hot pan, incorporating it with the beets, take off the fire quickly and serve.

1 This formula wanting in Tor.

2 V. Ingenious method to skin tender root vegetables, still in vogue today. We remove the skin of tender young root vegetables, carrots, beets, etc., by placing them in a towel, sprinkling them with rock salt and shaking them energetically. The modern power vegetable peeler is really built on the same principle, only instead of salt (which soon melts) carborundum or rough concrete surfaces are used, against which surfaces the vegetables are hurled by the rotary motion; often enough, too much of the skin is removed, however.

70 Beets à la Varro
Betaceos Varronis​1

Varro beets, that is, black ones​2 of which the roots must be cleaned well, cook them with mead and a little salt and oil; boil them down in this liquor so that the roots are saturated thereby; the liquid itself is good drinking. It is also nice to cook a chicken in with them.

1 G.‑V. Betacios; their B. Varrones. Probably named for Varro, the writer on agriculture.

2 Roots on the order of parsnips, salsify, oysterplant.

71 Another Laxative
Aliter ad ventrem

Another vegetable dish, promoting good health; wash celery, greens and roots, and dry it in the sun: then also cook the tender part and head of leeks in a new​1 pot, allowing the water to boil down one third of its volume. Thereupon grind pepper with broth and honey in equal amounts properly measured, mix it in the mortar with the water of the cooked celery, strain, boil again and use it to mask the cooked celery with. If desired, add the sliced root of the celery to it.​2

1 1 V. "new," i.e., cook leeks in a separate sauce pan; not together with the celery, which, as the original takes for granted, must be cooked also.

2 V. We would leave the honey out, make a cream sauce from the stock, or, adding bouillon, tie same with a little flour and butter, and would call the dish Stewed Celery and Leeks. The ancient method is entirely rational because the mineral salts of the vegetables are preserved and utilized (invariably observed  p76 by Apicius) which today are often wasted by inexperienced cooks who discard these precious elements with the water in which the vegetables are boiled.

III

72 Asparagus
Asparagos

Asparagus [Tor. in order to have it most agreeable to the palate] must be peeled, washed and dried​1 and immersed in boiling water backwards.​23

1 V. Must be dried before boiling because the cold water clinging to the stalks is likely to chill the boiling water too much in which the asparagus is to be cooked. Apicius here reveals himself as the consummate cook who is familiar with the finest detail of physical and chemical changes which food undergoes at varying temperatures.

The varying editions all agree: asparagos siccabis; Schuch, however, says: "For the insane siciabis I substitute siciabis, isiciabis, prepare with sicio [?] and cook." He even goes on to interpret it cucabis from the Greek kouki, cocoanut milk, and infers that the asparagus was first cooked in cocoanut milk and then put back into water, a method we are tempted to pronounce insane.

2 V. Backwards! G.‑V. rursum in calidam; Tac. rursus in aquam calidam; Tor. ac rursus. . .

This word has caused us some reflection, but the ensuing discovery made it worth while. Rursus has escaped the attention of the other commentators. In this case rursus means backwards, being a contraction from revorsum, h.e. reversum. The word is important enough to be observed.

Apicius evidently has the right way of cooking the fine asparagus. The stalks, after being peeled and washed must be bunched together and tied according to sizes, and the bunches must be set into the boiling water "backwards," that is, they must stand upright with the heads protruding from the water. The heads will be made tender above the water line by rising steam and will be done simultaneously with the harder part of the stalks. We admit, we have never seen a modern cook observe this method. They usually boil the tender heads to death while the lower stalks are still hard.

Though this formula is incomplete (it fails to state the sauce to be served, also that the asparagus must be peeled and bunched, that the water must contain salt, etc.) it is one of the neatest formulae in Apicius. It is amusing to note how the author herein unconsciously reveals what a poor litérateur but what a fine cook he is. This is characteristic of most good practitioners. One may perfectly master the vast subject of cookery, yet one may not be able to give a definition of even a single term, let alone the ability to exactly describe one of the many processes of cookery. Real poets often are in the same predicament; none of them ever explained the art satisfactorily.

