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Aliter assaturas (Roast Meats, Another Way)

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 highly-spiced sauce in a meat stock and olive oil base. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Roast Meats, Another Way (Aliter assaturas).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

220 minutes

Total Time:

240 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Sauce RecipesSpice RecipesBeef RecipesMutton RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Aliter assaturas (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) VII, v, 4

Aliter assaturas: piperis scripulos sex, ligusticum scripulos sex, petroselinum scripulos sex, apii semen scripulos VI, anethi scripulos sex, laseris radicem scripulos VI, asareos scripulos VI, pyrethri modice, cyperis scripulos VI, carei scripulos VI, cumini scripulos VI, gingiberis scripulos VI, liquaminis heminam, olei acetabulum.

Translation

Roast Meats, Another Way: [Pound] six scruples each of pepper, lovage, parsley, celery seed, aniseed, laser root and hazelwort. Add a little pellitory and six scruples each of cyperus, caraway, cumin and ginger. [Blend with] 300ml of stock and 75ml olive oil.

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:
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp lovage seeds
1 tsp dried parsley, crumbled
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp aniseeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp ground ginger (the original recipe calls for hazelwort, Asarum europaeum which is emetic, but has a distinct ginger-like flavour, it's much safer to substitute ginger)
pinch of pellitory (European pellitory, Achillea ptarmica)
1 tsp galingale (or ganalngal)
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
300ml meat stock
75ml olive oil

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 all the spices for the sauce in a mortar. Work in a little of the meat stock to form a paste then pour into a bowl. Whisk in the remaining beef stock 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.
Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.