THE KITCHEN.
Let as enter together one of those vast kitchens, where two thousand years ago, the marvellous suppers of some rich senator were concocted. In every direction, slaves are coming loaded with meat, game, sea-fish, vegetables, fruit, and those expensive delicacies of which the dessert of the Romans was principally composed. The slaves have been over the principal markets of the city, especially those of the Trigemina gate,
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XI.]
No. 1. Remains of a kitchen-stove in the house of Pansa, at Pompeii, much like those of the present day; a knife, a strainer, and a kind of frying-pan with four cavities, probably intended to cook eggs.
No. 2. Stock-pot, in bronze, to hang over the fire, if we may judge from the eye at the top of the handle.
No. 3. A similar one of another shape, for boiling.
No. 4. Ladles of various forms, for making libation from larger vessels.
No. 5. A brazier; the thickness of the sides are hollow, and intended to contain water, and the four turrets are provided with moveable lids, at the side is a cock to draw off the water. The centre of course was filled with lighted charcoal, and if a tripod, or trivet, were placed above it, many processes of cooking, such as boiling, stewing, or frying, might be performed.—“Pompeii.”—“Lib. of Ent. Know.”
of the Metasudante,[XXII_39] of the Suburd Way,[XXII_40] and the Sacred Way.[XXII_41] Each one lays his basket at the feet of the procurator or major-domo, who examines the contents, and registers them on his tablets;[XXII_42] then he has placed in the pantry, contiguous to the dining room, those of the provisions which demand no preparation,[XXII_43] but whose graceful and symmetrical arrangement is confided to two Æolian servants designated under the name of structores.[XXII_44]
All these porters are under the immediate orders of a confidential servant—obsonator—charged with buying the provisions necessary for the household, and who is obliged to make himself acquainted with the taste of his master and also of each guest, that he may procure nothing which they dislike.[XXII_45]
The remaining comestibles are placed in an airy and spacious apartment adjoining the kitchen, and at the back of the house.[XXII_46] There, around a table loaded with numerous wooden figures, representing a variety of animals, some attentive young men are practising, under the direction of an experienced master, the difficult art of carving game and poultry;[XXII_47] whilst a melodious symphony accustoms their skilful hands to hasten or retard their graceful movements according to the time of the music.[XXII_48] In this learned rehearsal the eye and ear, alike charmed, pass alternately from the peaceful emotions of the pensive adagio to the lively cadences of the rapid allegro, and from the harmonious and calm andante to the captivating and joyous accents of a frenzied prestissimo.
In this spacious laboratory the most delicious emanations invite us. The chief of the cooks, the Archimagirus,[XXII_49] seated on a raised platform, embraces at a single glance the series of stock-pots and brick stoves,[XXII_50] very similar to those in use at the present day, at which the silent crowd of assistants,[XXII_51] ministers of his will, elaborate and watch the expensive dishes destined to form a splendid supper. As, at the moment of battle, the general, motionless on a height which commands a view of his army, hastens, orders, scolds his scattered battalions, absent and yet everywhere, animating with his own inspiration the warlike masses, and exciting them with the excitement of his own soul, he invokes victory, and victory replies, “Behold me!” The Archimagirus has also his days of triumph; and in the evening, perhaps, the king of the feast will place on his head a crown of flowers, precious recompense of his talent and success.
At some distance from the culinary autocrat, on the opposite side, an
immense iron grate,[XXII_52] carefully supplied with wood,[XXII_53] which an unhappy slave unceasingly blows with his breath into a flame,[XXII_54] throws around its lurid glare. The Lares, grotesque figures, roughly carved in stone, protect this spot. A cock is sacrificed to them in the month of December.[XXII_55]
Some learned men have supposed that the Greeks and Romans had no chimneys; it is, however, easy to prove the contrary. Philocleo, a character in the comedy of the “Wasps” of Aristophanes, hides himself in a chimney. A slave who hears him, cries out, “What a noise there is in the pipe of this chimney!” Philocleo, being discovered, exclaims, “I am the smoke, and I am trying to escape.”[XXII_56]
Appian, speaking of the proscriptions of the triumvirs, relates that several citizens fled into the pipes of the chimneys.[XXII_57]
These two examples will preclude the necessity of more ample citations.