3 G.‑V. add to the formula callosiores reddes — give back [eliminate] the  p77 harder ones. This sentence blessings to the next article. And Torinus, similar to Humelbergius, renders this sentence ut reddas ad gustum calliores — to render the harder ones palatable — the squash and pumpkin namely — and we are inclined to agree with him.

IV

73 Pumpkin, Squash​a
Cucurbitas

To have the harder ones palatable, do this:​1 Cut the fruit into pieces, boil and squeeze the water out of the boiled fruit and arrange the pieces in a baking dish. Put in the mortar pepper, cumin and silphium, that is, a very little of the laser root and a little rue, season this with stock, measure a little vinegar and mix in a little condensed wine, so that it can be strained​2 and pour this liquid over the fruit in the baking dish; let it boil three times, retire from the fire and sprinkle with very little ground pepper.

1 Cf. note 3 to No. 72.

2 List. Ut coloretur — to give it color; Tor. ut ius coletur — from color — to strain, to filter. Cf. also note 2 to No. 55.

Thayer's Note:

a A reminder that "pumpkin" and "squash", here and thruout, are approximations. Both are New World plants, and some other type of gourd was meant.

74 Pumpkin like Dasheens
Aliter cucurbitas iure colocasiorum​1

Boil the pumpkin in water like colocasia; grind pepper, cumin and rue, add vinegar and measure out the broth in a saucepan. The pumpkin pieces nicely cut water pressed out are arranged in a saucepan with the broth and are finished on the fire while the juice is being tied with a little roux. Before serving sprinkle with pepper.​2

1 1 V. Colocasia Antiquorum belonging to the dasheen or taro family, a valuable tuber, again mentioned in No. 172, 216, 244 and 322. Cf. various notes, principally that to No. 322. Also see U. S. Dept. of Agr. Farmer's Bulletin No. 136, p2. This is a "new" and commercially and gastronomically important root vegetable, the flavor reminding of a combination of chestnuts and potatoes, popularilyº known as "Chinese potatoes" which has been recently introduced by the United States Government from the West Indies where it received the name, Dasheen, derived from de Chine — from China.

2 Tor. continues without interruption into the next formula.

 p78  75 Pumpkin, Alexandrine Style
Aliter cucurbitas more Alexandrino

Press the water out of the boiled pumpkin, place in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt, ground pepper, cumin, coriander seed, green mint and a little laser root; season with vinegar. Now add date wine​a and pignolia nuts ground with honey, vinegar and broth, measure out condensed wine and oil, pour this over the pumpkin and finish in this liquor and serve, sprinkle with pepper before serving.

Thayer's Note:

a The text is usually made to read cariotam, not date wine but just plain date: which to me makes more sense in the context: dates and nuts ground together, with liquids to moisten them.

76 Boiled Pumpkin
Aliter cucurbitas elixatas

Boiled Pumpkin stewed in broth with pure oil.

77 Fried Pumpkin
Aliter cucurbitas frictas

Fried pumpkin served with simple wine sauce and pepper.

78 Another Way, Boiled and Fried
Aliter cucurbitas elixatas et frictas

Boiled pumpkin fried is placed in a baking pan. Season with cumin wine, add a little oil; finish on the fire and serve.

79 Another Way, Mashed
Cucurbitas frictas tritas

Fried​1 pumpkin, seasoned with pepper, lovage, cumin, origany, onion, wine broth and oil: stew the pumpkin in this in a baking dish, tie the liquid with roux mash and serve in the dish.

1 V. Baking the fruit reduces the water contents, renders the purée more substantial. G.‑V. Tritas — mashed. Tor. connects tritas up with pepper, hence it is doubtful whether this dish of pumpkin is mashed pumpkin.

80 Pumpkin and Chicken
Cucurbitas cum gallina

Stew the pumpkin with a hen, garnish with hard-skinned peaches, truffles; pepper, caraway, and cumin, silphium  p79 and green herbs, such as mint, celery, coriander, pennyroyal, cress, wine​1 oil and vinegar.

