Caul-Wrapped Meat Patties

Origin: Rome, Italy

Source: Apicius, 400

History

Isicia omentata belongs to the Roman family of isicia, the pounded forcemeats or rissoles that fill an entire section of the cookbook known as Apicius, whose Latin here shades toward Vulgar rather than Classical usage. Its name marks its defining technique: the patties are wrapped in the omentum, the lacy caul-fat membrane, which bastes the meat and holds it together over the fire. The seasoning is distinctly Roman. Liquamen, offered here as optional, is the fermented fish sauce of the same condiment family as garum that underpins so much of the corpus. Pepper, though imported, reached Roman kitchens through long-distance trade and is entirely of its period, as is the myrtle berry, an aromatic native to the Mediterranean; the sweet finish comes from caroenum, grape must boiled down to concentrate it. The book itself is a late compilation, likely assembled in the fourth or fifth century AD, and organized into ten books with Greek titles. Its name honors Marcus Gavius Apicius, a first-century gourmet of the reign of Tiberius so associated with luxury that his name became a byword for the gourmand, though the surviving text was gathered generations after he lived and the connection to him cannot actually be proven. Because the dish is a seasoned patty of minced meat, modern food writing frequently frames it as an ancestor of the hamburger or even 'the world's oldest hamburger'; this is a popular and marketable framing rather than a claim of direct descent, and the caul wrapping, myrtle, fish sauce, and pine-nut filling set it well apart from a modern burger.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Pound chopped lean meat with wine-soaked crumb of fine wheat bread.
  2. Grind in pepper, liquamen (optional), and pitted myrtle berries.
  3. Form small patties, placing pine nuts and pepper inside each.
  4. Wrap in caul (omentum) and roast gently with caroenum (reduced grape must).

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