A vast cauldron of brass from Argos,[XXII_58] or Dodona,[XXII_59] placed on a tripod above the fireplace, furnishes the hot water required for the service of the kitchen. The frying-pan, beside it, serves in the cooking of certain delicate cakes or fish.[XXII_60]
The magiric laboratory, to which the reader is invited, is very nicely decorated with a profusion of utensils similar in every respect to our own in point of shape—such as gridirons, cullenders, dripping-pans, and tart dishes. These objects are of tolerably thick bronze, plated with fine silver.[XXII_61] Charming shells of the same metal, serve to mould the pastry,[XXII_62] which is afterwards disposed with order on the shelves of a country oven,[XXII_63] or in the upper part of the authepsa,—a kind of saucepan of Corinthian brass, of considerable value, and made with such art that its contents cook instantly and almost without fire.[XXII_64] This simple and ingenious vessel possesses a double-bottom; the uppermost one holds
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XII.]
From the ancients very little is left us of their kitchen utensils; however, the vessels and instruments which they used must have been in great variety; they had boilers called by the names of caldarium, cacabus, cortina, adhenum; chaldron, lebes; stewpan, sartago; saucepan, pultarium; the cullender, with small holes perforated, Pliny calls colum, and more modern writers verna; spoons, in Latin, cochlear or cochleare; forks and hooks, to draw the meat out of the stockpots, they named creagra and fuscina; the dishes were called lances, disci, patina, patella, or catini; and distinguished from plates by the size, and sometimes the shape.
No. 1. Stockpot, with a large ladle and cullender attached, with small holes; appeared on the column of Trajan, together with the stewpan of Silenus.
No. 2. Broken stewpan, in bronze.
No. 3. Smaller one. These three articles of kitchen utensils are from the cabinet of M. l’Abbé Charlet.—“Antiquités de Montfaucon.”
the light delicacies destined for the dessert, and the fire is underneath.[XXII_65]
The diploma, or double-vase, which has sometimes been confounded with the authepsa, does not in the least resemble the latter. It is thus they named the vessel called by us a “bain-marie;”[XXII_66] the ancients made great use of this mild and gentle process of cooking, which is often mentioned in the treatise of Apicius.[XXII_67]
These brass boilers, which boil on the hearth, supported by three feet, are precisely like those used by the French at the present day.[XXII_68] Boilers also of a rather different kind are sometimes used, in which the operation of ebullition takes place sooner than in the first mentioned; they are closed with a cover in the form of a dome, and a large hollow cylinder, fixed beneath, hastens and keeps up the action of the caloric.[XXII_69]
The saucepans, around which a host of cooks are busily engaged, are for the greater part made of brass or earthenware,[XXII_70] tolerably wide and deep, which they place on the stoves, and in which are concocted the delicate and scientific preparations. Some are of silver.[XXII_71] The caprices of luxury have led them to suppose that certain expensive viands acquire greater perfection when cooked in this precious metal.
A confidential slave, charged with the care of the plate, is cleaning and polishing near a dresser a large number of bronze chafing-dishes, which are to be used at table to prevent the plates from becoming cold. It is in speaking of this useful invention that Seneca, the philosopher, says, “Daintiness gave birth to this invention, in order that no viand should be chilled, and that everything should be hot enough to please the most pampered palate. The kitchen follows the supper.”[XXII_72] Each of these elegant utensils is supported by three geese. It measures about seven inches from the extremity of one of the bird’s heads to the opposite edge of the circumference. This kind of tray is fifteen lines, or an inch and a-quarter deep, and the feet raise it about two inches above the plane. The three geese have their wings spread, and terminate by
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XIII.]
No. 1. This boiler is made of bronze; the lower part was filled with water, and made to boil by means of the cylinder, covered with a lid, in which lighted charcoal was introduced; the ashes escaped through holes perforated at the bottom, and the basin has a tap to let the water out.
No. 2. A flat saucepan, or sauté pan, with a fluted handle, and a ram’s head at the end.
No. 3. A kettle similar to our teapots.
No. 4. A gridiron, and a dripping-pan.
No. 5. A trivet, a cleaver, and a butcher’s knife.—St. Non, “Cabinet of Herculaneum.”
neats’ feet. The heads, raised on the breasts, form graceful handles.[XXII_73] These chafing-dishes, arranged systematically on the sigma, produce a delightful effect.
