This is definitely the earliest recipe for this dish I have ever seen! Cato was such a fan of cabbage that he wrote an entire chapter in de agri cultura about it! Throughout the text the authority of the master – which, it is made clear, results from a combination of knowledge and experience – is emphasised, as is the importance of drawing upon the resources immediately to hand, those grown on the estate, predominantly in the garden. You can find previous recipes here. Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura includes recipes for two cakes for religious uses: libum and placenta. Helen King and I have devoted several Recipes Project posts to these ‘old’ recipes, but for the series we have enrolled three brand new bloggers: Jane Draycott, Ianto Jocks and David Leith. Translators have avoided that arduous task partly because it is sometimes impossible to identify ingredients listed in ancient recipes. Salve as they say in Latin. Roman bread recipe Cato the Elder gave us a simple recipe in his agricutural handbook called "De Agri Cultura" written in 160 BC. The wine and oil produced on the estate are also frequently enlisted in Cato’s medicaments, both as primary and secondary ingredients. It was written by the Roman politician Cato the Elder, a man noted for his Of the two placenta is most like modern cheesecakes having a crust that is separately prepared and baked. Cato The Elder’s Secret Recipe: After buying legs of pork cut off the feet 1/2 peck ground Roman salt per ham Spread the salt in the base of a vat or jar Then place a ham with the skin facing downwards Cover completely with salt After standing in salt for 5 days, take all hams out with the salt Selibram tritici puri in mortarium purum indat, lavet bene corticemque deterat bene eluatque bene. The treatise was directed at a very specific audience: young men who, thanks to Rome’s recent triumph in the Second Punic War, were in a position to purchase fertile agricultural land in central Italy, along with sufficient slaves to enable them to cultivate grapes and olives in order to produce wine and oil for sale, but who were not in possession of sufficient knowledge or experience as to how to proceed beyond that. Marcus Porchius Cato, Cato the Elder (234 BC- 149 BC), was an enormously influential Roman politician, historian and writer with a successful military career. Cato the Elder had become censor by exemplifying the value of faith throughout his political career. The first two enervated but did not eliminate Carthage. For the appetizer (gustatio) I chose to bake Mustacei, must (grape juice) cakes from Cato The Elder’s De Agricultura.The recipe I used is taken from Mark Grant’s Roman Cookery as well as Sally Grainger’s The Classical Cookbook with some slight modifications. I'm taking inspiration from Cato the Elder's agricultural handbook, de agri cultura . Here are some of my favorite ancient recipes to help get you through quarantine. She shows how Cato exploited the produce from his ideal farm, and in particular from its garden, in his medicinal and veterinary recipes. In the case of Scribonius’ Compositions of Remedies there is no complete English translation. Remedy Collections, or Collections of Remedies? Of Cato’s numerous prescriptions and recipes for the treatment of both humans and animals, the ingredients required are all those which he either explicitly states were cultivated within his garden, or were likely to have been. Ianto focusses more particularly on a recipe to cure a headache which includes, among other ingredients, castoreum. His writings included a recipe that called for what we now know to be the curing of ham using salt and air. Remedy Collections, or Collections of Remedies? Cato (M. Porcius Cato) the elder (234-149 BCE) of Tusculum, statesman and soldier, was the first important writer in Latin prose. The recipe Zachary and I used to make the savillum (adjacent to cheesecake) was derived from a recipe in Cato the Elder’s “De Agri Cultura”, written in 160 BCE! By Jane Draycott Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BCE) is often presented as the archetypal example of the ancient Roman head of the household taking charge of his family members’ health, the result of claims made by Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) in his encyclopaedia Natural History: For [Cato] adds the medical treatment by which he … Continue reading "Flower power: Cato’s medicinal recipes" And the red saffron’s filaments were still unknown. Wild Thyme, Bitter Almonds, and Extract of Beavers – The Medicinal Recipes of Scribonius Largus, A digital resources portal for the humanities and social sciences, Medicinal Receipts Research Group History, Eighteenth-Century French Manuscript Remedy Collections. Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.” ~ From Cato’s De Agri Cultura (“Concerning Agriculture”), 160 BCE. Curing meat for the first time can feel intimidating. This explains why the Greek-language papyrus studied by David in his post was found in that country. Placenta cake is a dish from ancient Greece and Rome consisting of many dough layers interspersed with a mixture of cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves, baked and then covered in honey. By Jane Draycott. Although this probably didn’t make him the most delightful dinner guest, his recipes are definitely worth putting on your table! Cato, De Agricultura 75 - 76 Cato's recipes for libum and placenta are particularly important historical sources, since both of these cakes were recommended for use in religious rituals. In ancient Rome, Cato the Elder, a military leader, wrote his De Agricutura, a farming manual that kept track of his own methods. The Greek historian Plutarch (c. 40-120 CE) offers more detail in his Parallel Lives, describing Cato’s theories, methods and practices, which show strong parallels with those utilised by the period’s physicians: [Cato] had written a book of recipes, which he followed in the treatment and regimen of any who were sick in his family. Cato wrote of cabbage's medicinal properties, rather than its culinary, and some of the highlights include: Extra Virgin Olive Oil to most accurately recreate this traditional recipe.. The prescriptions and recipes found in On Agriculture indicate that, in addition to acting as a healer for the human members of his household, Cato also acted as a veterinarian for his livestock (oxen, cattle, and sheep are all mentioned specifically), and recommended that others do the same. We hope you will enjoy our ‘Janual’ series on Greek and Roman recipes and that you will join in the discussion! [Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder 23.4]. Recipe from Cato the Elder… Pomegranates also appear in a recipe for ‘gripes, for loose bowels, for tapeworms and stomach-worms, if troublesome’ (On Agriculture 126). Unfortunately, Cato’s book of recipes has not survived. Cato the Elder. In antiquity, texts were copied onto papyrus, a very fragile material that survives only in certain climatic conditions. Libum, or ancient Roman Cheesecakes with Honey & Bay Leaf, a great cooking/food experience for Sunday School, Home school, or just for fun for kids and adults alike. Unfortunately, we do not have any recipe for the janual, but Cato transmits a couple of recipes for cakes used for sacrificial purposes – the libum and the placenta – which may have been somewhat similar (On Agriculture 75-76). As the Roman Empire spread its tendrils across Europe it brought with it all the trappings of modernization (roads, plumbing, libraries to name but a few examples) and it also brought with it the recipe for cheesecake. Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BCE) is often presented as the archetypal example of the ancient Roman head of the household taking charge of his family members’ health, the result of claims made by Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) in his encyclopaedia Natural History: For [Cato] adds the medical treatment by which he prolonged his own life and that of his wife to an advanced age, by these very remedies in fact with which I am now dealing, and he claims to have a notebook of recipes, by the aid of which he treated his son, servants, and household. It would appear that in respect of domestic medical practice, Cato very much practiced what he preached! It was written by the Roman politician Cato the Elder, a man noted for his Ianto turns to Scribonius Largus (first century CE), one of the most neglected of classical writers, the author of the wonderful Compositiones (Compositions of Remedies). ), a Roman statesman, trenchantly expressed his hatred of Carthage and incited the final confrontation. Roman Porridge (serves 1) From Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura #86. Naturalist Pliny the Elder explains roman starter (Natural History XXVI.11). Jane opens the series with Cato the Elder, who is familiar to all classicists, but whose recipes are still understudied. Share on Facebook Share. My Saturnalia feast menu. Ancient food writer Apicius in On Cooking provides recipes to go with your bread. Cato's 'De Agricultura': Recipes Translated into English by Quinta Claudia Lucentia Aprica. Your email address will not be published. The Romans are no exception to this rule and our friend Cato is a fine example of a Roman with a serious sweet-tooth. Go beyond baking with The Classical Cookbook, which includes fifty recipes from the ancient world. Around 150 B.C., Cato the Elder, a … Such a diet, he said, was light and good for sick people, except that it often causes dreams. Of Cato’s numerous prescriptions