Alexandrian Sauce for Roasted Fish

History

This Alexandrian sauce survives in Book X of the collection known as Apicius, the book devoted to Roman fish sauces and seafood; that compilation carries the name of the first-century gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius but is a later anonymous work, not his authored book. It is one of several fruit-sweetened sauces for roasted fish, pounding pepper, lovage, cumin, oregano, celery seed and dried onion with pitted Damascus prunes, then loosening the paste with honeyed wine (mulsum), vinegar, fermented fish sauce (liquamen) and reduced grape must (defrutum) — the sweet-sour, garum-backed balance typical of the corpus. The epithet “Alexandrinum” brands the dish as Alexandrian: after Egypt's annexation in 27 BCE Romans were captivated by Alexandria, the great emporium through which Egyptian grain, Indian pepper and Eastern spices reached the empire. Whether the name records genuine Alexandrian cooking or merely borrows the city's exotic allure is unresolved — food writers lean toward branding, while allowing it may reflect what affluent Alexandrians ate. Apicius applies the same label elsewhere, to gourds cooked “in the Alexandrian manner.”

Ingredients

• pepper
• dried onion
• lovage
• cumin
• oregano
• celery seed
• Damascus plums
• mulsum
• vinegar
• liquamen
• defrutum
• olive oil

Instructions

1. Combine pepper, dried onion, lovage, cumin, oregano, celery seed, pitted Damascus plums, mulsum, vinegar, liquamen, defrutum and oil.
2. Cook.