making an estimate of life, it is found that the largest portion belongs
to the past--these ladies, we say, failed not to have the flesh of this
animal served on their tables, and to eat as much of it as possible.
Perchance it had but a slight attraction for the worthy matrons, and yet
they preferred it to every other, for this reason, that the stag being
free from maladies and infirmities--at least so it was
thought--prolongs its existence far beyond the bounds which nature has
assigned to other beings.[XIX-47] The noble patrician ladies would not
have been sorry to survive their great-grandchildren, and they took the
means which appeared to them most likely to ensure longevity.[XIX-48]
If the celebrated Galen had lived in their time, he would have told
those credulous Roman ladies, that this kind of food could not fail to
be hurtful to them; that this indigestible and heating meat is more
likely to provoke disease than to destroy its germ; and that,
consequently, death finds in it an auxiliary rather than an
enemy.[XIX-49]
True, the oracle of Pergama wrote nearly all this a century later, and
yet his medical authority was powerless to persuade, although it may
have convinced the obstinate epicureans of his period.
In point of fact, whatever Galen may say, what dreadful accidents can a
piece of stag properly cooked produce? Moses, so attentive to the health
of his people, allows them the use of it;[XIX-50] Solomon, the wisest of
men, ate it every day.[XIX-51] Do we find that the Jewish monarch and
his people were any the worse for preferring this food?
At Athens, at Rome, and in all Italy, whoever possessed the intelligence
of appreciating good cheer, took care to offer to his friends the
shoulder or fillet of stag.[XIX-52] Nevertheless, gastronomists by
profession, who so generously devoted their fortunes to the service of
the culinary art, abandoned the whole animal to their slaves, and only
reserved for themselves the most tender shoots of the horns. These were
for a long time boiled, then cut into very small pieces, and this
strange dish, seasoned with a mixture of pepper, cummin, savory, rue,
parsley, bay leaves, fat, and pine nuts, sprinkled with vinegar, and
fried, passed for an exquisite and dainty treat, worthy of the most
flattering praises.[XIX-53]
_Quarter of Stag, roast à la Neméenne._--Put into a saucepan pepper,
alisander, carrots, wild marjoram, parsley seed, benzoin root, and
fennel seed; add garum, wine, cooked wine, and a little oil. Boil over a
slow fire, thicken with fine flour, pour on the roast stag, and
serve.[XIX-54]
_Shoulder of Stag à l’Hortensius._--Cook in a saucepan carrots,
alisander, with pepper and parsley seed. Add honey, garum, vinegar, and
luke-warm oil; thicken with fine flour, and pour this sauce on the
shoulder of stag when roasted.[XIX-55]
_Fillet of Stag à la Persane._--Roast it, and at the moment of placing
it on the table, cover it with a seasoning of pepper, alisander,
scallions, wild marjoram, onions, and pine nuts, previously mixed with
honey, garum, mustard, vinegar, and oil.[XIX-56]
THE ROEBUCK.
The flesh of the roebuck, according to Galen, has none of the bad
qualities which he attributes to that of the stag.[XIX-57] Esculapius
and Comus for this once agreed--which very seldom happened--in praising
the beneficial properties and the delicious odour of these timid
quadrupeds.
The Greeks thought much of the roebuck; they obtained the best from the
island of Melos,[XIX-58] and served them at their most sumptuous
repasts.[XIX-59] They were, perhaps, more rarely seen on Roman tables.
_Roebuck with Spikenard._--Pound, in a mortar, pepper, parsley seed, dry
onion, and green rue; add spikenard, and then honey, vinegar, garum,
dates, cooked wine, and oil; mix well the whole, and cover the roast
with it.[XIX-60]
_Roebuck aux Prunes._--Mix pepper, alisander, and parsley, after having
pounded them. Add to this a good quantity of Damascus plums, which you
have soaked in hot water. Then add honey, wine, vinegar, garum, and a
little oil; and, lastly, leeks and savory. Serve the roebuck with this
sauce.[XIX-61]
_Roebuck aux Amandes de Pin._--Bruise pepper, alisander, parsley, and
cummin; mix with it a great quantity of fried pine nuts; and add honey,
vinegar, wine, a little oil, and garum. Pour it over the
roebuck.[XIX-62]
THE DEER.
Little need be said with regard to this charming animal, whose slender
and graceful form was the admiration of those who visited the parks of
Lucullus and Hirpinus. Its flesh was thought to be less wholesome than
that of the roebuck, because it was found to be less succulent.[XIX-63]
Apicius has consecrated to it four culinary recipes, all very similar.