1 Tor. Vinum vel oleum; List. vinum, mel, oleum.

V

81 Citron
Citrium​1

For the preparation of citron fruit we take siler​2 from the mountains, silphium, dry mint, vinegar and broth.

1 List. Citrini — a lemon or cucumber squash.

2 Tor. Silerem; List. sil, which is hartwort, a kind of cumin or mountain fennel.

VI

82 Cucumbers
Cucumeres

Stew the peeled cucumbers either in broth​1 or in a wine sauce; and you will find them to be tender and not causing indigestion.

1 Usually cucumbers are parboiled in water and then finished in broth; most often after being parboiled they are stuffed with forcemeat and then finished in broth.

83 Cucumbers Another Way
Aliter cucumeres rasos

Peeled cucumbers are stewed with boiled brains, cumin and a little honey. Add some celery seed, stock and oil, bind the gravy with eggs​1 sprinkle with pepper and serve.

1 1 Tor. bis obligabis — tie twice — for which there is no reason, except in case the sauce should curdle. List. oleo elixabis — fry in oil — obviously wrong, as the materials for this stew are already cooked. Sch. ovis obligabis — bind with eggs — which is the thing to do in this case.

84 Another Cucumber Recipe
Aliter cucumeres

Cucumbers, pepper, pennyroyal, honey or condensed must, broth and vinegar; once in a while one adds silphium.

 p80  VII

85 Melon-Gourd and Melons
Pepones et melones

Pepper, pennyroyal, honey or condensed must, broth and vinegar; once in a while one adds silphium.

Same as 84; which confirms above theory. It is quite possible that melons were eaten raw with this fancy dressing. Many people enjoy melons with pepper and salt, or, in salad form with oil and vinegar. Gourds, however, to be palatable, must be boiled and served either hot or cold with this dressing.

VIII

86 Mallows
Malvas

The smaller mallows are prepared with garum,​1 stock,2 oil and vinegar; the larger mallows prepare with a wine sauce, pepper and stock, adding condensed wine or raisin wine.

1 Tor. Garum; List. Oenogarum.

2 Liquamen — depending upon the mode of serving the mallows, hot or cold.

IX

87 Young Cabbage, Sprouts​1
Cymas et cauliculos​2

Boil the sprouts;​1 season with cumin,​3 salt, wine and oil; if you like add pepper, lovage, mint, rue, coriander; the tender leaves of the stalks stew in broth; wine and oil be the seasoning.

1a 1b Including, perhaps, cauliflower and broccoli.

2 List. Cimae & Coliculi. Nunc crudi cum condimentis nunc elixati inferentur. Served sometimes raw with dressing, sometimes boiled.

3 Cumin or carraway seed is still used today in the preparation of the delicious "Bavarian" cabbage which also includes wine and other spices.

88 Another Way
Aliter

Cut the stalks in half and boil them. The leaves are mashed and seasoned with coriander, onion, cumin, pepper, raisin wine, or condensed wine and a little oil.

Very sensible way of using cabbage stalks that are usually thrown away. Note the almost scientific procedure: the stalks are separated from the leaves, split to  p81 facilitate cooking; they are cooked separately because they require more time than the tender greens. Our present method appears barbarous in comparison. We quarter the cabbage head, and either boil it or steam it. As a result either the tender leaves are cooked to death or the stems are still hard. The overcooked parts are not palatable, the underdone ones indigestible. Such being the case, our boiled cabbage is a complete loss, unless prepared the Apician way.

89 Another Way
Aliter

The cooked​1 stalks are placed in a baking dish; moisten with stock and pure oil, season with cumin, sprinkle​2 with pepper, leeks, cumin, and green coriander all chopped up.

1 Tor. Coliculi assatisauté, fried; (Remember: Choux de Bruxelles sauté) List. elixati — boiled. G.‑V. Cauliculi elixati.

2 Tor. Superasperges; G.‑V. piper asperges.

Sounds like a salad of cooked cabbage. The original leaves us in doubt as to the temperature of the dish.

90 Another Way
Aliter

The vegetable, seasoned and prepared in the above way is stewed with parboiled leeks.

