Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

foods in the dining room. Hildesheim Treas.} BOOK III. THE GARDENER _Lib. III. Cepuros_ CHAP. I. TO BOIL ALL VEGETABLES GREEN. CHAP. II. VEGETABLE DINNER, EASILY DIGESTED. CHAP. III. ASPARAGUS. CHAP. IV. PUMPKIN, SQUASH. CHAP. V. CITRUS FRUIT, CITRON. CHAP. VI. CUCUMBERS. CHAP. VII. MELON GOURD, MELON. CHAP. VIII. MALLOWS. CHAP. IX. YOUNG CABBAGE, SPROUTS, CAULIFLOWER. CHAP. X. LEEKS. CHAP. XI. BEETS. CHAP. XII. POT HERBS. CHAP. XIII. TURNIPS, NAVEWS. CHAP. XIV. HORSERADISH AND RADISHES. CHAP. XV. SOFT CABBAGE. CHAP. XVI. FIELD HERBS. CHAP. XVII. NETTLES. CHAP. XVIII. ENDIVE AND LETTUCE. CHAP. XIX. CARDOONS. CHAP. XX. COW-PARSNIPS. CHAP. XXI. CARROTS AND PARSNIPS. I [66] VEGETABLES, POT HERBS _DE HOLERIBUS_ TO KEEP ALL VEGETABLES GREEN. _UT OMNE HOLUS SMARAGDINUM FIAT._ ALL VEGETABLES WILL REMAIN GREEN IF BOILED WITH COOKING SODA [1]. [1] _Nitrium._ Method still in use today, considered injurious to health if copper vessel is used, but the amount of copper actually absorbed by the vegetable is infinitesimal, imperceptible even by the taste. Copper, to be actually harmful would have to be present in such quantity as to make enjoyment impossible. II [67] VEGETABLE DINNER, EASILY DIGESTED _PULMENTARIUM AD VENTREM_ [1] ALL GREEN VEGETABLES ARE SUITED FOR THIS PURPOSE [2] VERY YOUNG [3] BEETS AND WELL MATURED LEEKS ARE PARBOILED; ARRANGE THEM IN A BAKING DISH, GRIND PEPPER AND CUMIN, ADD BROTH AND CONDENSED MUST, OR ANYTHING ELSE TO SWEETEN THEM A LITTLE, HEAT AND FINISH THEM ON A SLOW FIRE, AND SERVE. [1] V. _Ad ventrem_, "for the belly," simple home laxative. [2] V. This sentence in Torinus only. Possibly a contraction of the foregoing formula, No. 66. [3] V. _minutas_, "small," i.e., young. [68] A SIMILAR DISH _SIMILITER_ PARBOIL POLYPODY [1] ROOT SO AS TO SOFTEN THEM, CUT THEM INTO SMALL PIECES, SEASON WITH GROUND PEPPER AND CUMIN, ARRANGE IN A BAKING DISH, FINISH ON THE FIRE AND SERVE [2]. [1] V. Roots of the fern herb. [2] V. Although these instructions for vegetable dinners are rather vague, they resemble primitive _chartreuses_--fancy vegetable dishes developed by the Carthusian monks to whom flesh eating was forbidden. Elsewhere in Apicius