_Deer à la Marcellus._--Put into a saucepan pepper, gravy, rue, and
onions; add honey, garum, cooked wine, and a little oil. Boil very
slowly, thicken with flour, and pour the whole on the deer when
roasted.[XIX-64]
THE WILD BOAR.
It was in the year 63 before the Christian era: the consul Marcus
Tullius Cicero had just accused and convicted Catilina, and Rome, free
from present danger, had forgotten all transitory solicitudes of the
past to welcome joyous banquetings.
A worthy citizen, excellent patriot, distinguished gastronomist, and
possessor of an immense fortune, of which he made the best use (at least
so said several choice epicures, his habitual guests), Survilius
Rullus--such was his name--thought of celebrating by an extraordinary
banquet the triumph of the illustrious consul, and the deliverance of
the country. His cook, a young Sicilian slave of the greatest promise,
and whose mode of cooking a dish of sows’ paps procured him one day a
smile of approbation from Lucullus, succeeded especially in those
eminent performances which command the admiration of the guests, and
give new strength to their exhausted appetites.
Rullus sent for him, and spoke thus: “Recollect that in three days
Cicero will sup here: let the feast be worthy of him who gives it.”
The Sicilian even surpassed himself. As soon as the guests had tasted
the enticing delicacies of the first course, the hall echoed with an
unanimous concert of applause, and the proud Amphitryon, intoxicated
with joy, was going to ask that a crown might be presented to his
beloved slave,[XIX-65] when the cook appeared, followed by four
Ethiopians, who gracefully carried a silver vase of prodigious
dimensions, in the shape of a large mortar. This extraordinary dish
contained a wild boar; baskets of dates were suspended to his tusks, and
charming little wild boars, in exquisite pastry, no doubt--for never was
there a more tempting culinary exhalation--artistically surrounded the
enormous animal.[XIX-66] Every voice was hushed; the guests waited in
silence the most profound.[XIX-67] The tables of the second service
were placed round the guests, who raised themselves on the couches with
greedy curiosity. The blacks deposited the precious burden before
another domestic, a skilful carver, who opened the wild boar with
incredible dexterity and precision, and presented to the astonished eyes
of Rullus and his friends a second entire animal, and in this a third;
then came fresh delicacies, all gradually diminishing in size, until, at
length, a delicious little figpecker terminated this series of strange
viands, of which Rome, wondering and astonished, long preserved the
gastronomic remembrance.[XIX-68]
Man seldom prescribes to himself reasonable limits in the vast field of
vanity and ostentation. At first it was thought an enviable boldness to
have dared to serve an entire boar of a large size. Every one did the
same thing, and at length it became quite common. It was necessary then
to do better. One thought of having three at the same time; another had
four; and soon the extravagant--and they were not few--caused eight wild
boars _à la Troyenne_ to appear at a single repast.[XIX-69] The
Macedonian, Caranus, a man of spirit and of merit, placed himself at
once on an eminence which baffled rivalry. He invited twenty guests to
his wedding, and he had twenty wild boars served.[XIX-70]
It must be confessed that such magnificence rather resembles folly; but,
alas! has not every nation its failings? Besides, the flesh of the wild
boar enjoyed an astonishing reputation in Rome and Greece,[XIX-71] and
no one could, with credit to himself, receive his friends at his table
without presenting them with the fashionable dish,--the animal appointed
by nature to appear at banquets.[XIX-72]
At length, however, they began to tire of this enormous dish; they
divided it into three portions, and the middle piece obtained the
preference.[XIX-73] Ultimately they served only the fillet and head; the
latter of which was more particularly esteemed by the Romans.[XIX-74]
The Greeks tried their appetites by tasting the liver, which was served
at the first course.[XIX-75]
The Romans sought to deprive the wild boar of its terrible ferocity;
they raised them on their farms,[XIX-76] and sometimes they acquired
enormous proportions. These immense beasts weighed no less than a
thousand pounds.[XIX-77] But delicate connoisseurs had always the wisdom
to prefer the dangerous inhabitant of the forest to these bloated
victims of enervating domesticity,[XIX-78] whose insipid and degenerate
flavour hardly betrayed their origin.
