- So today we are challenging James, a chef,
and Jamie, a normal, to create a dish
from the Roman times.
We've provided all of the ingredients that we can source
and that are still available these days
and we're gonna see if they can cook up a decent attempt
at a particular dish.
Boys, this is gonna be a challenge,
but it's going to be, I think, a lot of fun
and really interesting.
Lift the cloche.
- Oh, what on earth is this?
- De Re Coquinaria.
- [James] It's a Roman cookbook.
- I know they were really good at building straight roads,
but what were they like at cooking?
- Well, some would say they're the foundation
to Italian cooking so I'd suggest pretty good.
- Yeah and it wasn't built in a day, was it?
- Oh no. (Jamie laughing)
I could do this on my own.
(Mike laughing)
Do you know a cool word that I've seen used a lot is garam,
which is pretty trendy nowadays.
- Garam masala? - No.
- Right. - We'll get to that.
Turn to page 72
because that's the dish that we would like you to make.
- [James] Every Day Dish.
Is that the one?
- [Jamie] Patina Quotidiana.
- Patina Quotidiana, which translates to everyday dish.
- The first line is just wow.
- Mince carefully cooked sow's teats.
So pig nips. - Pig nips.
- With cooked fish meat and cooked chicken meat.
- That's a lot.
- Take an anus. (laughing)
Yeah, oh no, take a bronze dish.
Take a bronze dish- - Not a bronzed anus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're making a pig nip, fish, and chicken lasagna.
- Broadly, yes. (laughing)
So some historians say that the dish
that you're going to make today was the beginning
of what turned into a lasagna.
- Looks like you nailed it.
- But it's absolutely not a lasagna.
We provided all the ingredients required.
Follow the recipe, get cooking.
And for you at home, this is what the end dish
should look like.
- Oh. - Oh.
- Come on.
- So the Roman era can be split
into three different segments
but beginning at 27 BCE up to 1400 plus CE,
so almost a span of 1500 years.
So it's a broad amount of time
but this cookbook is a selection of 400 recipes
from that span.
So we should get a proper insight
into what they were eating back then.
- A whole fish, eggs.
I'm gonna guess raisin wine
but what's raisin wine?
It's port.
- It's a sweet wine.
Now, unfortunately we couldn't source you any sow's teats,
but we have given you pork belly.
It's like the nips, but internally and a little bit lower.
- For me, it's not that much lower.
(everyone laughing)
- And you've got some other stuff as well.
- Okay.
- All right, we've got chicken thighs.
And- - Open it, open it.
- Have a taste of that.
It could be the thing that James
has been mentioning earlier.
- Ooh, that is garam.
So it's a fermented Roman fish sauce condiment.
- Oh, it stinks.
- So it actually dates back- - Oh my God.
I don't wanna taste.
- I'm gonna put the spoon back, actually.
- It actually dates back to the ancient Greeks,
but then moved its way into Roman society
and was heavily used in their cooking too.
And you have lovage seeds.
- I don't think I've ever tasted lovage seeds.
- So what's step one?
- Step one, mince carefully cooked sow's teats,
cooked fish meat, and cooked chicken meat.
So we've gotta cook some- - We've gotta cook some meat.
- Gotta cook some meat and some fish.
- So I'd suggest that one of you does that.
And then I'd suggest that the other of you gets on
with your lasagne, your pancake.
- I'll cook meat.
- That means I've gotta figure out how to make pancakes.
- I know.
Not there though.
(Mike laughing)
- I'm gonna not use a bronze dish.
- I'm excited for Jamie to fillet that fish.
- Oh, I didn't think about that bit, actually.
(Mike laughing)
Why don't I start here? (Mike laughing)
Because these will take longer to cook than the fish.
(jazzy music)
- So having read the recipe,
how do you imagine this looking?
- First off, I was about to make a pancake batter
with some eggs and flour and water or milk.
- Because it doesn't actually give you the pancake recipe.
- No, it just- - In the book.
- And it also doesn't point to any other recipes
like The Repertoire would.
So we're just like making things up.
But you stopped me very quickly and said-
- Yeah, I would say flour water.
- Just flour and water.
Like a pasta dough more than like a pancake batter.
- Yes. - Yeah, okay.
- Hence the foundations of the lasagna
that happened many, many, many, many, many years after.
- So I'm just gonna eyeball this.
- Yeah.
And what shape are you gonna go for.
- The same shape as the bronze dish
that you're going to provide us?
