ANCIENT ROMAN RECIPES

Parthian chicken and chickpears with date paste and red wine

Horace, Pliny, Seneca, Juvenal, Cato and others wrote cooking tips and suggested recipes. One recipe for ham in pastry with fig sauce used cumin seeds, fish sauce imported from Portugal, beer, sour wine, pork lard, young pig ham, roe deer and venison.

Marcus Gabius Apicus, a rich first century Roman gourmet, merchant and cookbook writer, reportedly invented foie gras and made "green cheesecake" using lettuce. His recipe for roast duck and hazelnuts and other fowl goes: 1) mix pepper, parsley, lovage, dried mint, safflower, and moisten with wine; 2) add roasted hazelnuts or almonds, a little honey; 3) blend with wine and vinegar and fish sauce; 4) add oil to the mixture in the saucepan; 5) heat, stir with fresh celery and calamint; 6) make incisions [in the birds] and pour the sauce over them."

A recipe for dormice went: Stuff the dormice with minced pork or the meat of other dormice chopped up with herbs, pepper and pine nuts. Sew up the dormice and cook in a small oven. Apicus' recipe for boiled ostrich is as follows: “1) blend pepper, leeks, celery seeds, dates, honey, vinegar, raisin wine, broth and a little oil; 2) boil this in a stock kettle with ostrich, removing the bird when done and straining the liquid; 3) thicken with roux; 4) add the ostrich meat cut in convenient-sized pieces, sprinkle with pepper. If you wish it more seasoned or tasty add garlic." [Source: Apicus, Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome by Joseph Vehling]

Websites on Ancient Rome: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history; Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; Lacus Curtius penelope.uchicago.edu; The Internet Classics Archive classics.mit.edu ; Bryn Mawr Classical Review bmcr.brynmawr.edu; Cambridge Classics External Gateway to Humanities Resources web.archive.org; Ancient Rome resources for students from the Courtenay Middle School Library web.archive.org ; History of ancient Rome OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame web.archive.org ; United Nations of Roma Victrix (UNRV) History unrv.com

Books: “A Taste of Ancient Rome” by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa and “The Classical Cookbook” by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger (J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996).

Ingredients and Measurements for Roman Recipes

The following recipes are taken from an old Roman cookbook “De re Coquinaria” by Marcus Gavius Apicius, a rich A.D. 1st century Roman gourmet, merchant and cookbook writer. All of the recipes are calculated for 4 servings. Unfortunately the exact cooking temperatures and times often were not included in the recipes and therefore are matters of conjecture and edcuated guesses. [Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Common native Roman ingredients:
Caroenum: Boiled must (you have to boil the new wine or grape juice until it is only half the amount you started with).
Defritum: Either thick fIg syrup, or must that's boiled until you have only a third of the amount with which you started.
Liebstoeckl: I didn't find an English translation. In Latin it's called 'levisticum officinale'. It's an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice. It seems to be a kind of celery.

a fatcory making fish sauce

Liquamen (garum: a salty fish sauce. Most of the time you can replace it by salt.
Passum: Very sweet wine sauce, made by boiling the must (new wine or grape juice) to thicken it. (maybe add honey? - just my guess)
Poleiminze: A kind of mint that's growing in inundated areas. Just replace it by ordinary mint.
Saturei: I didn't find an English translation. In Latin it's called 'satureia hortensis'. It's a violet or white flowered kind of labiate plants which grows mainly in Southern Europe. It's used as a spice plant, especially for bean dishes.
Silphium: Its other names are 'Laser' or 'ferula asa foetida'. I've noticed that it's also called 'hing' in the Indian cuisine. It is an onion and garlic substitute and should be used rather sparingly because of its very strong taste and smell.

