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Locusta Elixa cum Cuminato (Boiled Lobster with Cumin Sauce)

Locusta Elixa cum Cuminato (Boiled Lobster with Cumin Sauce) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic dish of boiled lobster served with a cumin, spice, honey, vinegar and stock sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Boiled Lobster with Cumin Sauce (Locusta Elixa cum Cuminato).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

50 minutes

Serves:

2

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Sauce RecipesSpice RecipesHerb RecipesAncient Roman Recipes



Original Recipe


Locusta Elixa cum Cuminato (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) IX, i, 3


Locusta elixa cum cuminato: piper, ligusticum, petroselinum, mentam siccam, cuminum plusculum, mel, acetum, liquamen. si voles, folium et malabathrum addes.

Translation


Boiled Lobster with Cumin Sauce: Pepper, lovage, parsley, dried mint, more of cumin, honey, vinegar and liquamen. If you like, add spikenard and cinnamon.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1 whole lobster, about 1.2kg

For the Sauce:
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp lovage seeds (or celery seeds)
1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp dried mint, crumbled
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp honey
1 tsp white wine vinegar
250ml reserved lobster stock
1 spikenard leaf (or bay leaf)
generous pinch of ground cinnamon

Method:

Bring a pan of water just large enough to hold the lobster to the boil. Plunge the lobster in this, bring back to a boil and continue cooking for 25 minutes. Take off the heat, remove the lobster and set aside to keep warm (reserve the stock).

For the sauce, pound together the black pepper, lovage (or celery) seeds, parsley, mint and cumin seeds in a mortar. Moisten with the honey, white wine vinegar and reserved lobster stock. Turn into a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the spikenard leaf (or bayleaf) and the cinnamon. Continue simmering for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce is nicely thickened. At this point remove the spikenard leaf or bayleaf.

Remove the lobster meat from the shell and arrange on a serving dish. Moisten with the sauce and serve.

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.