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 1˝ 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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Along the wide perimeter of the walls, still recognizable, opened no less than seven doors. Only of two we know the ancient denomination, but to the other has been ascribed a conventional name that express well their function and their placement in the general topography: Porta Marina Gate, Porta Ercolano Gate, Porta Vesuvio Gate, Porta di Nola Gate, Porta di Sarno Gate, Porta Nocera Gate and Porta di Stabia Gate. At the moment of the eruption the doors had lost their strategic or defensive role for let space to more wide and convenient doorway useful for commercial traffic and exaction of tribute. The eruption has crystallized them in a transformation that has never ... continue

(Apic. 1, 35, 1) Ingredients:

• Mint
• Rue
• Coriander
• Fennel
• Lovage
• Pepper
• Honey
• Liquamen (or 3 tblsp soya sauce + 3 tsp anchovy paste)
• Vinegar

Instructions:
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Smash and homogenize all the spices. Add honey and Liquamen and mix it all. Taste and, if necessary, add some vinegar. Serve with bread.

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.