Cuminatum in Ostrea

I love reading about history, including culinary history. My travels through books and along the Internet take me to a lot of recipes. Many of those recipes, along with the resulting dishes, have long histories that date back decades, centuries and, in a few cases, perhaps a millennium or two. Yet, the recipes I find are usually the present day versions of those recipes, with little to no discussion about how we got to this point or that recipe.

Every once in a while, I will stumble upon someone who takes the time to find and talk about those recipes. In this case, it is the Historical Italian Cooking blog. The recipe that caught my eye is called cuminatum in ostrea et conchylia, which is Latin for cumin sauce for oysters and shellfish. The recipe dates back to at least the 5th century C.E., during which the Roman Empire collapsed (476 C.E.). We can go this far back because the recipe was found in the midst of a collection of recipes compiled in De Re Culinaria, also known as Apicius. The only surviving version of the Apicius dates back to the 5th century. 

Yet, cookbooks are sometimes akin to history books: they recount the recipe at the time of publication. This particular recipe may be much older, perhaps dating all the way back to the 1st century C.E. Some have attributed the Apicius to Marcus Gavius Apicius, who noble who was renown for his love of luxury foods. The Roman philopsopher Seneca once remarked that Apicius "proclaimed the science of the cookshop" (Seneca, Consolatio ad Helviami 10) and then corrupted the age through his example.

As the Historical Italian Cooking blog explains, Romans considered oysters to be a "costly food." Oysters may have been a luxury to the point that there was a reluctance to share them. The Roman poet, Martial (known as the father of the epigram, after all, he wrote 1,561 of them) recounted the following interesting epigram about a guest's response to the host's dinner: 

I dine with you at my own cost,

So why not fare the same, both guest and host?

You swallow Lucrine oysters large and fat,

I suck a whelk and cut my lips at that.

You're served with mushrooms, I chew fungus still,

You have to do with turbot, I with brill

Plump yellow doves your appetite assuage, 

I have a magpie starved within its cage.

I am by your side and yet I'm far away.

The dole has gone. Let's fare the same, I say.

Clearly, oysters ranked with other luxurious food items, such as mushrooms, turbot, and "plump yellow doves." (By the way, the underlying message in this epigram is as timeless is as true today as it was when Martial wrote it back in the first century A.D.) Other epigrams and poems by Martial underscore the oyster as an expensive food for Romans. 

Yet, even a costly food item like oysters has its limits. In another poem, Martial wrote, in part: 

I WILLINGLY accept your dainty fare

If hospitality be undesigning: 

Not so, if you imagine that I care

For nothing in the world so much as dining; 

A dozen oysters will not make you heir

To my reputed wealth for which you are pining; 

The feast is elegant; that I admit

But on the morrow what is left of it? 

Upon the morrow? Where is it to-day

The moment after it has passed your gullet?

Thus, oysters won't make you rich during Roman times, but they were certainly enjoyed by the rich.

This leads me to how Romans ate oysters. For that, I turned back to the Historical Italian Cooking blog. The author writes that in books wrote in the 2nd century, Galen's De Facultatibus Alimentorium, and in the 6th century, Anthimus' De Observatione Ciborum, recount that Romans ate oysters both raw and cooked (either boiled or fried). 

However, the recipe in Apicius provides for the oysters and shellfish but did not provide a cooking method. it provided only a sauce, and one that has its base in cuminum or cumin. In fact, the sauce requires a good amount of cumin (or cuminum plusculum). The recipe also calls for other spices (black pepper and lovage), herbs (fresh parsley and mint, the recipe calls for dried mint but you can use fresh mint), and a liquid mixture that consists of honey, garum and vinegar. If you do not have lovage, Historical Italian Cooking advises that, according to Pliny, you could use anise seeds, or according to Dioscorides, you can use fennel seeds.

For this recipe, I decided to prepare the sauce to serve with raw oysters. While I do not have authentic Roman garum (check out this post by Historical Italian Cooking on how to make it), I do have a significant amount of Vietnamese fish sauce (check out my post with a brief discussion of the history of fish sauce, including a reference to garum). I have modified the recipe slightly from the one provided by Historical Italian Cooking to show both how the writer described the preparation and how I prepared this dish. 

In the end, I have to say that I was not a big fan of this sauce. While I like cumin as a spice, I came to the realization that I am not keen on cuminum plusculum. The large amount of cumin overwhelmed the flavors of the oysters, with the brininess being lost in the loud notes of the spice. 

