Another ancient vegetable recipe remake

This weekend we have cooked another remake of one of the vegetable recipes preserved in Apicius, in his De re coquinaria - called Alter olus molle - using the Project Gutenberg online variant. The adaptation regards using white cabbage and broccoli instead of celery and cooking everything all the ingredients plus smoked pork meat in a cauldron. Due to the adding of meat in the recipe, we have removed the mentioned stock.

The experiment is part of the cultural project "Labyrinth through time" implemented near Cluj-Napoca, in the heart of Transylvania, at the reenactment park Camp Virtus. The project of NGO Virtus Antiqua also benefits from funding from the Administration of the Cultural National Fund of Romania.

See the previous cabbage recipe remake HERE.

Meet the team and volunteers and see all photos from the meeting held on July 1st 2017 HERE.

Chop the cabbage, broccoli and onion

Fry the onion and the meat

Add water and spices (pepper, lovage, oregano)

Do not forget about the white wine and let boil for around 1 hour

 

 

 

Serve with bread and enjoy!

Experimental archaeology : loom weights

On July 1st Virtus Antiqua organizes yet another experimental archaeology workshop near Cluj-Napoca, at Camp Virtus. The meeting includes two projects - modelling ancient-style loom weights inspired by archaeological artifacts from Romania and remaking another Roman cabbage recipe from Apicius. A vertical loom will be reconstructed and used during subsequent meetings.

The workshops is part of the "Labyrinth through time" cultural project that benefits from funding from the Romanian National Cultural Fund Administration, targeting 15 such workshops with families of volunteers and a larger event in the autumn when Camp Virtus becomes an actual labyrinth inhabited by gladiators, Roman auxiliary soldiers, ancient perfume makers, hawkers, Dacians and Celts.

So, both volunteers and the general public [including English speakers as well!] are invited on Saturday, July 1st, in Salicea, near Cluj, for a time-immersive experience!

Clay loom weights modelling workshop by Virtus Antiqua

Check out the Pinterest album with reconstructions of vertical-type, ancient looms and loom weights made of clay discovered during archaeological excavations HERE.
See pictures from our last week's meeting to get a taste of what we do at Camp Virtus HERE.

Ancient cabbage recipe remake

Last weekend we have cooked a remake of one of the cabbage recipes preserved in Apicius, in his De re coquinaria - using the Project Gutenberg online variant. The experiment is part of the cultural project "Labyrinth through time" implemented near Cluj-Napoca, in the heart of Transylvania.
Though Apicius [aka the preserved ancient Roman recipes] is rather brief in his cooking indications - regarding temperatures, quantities and time requirements - we have adapted one of his cabbage recipes (Olus molle) to also include pork sausages. Our variant thus consisted of white cabbage, white wine, onions, seasonings (coriander, mint, pepper, salt, cumin etc.) and sausages slowly cooked in a cauldron over an open fire for around one hour. This method renders the cabbage soft and sweet, a bit spicy as well, and very tasty in combination with the sausages and white bread.

Cutting a lot of cabbage

The first step - onion and oil

Adding everything in the mix with a bit of water

Letting things stew

Voting in favor of the end resut

 See also the brief YouTube video here: