Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

formulas out of it. VIII LOINS AND KIDNEYS _LUMBI ET RENES_ [286] ROAST LOINS MADE THUS _LUMBULI ASSI ITA FIUNT_ SPLIT THEM INTO TWO PARTS SO THAT THEY ARE SPREAD OUT [1] SPRINKLE THE OPENING WITH CRUSHED PEPPER AND [ditto] NUTS, FINELY CHOPPED CORIANDER AND CRUSHED FENNEL SEED. THE TENDERLOINS ARE THEN ROLLED UP TO BE ROASTED; TIE TOGETHER, WRAP IN CAUL, PARBOIL IN OIL [2] AND BROTH, AND THEN ROAST IN THE OVEN OR BROIL ON THE GRIDIRON. [1] "Frenched," the meat here being pork tenderloin. [2] G.-V. best broth and a little oil, which is more acceptable. IX HAM _PERNA_ [287] [Baked Picnic] HAM [Pork Shoulder, fresh or cured] _PERNAM_ THE HAM SHOULD BE BRAISED WITH A GOOD NUMBER OF FIGS AND SOME THREE LAUREL LEAVES; THE SKIN IS THEN PULLED OFF AND CUT INTO SQUARE PIECES; THESE ARE MACERATED WITH HONEY. THEREUPON MAKE DOUGH CRUMBS OF FLOUR AND OIL [1] LAY THE DOUGH OVER OR AROUND THE HAM, STUD THE TOP WITH THE PIECES OF THE SKIN SO THAT THEY WILL BE BAKED WITH THE DOUGH [bake slowly] AND WHEN DONE, RETIRE FROM THE OVEN AND SERVE [2]. [1] Ordinary pie or pastry dough, or perhaps a preparation similar to streusel, unsweetened. [2] Experimenting with this formula, we have adhered to the instructions as closely as possible, using regular pie dough to envelop the parboiled meat. The figs were retired from the sauce pan long before the meat was done and they were served around the ham as a garnish. As a consequence we partook of a grand dish that no inmate of Olympus would have sneezed at. In Pompeii an inn-keeper had written the following on the wall of his establishment: _Ubi perna cocta est si convivæ apponitur non gustat pernam linguit ollam aut caccabum._ When we first beheld this message we took the inn-keeper for a humorist and clever advertiser; but now we are convinced that he was in earnest when he said that his guests would lick the sauce pan in which his hams were cooked. [288] TO COOK PORK SHOULDER _PERNÆ _[1]_ COCTURAM_