Apicius 4.3.4: Matian Minutal

And now the minutal, which I made the meatballs for below. It's another pork and fruit stew, this time with apples.

[4.3.4] minutal Matianum: adicies in caccabum oleum liquamen cocturam; concides porrum coriandrum, esicia minuta; spatulam porcinam coctam tessellatim concides cum sua sibi tergilla. facies ut simul quoquantur; media coctura mala Maziana purgata intrinsecus concisa tessellatim mittes; dum coquitur teres piper cuminum coriandrum uiridem uel semen mentam laseris radicem; suffundis acetum mel liquamen defritum modice et ius de suo sibi; aceto modico temperabis, facies ut ferueat; cum ferbuerit, tractam confringes et ex ea obligas; piper asparges et inferes.

[4.3.4] Matian minutal: put in a pan oil, liquamen, stock; chop in leek and coriander, ground forcemeat, diced cooked shoulder of pork with its crackling. Allow all this to cook together. In the middle of the cooking put in cored and diced Matian apples. While it is cooking pound pepper, cumin, green coriander or seed, mint, laser root; pour on vinegar, honey, liquamen, a little defrutum, and some of the cooking liquor; flavour with a little vinegar, bring it to heat; when it is simmering, crumble a tracta and thicken with some of it, sprinkle with pepper and serve.

According to G&G, Matian apples were a variety developed by one Gaius Matius or his son, the elder a friend of Julius Caesar, the younger a friend to Augustus Caesar, though they don't say what kind of apples they might be. I used some sweet crisp eating apples (Galas) as I thought they'd hold up better than the softer cooking apples like you'd use to make pie. And again, I hate cilantro ('green coriander') and so used parsley.

olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons liquamen (Thai fish sauce), divided
2 cups chicken broth
1 leek, white and green parts only, chopped into half-moons and thoroughly washed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
about a dozen meatballs from the isicia recipe below
1 cup leftover roast pork, cubed (such as from Apicius 7.5.5)
1-2 crisp sweet apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
a few peppercorns, or more, to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin (I used ground)
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon dried peppermint
pinch asafoetida
1-3 teaspoons vinegar or more, divided
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons defrutum
cornstarch or wheat flour to thicken

Put a bit of olive oil in a large saucepan or deep skillet (I didn't use too much as the isicia already had a fair amount), then add a teaspoon of liquamen and the chicken stock. Add the leek, cilantro or parsley, the isicia/meatballs and the leftover pork. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the leeks are beginning to soften. Add the apples and cook until they are soft but not falling apart and the leeks are done. Grind the spices as finely as you can, then mix into a paste with a teaspoon of vinegar, the honey, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of the liquamen and the defrutum. Add to the pork, meatball and apple mix, then taste for balance, and add more vinegar if necessary (I added another 2 teaspoons). Bring it back up to a simmer then thicken with a bit of starch. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

This worked quite well as a filling stew or soup and was nicely balanced between sweet, sour, and savory, and was plenty rich as well. Given that the pork shoulder and the meatballs were already cooked, it didn't take all that long to simmer but tasted like it'd been stewing forever. It's probably not actually necessary to grind the spices then mix them with all the liquids; one could certainly just grind the spices by themselves then throw everything in with the stew, but I've given the more complicated instructions here as that's what the original recipe called for.

Apicius 2.1.7: Isicia With Caroenum

(Ignore the sauce; the recipe below is just for the meatballs.)

I originally made these to go in another recipe, a pork and apple minutal, but these were so good I have made them just on their own several times since. Really, these are absolutely wonderful.

Isicia refers to finely chopped meat; it seems to get used in Apicius in a variety of ways, but in this particular recipe likely refers to something meatball-like (according to Grainger and Grocock, anyway).

[2.1.7] esicia omentata: pulpam concisam teres cum medulla siliginei in uino infusa; piper, liquamen; si uelis, et bacam mirta extenteratam simul conteres. pusilla esicia formabis intus nucleis et pipere positis; inuoluta omento subassabis cum caroeno.

2.1.7. 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.

I did alter this recipe a little, mostly because I'm not sure where I'd find caul fat; also the idea of finding whole surprise peppercorns in the middle of a perfectly innocent-looking meatball didn't appeal, so I mixed the (ground) pepper and pine nuts in with the meat instead (though you could, of course, follow the original method, which does sound interesting). So instead of the caul fat, which I'm assuming was there to give some rich flavor and to keep the meatballs from drying out, I rolled them in a bit of olive oil. It seemed to work quite well. For the myrtle berries (which are not available here, and which don't grow around here as it's too far north), I substituted juniper berries plus a pinch of allspice (though allspice is New World), as according to The Internet, that was the closest approximation to the taste. Plus I had both of them. If you can't find either, the berries are optional; it'll be a bit blander but still pretty rich and sweet. And as for bread crumbs, I just used the plain white kind from a canister. I suppose I could have made my own, but I'm lazy. And I used ground pork because I thought with the sweet caroenum over it it wanted a mild meat. Ground chicken or turkey (or veal) would probably also work just as well. The recipe:

1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup plain white bread crumbs
1/4 cup sweet white wine
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 tablespoon liquamen (Thai fish sauce)
6 juniper berries
pinch ground allspice
1/4 cup pine nuts
olive oil
caroenum

Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and set aside.

Put the bread crumbs in a bowl; pour the wine over and mix. Grind the peppercorns to a fine powder, then add the juniper berries and allspice and grind them as well. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until a little browned and fragrant, then tip into a mortar and grind to a paste. Add the spices, pine nuts, liquamen, and the soaked bread crumbs to the ground pork and mix thoroughly. Form into meatballs about an inch and half in diameter. Roll them in the olive oil in the baking pan to coat (add more if necessary). When they're all in there drizzle a decent amount of caroenum over each one, though not enough that they're swimming in the stuff (probably about 1/4 cup altogether).

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through and have begun to brown, and the caroenum has started to caramelize a bit. Makes about two dozen.

These were absolutely lovely. The olive oil kept them tender and moist, even though they cooked for quite a while, and the caroenum formed a delicious sticky sugary crust on them. Really seriously, try these.