CUMINATUM IN OSTREA

Recipe adapted from Historical Italian Cooking

Serves several

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kilograms (about 3 pounds) of oysters
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper; 
• Pinch of fennel seeds; 
• 4 tablespoons of cumin;
• 1 bunch of parsley, minced finely
• 1 tablespoon of dried mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Prepare the sauce. Mince the parsley (and mint, if you use fresh mint). Pound them in the mortar with the pepper and the fennel seeds (or anise seeds or lovage), adding the cumin as you work. Move the mixture to a bowl and then proceed to mix in the honey and fish sauce (or garum), diluting it with the vinegar. 

2.  Finish the dish. Shuck the oysters and reserve the liqueur. Add some of the liqueur to the cumin sauce. Spoon some of the sauce over the shucked oysters and serve immediately. 

ENJOY!

Andalusian-Inspired Oyster Shooters

The overwhelming majority of oyster shooter recipes utilize alcohol as an ingredient.  Vodka, tequila, wine or beer.  Most recipes incorporate one, and, usually in a rather boring way.  Who wants a Bloody Mary Oyster Shooter? Not me.   How about a Lime Tequila Oyster Shooter?  Uh, no.   Maybe a Champagne oyster shooter?  Maybe; but, not today.  Rather, I wanted to make an oyster shooter; and, I did not want to have to use alcohol as an ingredient.

My search for an alcohol-free oyster shooter recipe, other than the ones that I have already made (see here and here), seemed hopeless.  That was until I found a recipe for a Spanish Style Oyster Shooter.  That recipe called for alcohol (namely, vodka), but it got me to thinking.  The principal ingredients of the liquid were the classic ingredients of a gazpacho.  The chilled tomato soup, with its Andalusian origins, got me to thinking that it would be the perfect medium for an alcohol-free oyster shooter.  

While a gazpacho is a very simple soup to make, I decided to make a few changes. First, traditional gazpacho uses bread to thicken the soup.  That is great when you are serving gazpacho as a soup; it is not so great when you are trying to make it more like a drink.  So, I dispensed with the bread, which helped to maintain a lighter consistency.  Second, I decided to add a 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper.  This ingredient helps to provide a small little kick to the shooter.  I think that I will use an entire jalapeno pepper when I make this recipe again, because that little kick got lost in the tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper.   Third, I used Willapoint Oysters, which are farm raised in the State of Washington.  These oysters are sold by the pint, which means that they are pre-shucked.  This saves a lot of preparation time.  In addition, Willapoint Oysters also tend to be larger than other oysters that are available to me, such as Blue Points, Chicoteagues and Salt Tanks.  This larger oysters make for a whopping double Oyster Shooters, as the picture below shows.

ANDALUSIAN-INSPIRED OYSTER SHOOTERS

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pint of shucked oysters or 24 oysters shucked with

     liqueur reserved

1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cucumber, skinned, seeded, diced

1/2 jalapeno, skinned, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

1 bunch of scallions, white parts and green parts

     thinly sliced

1/2 cup water

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Prepare the "gazpacho."  Place the tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, white wine vinegar, and jalapeno in a blender.  Blend until the ingredients are liquified.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

2.  Prepare the oysters.  If you buy a pint of oysters, remove the oysters and strain the liquid through cheesecloth.  If you bought the oysters, shuck the oysters and reserve the liqueur.

3.  Finish the dish.  Stir the oyster liqueur into the "gazpacho."  Place 1 or 2 oysters in the bottom of a shot glass, and 1-2 tablespoons of the "gazpacho."  Garnish with the scallions.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Seared Sea Scallops with Carrot-Orange Gastrique and Cauliflower Puree

For my 40th birthday, a friend gave me a very special gift.  Knowing that I enjoy fine wine, he gave me a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin's La Grande Dame (1998).  He said that, in his opinion, La Grand Dame was the best French Champagne, with perfect strands of bubbles.  My friend gave me the wine with one "condition," that I enjoy the wine rather than simply storing it in my basement or a cellar.   After thanking him profusely, I said that I should have no problem with that "condition."  I had immediately planned on sharing it with my beautiful Angel, Clare.

Soon thereafter, I began thinking about whether I could pair the La Grande Dame with  food.  In particular, I wanted to make a special dish that could be presented with the wine.  I began to research possible pairings with cuisines and ingredients.   I found a web post called Brigadoon with Bubbles: A Veuve Cliquot Brunch.  The author/blogger described a multiple course brunch that was paired with Veuve Cliquot wines.  The one dish that caught my attention was the Scallop, Orange and Carrot Gastrique with a Parmesan Pancetta Crisp.  That dish was specifically paired with the La Grande Dame (1998).  According to the writer, "the pairing worked beautifully."  So, I had my recipe.  The only problem was that I did not have a recipe.  The author/blogger only described eating the dish, not how the dish was prepared.

I now had a challenge ... to create a recipe based solely on the name of the dish.   The name has three components ... scallops, a carrot/orange gastrique and the Parmesan pancetta crisp.  Given Clare does not eat meat, I decided to forgo the Parmesan pancetta crisp.  I also decided to replace that component with a cauliflower puree.  The puree would give me a base upon which the scallops could be placed.  As for the remaining components, the scallops had to be seared and I had to make a carrot and orange gastrique. 

I now had a problem ... I had never made a gastrique before.  Generally speaking, a gastrique is a sauce made from caramelized sugar that is deglazed with vinegar.  It is a combination of sweet and sour (or tart), that is often enhanced with other flavor components, such as fresh fruit, herbs or, in my case, carrot and orange juice.  I dutifully studied "how-to-make gastrique" pages in preparation for making this dish.  And, although I wanted to do a couple "test-runs," I decided that I would go ahead and make it for the pairing.  Truth be told, I really wanted to try the La Grande Dame and, given the fact that I have not been cooking as much as I used to, I did not want to have to wait for the opportunities to try making gastriques.

In the end, everything worked out well, with one exception.  The scallops seared well, the gastrique was very good, and the puree, which Clare made, was very good.  That last bit is significant because I am not a fan of cauliflower, but Clare did a great job.  The one thing I need to work on, as you can see from the picture below, is my presentation.  Well, I guess I need to have something to work on....

SEARED SEA SCALLOPS WITH CARROT-ORANGE GASTRIQUE

AND CAULIFLOWER PUREE

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients (for the Sea Scallops):

About 1 pound of sea scallops

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the Carrot-Orange Gastrique):

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of water

1 pound of carrots

1 orange (Valencia)

2 cups water
1/2 cup of white wine vinegar

Ingredients (for the Cauliflower Puree)

2 pounds of cauliflower

1/4 cup of skim milk

3 tablespoons of utter

Garlic powder

Directions:
1.  Prepare the Carrot-Orange Juice.  Rinse the carrots and cut into pieces.  Puree the carrots in a food processor or a blender.  Add a tablespoon of water if the carrots are a little dry.  Remove the carrot puree to a large bowl and add two cups of hot water.  Let it the puree sit and steep for fifteen to thirty minutes.  Then strain the puree and set aside the juice.  Add the juice of one orange to the carrot juice.  Stir the juices and set aside.

2.  Prepare the Cauliflower Puree.  Steam the cauliflower florets in a steamer for about twenty to twenty-five minutes.  Remove the florets and place in a blender.  Add the butter and milk.  Blend the cauliflower until it is a smooth puree.

3.  Prepare the gastrique.  Add the sugar and water to a small, non-reactive saucepan.  Heat the mixture over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves and begins to bubble.  Watch the sugar mixture very carefully as it begins to caramelize.  You want to the mixture to have a nice golden color.  Once that color is achieved, add the vinegar.  Do not add it in a slow stream; add the vinegar quickly.  The sugar will harden, but it dissolve again as the mixture cooks.  Once the sugar has re-dissolved, add the carrot/orange juice.  Begin by adding one-half cup.  Taste the mixture to determine its tartness.  Keep adding the carrot/orange juice until you have added at most two cups.  If the mixture is still too tart, you can add a little more sugar.  Once you have the taste you want, continue to cook the gastrique until it is reduced and thickens a little.

4.  Sear the scallops.  Heat the oil on high heat in a pan.  Add the scallops and cook on high heat for about four or five minutes (depending upon the size of the scallops).  Flip the scallops and continue to cook about three to four minutes more.

5.  Plate the dish.  Spoon the cauliflower puree on the center of the dish. Plate four to five scallops over the puree.  Spoon the gastrique over the scallops and around the sides of the puree.

In the end, this was a great dish.  I will definitely make it again.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

This dish was made for a special wine, Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin's La Grande Dame (1998), so I highly recommend that wine as the natural pairing for this dish.  However, it is a very expensive wine, so if you do not want to spend that much money on a wine, consider a French Champagne or sparkling wine.

ENJOY!