The wild boar was generally served surrounded by pyramids of fruits and
lettuces.[XIX-79]
_Wild Boar à la Pompée._--Clean and salt a wild boar, cover it with
cummin; let it remain in salt during twenty-four hours; then roast it;
sprinkle with pepper, and serve with a seasoning of honey, garum, sweet
and cooked wine.[XIX-80]
_Quarter of Wild Boar à la Thébaine._--Cook it in sea water with bay
leaves. When very tender take off the skin, and serve with salt,
mustard, and vinegar.[XIX-]
_Fillet of Wild Boar à la Macédonienne._--Pound pepper, alisander, wild
marjoram, skinned myrtle leaves, coriander, and onions; add honey, wine,
garum, and a little oil. This seasoning must be submitted to a gentle
fire; thicken with flour, and pour the whole over the wild boar as you
draw it from the oven.[XIX-82]
_Wild Boar’s Liver à la Grecque._--Fry it, and serve with a seasoning of
pepper, cummin, parsley seed, mint, thyme, savory, and roasted pine
nuts; to which add honey, wine, garum, vinegar, and a little
oil.[XIX-83]
_Wild Boar’s Head à la Cantabre._--Make the seasoning in the following
manner: mix well, pepper, alisander, parsley seed, mint, thyme, and
roasted pine nuts; add wine, vinegar, garum, and a little oil;
afterwards onions and rue; thicken with whites of eggs; boil over a slow
fire, and stir gently.[XIX-84]
_Green Ham of Wild Boar à la Gauloise._--Insert a long and narrow blade
at the joint, and carefully separate the skin from the flesh, so that
the latter may be well covered with the following seasoning: pound
pepper, bay leaves, rue, and benzoin; add to it some excellent gravy,
cooked wine, and a little oil. Fill the ham, close the opening, and then
cook it in sea water, with some tender shoots of laurel and
dill.[XIX-85]
Under the Norman kings the wild boar’s head was considered a noble dish,
worthy of the sovereign’s table. This, we are told, was brought to the
king’s table with the trumpeters sounding their trumpets before it in
procession. “For,” says Holinshed, “upon the day of coronation (of young
Henry), King Henry II., his father, served him at table as sewer,
bringing up the bore’s head with trumpetes afore it, according to the
ancient manner.”--STRUTT, “_Manners and Customs_,” Vol ii., p. 19.
“A very small consumption is made of the old wild boar; the flesh is
hard, dry, and heavy; the head only is good. The young wild boar is a
fine and delicate game, also, when a year old. The ancients submitted
those they could take away from their mother to castration, and left
them afterwards to run about the woods, where these animals became
larger than the others, and acquired a savour and flavour which made
them preferable to the pigs we rear.”--SONNINI.
THE HARE.
Plutarch contends that the Jews abstained from eating the hare, not
because they thought it unclean, but because it resembled the ass, which
they revered.[XIX-86] This is only a pleasantry on the part of the
celebrated writer, with no other foundation than the fabulous tale of
the grammarian Apion, who asserts in his book against the Jews that they
preserved in Jerusalem an ass’s head, which they adored.[XIX-87] We know
that a sanitary motive was the cause of this animal being interdicted to
the Israelites;[XIX-88] and it has been also remarked that the ancient
Britons abstained from it.[XIX-89]
This mammifer, everywhere very common, swarmed in the East, if we are to
believe Xenophon, who saw a great number of them when marching with his
troops to join young Cyrus.[XIX-90] Greece was abundantly stocked with
them:[XIX-91] the inhabitants of islands of the Ægean sea had more than
once to deplore the ravages which hunger caused these timid animals to
commit, and whose fecundity they cursed.
Hegesander relates that, under the reign of Antigonus, an inhabitant of
the island of Anaphe brought two hares into the neighbourhood. Their
posterity became so numerous that the people were obliged to implore the
gods to preserve the harvest, and to annihilate their formidable
enemies. As the immortals turned a deaf ear to these complaints,
recourse was had to Apollo alone, and the Pythonissa deigned to return
this oracle: “Train hunting dogs, and they will exterminate the
hares.”[XIX-92] The advice was good, and deemed worthy of being adopted.
The Greeks esteemed highly the flesh of this quadruped, which was served
roasted, but almost bleeding,[XIX-93] or made into delicious
pies,[XIX-94] much in vogue in the time of Aristophanes.[XIX-95]
Hippocrates had, however, forbidden the use of it. “The hare,” said he,
“thickens the blood, and causes cruel wakefulness;”[XIX-96] but
epicurism will always think lightly of Hygeian precepts which do not
accord with its own ideas. At all events, Galen was not of the same
opinion as his colleague,[XIX-97] and Galen must be right.
