« Cenae | Titulus | Florilegium »
03/07/2006
How to conserve verjuice and other sour juices: Tuesday's food quotation
Agrestae succus: eligitur ex ea & ex succo uvae ... et ... de lemoncellorum succo ... et de succo sumach ... et de succo granatorum ... vasa vitrea, quibus recondi debent, laventur cum vitro trito & foliis scariolae vel foliis persicorum.
1531 Tacuini sanitatis [translated from the Arabic of Ibn Butlan]
03/04/2006
Recipe for eggnog: Saturday's Latin quotation
Sorbitium bonum: conquassa ovorum vitella in paraside, de vino modicum apponendo, post bullias aquam et vinum vel cervesia in aqua et ab igne remove, et impone cum cocleari predicta vitella ovorum, bene movendo.
Tractatus de modo preparandi et condiendi omnia cibaria (ed. Marianne Mulon)
02/27/2006
Sabine cheesecakes: Monday's food quotation
circuli, quod mixta farina et caseo et aqua circuitum aequabiliter fundebant. hos quidam qui magis incondite faciebant vocabant lixulas et similixulas vocabulo sabino: itaque frequentia Sabinis.
Varo, On the Latin Language 5.106
02/22/2006
Poitevin gastronomy: Wednesday's Latin quotation
Itaque Pictavienses in vulgarium esu carnium bovinam avidius amplectuntur ... Caro recens nunc succum exigit pomorum silvestrium, nunc a viminibus pampino coaetaneis ius deposcit extortum, nunc uvarum liquorem desiderat primitivorum.
1198 Radulphus de Diceto, Ymagines historiarum anno 1151
01/27/2006
Clove wine is less desiccating if sugar or licorice are added: Friday's Latin quotation
De vino gariofilorum. Vinum gariofilorum tantum cum suspensione gariofilorum in sacculo positorum pendent in musto infra vegetem; sed est vinum nimis desiccatiuum. & habet virtutem dissoluendi, consumendi, desiccandi, & attrahendi, & valet contra asma antiquum et tussim senum putredinalem ... & confortat digestionem & retentiuam, & facit anhelitum odoriferum. zuccarum autem et liquiritia minuunt de siccitate repentius.
c. 1310 Arnaldus de Villanova, Tractatus de vinis
01/24/2006
Raisin wine and its health benefits: Wednesday's Latin quotation
De vino mellito. Vinum mellitum sic fit. Permittuntur morari vue dulces albe in vite ad solem elevatis foliis donec passentur. & tunc exprimitur mustum ex eis & reponitur, & peruenit dulcissimum ad spissitudinem tendens. Quam dulcedinem suscipit ex magna digestione a sole facta et est nutribile et generatiuum crassitiei & delectabile, maxime tempore hyemis.
c. 1310 Arnaldus de Villanova, Tractatus de vinis
Note: vue = uvae
The health benefits of yogurt, and how to spell it: Tuesday's Latin quotation
...aut acidi lactis genus, Galeno non ignoti, quod ipse oxygalam, isti jugurtham dicunt, nihil requirant præterea. Lac illud diluunt aqua frigidissima, panemque interunt: eoque utuntur in magno æstu & siti. Cujus sane utilitatem nos quoque in magnis caloribus sæpe experti sumus. Cibus is cum palato & ventriculo gratissimus est; tum ad extinguendam vehementiorem sitim vim habet admirabilem. Magna ejus copia passim venalis est, ubicunque sunt Caravasciarai; hoc est (ut dixi) Turcarum diversoria, quemadmodum & aliorum obsoniorum.
1554 Busbecq, Legationis Turcicae Epistulae
Categories: Culinaria, Florilegium, Medicamenta, Vocabula
01/18/2006
The perfect sauce for moray eel: Thursday's Latin quotation
his mixtum ius est: oleo, quod prima Venafri
pressit cella; garo de
sucis piscis Hiberi;
vino quinquenni, verum citra mare nato,
dum
coquitur (cocto Chium sic convenit, ut non
hoc magis ullum aliud);
pipere albo, non sine aceto,
quod Methymnaeam vitio mutaverit uvam.
erucas viridis, inulas ego primus amaras
monstravi incoquere. inlutos
Curtillus echinos,
ut melius muria quod testa marina remittat.
c. 30 BC Horace, Satires 2.8.45-52. One of the many extracts quoted in translation in Andrew Dalby's Empire of Pleasures. Click here for translation
Edited on: 01/28/2006 14:19
Categories: Culinaria, Florilegium
01/13/2006
A spiced wine mix for travellers: Saturday's Latin quotation
CONDITVM MELIZOMVM VIATORIVM: Conditum melizomum perpetuum, quod subministratur per viam peregrinanti: piper tritum cum melle despumato in cupellam mittis conditi loco, et ad momentum quantum sit bibendum, tantum aut mellis proferas aut vinum misceas sed, si vas erit, nonnihil vini melizomo mittas, adiciendum propter mellis exitum solutiorem.
c. 400 Apicius 1.2
Translation (from the forthcoming edition by Sally Grainger and Chris Grocock): A long-lasting honeyed wine, which is served to travellers on the road: you put ground pepper with skimmed honey in a small cask instead of spiced wine and, as required, you pour out as much honey and mix with it as much wine as is to be drunk; but if you use a (thin-necked) vessel, you put a little wine in the honey mixture. Add enough for the honey to pour freely.
