Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

_cochlearia_. Fluvius Hirpinus is credited with having popularized the snail in Rome a little before the civil wars between Cæsar and Pompey. If we could believe Varro, snails grew to enormous proportions. A supper of the younger Pliny consisted of a head of lettuce, three snails, two eggs, a barley cake, sweet wine, refrigerated in snow. Snails as a food are not sufficiently appreciated by the Germanic races who do not hesitate to eat similar animals and are very fond of such food as oysters, clams, mussels, cocles, etc., much of which they even eat in the raw state. [324] ANOTHER WAY _ALITER_ THE SNAILS ARE FRIED WITH PURE SALT AND OIL AND [a sauce of] LASER, BROTH, PEPPER AND OIL IS UNDERLAID; OR THE FRIED SNAILS ARE FULLY COVERED WITH BROTH, PEPPER AND CUMIN. Tor. divides this into three articles. [325] ANOTHER WAY FOR SNAILS _ALITER COCHLEAS_ THE LIVE SNAILS ARE SPRINKLED WITH MILK MIXED WITH THE FINEST WHEAT FLOUR, WHEN FAT AND NICE AND PLUMP THEY ARE COOKED. XIX EGGS _OVA_ [326] FRIED EGGS _OVA FRIXA_ FRIED EGGS ARE FINISHED IN WINE SAUCE. [327] BOILED EGGS _OVA ELIXA_ ARE SEASONED WITH BROTH, OIL, PURE WINE, OR ARE SERVED WITH BROTH, PEPPER AND LASER. [328] WITH POACHED EGGS _IN OVIS HAPALIS_ SERVE PEPPER, LOVAGE, SOAKED NUTS, HONEY, VINEGAR AND BROTH. END OF BOOK VII _EXPLICIT APICII POLYTELES: LIBER SEPTIMUS_ [Tac.] APICIUS Book VIII {Illustration: CRATICULA Combination broiler and stove; charcoal fuel. The sliding rods are adjustable to the size of food to be cooked thereon. Pans of various sizes would rest on these rods. In the rear two openings to hold the caccabus, or stewpot, of which we have four different illustrations. The craticula usually rested on top of a stationary brick oven or range. The apparatus, being moveable, is very ingenious. The roughness of the surface of this specimen is caused by corrosion and lava adhering to its metal frame. Found in Pompeii. Ntl. Mus., Naples, 121321; Field M., 26145.} {Illustration: CACCABUS A stewpot, marmite, kettle. The cover, rising from the circumference to the center in a succession