Monthly Archives: October 2012

Hydromel, Roman Drinks

Hydromel (Honey Water)

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So back to our regularly scheduled postings on food and drink.  I have a few more Roman recipes, then another Middle Eastern or 20…ok a mix-up or so of more period cooking! /wink.  Today’s posting is another nice drink!  I really really like this drink.  It’s cool refreshing and non alcoholic for the first week in my kitchen…after 2-3 weeks the wild yeast floating in the air develops this into a nice lively and very bright sweet mead.  So either fresh or alcoholic, Hydromel is very yummy!

Honey Water

 Hydromel

Translation:

Hydromel:  Rain water and honey boiled down to one third. (Apicius pp. 288)

“Some people make a superior version by preparing the honey water in the following way:  The finest ripe apples are chopped up and have their juice extracted; 4 pints of juice and 8 pints of the finest honey, mixed with 12 pints of rain water, and after being warmed in the sun, a fire is used to simmer gently.  People use a double copper pan so that is boiled over water rather then directly over the fire as in Beroia.” <Bassus Country Matter> (Grant pp. 82)

Another suggestion for the making of Hydromel was to use only water and honey.  “One part honey to 2 parts water.” < Pliny, Naturalis historia 14, 113> If it was served as soon as it was made it was called aqua mulsa subita; if aged it as called aqua mulsa inverterata  “took on the flavor of wine.” <Pliny>

Herklotz pp. 197

Ingredients:

1 cup of apple juice                 2 cups of honey                        3 cups of water

 

Redaction:

Mix all the ingredients,

together in a pot.  Here I have organic apple juice, why it’s so cloudy and a very sweet clover honey.  Any apple juice will work but period wise they didn’t filter their apple juice to the see through clarity we have today.  So don’t worry if there is a bit of opaqueness to the juice if you’re going to use organic.  It’ll taste wonderful!

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.

Leave to cool untill you can handle the sides of the pot with your bare hand.  Then pour into a bottle.

I like to refrigerate before serving.  This is not required.  The Romans did have access to ice but at ruinous expense that only the very wealthy could afford, i.e. Emperor Nero rich.   The refrigerating process will delay any fermentation though not eradicate your chances of ending up with some thing alcoholic over time.

I did not collect rain water but used regular tap water.  I also bought the apple juice and honey.  I do not have a juicer on hand to actually crush the apples and strain for juice though it sounds both fun and messy.

I do find that this drink is a little sweet.  It might be better to cut the apple juice and honey mixture with more water to the brewers taste.  The fermented version of this produces a light and very bubbly desert wine.  I found this out by opening a bottle of hydromel 2 weeks later from the refrigerator and finding a very sweet and crisp bubbling light wine.

 

Italian/Spanish Books, Library, The opera of Bartolomeo Scappie (1570)

The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappie (1570)

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I don’t do a lot of period Italian cooking.  That will change soon!  I adore this book.  The Opera of Barolomeo Scappi (1570) Translated by T. Scully, is the compilation of recipes by Bartolomeo Scappie (the cook to the popes).

 

The translations are awesome.  The breadth of recipes is incredible!  From breem to turkey to peacock.  Each main ingredient is treated with respect and clear directions on how to cook and serve.  This is THE Italian period cookbook to get if you have to get just one.  This book is an A+ all the way through.

 

Curye on Inglysch, English Cookbooks, Library

Curye on Inglysch

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This book is as period as you can get with out actually going back a few centuries or so.  Yet it is one of my least favorite books.  Now this isn’t because the recipes are period…it’s because I have issues with reading regular English that Ye Ole Inglysch plays havoc with my brain.

The book I had hoped to purchase instead was Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: however being out of print, Curye on Inglysch was the one I had to settle on.  The book Two Fifteenth-Century, or books bound into one, actually were based or/and have basis from Curye on Inglysch.  Making CoI the protozoa of English medieval cookbooks.

This book requires knowing and understanding old English to get any sort of comprehension of what and how to do one dish.  This book is very good as a reference and to start biting into original period recipes…but don’t try this one with out a few other recipes/books under your belt first.  This is NOT a beginners book.  Period wise  this book is awesome…cooking wise, I’m going to have to say D-.

 

 

The Classic Cookbook

The Classical Cookbook

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This is a Roman cookbook written by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger.  Sally Grainger is noted for having written and published Cooking Apicus.  I can not tell if she wrote the later half of Classical or if she was the one who did the modern redactions…all I can is she has some areas that are more pronouncedly hers then her partners.

Evaluation:

This book has incredible pictures for those researching and needing dinning scenes or period serving dishes.  Dates and materials included in this pictorial information wonderland. This is an awesome part of the book!

The recipes range from writing between friends or stories about famous (infamous) dinners.  This is one of my favorite aspects as the recipes aren’t just another rendition of Apicius.  There are Apicius recipes but I truly enjoy the fact that new recipes/descriptions are given.  This is second favorite aspect.

The only thing I am not fond of in this book is the brief nature of the entire book.  I had hoped for a book dense enough to swat a charging bull elephant.  The book boasts a modest 141 pages…  Not bad, but more would have been awesome!  The original recipes are included for every recipe though the Roman name is not.  There is an attempt to include modern redactions, though as usual I suggest experimenting and not just following by rote some one else’s ideas on how to cook Roman.  Overall for both recipes and research I give the book an A-.

 

 

 

 

Uncategorized

More books!!!

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Before heading out of town I’m going to do a quick review of four books I’ve purchased in the last 3 months.  All have their pluses and minuses for period cooking and research.  Each book is in a different category so there will be multiple posts incoming!

Boiled Octopus, Roman Cookery, Roman Meats

Boiled Octopus

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This recipe is short sweet and very Roman.  They liked their seafood as much then as we do today.  The tastes may not have always been the same but for a high dinner Primus, fish and/or seafood was a must!

Boiled Octopus

Translation:

For octopus: pepper, liquamen and laser. Serve

The notes say that there are several ways in which octopus was cooked.  One of the fastest being, unskinned to preserve the beautiful colors to star and poaching for no more then 5 minutes.  The next step would be to allow the octopus to cool slowly.  (Faas, pp. 341)

Ingredients:

1 octopus or several baby octopi

2 tbs ground pepper corns

1 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs garlic or 1 tsp of Asafoetida

 

Redaction:

The second method was to cook for several hours in a very low temperature in white wine, water and herbs.   Garlic or asoafoetida could have been added to the water in place of laser.

I have chosen to do a quick boil with asafoetida as the spice with peppers instead of garlic.  Asafoetida is also known as devils dung, stinking gum, and giant fennel.  (Wikipedia). As the first two names indicate this spice is very malodorous.  The benefit of using asafetida is that when cooked in a dish, this pungent herb tastes like leek or mildly of garlic.  Be ready to air out any kitchen in which asafetida is used in!

Once the spices were assembled,

I started a pot of water, adding in pepper then the asafetida.

Everything was mixed together well and the water allowed to just start a gentle simmer.  The octopi were added.

These small octopus cook very quickly, much like shrimp.  The color change is quite vivid, going from a grey color to a purple/pink.  The actual flesh firmed up with an almost rubber like quality.  The octopi cooked for 5 minutes then cooled slowly in the cooking liquid for another 30.

This is one of the fastest dishes I’ve ever made.  Even with the inclusion of spices to the water, the cooking of the octopi is very short!  Instead of an hour or 3 for a dish, this was 10 minutes tops.

The octopi are a little chewy and a little peppery/onion.  Mostly chewy though.  I probably will not make this for a mundane dish…but at least I now know of one period way to cook octopus!