How to salt a ham: Friday's Latin translation
Pernas sallire sic oportet in dolio aut in seria: cum pernas emeris, ungulas earum praecidito. salis romaniensis moliti in singulas semodios; in fundo dolii aut seriae sale sternito, deinde pernam ponito, cutis deosum spectet; sale obruito totam; deinde alteram insuper ponito, eodem modo obruito; caueto ne caro carnem tangat; ita omnes obruito. ubi iam omnes composueris, sale insuper obrue, ne caro appareat; aequale facito. ubi iam dies quinque in sale fuerint, eximito omnis cum suo sale; quae tum summae fuerint, imas facito eodemque modo obruito et componito. post diem omnino XII pernas eximito et salem omnem detergeto et suspendito in uento biduum; die tertio extergito spongea bene, perunguito oleo, suspendito in fumo biduo; tertio die demito, perunguito oleo et aceto commixto, suspendito in carnario: nec tinia nec uermes tangent.
160 BC Cato, On Farming 162. An extract from Cato On Farming (text, new translation and commentary) : click here for a translation of this recipe
01/12/2006
A good minestrone: Thursday's Latin quotation
Sic fac ministrum pro Romanis. recipe iecorem et pulmonem capritti buliti, et fac inde parvas pecias, et pone illas in lacte amigdolatis cum bono brodio et bonis speciebus et fac illa insimul modicum bulire. Et erit bonum.
c. 1430 Johann von Bockenheim, Registrum Coquine 9
See Bruno Laurioux, 'Le registre de cuisine de Jean de Bockenheim, cuisinier du Pape Martin V' in Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome vol. 100 (1988) pp. 709-760.
01/10/2006
What women used to drink: Wednesday's Latin quotation
antiquae mulieres maiores natu bibebant loream aut sapam aut defretum aut passum … passam nominabant si in uindemia uuam diutius coctam legerent eamque passi essent in sole aduri; uino addito <uel> lorea passum uocare coeperunt.
Varro, Life of the Roman People fragment 39
01/09/2006
How to make kumiss: Tuesday's Latin quotation
Ipsum comos, hoc est lac iumentinum, fit hoc modo. Extendunt cordam longam super terram ad duos palos fixos in terra, et ad illam cordam ligant circiter horas tres, pullos equarum quas volunt mungere. Tunc stant matres iuxta pullos suos et permittunt se pacifice mungi. Et si aliqua est nimis indomita, tunc accipit unus homo pullum et supponit ei permittens parum sugere, tunc retrahit illum, et emunctor lactis succedit. Congregata ergo multitudine lactis, quod est ita dulce sicut uaccinum, dum est recens, fundunt illud in magnum utrem siue bucellam, et incipiunt illud concutere cum ligno ad hoc aptato, quod grossum est inferius sicut caput hominis et cauatum subtus: et quam cito concutiunt illud, incipit bullire sicut vinum nouum, et acescere siue fermentari, et excutiunt illud donec extrahant butirum. Tunc gustant illud; et quando est temperate pungitiuum bibunt: pungit enim super linguam sicut vinum raspei dum bibitur. Et postquam homo cessat bibere, relinquit saporem super linguam lactis amygdalini, et multum reddit interiora hominis iucunda, et etiam inebriat debilia capita: multum etiam prouocat urinam.
1253 William of Rubruck, Itinerarium
[Translation by Peter Jackson:] Comos -- namely, mare's milk -- is made in the following way. They stretch above the ground a long rope between two stakes stuck in the soil, and around the third hour tether to the rope the foals of the mares they intend to milk. Then the mares stand beside their foals and let themselves be milked peacefully. In the event of any of them proving intractable, one man takes the foal and puts it underneath her to let it suck a little, and then withdraws it while the milker takes its place. So having collected a large quantity of milk, which when fresh is as sweet as cow's milk, they pour it into a large skin or bag, and set about churning it with a club which is made for this purpose, as think at the lower end as a man's head and hollowed out. As they stir it rapidly, it begins to bubble like new wine, and to turn sour or ferment, and they keep churning it until they extract the butter. Next they taste it, and when it is moderately pungent they drink it. While one is drinking it, it stings the tongue like râpé wine, but after one has finished drinking it leaves on the tongue a taste of milk of almonds. It produces a very agreeable sensation inside and even intoxicates those with no strong head; it also markedly brings on urination.
Buy this translation:
01/04/2006
Recipe for hare: Thursday's Latin quotation
Leporis vero si novellae fuerint, et ipsi sumendi in dulci piper habentem, parum cariofilum et gingiber, costo et spicanardi vel folio. [MS A adds: Leporem licet comedere et bona est pro dissenteria.]
c. 500 Anthimus, Letter on Diet no. 13. Click here for a translation