Everyday Patina (Brain Custard)

History

This recipe survives in the collection known as Apicius, De re coquinaria — a later anonymous compilation (c. 4th–5th c. CE) that carries the name of the 1st-century gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius rather than his demonstrable work. It stands at the head of the book's chapter of patinae. A patina was first a piece of kitchen equipment — a round, flat, shallow earthenware or bronze dish — and the name passed to the food cooked in it. Bound and set with beaten eggs, these dishes are why modern writers reach for comparisons: some describe the patina as a savoury custard or omelet, others as a frittata, raw egg mixed with other ingredients and baked until solid; the everyday Roman egg dish is frequently called an ancestor of the frittata. This cotidiana ('everyday') version is built on cerebella elixata — boiled brains — pounded with pepper and cumin, then bound with the resinous laser, the fish sauce liquamen, the sweet must-reduction caroenum, milk and eggs, and cooked gently over low heat or in a hot-water bath. The garum and honeyed caroenum set against the savoury brains are ordinary Roman taste rather than a quirk, and laser points to silphium or its costly asafoetida substitute. Like the rest of the corpus it records affluent kitchen practice, not the average Roman meal, and gives neither quantities nor times.

Ingredients

• brains
• pepper
• cumin
• laser (silphium/asafoetida)
• liquamen (Roman fermented fish sauce)
• caroenum (reduced sweet grape must)
• milk
• eggs

Instructions

1. Boil brains, then pound with pepper.
2. Blend in cumin and laser with liquamen, caroenum, milk and eggs.
3. Cook gently over a low fire or in a bain-marie until set.