Apician Patina
patinam Apicianam sic facies: frustra suminis cocti pulpas piscium pulpas pulli ficetulas uel pectora turdorum cocta et quaecumque optima fuerint, haec omnia concides diligenter preter ficetulas. oua uero cruda cum oleo dissoluis, teres piper ligusticum; suffundes liquamen uinum passum et in caccabum mittis ut calefiat et amulo obligas. antea tamen pulpas concisas uniuersas illuc mittes et sic bulliat; at ubi coctum fuerit leuabis cum iure suo et in patella alternis de trulla refundes cum piperis grana integra et nucleis pineis, ita ut per singula coria substernas diploidem in laganum similiter; quotquot lagana posueris tot trullas imples, desuper adicies; unum uero laganum fistula percuties et super inpones. piper asparges. ante tamen illas pulpas ouis confractis obligabis et sic in caccabum mittes cum inpensam. patellam aeneam qualem debes habere infra ostenditur.
patina cotidiana: accipies frustra suminis coctum pulpas piscium coctas pulpas pulli coctas; haec omnia concides diligenter. accipias patellam aeneam. oua confringes in caccabum et dissolues. adicies in mortarium piper ligusticum, fricabis; suffundes liquamen uinum passum oleum modice; reexinanies in caccabum, facies ut ferueat; cum ferbuerit et obligas, pulpas quas subcultrati in ius mittis. substerne diploides patinam aeneam et trullam plenam pulpae et disparges oleum; laganum pones similiter; quotquot lagana posueris tot trullas inpense adicies. unum laganum fistula percuties a superficie; uersas in discum, insuper superficiem pones, piper asparges et inferes.
Make an Apician patina thus: pieces of cooked sow's udder, fish flesh, chicken flesh, cooked fig-peckers or thrush breasts, and whatever else is best — chop all these carefully except the fig-peckers. Beat raw eggs with oil. Grind pepper and lovage; moisten with fish sauce, passum, and put it in a pot to warm, and bind it with starch. But first put in all the chopped meats and let it boil; and when it is cooked, lift it out with its own juice and, in a dish, ladle it out in alternate layers with whole peppercorns and pine nuts, so that beneath each layer you spread a folded pastry sheet (laganum) as a base, likewise; for as many pastry sheets as you lay down, that many ladlefuls you fill in and add on top. Pierce one pastry sheet with a reed and set it on top. Sprinkle with pepper. But first bind those meats with beaten eggs and so put them into the pot with the mixture. What sort of bronze dish you should have is shown below.
Everyday patina: take cooked pieces of sow's udder, cooked fish flesh, cooked chicken flesh; chop all these carefully. Take a bronze dish. Break eggs into a pot and beat them. Put pepper and lovage in a mortar, grind them; moisten with fish sauce, passum, and a little oil; pour it back into the pot and bring to a boil; when it has boiled, bind it, and put in the meats you have cut up into the sauce. Spread folded pastry sheets over the bronze dish, and a ladle full of meat, and sprinkle with oil; lay a pastry sheet likewise; for as many pastry sheets as you lay down, that many ladlefuls of the mixture you add. Pierce one pastry sheet with a reed at the surface; turn it out onto a serving plate, put the surface on top, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.
This very confused recipe is sometimes interpreted as a precursor to lasagna, but a close reading reveals a dish that is very different.
Ingredients
- 150 g cooked fish
- 150 g cooked chicken
- 150 g cooked pork belly
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp lovage
- 50 ml fish sauce
- 300 ml white wine
- 150 ml passum
- 30 ml olive oil
- 2 Tb starch, made into a slurry
- 3 eggs
- 90 g pine nuts
- 16 × 6-inch flour tortillas or roti (about 400 g)
Method
- Finely dice the cooked fish, chicken, and pork belly and set to one side.
- Place the pepper, lovage, fish sauce, wine, passum, and olive oil in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for a few minutes.
- Add the starch slurry to the saucepan, and continue to cook until it thickens.
- Add the diced meat, then beat the eggs and add those too. Continue cooking a gentle heat until the mixture becomes very thick while still remaining spreadable.
- To assemble the dish, place a tortilla on a plate. Spoon some of the meat mixture over the tortilla, sprinkle on some pine nuts, and then place another tortilla on top to complete one layer. Next add another bottom tortilla, more mixture, pine nuts, and another top tortilla, to form another layer. Keep going until you have used all the tortillas, and serve, with each layer forming a single serving.
Notes
- While the original recipe calls for the recipe to be assembled in a dish and then turned over, I don’t find this is necessary to form a stack. The stack itself is decorative and not strictly necessary for the dish; a more pragmatic approach would be to simply fill each tortilla up and fold like a quesadilla.