Recipe for
Porcellum Flaccianum
(Sucking-Pig
à la Flaccus)
by Apicius VIII, VII, 8
Sucking-Pig à la Flaccus... Sadly no one has a clue who the "Flaccus" that this recipe is styled after was. Basically, suckling pig with a special sauce, but that's probably too much, so I'd look at the link that follows... I found little other info on this recipe, so I perked up and read the great website it was on: Edesian Experiments by Thalia. Sadly, Thalia doesn't have any contact info there for me to ask permission to use her photo. Maybe she'll contact me?? Anyway, great website and she tries a lot of other Apician recipes — sadly stopping, it appears, in 2017?! Anyway, read Thalia's take on this recipe compared to Edwards interpretation. She certainly explains it well.
Original recipe: Porcellum ornas in modum apri, sale asperges et in furnum mittes. Dum coquitur, adicies in mortarium piper, ligusticum, careum, apii semen, laseris radicem, rutam uiridem, fricabis, suffundes liquamen, uino et passo temperabis. In caccabo cum olei modicum ferueat; amulo obligas. Porcellum coctum ab ossibus tanges, apii semen teres ita ut fiat puluis, asperges et inferes.
Translation: The pig is garnished like wild boar. Sprinkle with salt,
place in the oven. While being done put in the mortar pepper, lovage, caraway, celery seed, laser root,
green rue, and crush it, moisten with broth, wine and raisin wine to taste, put this in a sauce pan, adding
a little oil, heat, bind with roux. The roast pig, free from bones, sprinkle with powdered celery seed and
serve.
Ingredients
- 1 sucking pig (or, 3-5 lb. choice pork roast)
Seasoning:
- 1 t. Salt
- ¼ t. ground pepper
- 1 t. lovage (or celery seed)
- A pinch of:
- caraway seeds
- fennel
- rue (or rosemary)
- 1 drop asafoetida essence
- 1 t. (5ml) garum
- 3 T. (435ml) wine
- 1 T. (15ml) passum
- 2 t. (10ml) olive oil
- 1 T. (15ml) cornflour
- 1 t. ground celery seed, to serve
Preparation
- Clean the pig, sprinkle with salt and roast at gas mark 4, 35ctf (180°c), allowing 25 minutes per ib (450g) plus 25 minutes.
- While it is cooking ground the pepper, lovage, caraway, celery seed and rue in a bowl.
- Moisten with asafoetida essence and garum, then blend in the wine and passum.
- Put in a saucepan with the olive oil and bring to the boil.
- Thicken with cornflour mixed with water.
- Add the juices from the roast sucking pig, bring to the boil and simmer gently until thickened.
- Pour over the pig, and sprinkle with ground celery seed.
- Serve hot.
