Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

by Apicius

IX

[13] TO KEEP FRIED FISH UT PISCES FRICTI DIU DURENT

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY ARE FRIED POUR HOT VINEGAR OVER THEM.

Dann. Exactly as we today with fried herring and river lamprey.

[14] TO KEEP OYSTERS OSTREA UT DIU DURENT

FUMIGATE A VINEGAR BARREL WITH PITCH [1], WASH IT OUT WITH VINEGAR AND STACK THE OYSTERS IN IT [2]

[1] Tor. vas ascernum, corrected on margin, ab aceto. List. vas ab aceto, which is correct. G.-V. lavas ab aceto; V. the oysters? unthinkable! Besides it would do no good.

[2] Goll. Take oysters out of the shell, place in vinegar barrel, sprinkle with laurel berries, fine salt, close tight. V. Goll’s authority for this version is not found in our originals.

V. There is no way to keep live oysters fresh except in their natural habitat—salt water. Today we pack them in barrels, feed them with oatmeal, put weights on them—of no avail. The only way English oysters could have arrived fresh in Imperial Rome was in specially constructed bottoms of the galleys.