Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

MADE AS FOLLOWS: [1] OIL, BROTH WINE, LEEK HEADS, MINT, SMALL FISH, SMALL TIDBITS [2] COCK'S FRIES OR CAPON'S KIDNEYS [3] AND PORK SWEETBREADS; ALL OF THESE ARE COOKED TOGETHER [4] NOW CRUSH PEPPER, LOVAGE, GREEN CORIANDER, OR SEEDS, MOISTENED WITH BROTH; ADD A LITTLE HONEY, AND OF THE OWN LIQUOR [5] OF THE ABOVE MORSELS, WINE AND HONEY TO TASTE; BRING THIS TO A BOILING POINT SKIM, BIND, STIR WELL [strain, pour over the morsels] SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER AND SERVE [6]. [1] Tor. sentence wanting in other texts. [2] _isitia_--_quenelles_, dumplings of some kind, mostly fine forcemeats. [3] _testiculi caponum_; the capon has no _testiculi_, these organs having been removed by an operation when the cock is young. This operation is said to have been first performed by a Roman surgeon with the intention of beating the _Lex Fannia_, or Fannian law, sponsored by a fanatic named Fannius. It prohibited among other restrictions the serving of any fowl at any time or repast except a hen, and this hen was not to be fattened. Note the cunning of the law: The useful hen and her unlaid eggs could be sacrificed while the unproductive rooster was allowed to thrive to no purpose, immune from the butcher's block. This set the shrewd surgeon to thinking; he transformed a rooster into a capon by his surgical trick. The emasculated bird grew fat without his owner committing any infraction of the Roman law against fattening chickens. Of course the capon, being neither hen nor rooster, was perfectly safe to eat, for he was within the law. Thus he became a huge success as an ancient "bootleg" chicken. [4] These integral parts must be prepared and poached separately and merely heated together before the final service. [5] Again the Plautian colloquialism _ius de suo sibi_. [6] This dish is worthy of Apicius. It is akin to our _Ragoût Financière_, and could pass for _Vol-au-vent à la Financière_ if it were served in a large fluffy crust of puff paste. [167] MINUTAL À LA MATIUS [1] _MINUTAL MATIANUM_ PUT IN A SAUCE PAN OIL, BROTH