Dishes of massive silver occupy another compartment of the vast cupboard. An opulent family could not possibly do without this luxury. Sylla had some which weighed 200 marks, and Rome would produce more than five hundred of the same weight.[XXII_74] It was in fact a perfect furore, which afterwards greatly augmented. In the time of the Emperor Claudius, one of his slaves, named Drusillanus Rotundus, possessed a silver dish weighing 1,000 marks, which was served in the midst of eight smaller ones weighing 100 marks each. These nine dishes were arranged at table on a machine which supported and placed them prominently in view.
The patinæ such was the name of these magnificent pieces of plate, served for ragoûts and fish; the catinus, an immense vase of earthenware among the poor[XXII_75] and of silver with the rich, is more especially reserved for liquid dishes, with much gravy, and what we call pottage.[XXII_76]
Those silver cups and saucers, of the same shape and size as those we employ for tea, have a destination very strange to our ideas. They are used to drink hot water. They are worked in relief, with a taste and delicacy which we cannot too much admire.[XXII_77]
The Roman spoons, rather different from our own, end on one side by a point, to pick shell fish from their shell, and at the other by the bowl of a spoon, with which eggs were eaten.[XXII_78]
Doubtless, forks were unknown to the Greeks, since Athenæus relates, “that Pithyllus”—surnamed the Dainty—“did not content himself with covering his tongue with a species of net, to appreciate the taste of the various dishes, but cleaned and rubbed it with a fish. He also enveloped his hands in a kind of glove, to eat everything burning hot;”[XXII_79] a useless precaution if he had used a fork.
This indispensable addition to a modern table was, perhaps, not common at Rome, but nevertheless, it was to be seen at the residence of some wealthy families. The slave before-mentioned holds several in his hand. These forks are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship.
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XIV.]
No. 1. Chafing-dish to keep everything hot.
No. 2. Silver cup, beautifully chased, to drink hot water.
The stags’ feet which terminate the handles, and the fillets with which they are ornamented, bear witness by their execution to the rare talent of the goldsmith. They are five inches and a half in length, and have only two prongs.[XXII_80]
Other servants dispose the earthenware pails, in which the wine is to be placed to cool,[XXII_81] and prepare the drinking cups and crystal flagons.[XXII_82] One of them replenishes with vinegar, salt, and pepper, little vases designated by the name of acetabulum, “vinegar cruet.”[XXII_83] These are so many models of the most exquisite elegance, in bronze, silver, and, sometimes, gold. They are manufactured simply of earthenware, for the use of the middle classes of people.[XXII_84]
The knives, destined to serve at table, are of brilliant steel, and carefully sharpened; they bear each on the handle some whimsical ornament, and seem to have served as models for those which were so much in fashion towards the beginning of the 17th century, and which were called Chinese knives.[XXII_85]
The most precious plate is arranged before the arrival of the guests on the abacus, or sideboard, which decorates the dining room. This splendid piece of furniture, which will be noticed hereafter, was introduced into Rome 187 years B.C. It was also called the Delphic table.[XXII_86]
However, the Archimagirus has drawn up a list of the repast, which contains the bill of fare of the dishes, and which, both in Greece and Rome, was always presented to the guests.[XXII_87] He descends from his platform, and goes to cast an inspiring glance on the work of each subordinate. Nothing escapes his learned investigation, from the peacocks’ eggs of the first service, to the soft cheese commonly eaten at the third.[XXII_88] Above all, he examines with minute attention the ovens, at which preside those second cooks of whose talents he is not certain, and who belong to that class of erratic artists who are to be met with every day at the forum,
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XV.]
No. 1. Roman silver spoon, found at Autun, in France. Martial says expressly that spoons were used by the ancients to eat eggs and shell fish.
No. 2. Brass knife, from Herculaneum. The shape of the handle is rather singular, being too small for the hand, but it was probably covered with horn, wood, or ivory. However, it may have been, the knife is thirteen inches in length, from the tip to the ring, which was used to hang it up. The handle is three inches long, and the blade in its largest width is one inch and a quarter. It was used no doubt for sacrifices.
