Aliter assaturas (Roast Meats, Another Way) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic method of cooking a joint of meat by boiling, roasting to colour and serving in a myrtle berry and wine sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Roast Meats, Another Way (Aliter assaturas).
Aliter assaturas: myrtae siccae bacam extenteratam cum cumino, pipere, mel, liquamen, defrito et oleo teres, et fervefactum amulas. carnem elixam sale subassatam perfundis, piper aspargis et inferes.
Translation
Roast Meats, Another Way: Pound dried, de-seeded myrtle berries and mix with cumin, pepper, honey, liquamen, defritum and olive oil. Bring to a boil and thicken with starch. Boil the meat first, then roast with salt. Pour over the salt, sprinkle with pepper and serve.
Modern Redaction
This recipe is for a fairly tough piece of meat that's boiled slowly to tenderize and then roasted to colour.
Ingredients:
1 roasting joint (a neck of mutton or a leg of lamb or kid goat)
For the Sauce:
3 or 4 de-seeded myrtle berries (or substitute juniper berries or cloves)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tbsp runny honey
250ml beef stock
2 tbsp liquamen
60ml defritum
1 tbsp olive oil
cornflour
freshly-ground black pepper
Method:
Place the meat in a large pan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 150 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the pan and reserve the stock.
Beat together the myrtle berries, cumin and black pepper in a mortar. Work in the honey, liquamen and a little of the reserved beef stock. Pour into a bowl and whisk in the remaining beef stock(making it up to 250ml) and the olive oil.
Set the boiled meat on a rack in a roasting dish. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 160°C and bake for 1 hour, basting frequently with the sauce during this time. When the meat is done, set aside to rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, strain the pan juices into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk about 1 tsp cornflour into 1 tbsp of water to make a slurry then whisk this into the sauce. Continue simmering until the sauce is thick.
Slice the meat, sprinkle with black pepper and serve accompanied by the sauce.
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