91 Another Way
Aliter

To the sprouts or stalks, seasoned and prepared as above, are added green olives which are heated likewise.

92 Another Way
Aliter

Prepare the sprouts in the above way, cover them with boiled spelt and pine nuts​1 and sprinkle​2 with raisins.

1 The nuts should not astonish us. The French today have a delicious dish, Choux de Bruxelles aux Marrons — Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts. Sprouts and chestnuts are, of course, cooked separately; the lightly boiled sprouts are sauté in butter; the chestnuts parboiled, peeled, and finished in stock with a little sugar or syrup, tossed in butter and served in the center of the sprouts.

The Apician formula with cereal and raisins added is too exotic to suit our modern taste, but without a question is a nutritious dish and complete from a dietetic point of view.

2 Tor. Superasperges; G.‑V. piper asperges.

 p82  X

93 Leeks
Porros

Well matured leeks​1 are boiled with a pinch of salt​2 in combined water and oil.​3 They are then stewed in oil and in the best kind of broth, and served.

1 Tor. Poros bene maturos; G.‑V. maturos fieri.

2 One of the rare instances where Apicius mentions salt in cookery, i.e., salt in a dry form. Pugnum salis — a fist of salt — he prescribes here. Usually it is liquamen — broth, brine — he uses.

3 Tor. is correct in finishing the sentence here. G.‑V. continue et eximes., which is the opening of the next sentence, and it makes a difference in the formula.

94 Another Way to Cook Leeks
Aliter porros

Wrap the leeks well in cabbage leaves, having first cooked them as directed above​1 and then finish them in the above way.

1 Tor. in primis — first; List., G.‑V. in prunis — hot embers.

95 Another Way
Aliter porros

Cook the leeks with laurel berries,​1 and otherwise treat them and serve as above.

1 Tor. Porros in bacca coctos; List. in cacabo — cooked in a casserole; Sch. bafa embama — steeped, marinated (in oil); G.‑V. in baca coctos. Another way to read this: baca et faba — with beans — is quite within reason. The following formula, 96, is perhaps only a variant of the above.

Brandt: with olives, referring to No. 91 as a precedent.

96 Leeks and Beans
Aliter porros

After having boiled the leeks in water, green string beans which have not yet been prepared otherwise, may be boiled in the leek water1 principally on account of the good taste they will acquire; and may then be served with the leeks.

1 Apicius needed no modern science of nutrition to remind him of the value of the mineral salts in vegetables.

 p83  XI

97 Beets
Betas

To make a dish of beets that will appeal to your taste​1 slice the beets​2 with leeks and crush coriander and cumin; add raisin wine,​3 boil all down to perfection: bind it, serve the beets separate from the broth, with oil and vinegar.

1 Sentence in Tor.; wanting in List. et al.

2 List. No mention of beets is made in this formula; therefore, it may belong to the foregoing leek recipes. V. This is not so. Here the noun is made subject to the first verb, as is practiced frequently. Moreover, the mode of preparation fits beets nicely, except for the flour to which we object in note 3, below. To cook beets with leeks, spices and wine and serve them (cold) with oil and vinegar is indeed a method that cannot be improved upon.

3 Tac., Tor., List., G.‑V. uvam passam, Farinam — raisins and flour — for which there is no reason. Sch. varianam — raisin wine of the Varianian variety; Bas. Phariam V. inclined to agree with Sch. and Bas.

98 Another Way
Aliter betas elixas

Cook the beets with mustard seed and serve them well pickled in a little oil and vinegar.

V. Add bay leaves, cloves, pepper grains, sliced onion and a little sugar, and you have our modern pickled beets.

XII

99 Green Vegetables, Pot Herbs
Olisera​1

The greens tied in handy bundles, cooked and served with pure oil; also proper with fried fish.

1 Tac. Olisera; Tor. Olifera (sev mauis olyra) Tor. is mistaken. Hum., List. Olisatra; (old MS. note in our Hum. copy: "Alessandrina uulgò") from olusatrumolus — pot herbs, cabbage, turnips. G.‑V. Holisera, from holus, i.e. olus and from olitor one who raises pot herbs.