And here are some useful conversions,
ml= 1 tsp
15ml = 1 tblsp
28.3g = 1 ounce (100g = 3.5 ounces )
454g = 1 pound (1kg = 2.2 pound )
250ml = 1 cup
1 l= 4 cups
180 deg C = 350 deg F
220 deg C = 425 deg F

Garum Fish Sauce

ruins of fish sauce factory

Carla Raimer wrote for PBS.org: “As they are with modern Romans, sauces and marinades were an essential element in ancient Roman cuisine. One of the most popular was garum, a salty, aromatic, fish-based sauce. Like so many other Roman treasures, it was borrowed from the ancient Greeks. Apicius used it in all his recipes, and the poet Martial wrote of it: “Accept this exquisite garum, a precious gift made with the first blood spilled from a living mackerel.” We won’t recommend you try the ancient version (see below). Instead, try the easier modern recipe. [Source: Carla Raimer PBS.org ***]

Ancient Garum Recipe: Use fatty fish, for example, sardines, and a well-sealed (pitched) container with a 26-35 quart capacity. Add dried, aromatic herbs possessing a strong flavor, such as dill, coriander, fennel, celery, mint, oregano, and others, making a layer on the bottom of the container; then put down a layer of fish (if small, leave them whole, if large, use pieces) and over this, add a layer of salt two fingers high. Repeat these layers until the container is filled. Let it rest for seven days in the sun. Then mix the sauce daily for 20 days. After that, it becomes a liquid. ***

Modern Garum Recipe: Cook a quart of grape juice, reducing it to one-tenth its original volume. Dilute two tablespoons of anchovy paste in the concentrated juice and mix in a pinch of oregano. ***

VEGETABLE, BEAN AND EGG DISHES

Alexandrine squash

Fabaciae Virides et Baianae (Green and Baian Beans) Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 5, 6, 1
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
500g soybeans with pod, or green beans
50ml Liquamen, or 1/2 tsp salt with 50ml wine
1-2 tblsp oil
1 tblspminced coriander leaves (or 1/2 tblsp ground coriander seed)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2minced branch of leek

Instructions: Cook beans with Liquamen, oil, leek and spices. Serve.

In Ovis Apalis (Boiled Eggs)

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 7, 19, 3
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
8 hard boiled eggs (not too well done - boil ca. 4 minutes)
50g stone-pine kernels
honey, pepper, vinegar, Liebstoeckl, Liquamen (or salt) to taste

Instructions: Dressing for boiled eggs: Mix together pepper, Liebstoeckl, soaked pine kernels. Add honey and vinegar and season with Liquamen. Serve together with the eggs.

Boiled Eggs with Pine Nut Sauce

Carla Raimer wrote for PBS.org: “Perhaps the most popular of all the Roman appetizers was the egg. In fact, the ancient Latin saying ab ovo usque A.D. malum literally means “from the egg to the fruit,” which translates loosely as “the beginning of the meal to the end.” In this recipe, the egg is adorned with lovely pine nut sauce. [Source: Carla Raimer PBS.org ***]

Ancient Roman Egg Recipe: For medium-boiled eggs: Pepper, lovage, and soaked pine nuts. Pour on honey and vinegar; mix with garum fish sauce. ***

Modern Egg Recipe
Ingredients:
4 medium-boiled eggs
2 ounces pine nuts
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon honey ***

Instructions: Pinch each of pepper and lovage (or celery leaf). Soak the pine nuts 3-4 hours beforehand in the vinegar. Mix all the sauce ingredients thoroughly in a blender. This exquisite sauce should be presented in a sauce boat so that each person can serve himself or herself, since the eggs cannot be sliced and placed on a dish in advance. ***

FRUIT DISHES

stuffed dates

Gustum De Praecoquis (Starter with Apricots) Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 4, 5, 4
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
1kgfirm ripe apricots or nectarines
200ml white wine
250ml Passum
1 peppermint tea bag (portion for one cup)
pepper
Liquamen or salt
cornstarch
a little vinegar and honey

Instructions: Wash, cut and stone apricots. Put them with a little cold water in a pan. Ground pepper and dried mint (that's where the tea bag comes handy...), add Liquamen, honey, Passum, wine and vinegar. Pour into the pan with a little oil. Cook approximately 20 minutes on small to moderate heat. After it boiled add a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce, sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Patina De Piris (Pear Soufflee)

