It is nice and quiet when the master goes out to hunt, but when he returns I must have food enough for an army if I'm not to face the brunt of his hungry wrath. They work up quite an appetite chasing animals around all day. I suppose it gives me time to prepare what they are to eat when they return.
Sometimes they bring back a boar, which takes a while to prepare, but it's simple once I get to the cooking part.
ROAST WILD BOAR
Boar is cooked like this: sponge it clean and sprinkle with salt and roast cumin. Leave to stand.
I usually must get one of the other slaves to help with this. The thing devolves from an animal to just a HUGE lump of stink and dried blood by the time it gets to the kitchen.
The following day, roast it in the oven. When it is done, scatter with ground pepper and pour on the juice of the boar, honey, liquamen, caroenum, and passum.
This uses up most of the liquamen, caroenum, and passum I have stored up. I then must set to ordering more liquamen from the market and then boiling wine and preparing grapes. But sometimes a search in the storerooms can turn out a few more vessels.
This dish has great symbolic importance. It displays my master's great wealth and generosity to his dinner guests, as well as the important status of those who eat it. Sometimes he will deign to have to served to guests of lower status, and once he mockingly had some served to a Jewish guest he had invited. I do not look favorably on these practices, but of course it is not in my position to judge. I am here merely to cook and look out for myself.
FRIED VEAL WITH RAISINS
Fried veal: pepper, lovage, celery seed, cumin, oregano, dried onion, raisins, honey, vinegar, wine garum, oil, defrutum.
Good ol' Apicius. He left little in lieu of what exactly to do with this long list of ingredients when writing this recipe. The master said he "trusted me" to make this dish to his family's liking. Oh, how I sweated as I prepared it! I fried the veal and made the rest into a sticky sauce. I applied the honey and oenogarum with a generous hand, so they enjoyed it. Phew.
NUT TART
Try patina as dessert: roast pine nuts, peeled and chopped nuts. Add honey, pepper, garum, milk, eggs, a little undiluted wine, and oil. Pour on to a plate.
This quickly satisfies the mistress' appetite for sweets, but the honey is so sticky that it's quite a pain to make. I suppose it's alright, as it tastes good when I lick my fingers. The recipe is improved by heating the honey and wine together first, until the wine has boiled away. I mix the eggs with milk, pepper, and garum separately. I coat the nuts in the wine-honey and then stir in the egg mixture (quite difficult). I must oil the oven pan well, lest the stuff stick too fast to it.
These are only a few of the things I prepare. I do not make boar often, but the fried veal and nut tart have become favorites.