and recipes for the treatment of both humans and animals, the ingredients required are all those which he either explicitly states were cultivated within his garden, or were likely to have been. Both Pliny and Plutarch offer Cato’s longevity as proof of his medical capabilities, at least in respect of himself (his wife and one of his sons predeceased him). You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search, A digital resources portal for the humanities and social sciences, Medicinal Receipts Research Group History, Eighteenth-Century French Manuscript Remedy Collections. The dessert is mentioned in classical texts such as the Greek poems of Archestratos and Antiphanes, as well as the De Agri Cultura of Elsewhere in the treatise, laurel leaves appear in a recipe for a tonic for oxen, while black myrtle is a main ingredient in a recipe for indigestion and colic (On Agriculture 70 and 125). All you have to do is read a few of his recorded recipes to discover this! As yet no foreign ship had brought across the ocean waves the bark-stilled myrrh; the Euphrates had sent no incense, India no balm. In it we find a real jewel, a recipe for cheesecake! Graneam triticeam sic facito. He was extremely passionate about preserving Roman culture and he liked to know a little bit about everything and to ensure that others also knew he knew a little bit about everything. [Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder 23.4]. The Recipes Project cannot offer you cakes to celebrate the Kalends of January 2015, but it can present you this series about Greek and Roman recipes instead. The ancients believed that substance to originate from the testes of beavers (in fact, it comes from a gland located near the anus) – we are here far from the hearty garden produce praised by Cato, that great admirer of cabbage. He never required his patients to fast, but fed them on greens, or bits of duck, pigeon, or hare. Will have to try making it one day. Many texts are not translated into any modern language. The original ancient Roman recipe for Olive and Herb Tapenade is called “Epityrum” and is from Cato the Elder’s “De Agri Cultura” book written circa 160 BC.We used Marchesi Sabina D.O.P. His treatise De agri cultura (On Agriculture) contains not only numerous passages on farm management, but also cooking recipes, religious principles, advice on how to obtain supplies, and very specific medical advice and medicinal recipes. Studying ancient recipes can also be difficult when one is faced with fragmentary evidence, which is particularly the case for recipes preserved on papyrus. The priority is economic self-sufficiency and investment potential, with as much as possible being produced on the estate, for use on the estate, hence the prominent place the garden takes in Cato’s list of requirements: a garden can be used to grow fruit, vegetables, flowers, and herbs not only for food, but also for medicine. In conjunction with Cato’s recommendation that, if an estate is located near a town, the garden should be used to cultivate flowers for garlands, he lists those he considers to be the most suitable: ‘white and black myrtle, Delphian, Cyprian, and wild laurel, smooth nuts, such as Abellan, Praenestine, and Greek filberts’ (On Agriculture 8.2). Well, today we're going to start with the simplest of all recipes, and we're going to bake some bread. From De Agricultura (75-76), 2nd century BCE Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE) was a conservative Roman statesman known for his relentless lecturing about lost Roman values. The Romans celebrated him on the Kalends of January, the first day of the year. It is also mentioned in Cato the Elder's recipe for placenta cake, layered with cheese. What has is his treatise On Agriculture, the very first such work to be written in Latin, which dates to around 160 BCE. Ancient Recipe: Savillum (Cheesecake) (Roman, 1st century BCE) Acta. According to Cato the Elder (second century BCE), author of a famous work On Agriculture, heaps of such cakes were sacrificed to the god before the harvest (On Agriculture 134). Libum, sometimes served hot, is a cheesecake he included. Here is Cato the Elder’s bread recipe (de Agricultura 74.1). Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BCE) is often presented as the archetypal example of the ancient Roman head of the household taking charge of his family members’ health, the result of claims made by Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) in his encyclopaedia Natural History: For [Cato] adds the medical treatment by which he prolonged his own life and that of his wife to an advanced age, by these very remedies in fact with which I am now dealing, and he claims to have a notebook of recipes, by the aid of which he treated his son, servants, and household. Unfortunately, Cato’s book of recipes has not survived. However, the Greek and Roman worlds extended well beyond modern Greece and Italy, and included (from the end of the fourth century BCE onwards) one country in which papyrus survives quite well: Egypt. Ingredients for our “Epityrum” recipe 3 ounces of whole Cerignola (or other Italian) green olives Elsewhere in the treatise, laurel leaves appear in a recipe for a tonic for oxen, while black myrtle is a main ingredient in a recipe for indigestion and colic (On Agriculture 70 and 125). That would be just over 2,100 years old. In conjunction with Cato’s recommendation that, if an estate is located near a town, the garden should be used to cultivate flowers for garlands, he lists those he considers to be the most suitable: ‘white and black myrtle, Delphian, Cyprian, and wild laurel, smooth nuts, such as Abellan, Praenestine, and Greek filberts’ (On Agriculture 8.2). He never required his patients to fast, but fed them on greens, or bits of duck, pigeon, or hare. Share . Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.” ~ From Cato’s De Agri Cultura (“Concerning Agriculture”), 160 BCE. You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search. Later in that same poem, Ovid indicated that the offering of such simple products as cakes, meal and salt harked back to a past when imported and luxury products were not available: Of old the means to win the goodwill of gods for man were spelt and the sparkling grains of pure salt. (Ovid, Fasti 1.337-342; translation: James Frazer). The book was actually a guide to managing a farm and it contained a basic recipe to making bread, the kind of bread that any Roman would have made at any stage in Roman history. janual). Cato the Elder's Beef Bourguignon Today we have one of my absolute favorites - Beef Bourguignon (or Beef Burgundy as we call it here in the States) from Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura from 165 BC. In a remedy for indigestion and strangury, he includes pomegranates, instructing his reader to ‘gather pomegranate blossoms when they open’, thus implying that these plants were within easy reach (On Agriculture 127). The priority is economic self-sufficiency and investment potential, with as much as possible being produced on the estate, for use on the estate, hence the prominent place the garden takes in Cato’s list of requirements: a garden can be used to grow fruit, vegetables, flowers, and herbs not only for food, but also for medicine. Cato, known as "the Elder," was born outside Rome in Tusculum, a town in the region now known as Lazio. [7] Athenaeus 's Deipnosophistae mentions a kind of cake called καπυρίδια, "known as τράκτα", which uses a bread dough, but is baked differently. Required fields are marked *. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Throughout the text the authority of the master – which, it is made clear, results from a combination of knowledge and experience – is emphasised, as is the importance of drawing upon the resources immediately to hand, those grown on the estate, predominantly in the garden. I’d say that Cato the Elder and I are likely two peas in a pod when it comes to dipping into the cookie jar. In a remedy for indigestion and strangury, he includes pomegranates, instructing his reader to ‘gather pomegranate blossoms when they open’, thus implying that these plants were within easy reach (On Agriculture 127). The Greek historian Plutarch (c. 40-120 CE) offers more detail in his Parallel Lives, describing Cato’s theories, methods and practices, which show strong parallels with those utilised by the period’s physicians: [Cato] had written a book of recipes, which he followed in the treatment and regimen of any who were sick in his family. Combined, they would take the lives of hundreds of thousands. https://tavolamediterranea.com/2017/08/16/libum-catos-cake-bread Required fields are marked * By following such treatment and regimen he said he had good health himself, and kept his family in good health. De Agri Cultura (Latin pronunciation: [deː ˈaɡriː kʊlˈtuːraː]; On Farming or On Agriculture), written by Cato the Elder, is the oldest surviving work of Latin prose. Cato writes: The wine and oil produced on the estate are also frequently enlisted in Cato’s medicaments, both as primary and secondary ingredients. What has is his treatise On Agriculture, the very first such work to be written in Latin, which dates to around 160 BCE. Share on Google Plus Share. With regard to wine, the addition of black hellebore is recommended to make a laxative, while that of juniper is recommended to treat the retention of urine, and gout, while the amurca that results from the production of olive oil is enlisted (along with wine) as a treatment for scab in sheep (On Agriculture 114, 115, 122, 123, 96).