(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I originally made these to go in another recipe, a pork and apple minutal, but these were so good I have made them just on their own several times since.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.
No comments:
Post a Comment