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 4, 2, 35
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
1kg pears (peeled and without core)
6 eggs
4 tblsp honey
100ml Passum
a little bit oil
50ml Liquamen, or 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
ground pepper to taste

Instructions: Mesh cooked and peeled pears (without core) together with pepper,cumin, honey, Passum, Liquamen and a bit of oil. Add eggs and put into a casserole. Cook approximately 30 minutes on small to moderate heat. Serve with a bitt of pepper sprinkled on the soufflee.

pear patina

Pear Patina No. 2

Ingredients:
1½ lb firm pears.
10fl oz red wine.
2 oz raisins.
4 oz honey.
1 tspn ground cumin.
1 tbspn olive oil.
2 tbspn fish sauce.
4 eggs.
plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
[Source: Sally Grainger, BBC, March 29, 2011, Grainger is co-author of The Classical Cookbook, published by British Museum Press |::|]

Instructions: “Peel and core the pears and cook in the wine, honey and raisins until tender. Strain and process the fruit and return to the cooking liquor. Add the cumin, oil and fish sauce and the eggs well beaten. Pour into a greased shallow dish and bake in a preheated oven (375º F) for 20 mins or until set. Let the custard stand for 10 mins before serving warm.” |::|

Pear Patina No. 3

Carla Raimer wrote for PBS.org: “The Romans referred to their dessert course as mensa secunda, or “second meal.” They satisfied their fondness for sweets with desserts such as fruitcakes, pudding, sweet egg-based dishes, and sweet cheeses—and in this case, a delicious pear patina. [Source: Carla Raimer PBS.org ***]

Ancient Roman Pear Patina Recipe: A pear patina: Grind boiled and cored pears with pepper, cumin, honey, passum, garum, and a bit of oil. When the eggs have been added, make a patina, sprinkle pepper over, and serve. ***

Modern Pear Patina Recipe (serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 pears
water or white wine (to cook the pears)
1 tablespoon honey
pinch each pepper and cumin
1/2 cup passum (a modern version of this raisin wine is the Italian dessert wine Vin Santo)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil ***

Instructions: “Poach the whole pears in water or white wine. When they are done, peel and core them, then crush them into a puree, mixing in the honey, pepper, cumin and passum. Beat the eggs, adding the milk if desired. Then blend this into the pear mixture with the olive oil. Pour into a casserole and bake for around 20 minutes at 350° F.” ***

Pepones et Melones (Water and Honey Melons)

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 3, 7
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
1/2 honey melon \ both peeled, diced
1/2 water melon / and stoned
500ml Passum
a little bit of honey (or Passum)
1 tblsp minced parsley
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
a little bit of Liquamen, or a dash of salt
Poleiminze, Silphium, vinegar, if wanted

Instructions: Cook diced melons in a pan together with spices and herbs until done. Sometimes Silphium is added.

SWEETS, SNACKS AND DESSERTS

libum (sweet cheesecake bubs)

Libum (Sweet Cheesecake) Carla Raimer wrote for PBS.org: “Libum was a sacrificial cake sometimes offered to household spirits during Rome’s early history. The recipe below comes from the Roman consul Cato’s agricultural writings, which included simple recipes for farmers. Libum, sometimes served hot, is a cheesecake he included. [Source: Carla Raimer PBS.org ***]

Ancient Roman Libum Recipe: Libum to be made as follows: 2 pounds cheese well crushed in a mortar; when it is well crushed, add in 1 pound bread-wheat flour or, if you want it to be lighter, just 1/2 a pound, to be mixed with the cheese. Add one egg and mix all together well. Make a loaf of this, with the leaves under it, and cook slowly in a hot fire under a brick. ***

Modern Roman Libum Recipe (serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 cup plain, all purpose flour
8 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
bay leaves
1/2 cup clear honey ***