- The aenus? - Yeah.
- What shape is an aenus?
- I don't know whether it's an anus, an aenus, aonus,
but it all sounds terrible.
Unfortunately, James, I don't have an anus for you.
(James laughing) But we have provided
a pan that will represent
the same sort of size that you'll require.
- Okay.
So it says fill the bottom of the dish
with a thick pancake layer.
Pour a layer of stew, drizzle with oil,
and cover with a thinner pancake layer.
But then it says, alternate these layers of dough and stew.
So do I...
How many layers of pancake do I need?
- How many layers are there in a lasagna?
- Well, it depends on if me and you are making one.
- Oh my goodness, remember that?
That was a bonding experience. - That was a day,
that was a day.
- That was fun times. - Yeah, it was.
- On Saturday, April the 13th in a world exclusive,
probably, we have the world's first
tag team cooking dogfight erupting
in our East London studio.
With clashes of personalities, personal infighting,
and reputations on the line,
this is a foodie frenzy you are not going to want to miss.
- I just don't understand how you can be
such a terrible cook after 14 years of working
on a food channel.
- You both seem to be looking at Barry
when you're saying these things.
- I cooked for a queen. - Exactly.
- I cooked for a Dame.
Last year the prince, this year the paupers.
- Serious, clueless.
- I'm the square.
He's like, he's a peg.
- I'm not- - And together-
- And together we work.
(rock music)
- Yeah, we are. - We are a team of the people.
- They can relate to us. - Exactly, we're one of them.
We'll be shopping in an Aldi or Lidl or something.
We won't be going to like Fortnum and Mason
you posh weirdos.
- I'm kind of feeling a bit sorry for them
'cause they've come into a world they don't understand.
We're here cooking all the time,
this is our home ground.
You're on away turf now.
It's an uphill battle and you're gonna struggle.
- Bring your A game.
- Suddenly, I'm quite nervous.
(everyone laughing)
(rock music)
- Right, I've de-boned my chicken thighs,
cut up my pork belly.
That's all frying off
and I'm staring intently at
that fish trying to work out what to do.
How have they written and researched the book?
- It's a really good question because attribution
to the writer of the book is murky.
Some say it's a creation of Celius Apitius
or Marcus Gavius Apitius, who was a Roman chef
who lived throughout the Roman Empire.
Basically, somehow we've got a collection
of Roman recipes and it's been collated.
So obviously, the original cookbook was
in a colloquial Latin, which has since been translated
to English.
But what's amazing is that it contains some ingredients,
like silfium, which don't even exist anymore.
- Wow. - So silfium was a herb
used as seasoning.
It was heavily perfumed, but it's actually gone extinct.
- Really? - Wow.
- Since it was used back in the Roman era.
- Wow. - It's really cool.
- Okay, I've got some kind of dough.
It's quite soft, which I think is a good thing.
Shall I leave it to rest in the time it takes me
to get that fish done?
- I think that's a great-
- (laughing) He just doesn't want to fillet the fish.
(leisurely music)
(pan sizzling)
(leisurely music)
How are you feeling, boys?
- I'm excited for this because-
- Me too. - I have a vision
in my head of what it might look like,
but I can't imagine how it's going to taste yet.
- I'm fascinated about the flavour combinations.
- Yeah. (leisurely music)
- It seems to be fried,
so there is oil involved in this?
- Yes, almost deep fried.
I would say you'd need a fair bit of oil.
- [James] Probably not extra virgin oil.
- What are we using for our anus?
- That pan. - This is gonna be
our anus, I think.
- That one? - Yeah.
- Or another similarly-shaped pan.
- What, do you need the anus?
- Yeah, I need to break eggs into my anus
and beat them.
- But do I cook these in the anus as well?
- It's quite a vague recipe, isn't it?
- [Jamie] Yeah.
- Well, you do it in that one
and then we'll meet in the middle.
- Cool.
How many eggs do you reckon?
- Three? - Three.
- A pancake from my anus. (everyone laughing)
- I didn't know three eggs would fit in my anus
but they do. (James laughing)
- [James] I'm amazed that this came together quite nicely.
- Right, in a mortar put pepper and lovage.
Crush, moisten with garam, wine, raisin wine,
and a little bit of oil.
(grinder grinding) Pepper.
- So no weights or measurements-
- No. - In the book,
so you're gonna have to eyeball it,
do it to taste. - I'd go hard.
- [Jamie] Two pinches of lovage.
- Yeah, yeah, go...