XIII

100 Turnips or Navews
Rapas sive napos

Turnips are cooked soft, the water is squeezed out; then crush a good amount of cumin and a little rue, add Parthian1 laser or​2 vinegar, stock, condensed wine and oil​3 heat moderately and serve.

1 i.e. Persian laser; List. laser, Parthicum; (the comma makes a difference!) Sch. particum — a part.

2 Tac., Tor., vel acetum; List. G.‑V. mel, acetum. Another comma; and "honey" instead of "or". V. We doubt this: the vinegar is an alternative, for it takes the place of the more expensive Persian laser (which was an essence of the laser root, often diluted with vinegar).

3 List., G.‑V., oleum modice: fervere; Tor. & oleum, quae modice fervere facias. Again note Lister's punctuation here and in the foregoing notes. The misplaced commas and colons raise havoc with the formulae everywhere. Torinus, who in his preface complains that his authority has no punctuation whatsoever and thereby indicates that it must have been a very ancient copy, (at least prior to the 1503 Tac. ed.) is generally not far from the mark. It is also doubtful that the variants are by him, as is claimed by List. In this instance, indeed, Tor. is again correct.

101 Another Way​1
Aliter rapas sive napos

The turnips are boiled, served dressed with oil, to which, if desired, you may add vinegar.​2

 p84  1 Tor. ad delitias — delightful.

2 V. Presumably served cold, as a salad; cf. No. 122.

XIV

102 Radishes
Raphanos

Pepper the radishes well; or, equally well: grate it with pepper and brine.

Sch., G.‑V. Rafanos; Raphanos agria, — a kind of horseradish; Plinius [XXVI.72]: h.e. raphanus sylvestris.

XV

103 Soft Cabbage
Olus molle

The cabbage is cooked with pot herbs in soda water; press the water out chop it very fine: now crush pepper, lovage, dry satury with dry onions, add stock, oil and wine.

104 Another Mashed Green Vegetable
Alter olus molle ex apio

Cook celery in soda water, squeeze water out, chop fine. In the mortar crush pepper, lovage, origany, onion and mix with wine and stock, adding some oil.  p85 Cook this in the boiler​1 and mix the celery with this preparation.

1 in pultario. The pultarius is a pot in which cereals were boiled; from puls — porridge, pap.

105 Another Mashed Vegetable
Aliter olus molle ex lactucis

Cook the lettuce leaves with onion in soda water, squeeze the water out, chop very fine; in the mortar crush pepper, lovage, celery seed, dry mint, onion; add stock, oil and wine.

106 To Prevent Mashed Vegetables from Turning
Olus molle ne arescat​1

It will be required above all to clean the vegetables well, to cut off all decayed parts and to cover the cooked vegetables with wormwood water.

1 Tor. ne . . . exarescat, the difference in the meaning is immaterial.

XVI

107 Field Herbs
Herbae rusticae

Field and forest​1 herbs are prepared​2 either raw with stock,3 oil and vinegar as a salad,4 or as a cooked dish​5 by adding pepper, cumin and mastich berries.

1 Tor. ac sylvestres; V. German, Feldsalat.

2 Tor. parantur; wanting in other editions.

3 Liquamine, here interpreted as brine.

4 Tac., Sch., et al. a manu; Tor. vel manu — because eaten with the hand.

5 Tor. vel in patina.

XVII

108 Nettles
Urticae

The female nettles, when the sun is in the position of Aries,​a is supposed to render valuable services against ailments of various kinds.​1

1 Tac., List., Sch., et al. adversus aegritudinem.

Barthius: Quam aegritudinem? etc., etc.

Tor. plurifarias!

Reinsenius: ad arcendum morbum, etc., etc.

 p86  Hum. scilicet quamcunque hoc est . . . etc., etc., etc.

G.‑V. si voles.

V. This innocent little superstition about the curative qualities of the female nettle causes the savants to engage in various speculations.

Nettles are occasionally eaten as vegetables on the Continent.

