Roman Hamburgers
Roman hamburger patties made with caul fat
City/Region: Rome
Time Period: 1st Century
The Romans didn’t eat beef all that often, usually only consuming it around festivals and sacrifices when there was plenty to go around. Cows were symbols of wealth and the primo choice for sacrifices to many of the gods.
For this recipe, you could use any kind of meat that you want. In similar recipes, the cookbook mentions mussels, squid, pheasant, peacock, and pig brains, so the sky’s the limit.
The caul fat melts into the patties and doesn’t leave any kind of texture behind. The main flavor is from the pepper, and they’re chewier than a modern burger because the meat isn’t ground (it eats more like a steak). I liked it just by itself, but it’s really good with the caroenum (reduced grape juice) that Apicius suggests.
“Isicia Omentata
(Minced meat with caul fat)
Chop meat and pound with white bread crumbs soaked in wine. Pound pepper, Garum, and myrtle berry if you like. Shape the meat with pine nuts and pepper placed inside. Wrap in the caul and cook served with caroenum.”
Ingredients:
- 3 cups (700 ml) grape juice or wine
- A few large slices of stale bread, crumbled up without the crust, about 1 cup
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) wine, I used red
- 1 lb (450 g) meat, I used beef
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- A few myrtle berries or juniper berries*, optional
- 1 tablespoon garum*
- 1/4 cup (30 g) pine nuts
- Caul fat*
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- To make the caroenum, pour the grape juice or wine into a saucepan and set it over low heat. Reduce it down to about 1 cup (1/3 of its original quantity). It will be thick and syrupy.
- In a bowl, add the bread to the wine and let it soak.
- Chop the meat into very fine pieces. Pound the meat and soaked bread together in a mortar and pestle. You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your mortar.
- In a clean mortar, grind the myrtle or juniper berries if you’re using them with half of the pepper.
- In a bowl, combine the meat, spices, and garum.
- Coarsely grind the pine nuts and remaining peppercorns in a mortar and pestle. Mix this into the meat mixture.
- Shape the mixture into patties.
- Wrap the patties with pieces of the caul. It should stick to itself.
- You can cook the patties in a variety of ways: boiled, fried, over an open fire, or baked. I cooked mine in a pan over an open flame (my stove) until they were nice and deeply caramelized on both sides.
- Serve them forth with the caroenum.
Notes
- Juniper berries, used in making gin, have a spicy, piney flavor.
- Garum was a fermented fish sauce that was used in a lot of ancient Roman cooking. You can buy a modern equivalent or use an Asian fish sauce.
- Caul fat is the thin web of fat that encases the internal organs of some animals, and it’s often used to encase meat. Unlike other casings, caul will melt and add fat to a lean dish and help flavor it. Ask your local butcher for it.
- Link to juniper berries: https://amzn.to/3sw4WEh
- Link to garum: https://amzn.to/3ulTKKW
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