There's quite a lot of meat there.
- Crush, moisten with garam.
- You're just going with the pestle and the mortar, right?
Your anus won't have any lovage.
- No, I'm gonna put the lovage into my anus in a minute.
(elevator music)
That smells incredible.
- What does it smell like?
- What does it smell like. - Yeah, oh my goodness.
- Pepper and lovage. (everyone laughing)
- I hate you with all of my soul.
What does lovage smell like?
- It's really floral and citrusy.
- It's kind of oregano-y, I guess.
- Hmm.
- This is going to ruin this pestle and mortar,
just so we know.
This pestle and mortar is never going
to smell the same again.
- [Mike] It's for history.
- Moisten, moisten.
Moisten.
I've no idea if I've done enough.
Not just in life. (Mike laughing)
I've no idea if I've put enough lavage, pepper.
But ratios, I've got no idea.
- So that's going in the egg
and then we're cooking the whole thing.
- It's going into the egg and bringing it to the boil.
And then when it's boiling, we chuck in the pieces of meat.
- What is the ratio there?
Should the egg be cooking or should it be thickening?
'Cause if it's thickening, you probably want a lot more
of that.
- Should I double it?
Shall I go again?
- It's referred to as a stew, isn't it?
- Yeah.
And then it says, when boiled, bind with pieces of meat,
which makes me think it's thick.
- I think we half the egg, we double or triple that.
(twangy music)
- All right, this is going in here.
This is odd.
- I think that's gonna be great, low heat.
It's like a custard.
- (laughing) Yeah, it's like-
- Just like a custard but a little bit scrambled.
- A custard with fish in it. (Mike laughing)
- All right, the sauce has thickened up.
- The meat's going in.
Going all of it.
- Well, we're here now.
- We are here.
(twangy music)
- If I could, I'd have less garam.
- I think it's good.
Maybe a touch more wine.
- Yeah, a little bit of sweetness
and a little bit of sharpness.
(twangy music)
- Construction time, right?
- We're just layering, right, that's it?
- [Jamie] Yep.
- [James] So I've got a thick layer on the bottom.
- Okay, alternate layers of dough and stew,
cover with a pancake, turn upside down into a dish,
sprinkle with pepper and serve.
- So we're kind of putting it out on the dish
but we're not turning it upside down.
- No, we're doing it in more of a traditional lasagna way.
(twangy music)
- A top layer and then sprinkle with pepper.
Shall we get that into the sexies?
- I think, I think it looks banging.
I'm fascinated as to how this is gonna taste.
(presentation music)
Boys, happy?
- It looks like something I would've made in a battle
and everyone would be going, what the hell have you done?
- But since we made it from this book,
I think it looks great. - I think we've done
a great job. - Yeah.
- You'd also call it a lasagna as well?
- [Jamie] I absolutely would.
- Well, I have sent you a photo that we've sourced
of an accurate portrayal.
Let's see how close you've got.
- [Jamie] Oh, do you know what?
Do you know what?
- Pretty similar.
- They've taken some of
the leftover pancakes- - They have.
- And like crumbled them over the top.
But apart from that-
- I'd say you've done pretty well.
- It's really similar.
Should we do it like poppadoms and-
- Maybe we can just, I think we just-
- Yeah. - Go for that
and then scoop.
(jazzy music)
- How does it taste?
- I think it's really tasty. - It's really tasty.
I think, obviously, we added more wine
so it does have that slightly winier-
- That acidity or- - Yeah, the acidity
within the sauce.
The meat with the chicken and the pork belly-
- And the fish?
- And the fish, it does work nicely.
- Interesting.
- The lovage as well, you can really taste it.
- Mm, the crispy fried dough is really interesting.
- And it's actually flour and water as well?
- Yeah.
What I found really interesting is not for the first time,
but using an old recipe which doesn't any quantities in it,
you can still make something tasty,
just relying on your own knowledge and the chef.
(Mike laughing)
But trying to balance those things out.
As long as you're sensible with it,
you can actually get a decent result.
- I love that I saw those ingredients
and I literally had no idea what we were gonna make.
You know, like three types of meat, some eggs,
some flour, and a few herbs.
- Yeah, and some liquids. - And we've made a lasagna.
What?
- Where else would you do this, James?
- Nowhere, nowhere.
Well, how do you think the boys got on?
Let us know which other historical recipes
we should be cooking up and challenging ourselves to make
and give the video a like if you enjoyed it.
(music)