The Emperor Alexander Severus eat a hare at each of his repasts.[XIX-98]
Perhaps that prince shared the opinion of the Romans, who thought that a
person who fed on hare for seven consectutive days became fresher,
fatter, and more beautiful. A lady, named Gellia, had a large share of
that unfortunate gift of nature which we call ugliness. She resolved to
make a trial of this regimen, and submitted to it with a regularity
really exemplary. She showed herself at the end of the week, and we are
informed that no one thought her any the prettier for it.[XIX-99]
The epicures of Rome contented themselves with eating the shoulder of
the hare, and left the remainder to less fastidious guests.[XIX-100]
THE RABBIT.
“The conies are but feeble folks, yet make they their houses in the
rocks.”[XIX-101] They taught mankind, it is said, the art of
fortification, mining, and covered roads.[XIX-102] These skilful
engineers come originally from warm climates; from Africa, perhaps,
whence they were brought to Spain.
They there became so numerous, and dug so well their holes beneath the
houses of Tarragona, that that city was completely overthrown, and the
greater part of the inhabitants buried beneath its ruins.[XIX-103]
Catullus calls Spain _Cuniculosa Celtiberia_ (Celtiberian rabbit
warren); and two medals, struck in the reign of Adrian, represent that
peninsula under the form of a beautiful woman, clothed in a robe and
mantle, with a rabbit at her feet. This animal was called in Hebrew,
_Saphan_, of which the Phœnicians have made _Spania_, and the Latins
_Hispania_.[XIX-104]
Strabo relates that the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, despairing
of being able to oppose the extraordinary propagation of rabbits, which
nearly rendered their country uninhabitable, sent ambassadors to Rome to
implore assistance against this new kind of enemy.[XIX-105] Augustus
furnished them with troops, and the Roman arms were once more
victorious.[XIX-106]
Aristotle says nothing of the rabbit, which, probably, was then little
known in Greece. It afterwards became common enough, and that of
Macedonia, in particular, found favour at tables renowned for
delicacies.[XIX-107]
The Romans, those bold innovators in cookery, so desirous of strange and
unheard of dishes, would only consent to eat rabbits on condition of
their being killed before they had left off sucking, or taken alive from
the slaughtered mother, to be immediately transferred to the ardent
stoves of their kitchens.[XIX-108] It was certainly reserved for that
people to frighten the world by all kinds of culinary anomalies.
THE FOX.
A young fox, fattened on grapes, and roasted on the spit, is a tidbit
for a king during the autumn.[XIX-109] Such was the idea of the Roman
peasants; but we must be allowed, however, to differ from their opinion.
THE HEDGEHOG.
The Greeks willingly eat the hedgehog[XIX-110] in a _ragoût_--a dish the
Romans never envied them.
THE SQUIRREL.
This charming little animal, which ought never to please but when alive,
often appeared at Rome among the most elegant dishes of the
feast.[XIX-111] At first it was only eaten by caprice: unfortunately for
the little animal, it was found to be very nice.
THE CAMEL.
Aristotle gives the greatest praise to the flesh of this useful animal,
and places it without hesitation above the most delicate
viands.[XIX-112] The Greeks, his countrymen, thought it worthy of being
roasted for the table of sovereigns,[XIX-113] and the inhabitants of
Persia and Egypt partook of the same enthusiasm. Rome thought the camel
fit for the solitude of the Desert, but not for the ornament of
banquets; and really, for this once, Rome appears to have been right.
“The flesh of the young dromedary is as good as that of veal, and the
Arabs make of it their common food. They preserve it in vases, which
they cover with fat. They make butter and cheese with the milk of the
female.”--DESMAREST.
The ancients, in their wars, made use of dromedaries. The soldiers when
upon these animals formed a particular militia. In the Egyptian
expedition Bonaparte renewed this ancient custom, and that cavalry
caused a great deal of injury to the Bedouins and Arabs. Besides the
rider, each dromedary carried provisions and munitions of war.
THE ELEPHANT.
Certain wandering tribes of Asia and Africa were thought formerly to be
very fond of grilled elephant.[XIX-114] The Egyptians went so far in
their pursuit of this delicacy, that the King Ptolemy Philadelphus was
forced to forbid them, under pain of the most severe laws, to kill one
of these animals, whose number diminished every day. The law was
disregarded, and the elephant only possessed greater attractions for
them.[XIX-115]
In our days, also, some semi-savage nations partake of the same taste.
