GRUEM VEL ANATEM (Crane or Duck in Spiced Gravy)

(Apic. 6, 2, 1) Ingredients:

• 1 large duck
• 1 l water
• bunch of dill
• Olive oil (or 50 g butter)
• Liquamen (or, in this case, duck stock)
• 2 sprigs of oregano finely chopped
• bunch of coriander
• 100 ml defritum (or red wine boiled)
• large pinch of black peppercorns
• large pinch of lovage (or celery seed)
• large pinch of cumin
• large pinch of coriander seeds
• 1 laser root (or garlic)
• Sprig of rue (or rosemary)
• Caroenum (wine reduced of 1/3 plus honey)
• Honey
• Red wine vinegar
• Flour
• Salt

Instructions:
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Place the duck in a stock pot and cover with water. Add the dill and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes and remove the bird from the pot, reserving the stock. Place the duck in a roasting tin and season with a mixture of oil and about 150 ml of the original stock and the chopped coriander and oregano. (At this point an 'Apician' stuffing composed of chopped sausages, damsons or dates, chopped almonds and spices may be placed in the bird). Roast the duck at 180°C for 1½ hours, basting from time to time. For the final 30 minutes of cooking add the boiled red wine to the roasting pan.
To make the sauce grind the peppercorns, celery seeds, cumin, coriander seeds and laser root with a pestle and mortar. Add the chopped rue and grind these in as well. Add the Caroenum, honey and vinegar to this. Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Remove the duck from the oven and set aside to rest. Pour 150ml of the duck gravy into the sauce, add a tablespoon of flour to thicken and bring to a gentle simmer. Carve the duck and place on a platter. Pour the sauce over the top and serve.

 

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This large house, built in the 2nd century B.C. and restructured during the Imperial age, opens onto Via di Nola and consists of a double Tuscan atrium and a peristyle with a double order of columns at the front. The house was given this name as it was discovered in 1879, the year of the eighteenth centenary of the eruption which completely buried Pompeii. It is divided into two sections: the main house, for the master’s family, and the servants’ quarters, with a separate entrance from a side street. In line with tradition it has a private bath-house and swimming pool. A particularly beautiful nymphaeum with a fountain is situated at the rear of the peristyle and a b ... continue

(Apic. 5, 4, 4) Ingredients:

• 250 g dry peas
• Ground pepper
• 1 tblsp lovage
• 1 tblsp dill
• 2 fresh scallion (or 1/2 onion)
• Liquamen (or soya sauce or broth)
• 4 tblsp red wine (like dry Marsala)
• 4 eggs

Instructions:
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Put the dry peas in water all night long and rinse it repeatedly. Then cook it until skimmed. Mesh pepper, lovage, dill, scallion moistened with Liquamen; add wine and Liquamen to taste: stir in a sauce pan with the peas to combine; beat 4 eggs, and combine them with the peas, place on the ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.