Isicia omentata, a very fancy way of saying hamburgers
or at least the closest thing that ancient Rome had to them
and that is what we're making today.
So thank you to Blinkist for sponsoring this video as we make imperial hamburgers and marvel at the fact that
ancient Rome had talking cows, this time on Tasting History.
So this recipe is pretty much the closest thing that we have to an ancient Roman hamburger
or meatball because it's not terribly specific in exactly how to shape it,
but it wouldn't have been served as a sandwich like a hamburger today.
"Ah hamburgers"
But over on the channel Invicta, I will put a link in the description. They have a new video where
they imagine what a Roman hamburger would be like if it was served like a modern hamburger but only
using ingredients that would have been available at the time.
What would the bun be like? Does it have cheese and what exactly would go on it?
One of the cool things about the recipe that we have today which is from Apicius is that he calls for a very specific condiment to be served with.
Isicia omentata: Minced meat with caul fat.
Chop meat and pound with white bread crumbs soaked in wine. ]
Pound pepper, garum and, myrtle berry if you like.
Shape the meat with pine nuts and pepper placed inside.
Wrap in the caul and cook served with caroenum.
That caroenum is the condiment and basically it's grape must or juice,
sometimes wine that has been reduced into a light syrup.
So for this recipe what you'll need is "One pound or 450 grams of meat.
Now the recipe is not specific in what meat should be used. In other similar recipes in that section of the book he mentions
squid and mussels and pheasant, peacock, and pig brains.
Luckily for me he gives us carte blanche in this recipe
so I'm going with beef because that's what we're discussing.
A few large slices of stale bread crumbled up without the crust about enough to make a cup.
A half cup or 120 milliliters of wine,
one teaspoon of pepper, one tablespoon of garum, or another fish sauce.
A few myrtle berries or juniper berries if you can't find myrtle berries,
and the recipe says that you can or cannot use them. So if you want just leave them out.
A quarter cup or 30 grams of pine nuts, some caul fat,
we will get into that ingredient later, and three cups or 700 milliliters of grape juice or wine.
Now making these videos requires a beaucoup de research and lately I haven't had time to really read anything
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as well as 25% off if you choose to get a full membership. Now onto the burgers.
So the first thing you gotta do is make that condiment caroenum. It takes a little while.
Just pour the grape juice or wine into a saucepan, and set it over a low flame
until it reduces down to about a third of its original quantity.
While it reduces add your bread to a bowl with a wine
and let it soak while you chop your meat into very fine pieces.
Then add the meat to a mortar and take some of the bread and put it in the mortar as well,
then pound them together.
Depending on the size of your mortar you might have to do this in a few stages but it's really cool because it actually comes out
almost like ground beef. In a clean mortar grind half of the pepper and if you're using myrtle or
juniper berry grind those in as well. Then in a bowl add the meat and the spices and the garum and mix.
Now at this point the recipe says to add the pine nuts and pepper and it's not specific if it's
ground, so I can't imagine that you're biting into full peppercorns, maybe I don't know, but
I don't want to so I'm going to give them a light grinding to make them coarse.
Then mix those in with the meat as well. Then you can shape them into either balls or patties.
How you want to shape them is really going to depend on how you want to cook them which we will get to later.
For now it is time for the caul,
which is coming from inside the house...
no I'm just kidding it came from the butcher.
So caul fat is the thin web of fat that encases the internal organs of some animals
and it's often used to encase meat, and the great thing about caul as opposed to other casings
is that it's fat.
I'm not fat, I'm big boned.
So in a recipe like this where the meat is lean and there is no other fat added,
that caul should melt when cooked, and really flavor the dish.
So cut a few pieces of caul and wrap it around the patties. It should stick to itself.
Now before I cook them I would really appreciate it if you would subscribe to Tasting History,
and hit the notification bell so you never miss an episode.
Now when it does come to cooking these it's really up to you how you do it.
They could have been boiled or fried or put over an open fire, baked even,
or like I'm going to do put in a pan over an open flame. See how that caUl fat just melts, perfect.
Now as I cook these isicia omentata made with beef let me tell you about these amazing Roman cows.
The ancient Romans were all about their cattle.
"Why are you so obsessed with me?"
But with good reason because these cows were very, very special. First of all they were pretty much money.
"... The very word for money is derived from them, for cattle are the basis of all wealth."
Varro is referring to the word pecunia which comes from pecus which means cattle,
and it's where we get our word pecuniary today.
Etymological side note, my favorite type of side note, Varo also talks
about how the word for Italy actually comes from the word for bull
"Itali... and the name was bestowed because of the number and beauty of its cattle,
and the great number of calves."
Though he also says the name could have come from Italus which was a bull that Hercules chased up the peninsula from Sicily,
and Aristotle completely abandons the bovine theme by saying it was named after Italos
which was an old legendary king, so who really knows. Anyway I digress.