Thayer's Note:

a There's nothing astrological about this: the sun is in Aries in early spring; nettles are young and tender then.

XVIII

109 Endives and Lettuce
Intuba et lactucae

Endives are dressed with brine, a little oil and chopped onion, instead of the real lettuce.​1 In winter time the endives are taken out of the pickle2 and are dressed with honey or vinegar.

1 Hum. pro lactucis uere Tor. p. l. accipiunt; G.‑V. p. l. vero (separated by period) — all indicating that endives are a substitute for lettuce when this is not available.

2 Cf. ℞ No. 27, also Nos. 22 and 23.

110 Lettuce Salad, Field Salad
Agrestes lactucae​1

Dress it with vinegar dressing and a little brine stock; which helps digestion and is taken to counteract inflation.​2

1 Tor. sic; Hum. agri l.; Tac. id.; Sch. and G.‑V. have acri as an adjective to vinegar, the last word in the preceding formula.

2 List. and Hum. continuing: "And this salad will not hurt you"; but Tor., Sch. and G.‑V. use this as a heading for the following formula.

111 A Harmless Salad
Ne lactucae laedant

And in order that the lettuce may not hurt you take (with it or after it) the following preparation)1 2 ounces of ginger, 1 ounce of green rue, 1 ounce of meaty dates, 12 scruples of ground pepper, 1 ounce of good honey, and 8 ounces of either Aethiopian or Syrian cumin. Make an infusion of this in vinegar, the cumin crushed, and strain. Of this liquor use a small spoonful; mix it with stock and a little vinegar: you may take a small spoonful after the meal.​2

1 Tac. and Tor. Ne lactucae laedant [take it] cum zingiberis uncijs duabus, etc. Hum., List., G.‑V. cumini unc. II. They and Sch. read the cum of Tac. and Tor. for cumini, over­looking the fact that the recipe later calls for Aethiopian or  p87 Syrian cumin as well. This shifts the weights of the various ingredients from the one to the other, completely upsetting the sense of the formula.

2 Goll. ignores this passage completely. V. This is another of the medical formulae that have suffered much by experimentation and interpretation through the ages. It seems to be an aromatic vinegar for a salad dressing, and, as such, a very interesting article, reminding of our present tarragon, etc., vinegars. To be used judiciously in salads. Again, as might be expected, the medicinal character of the formula inspires the medieval doctors to profound meditation and lively debate. Cf. ℞ Nos. 34 and 108.

XIX

112 Cardoons
Cardui

Cardoons are eaten with a dressing of briny broth, oil, and chopped hard eggs.

V. Precisely as we do today: French dressing and hard boiled eggs. We do not forget pepper, of course. Perhaps the ancient "briny broth" contained enough of this and of other ingredients, such as fine condiments and spices to make the dressing perfect.

113 Another Dressing for Cardoons
Aliter carduos

Rue, mint, coriander, fennel — all green — finely crushed; add pepper, lovage, and​1 brine and oil.​2

1 Tac. and Tor. vel; List., Sch., G.‑V. mel — honey — which would spoil this fine vinaigrette or cold fines herbes dressing. However, even nowadays, sugar is quite frequently added to salad dressings.

2 Gollmer claims that this dressing is served with cooked cardoons, the recipe for which follows below. This is wanting in Tor.

114 Boiled Cardoons
Aliter carduos elixos

Are served with pepper, cumin, broth and oil.

XX

115 (Cow-)Parsnips [?]
Spondyli vel fonduli​1

Cow-parsnips are fried and eaten with a simple wine sauce.

1 Tac. Spondili uel fonduli and Sphon. . .; Tor. as above; Hum. Spongioli  p88 uel funguli; List., id.; Sch. Sfondili uel funguli; G.‑V. Sphondyli uel funduli.

Cf. note to Nos. 46, 121, 122.

116 Another Way
Aliter

Boil the parsnips in salt water and season them with pure oil,​1 chopped green coriander and whole pepper.

