Late Roman Empire · Rome
Apicius's Ius in Elixam Auem
From De Re Coquinaria · Apicius · 400
Verified from original source
A Roman sauce for boiled fowl made with pepper, lovage and wine.
History
Ius in Elixam Auem (sauce for boiled fowl) appears in De re coquinaria, a Roman cookery collection attributed to Apicius, compiled around the 4th-5th century CE though drawing on earlier traditions. This sauce combined pepper, lovage, caraway, mint, rue, and other aromatics with wine, vinegar, and liquamen (fermented fish sauce), thickened with bread or starch. Such complex sauces characterized elite Roman dining, masking or enhancing flavours of boiled poultry. The recipe reflects Rome's access to Eastern spices and Mediterranean herbs. Modern recreations appear in historical cookery demonstrations, though liquamen is typically substituted with Asian fish sauce.
Sources
- Apicius, De re coquinaria (Apicius: A Critical Edition by Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger, 2006)
- Sally Grainger, Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today, 2006
- Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, 2003
- Patrick Faas, Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome, 2003
Serves
4
Prep
10m
Cook
5m
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- · 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- · 1 teaspoon dried lovage or celery seed
- · 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- · 1 tablespoon dried mint
- · 120 ml white wine
- · 60 ml wine vinegar
- · 2 tablespoons honey
- · 1 tablespoon olive oil
- · 1 teaspoon cornflour
Method
- 1
Grind pepper, lovage, caraway and mint together in a mortar.
- 2
Mix with wine, vinegar, honey and oil in a small pan.
- 3
Bring to a simmer.
- 4
Thicken with cornflour mixed with a little water.
- 5
Serve hot over boiled chicken.
