extravagant table ; be tben had a balance-sheet made, and
finding the remains of his fortune insufficient to maintain
his extravagance at the accustomed rate, he committed
suicide by opening his veins and bleeding to death in his
bath. To this man some have ascribed the hook bearing
the title ‘ De re Culinaria.’ But the learned Lister believes
a much later writer of the name of Coelius to have been the
author of this treatise. Experiments* which were made at
various periods to practically cook according to Apicius
failed for a series of reasons : firstly, the prescriptions were
followed without previous purification ; and secondly, the
preparations described by a single word, such as liqxiamen,
were not at hand, because they were not understood ; and
thirdly, some ingredients which the Romans used, such as
asafcetida, were used in excess or omitted.
The cookery of Athenseusf is likened by himself to the
simplicity of Homeric times, and rated far below that of
Apicius, as he knew it. He baked onions in hot ashes, just
as we bake them in the oven. His times and all subsequent
centuries of Italian cookery upheld the endeavour of Apicius
to maintain the shape and colour of vegetables as far as
possible ; the colour of green vegetables, in particular, they
were most anxious to preserve, or even to improve ; and
this craze surviving to our time, though happily not prevail-
ing in England, has seized the French, and caused them to
impregnate their fresh and tinned green vegetables with
copper.
The vast preparations which the Romans made towards
the latter end of the reiJublic, and in the first centuries of
'* Some of these experiments became the object of some witty observa-
tions by Smollett in ‘ Peregrine Pickle.'
f Athenteus, ‘ Deipnosophistai,’ lib. i.,.xxx. This work reports ia fifteen
books conversations on many matters concerning the table, luxury, and
pleasure which took place during a costly dinner given by a rich and
learned Roman of the name of Larensius, at which Ulpiaii, the physician
fialenus, an unnamed cynic, and Athenaaus were present (ex Graesse, loc.
cit., i., p. 1273).
24
THE SPIRIT OF COOKER}
imperial rule, to fill cellar, larder, and kitchen with all the
delicacies of the known earth, particularly the establish-
ment of fish reservoirs {inscince*), must have been accom-
panied with an adequate expansion and rise of the art of
cooking. Unfortunately, the attention of the authors of
those times was mainly directed to extravagances, and
not to the actual practice of the prudent householder.
We shall quote some recipes from early and late authors,
from Cato of Utica to Athenseus ; but they do not enable us
to obtain a judgment of the true preparation of good and
elegant dishes which were current in those times.
Authors during and since the Renaissance.
Page 25
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
extravagant table ; be then had a balance-sheet made, and finding the remains of his fortune insufficient to maintain his extravagance at the accustomed rate, he committed suicide by opening his veins and bleeding to death in his bath. To this man some have ascribed the book bearing the title ‘ De re Culinaria.’ But the learned Lister believes a much later writer of the name of Coelius to have been the author of this treatise. Experiments* which were made at various periods to practically cook according to Apicius failed for a series of reasons : firstly, the prescriptions were followed without previous purification ; and secondly, the preparations described by a single word, such as liquamen, were not at hand, because they were not understood ; and thirdly, some ingredients which the Romans used, such as asafoetida, were used in excess or omitted.
The cookery of Athenseusf is likened by himself to the simplicity of Homeric times, and rated far below that of Apicius, as he knew it. He baked onions in hot ashes, just as we bake them in the oven. His times and all subsequent centuries of Italian cookery upheld the endeavour of Apicius to maintain the shape and colour of vegetables as far as possible ; the colour of green vegetables, in particular, they were most anxious to preserve, or even to improve ; and this craze surviving to our time, though happily not prevailing in England, has seized the French, and caused them to impregnate their fresh and tinned green vegetables with copper.
The vast preparations which the Romans made towards the latter end of the Republic, and in the first centuries of
'* Some of these experiments became the object of some witty observations by Smollett in ‘ Peregrine Pickle.'
f Athenteus, ‘ Deipnosophistai,’ lib. i.,.xxx. This work reports ia fifteen books conversations on many matters concerning the table, luxury, and pleasure which took place during a costly dinner given by a rich and learned Roman of the name of Larensius, at which Ulpiaii, the physician fialenus, an unnamed cynic, and Athenaaus were present (ex Graesse, loc. cit., i., p. 1273).
imperial rule, to fill cellar, larder, and kitchen with all the delicacies of the known earth, particularly the establishment of fish reservoirs {inscince*), must have been accompanied with an adequate expansion and rise of the art of cooking. Unfortunately, the attention of the authors of those times was mainly directed to extravagances, and not to the actual practice of the prudent householder. We shall quote some recipes from early and late authors, from Cato of Utica to Athenseus ; but they do not enable us to obtain a judgment of the true preparation of good and elegant dishes which were current in those times.
Authors during and since the Renaissance.