Dogfish is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a dish of a dogfish steaks flavoured with olive oil, salt and caraway seeds that are cooked on a barbecue. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Dogfish.
In fair Torone’s town ’tis best to cook The hollow entrails of the sharp-tooth’d dog. Then strew the fish with cumin, sparing be Of salt, then roast him, and add nothing else Saving some sea-green oil. Then when ’tis done, Serve him up with some little seasoning. And if you boil a part of it within The hollow of some flat dish, then add No water, add no wine-made vinegar, But pour on oil alone, and cumin dry, And add what fragrant herbs the garden gives. Then put the saucepan on the ashes hot, And boil it; let no flame too quickly burn, And stir it often lest the meat should catch, And spoil your dinner so, before you know it. ’Tis but few mortals know this wondrous food; And those who have thick stupid heavy souls, Refuse to taste it, but are all alarm’d, Because they say this dog’s a cannibal, And feeds on human flesh. But there is not A fish that swims which does not like man’s flesh If he can only chance to come across it.
Ingredients:
1.5kg Dogfish (rock salmon) steaks
Olive oil 6 tablespoons
Salt 3 teaspoons
a few Caraway seeds
Method:
Rub the fish slices with plenty of oil, then sprinkle with salt and caraway seeds. Place the slices on a grate over
hot coals, cooking for about 6 minutes per side or until cooked to your liking.
The fish can be served with various sauces, one of which could be the excellent salmoriglio of Sicily, which among other things, has the advantage of being from Archestratus’ home. I've given instructions in the recipe for how to revert it to a more Roman-compatible version.
As for Archestratus’ remark about the dogfish being a ferocious man-eater, that is simply poetic hyperbole and dogfish, despite being members of the shark family are too small to bother humans. That said, they do pose one danger. Their skin is sandpaper like and when caught they tray and wrap their body around your arm to rasp the skin off. This is why dogfish are invariably skinned before cooking.