Now besides being the literal word for cash, cattle were also a great way to make money. Cicero tells a story of
Cato the Elder expounding on how best to make money in farming.
"There is a famous saying of old Cato's.
When asked how best to make an estate most profitable, he replied, "successfully raising cattle"
and second best? "Raising cattle with some success"
And third? "Raising cattle with little success"
And fourth? "Raising crops" and when the questioner asked "How about banking?" Cato replied
"How about murder?"
Cato loved his cows, hated bankers but loved his cows and actually with the exception of hauling firewood,
his oxen received feast days off of work which made them special. Since
"There is no holiday for mules, horses or donkeys..."
That just doesn't seem fair.
Now while his oxen would work the farm his cows would produce milk
to make some of the healthiest cheese that the Romans knew.
Though it didn't agree with everyone.
"Of the cheeses which are made from milk, those made of
cow's milk have the most nutrient but when eaten are discharged with most difficulty."
Now there were different cows and they were worth different amounts. Pliny the Elder says
"In our part of the world the most valuable cattle are those of Epirus, owing, it is said,
to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus."
of the Pyrrhic victory. Now that cow was supposed to be rather large and impressive
but there is another impressive cow that both Pliny the Elder and Herodotus marvel at.
"Among the Garamantes are the cattle that go backward as they graze, the reason being that
their horns curve forward; therefore not being able to go forward since the horns would stick
in the ground. They walk backward grazing."
I don't think i've ever seen a cow go backwards.
Pretty sure they can't go downstairs though maybe that's an old wives tale. I don't know,
anyone got a cow?
So now you're probably saying well okay these cows are pretty cool, but
no cooler than any other cow in the world. So what makes these Roman cows
so special that you would devote an entire episode to them? Ho ho ho ho.
Well what if I told you they could talk.
You're a liar! >:/
Livy records that in the year 461 BC that "The heavens were seen to blaze, and the earth
was shaken with a prodigious quake that a cow had spoken- a thing which had found no credence
the year before was now believed among other poor tents there was even a rain of meat which is said
to have been intercepted by vast numbers of birds flying round in the midst of it."
Meat showers, talking cows, surely you jest and I would agree if it was an isolated incident but it's not.
In 208 BC Marcellus known as the Sword of Rome hesitated to go into battle against Hannibal due
to some disturbing omens, temples being struck by lightning mice eating gold, and
"It was reported that an ox had uttered human speech and that a boy had been born with an elephant's head."
and Pliny confirms that "It was not uncommon prodigy among the ancients, for an ox to speak;
upon such a fact being announced to the Senate they were in the habit of holding a meeting in the open air."
Now you may wonder why the Senate would care about a talking cow enough to hold
their meeting in the open air and it was probably to go find out what political opinions the cow had.
It's like a cow's opinion, it's moo.
For during one election between Platius and Hirius it was noted
"We have the official record that the Praetor reported to the Senate at Rome that it was a cow
which said in Latin, 'Platius rather than Hirius' " I love that he lets you know that it was in Latin
because any other language would have been far less impressive and even if a cow did remain mute
they were capable of so much more.
"I know that it is from the putrified body of cattle that there spring the sweetest bees.
Those honey mothers from which the Greeks therefore call bees.
The ox sprung his confidence leaves me in no doubt that it's true. Now you'd think that these chatty
apian spawning bovine who created so much wealth would be treated like members of the family, and
that was somewhat true until it came time for sacrifice.
Well this is pretty awkward.
"A bull to the Neptune, a bull to the beauteous Apollo."
And of the many animals that the Romans
sacrificed to the gods. Cows or specifically oxen and bulls were considered some of the best.
"Bulls are selected as the very choicest of victims, and are offered up as the most approved sacrifice for appeasing the gods."
Neptune tested Apollo approved,
and there were other gods who enjoyed their beef as well.
First the god Mars though he actually enjoyed a varied diet
called a Suovetorilia a pig sauce a sheep ovis and a bull torus. It was originally
used as a way to bless or purify land much the way that we might use sage today, albeit a lot
more expensive and Cato the Elder gives us a very detailed description of what all had to be done including the prayer.
"Father Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou be gracious and merciful
to me my house and my household to which intent I have bidden this suovetorillia to be led around
my land, my ground, my farm that thou keep away, ward off and remove sickness seen and unseen barren
and destruction ruin an unseasonable influence."
And don't skip that part because as Pliny says
"Without prayers the sacrifice is worthless."
Now Mars was an agricultural god but as he began to
really gain fame as the god of war which is usually how we recognize him now.
The suovetorillia also became used to bless armies during times of war and that actually brings us back to our other
beef loving god Apollo. In 211 BC as Rome was under threat from the Carthaginian Hannibal Barca,
the first Ludi Apollinares were held to secure Apollo's support for the Roman army.
It was a day of equestrian games punctuated by dramatic performances much like the halftime show at
the Super Bowl.
In later years the games were extended to an entire week starting
on July 6th, the day that I am posting this video, so 1) happy Ludi Apollinares and 2)
I do hope that you pre-ordered your cow because during the games there were sacrifices including a bull
with golden gild horns sacrificed to Apollo, and a heifer with guilt horns to his mother Latona most
famous for turning rude peasants into frogs after they wouldn't let her drink out of their pond. A
story which continuously caught the imagination of 17th and 18th century painters. I do not know why
by the way it was during festivals like this when most people got to eat beef because it it wasn't
the most popular meat in ancient Rome and for a lot of people it was actually kind of forbidden
except for times of of sacrifice when there was a lot of beef to go around,
but you had to be quick and hope that there was not a guy like Milo around.
"This is wha Milo was like, when it's Zeus' feast he lifted up the weight of a four-year-old heifer
and carried the huge animal lightly on his shoulders... in front of the altar in Pisa,
he cut up into pieces of meat this unyoked heifer and he ate the whole thing all by himself."
I bet he had a tummy ache after that but I also bet he would have really liked the most cow-centric
of Roman festivals and it features yet another steak-loving god, Tellus Mater, Mother Earth.
It began during the reign of Numa Pompilius who was the second legendary king of Rome and they had
been having a bad time agriculturally.
The god Faunus came to the king in a dream and said the answer
was a sacrifice to Tellus Mater. "By the death of cattle, Tellus must be placated: two cows, that is.
Let a single heifer yield two lives for the rites."
One cow, two lives. The answer: fordae.
Where the festival gets its name.
"Fordicidia was named for fordae cows;
a forda cow is one that is carrying an unborn calf; because on this day several pregnant cows are officially and
publicly sacrificed in the curiae."
And Mother Earth was not the only lady who loved her beef.
Hey! Where's the beef?
Because during the empire Magna Mater, or the great mother of the gods, was often wooed with the Taurobolium
a practice of sacrificing a bull adorned in flowers and gold.
The later Roman Christian author Prudentius claimed that then they would take the blood,
and let it flow over them like a baptism.
Though you got to take whatever he says with a grain of salt when it comes to cows because
the early Christians had a rightful bone to pick with Roman cows.
First there was something called Damnatio ad Bestias, damnation to the beasts.
It was a form of capital punishment most often reserved for military traitors, runaway slaves, and Christians,
where the victim would be killed by animals including lions, and tigers, and bears, and bulls.
Most famously the martyred Saints Perpetua and Felicity were gored by a bull in a North African arena
but even worse in my book was the brazen bull, a diabolical if possibly fictional torture and execution device
where the victim was roasted alive inside of a massive bronze bull.
If it existed it began in ancient Greece and Sicily and only later on was used for Christians
most notably saint Eustace.
According to tradition it was the Emperor Hadrian who ordered Eustis and his wife and his children to be roasted in the brazen bull,
though again it might have actually never even existed, but just the idea
of it is enough to put some people off beef, though not me because i'm ready for my isicia omentata.
And here we are, isicia omentata. Let's give it a shot.
I'm curious- oh actually cuts through really easily.
I kind of thought that the fat would like have some give to it, but it doesn't it just like I said it's kind of melted in.
It did caramelize- burn around the edges, but yeah,
and it's interesting because it really does look like a burger inside albeit with pine nuts. Here we go. Beef with caul fat.
Peppery. It's very chewy because it's not ground meat. It eats more like a steak
but it's good. I don't know if the caul fat like adds a specific flavor other than just fat.
It smelled earlier, it kind of smelled like a butcher shop like but that unpleasant
smell of a butcher shop but you don't get it when you eat it, but now I'm going to add some
of that caroenum just to see what that does to it.
It's nice and thick.
I'm really excited for this.
Hm. HM!
That's the way to do it. He's right! Apicius or whoever wrote De re Coquinaria
was right. It's got to have that condiment. It's super sweet against the pepper, and they just like
they work perfectly together. The garum does not, it doesn't overpower the flavor at all.
It adds saltiness so the other flavors really sparkle, but you don't get that that traditional garum flavor
as much as some other dishes that I've used it in.
Overall A-, not A+, A-,
but it could totally be used as a burger or meatballs. I think actually better though as a burger
because it does hold together pretty darn well. So whether you use caul fat or not you should,
but I do suggest that you kind of try to recreate some of this using some of the ingredients especially that caroenum.
You could honestly- I could put that on a lot of things. I think you'd go really nice on some fish.
Anyway thank you again to Blinkist for sponsoring this video, and make sure to
follow me on Instagram @ tastinghistorywithmaxmiller and I will see you next time on Tasting History.