No. 3. A simpulum, or a sort of spoon for salt or eggs.
No. 4. A simpulum, or cup with a long handle, commonly ending with a hook, which was used as a ladle to take wine or other liquids out of large vessels.
No. 5. Fork mentioned in the text, and given as antique in the “Recueil d’Antiq.,” III., Pl. 84.
where they wait till some one comes to request their services.[XXII_89] His remarks, full of sense and precision, proclaim profound study and consummate experience. “Never will this depsiticius bread,”[XXII_90] says he to one of them, “obtain the necessary lightness by baking; the flour should have been passed through a Spanish sieve of linen thread;[XXII_91] Use the Gallic sieve of horsehair for the artocreas,[N][XXII_92] and one of papyrus, or Egyptian rush,[XXII_93] for the coarser kinds of flour.” “The grasshoppers require great precaution,” he exclaims, an instant after, approaching a young Sicilian; “fry them so that they obtain only a light gold colour.”[XXII_94] Then, passing to a third stove, he shows to one of his favourite pupils how to season highly an excellent sauce of snails (this hors-d’œuvre, dear to the Romans), and by what marks to distinguish those fattened by art in particular inclosures, from those which feed in gardens and are only fit for the common people.[XXII_95] He then stops before a stewpan, where a cook is browning large worms of a whitish hue, which breed in the hollows of trees, and are considered by the Romans[XXII_96] as a most delicious dish: “The flour with which these cossi were fed was heated,” says he; “they will present to the teeth only a soft and insipid substance.”[XXII_97]
We will not accompany this great master any further: his instructions are already known to us. An enthusiastic disciple of Apicius, he practises the lessons of that illustrious professor; and we should only hear from him precepts which we have already faithfully transmitted.
When the moment of supper is arrived, we shall find the Archimagirus presiding at that gastronomic order of battle on which depends the success of the day. May Vesta and Comus be propitious to him.
In the 14th century, the refectories and kitchens of the numerous communities of Paris presented a curious scene. Immense coppers contained the pottage and boiled meat, and monster gridirons, on four wheels, covered vast braziers. All the utensils of these kitchens were of remarkable dimensions.
DESCRIPTION OF [PLATE No. XVI.]
No. 1. Roman silver knife handle.
No. 2. Roman silver spoons.
No. 3. A very deep dish of metal, either for sauces or some kind of liquid.
XXIII.
SEASONINGS.
The animal and vegetable kingdoms furnish us with an abundant and wholesome food, whose flavour gastronomic caprice unceasingly modifies by the aid of various substances which we denominate seasonings. It is, above all, the perfect knowledge of these ingredients, the manner of employing them, and their skilful mixture, which constitute the art of the cook. Labour and custom, and a kind of routine which the palate acquires easily, will suffice for those who content themselves with this calling, and who, carefully preserving the timid traditions of the past, view progress as ruin and devastation, and the fruitful boldness of inspiration as ridiculous and fatal innovations.
Heresy, and even schism (pardon these expressions), should be allowed in cookery, as soon as they receive the sanction of the doctors ès-banquets—the sole judges competent in such matters. It is to the art professed by Apicius that the celebrated line of Voltaire appears more peculiarly to apply:—
“Tous les genres sont bons, excepté l’ennuyeux.”
Innovate, then, studious disciples of the illustrious Roman: consult only the measures of your strength, the conscience of your genius, and the infallible good taste of some chosen guests. Create for your seasoning unheard-of combinations, the strangeness of which shall strike and astonish; whose flavour shall subjugate and stifle criticism beneath the sweet efforts of a voluptuous mastication.
Learn how to make your areopagitæ eat: this innocent seduction will insure your triumph.
Treat not with too much disdain these Roman recipes; for although the formidable list may excite a smile from the reader, and, perhaps, the scorn of the cook, a great and prolific idea slumbers beneath the cold ashes of the ovens of Apicius which a breath may rekindle; and, at the same time, resuscitate some of those culinary wonders of a bygone civilisation, and endow our modern age, so impatient of the future, so curious concerning the past.
Two Phœnicians—whose names are never mentioned by forgetful posterity—Selech and Misor, taught mankind the art of heightening the flavour of their food by mixing with it a certain quantity of salt. The science of seasoning has no other origin.[XXIII_1]