Apicius

We have a limited number of ancient sources left that actually tell us recipes from the Ancient world, however one that survives is Apicius, however we also know very little about the works and the author.

• Apicius has become a term known for a work of ancient recipes which has survived over time. I has been given the name Apicius because of a famous glutton called Marcus Gavius Apicius who is thought to have written it.
• Apicius is thought to have been writing in early first century AD because we have sources who tell us about dinner parties held by him with guests that we know were consuls in 28AD.
• We also have a Martial epigraphy which links Apicius with a person called Maecenas, who is thought to be one of Augustus’ close friends.
  • Therefore we can work out a rough date of when Apicius was around.

Apicius, himself, is never presented very well by other writers. The sources who wrote about Apicius provide us with huge amounts of information due to the nature in which they say certain things. They are also the principle reason why we have any information about him.

• Apicius never actually wrote about himself, or included his personal opinions in his recipe book.
• Juvenal wrote: ‘Apicius was the author of how to arrange dinners, who wrote about sauces: for he was an exemplar of a glutton.’ Which reinforces that the same Apicius who was associated with member of the senate in the first century was the same person who wrote these recipes.
• In 160AD we have a reference in Athenaeus to a lost work by Apion called ‘On the Luxury of Apicius’ which we can presume was about the same Apicius seeing as Apion was writing in the first century AD, around the same time as Apicius.

Some sources tell us more about his personality that anything else as Apicius was renowned for being highly extravagant and greedy.

• Juvenal writes ‘The common people find nothing funnier than a poor Apicius’.
• It is also thought that it was due to lavish life style and excessive banquet that he became bankrupt and then killed himself.
• He has even been described as ‘a figure of mythical status’.
  

 

Structure of the book

• The structure of Apicius book is very familiar because it is divided into different types of food, for example meat dishes, vegetables, fowl, luxury dishes and fish, to mention just a few.
• The first chapter of the book is unique, because it does not contain normal recipes. Instead the chapter focuses on ‘mise en place’ which loosely translates to ‘putting in place’ therefore preparing the food.
• This section contains 35 different (what I refer to as) “How to” dishes, as the large majority of them focus on how to preserve different ingredients, or how to make different sauces to accompany dishes.
• Some of the methods within this section may be considered strange to a modern reader, because it is something we never have to deal with due to modern technology.
• However there are a number of methods which might still be useful for readers today.

One example of these methods is the recipe for Spiced wine.

‘1.1 Spiced wine surprise: 15lb of honey by weight is put into bronze pan containing 2 pints of wine so that the honey and wine cook together. Warm the pan on a gentle fire of dry wood and stir with sticks as it cooks. If it begins to boil it is settled with sparkling wine, besides which it ill subside when it is removed from the fire. When it has cooled down, it is heated again. This will be done a second and third time, and then at last it is removed from the hearth, and it is skimmed the day after. Then put in 4oz of ground pepper; 3 scruples of mastic; one dragma each of folium and saffron; 5 roasted date stones and the dates themselves softened in wine of the same kind and quality, added in beforehand so that a smooth paste is produced. When all these are ready you pour on 18 pints of smooth wine. Charcoal is put in when it is finished (to avert the sour taste).’

This may be considered complicated to a modern audience, but that is because it would have been to a roman audience too. Other recipes for spiced wine which have been found are much simpler and featured fewer ingredients and a less complicated method of production. However because of Apicius’ extravagant nature his recipes often reflect this. Here the tradition recipe for spiced wine or Mulsum is more like a conditum which is a spiced wine with a lot more honey and flavours. Due to the sweetness of the drink it was often served as an aperitif just like how nowadays many people choose to serve a form of fruit Bellini’s at a dinner party as an aperitif.

The remains of a sign for a wine shop in Herculaneum 

Other sections of the Mise en Place give details about much simpler things such as; ‘1.10 how to make salted meat sweet: you may make salted meat sweet if you cook it first in milk and afterwards in water.’ Which is a method still used today especially with the fish dishes; poached haddock and mackerel. The section also includes basic ‘how to’ methods about food such as how to tell if honey has gone off.

These were just some of the many basic instructions given out by Apicius which shows us that he must have considered them significant things for people to know. This passing on of simple knowledge is similar to what we see in numerous modern-day cookbooks. A large majority of popular cookbooks in the modern Britain feature a ‘how to’ section, featuring a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from lifestyle tips such as; ‘How to use the book’, or ‘How to keep little mouths happy’, or ‘How to tell the difference between good and bad carbs’; to basic cooking methods such as; ‘How to make short crust pastry’ and ‘How to make the perfect buttercream.’ So the idea of a ’Mise en Place’ is something that is still present in a lot of cook books today, although we have to give the credit to Apicius for being the first one to categorise it in such a way.