Le Vaillant, a celebrated traveller, and a most distinguished
gastronomist, tells us that the first time he partook of an elephant’s
trunk, which was served him by the Hottentots, he resolved that it
should not be the last; for nothing appeared to him of a more exquisite
flavour.[XIX-116] But he reserves his greatest praises for the foot of
the colossal quadruped. We will let him speak for himself:--
“They cut off the four feet of the animal, and made in the earth a hole
about three feet square. This was filled with live charcoal, and,
covering the whole with very dry wood, a large fire was kept up during
part of the night. When they thought that the hole was hot enough, it
was emptied: a Hottentot then placed within it the four feet of the
animal, covered them with hot ashes, and then with charcoal and small
wood; and this fire was left burning until the morning. * * * My
servants presented me at breakfast with an elephant’s foot. It had
considerably swelled in the cooking; I could hardly recognise the shape,
but it appeared so good, exhaled so inviting an odour, that I hastened
to taste it. It was a dish for a king. Although I had often heard the
bear’s foot praised, I could, not conceive how so heavy, so material an
animal as the elephant, could furnish a dish so fine and delicate. * * *
And I devoured, without bread, my elephant’s foot, while my Hottentots,
seated around me, regaled themselves with other parts, which they found
equally delicious.”[XIX-117]
The Romans never evinced fondness for the flesh of the elephant. This
animal, with its gigantic proportions and rare intelligence, was found
to be so amusing to the nation of kings, when dancing on the tight
rope,[XIX-118] or in the terrible combats of the Circus,[XIX-119] that
they hardly thought of roasting it, or making it into _fricassees_. We
cannot, however, affirm that the gastronomic eccentricity of some Roman
epicure did not dream of a monstrous feast, in which he may have offered
to his guests an elephant _à la Troyenne_ on a silver dish, made
purposely for the occasion.
XX.
FEATHERED GAME.
Moses permitted his people to eat game, with the exception of birds of
prey and some other species whose flesh appeared to him hard and
unwholesome.[XX-1]
The Egyptians piously offered to their priests the most delicate birds,
which they willingly accepted, and eat, in order not to weaken their
intelligence by the use of more simple and heavy food.[XX-2]
Among the Greeks, at the commencement of the repast, little birds were
served roasted, on which was poured a boiling sauce, composed of scraped
cheese, oil, vinegar, and silphium.[XX-3]
Feathered game appeared in Italy only at the second course. The Romans
were very partial to it, and many epicureans, possessing strange tastes,
found means to ruin themselves by eating pheasants and flamingoes.
The celebrated comedian, Æsopus, whom Cicero thought worthy of being his
master in the art of declamation, had one day the fancy to regale
himself with a dish of birds, the whole of which, when living, had both
learned to sing and speak.[XX-4] This gluttony of a new kind cost him
very dear, and the supper of the barbarian was not any the better for
it.
Some modern nations--the French among others--formerly eat the heron,
crane, crow, stork, swan, cormorant, and bittern; the first three
especially were highly esteemed, and Taillevant, cook of Charles VII.,
teaches us how to prepare these meagre, tough birds. Belon says that, in
spite of its revolting taste when unaccustomed to it, the bittern is,
however, among the delicious treats of the French.[XX-5] This writer
asserts also that a falcon, or a vulture, either roasted or boiled, is
excellent eating; and that if one of these birds happened to kill itself
in flying after the game, the falconer instantly cooked it. Liebaut
calls the heron a royal viand!
These same men who eat vultures, herons, and cormorants, did not touch
young game: they thought it indigestible; and, for instance, abstained
from leverets and partridges.
The internal parts being the first to corrupt, the ancients carefully
drew the game they wished to preserve. That done, they filled the inside
with wheat or oats, and then placed it in the midst of a heap of flour
or grain, with the feathers or hair on.
Thus protected from the contact of the air or insects, the game kept
remarkably well.
THE PHEASANT.
The Argonauts discovered this magnificent bird on the shores of Phasis,
a celebrated river of Colchis, and introduced it into Greece, where it
was unknown.[XX-6] This tradition, sung by the poets,[XX-7] has only met
with one contradictor, Isidorus,[XX-8] who pretends that the pheasant is
a native of an island of Greece, called Phasis.