Instructions: “Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat the cheese until it’s soft and stir it into the flour along with the egg. Form a soft dough and divide into 4. Mold each one into a bun and place them on a greased baking tray with a fresh bay leaf underneath. Heat the oven to 425° F. Cover the cakes with your brick and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden-brown. Warm the honey and place the warm cakes in it so that they absorb it. Allow to stand 30 minutes before serving.The Romans often covered their food while it was cooking with a domed earthenware cover called a testo. You can use an overturned, shallow clay pot, a metal bowl, or casserole dish as a brick.” ***

Or: Ingredients:
Serves 2
10 oz ricotta cheese.
1 egg.
2½ oz plain flour.
Runny honey.
[Source: Sally Grainger, BBC, March 29, 2011, Grainger is co-author of The Classical Cookbook, published by British Museum Press |::|]

Instructions: “Beat the cheese with the egg and add the sieved flour very slowly and gently. Flour your hands and pat mixture into a ball and place it on a bay leaf on a baking tray. Place in moderate oven (400ºF) until set and slightly risen. Place cake on serving plate and score the top with a cross. our plenty of runny honey over the cross and serve immediately.” |::|

Mustacei (Must Rolls)

Cato: de agricultura, 121

Ingredients: 500g wheat flour 300mlgrape juice (or young wine) 2 tblsp anise seeds 2 tblsp cumin seeds 100g lard 50g grated cheese (sheep's cheese would be best) ca. 20 bay leaves

Instructions: Pour some must over the flour, add anise and cumin seeds, the lard and cheese. Work it together until you have a reasonable dough. Form rolls, then put one bay leaf under each of them. Bake 30-35 minutes at 180 deg C. It's better to make the must rolls with yeast dough, because then they can be kept longer, and they are not so hard. To make the yeast dough, add 40g yeast to the flour + grape juice, leave it a while until you continue like above.

Dulcia Domestica (Housemade Dessert)

poppy seed cakes

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 7, 13, 1
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
200gfresh or dried dates
50g coarsely ground nuts or stone-pine kernels
a little bit salt
honey, or red wine with honey (to stew)

Instructions: Take the stones out of the dates and fill them with nuts or stone-pine kernels. Sprinkle a bit of salt on the filled dates and stew them in honey or honey-sweetened red wine. The dates have to be cooked in on low heat until their paring starts to come off (approximately 5-10 minutes).

Note: You may also fill some dates with ground pepper. (I wonder how this might taste - but that's a suggestion made in the original recipe.)

Aliter Dulcia (Another Kind of Dessert)

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 7, 13, 5
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
250gcoarsely ground nuts
100gcoarsely ground stone-pine kernels
3-4 tblsp honey
1 tsp minced rue
50mlPassum
50mlmilk
2 eggs
honey to drip on afterwards
a small amound of ground pepper

Instructions: Mesh pepper, pine kernels, honey, rue and Passum with milk and eggs, and boil the dough. Serve topped with honey and sprinkle with pepper.

Tiropatinam (A Kind of Soufflee)

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 7, 13, 7
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome]

Ingredients:
500ml milk
6 eggs
3 tblsp honey
a little bit of ground pepper

Instructions: Sweeten milk with honey, add eggs and mix together until smooth. Cook on low heat until stiff, sprinkle pepper on it and serve.

Ova Sfongia ex Lacte (Pancakes with Milk)

soft bread

Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” 7, 13, 8
[Source: Marcus Gavius Apicius, “De Re Coquinaria” (A.D. 4th Century),Ancient Roman Recipes, translated by Micaela Pantke of Duisburg University and Michael Witbrock of Carnegie Mellon University, Ancient Roman Recipes cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/ancient-rome ]

Ingredients:
8 eggs
600ml milk
100ml oil
a little bit honey
a little bit ground pepper Instructions: Mix eggs, milk and oil until you have a pancake dough. Fry in a pan and serve topped with honey and a little pepper.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated November 2024