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.