1 Tac. Oleo mero; Other editors: Oleo, mero. V. The comma is misplaced.

117 Another Way
Aliter

Prepare the boiled parsnips with the following sauce: celery seed, rue, honey, ground pepper, mixed with raisin wine, stock and a little oil; bind this with roux, bring to a boiling point, immerse parsnips, sprinkle with pepper and serve.

118 Another Way [Purée of Parsnips]1
Aliter

Mash the parsnips, add cumin, rue, stock, a little condensed wine, oil, green coriander and leeks and serve; goes well with salt pork.​2

1 Again faulty punctuation obscures the text. Carefully compare the following: Tac. and Tor. Spondylos teres, cuminum, etc. Hum., List. and G.‑V. S. teres cuminum, i.e. crush the cumin. Sch. S. tores — dry, parch!

2 Inferes pro salso — serve with salt pork or bacon. or, instead of —. Salsum — salt pork. Dann. Well seasoned with salt! Sch. infares pro salsa. For further confirmation of salsum cf. ℞ Nos. 148‑152.

119 Another Way
Aliter

Boil the parsnips sufficiently, if hard​1 then put them in a sauce pan and stew them with oil, stock, pepper, raisin wine, strain​2 and bind with roux.

1 Tor. praeduratos; List. praedurabis. How can they be hardened? It may perhaps stand for "parboil." We agree with Tor. that the hard ones (praeduratos) must be cooked soft.

2 Tor. and Tac. Colabis — strain; List. and G.‑V. Colorabis — color. No necessity for coloring the gravy, but straining after the binding with roux is important which proves Tor. correct again. Cf. note 1 to ℞ No. 73 and note 2 to ℞ No. 55.

 p89  120 Another Way
Aliter​1

Finish [marinate] the parsnips in oil and broth, or fry them in oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

1 Ex G.‑V. wanting in Tor., and List. Found in Sch. also. V. Procedure quite in accordance with modern practice. We envelope the p. in flour or frying batter.

121 Another Way
Aliter​1

Bruise the boiled parsnips, scallops, muscular part of shellfish, eliminate the hard strings; add boiled spelt and chopped hard eggs, stock and pepper. Make croquettes or sausage from this, adding pignolia nut and pepper, wrap in caul or fill in casings fry and serve them as an entrée dish in a wine sauce.

1 V. This formula is virtually a repetition of ℞ No. 46, all the more bewildering because of the divergence of the term (Cf. ℞ No. 114), which stands for "scallops" or the muscular part of any bivalve, at least in the above formula.

The Graeco-Latin word for cow-parsnip is spondylium, sphondylium, spondylion. It is almost certain that the preceding parsnips formulae are in the right place here. They are in direct line with the other vegetables here treated — the shellfish — spondylus — would be out of place in this chapter, Book III, The Gardener. All the recipes, with the exception of the above, fit a vegetable like parsnips. Even Lister's and Humelberg's interpretation of the term, who read spongioli — mushrooms — could be questioned under this heading, Book III.

It is barely possible that this entire series of formulae, Spondyli uel fonduli (℞ Nos. 114‑121) does belong to Book II among the scallop hysitia, though we are little inclined to accept this theory.

Cf. ℞ No. 122 which appears to be a confirmation of the view expressed above.

XXI

122 Carrots and Parsnips
Carotae et pastinacae

Carrots or parsnips are fried and served with a wine sauce.

V. Exactly like ℞ No. 115, which maybe a confirmation that spondyli stands for cow-parsnips.

 p90  123 Another Way
Aliter

The carrots are cooked salted and served with pure oil and vinegar.

V. As a salad. "Italian Salad" consists of a variety of such cooked vegetables, nicely dressed with oil and vinegar, or with mayonnaise. Cf.  ℞ No. 102.

124 Another Way
Aliter

The carrots are boiled and sliced, stewed with cumin and a little oil and are served. At the same time​1 here is your opportunity make a cumin sauce from the carrot juice for those who have the colic.​2

1 Ex Tor. wanting elsewhere.

2 Tac. coliorum; Tor. cuminatum colicorum; List. c. coloratum — colored; G.‑V. c. colorium.

End of Book III
Explicit Apicii cepurica de oleribus liber tertius [Tac.]


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