In these corona times I'm sitting at home on a Friday evening, drinking a glass of wine (or two) and feel a sudden urge for something sweet. I don't have anything sweet at home, but I can always bake something...I was thinking about donuts, but they involve yeast and proving, so then I started thinking about historical recipes for fried stuff, since they didn't have the same access to leavening as we have today. I checked one of my historical cookbooks, and found a recipe from De re coquinaria by Apicius. I also found a version of Apicius translated into English at Project Gutenberg.
This is Apicius recipe from book VII, or recipe 299:
TAKE A PREPARATION SIMILAR [1] [to the above] AND IN THE HOT WATER [bath or double boiler] MAKE A VERY HARD PORRIDGE OF IT. THEREUPON SPREAD IT OUT ON A PAN AND WHEN COOL CUT IT INTO HANDY PIECES LIKE SMALL COOKIES. FRY THESE IN THE BEST OIL, TAKE THEM OUT, DIP INTO [hot] HONEY, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER [2] AND SERVE.
My version
1 cup of milk (or water)
3/4 cup of flour
oil for cooking (for an authentic Roman taste use olive oil)
honey
black pepper
Bring the milk to a boil. Stir in the flour and keep stirring over the heat for a minut or so, or until th dough don't stick to the sides o the pot. (think a choux pastry but without eggs)
Pour it onto a plate spread it out until it's 3-4 mm thick. Let it cool completely. The dough should be firm but still a bit sticky. Cut out whatever shapes you would like, I simply used my knife and made squares.
Heat the oil and fry a couple of pieces at a time. Place them on a paper towel to dry off the excess oil, and then on a plate. When all pieces are fried drizzle honey over them and finish with a sprinkle of black pepper.
They were soooooo yummy, this is absolutely a recipe that I will try in the future, and possible on a medieval event when I'm doing historical cooking.
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