Do you love vinegar? Can't get enough of
that pure lard? Then maybe the life of a Roman legionary is for you. Today we'll be making posca, the Gatorade of ancient Rome, along with a boiled lard that might have been
eaten by Caesar's men just before crossing the Rubicon. Posca and lard, this time on Who Wants to Feed a Legionnaire, or Tasting History. Welcome to Rome Month. I don't know why it's always in an English accent but you know blame Hollywood. Either way it's four weeks of ancient Roman recipes sponsored by the folks at Creative Assembly as they get
ready to conquer Rome once again with Total War Rome Remastered out on April 29th. So today's video is inspired by your
need to keep your Roman army well fed and supplied in the game, and to find
out what an ancient Roman army might eat we turn to the general Avidius Cassius who
commanded his troops to carry no food but "Laridum ac buccelatum at que acteum" Lard, hardtack and sour wine, and that last
ingredient the sour wine or wine vinegar which is French for sour wine, vinaigre, is the main ingredient in posca. Well one of them. The other one is water. And since it's basically
just water and vinegar it would make for a pretty short episode, so I'm also going to throw
in a recipe from Apicius for boiled lard so we can cover two of the three things. I'm not going
to be making the buccelatum or hardtack because I just made that, and I'll put a link to that
video in the description. So let us start with the posca. Whenever I say that I always think of Tosca my favorite opera or one of them and if you've never heard Tosca you should hear
it because it's fantastic and absolutely has nothing to do with what we're talking about
today. So that's all I will say about that. Go listen to Tosca. Now when it comes to a recipe
for posca as drunk by the legions, oh we don't have one. The closest thing would be what Plutarch said of Cato the Elder when he was fighting in the Punic Wars. "Water was what he drank on his
campaigns, except that once in a while, in a raging thirst he would call for vinegar, or, when his
strength was failing would add a little wine." And it's that addition of sour wine or wine
vinegar that makes it posca but we don't know anything about the ratios of water to the vinegar,
or if they ever put anything else in there. Though we can get a glimpse at what maybe they would have
done by some much later recipes but they come from several centuries after the fall of the Western
Empire, and are mostly used medicinally except for one in the sixth century that uses it just as an
ingredient to put on melon with pennyroyal but it doesn't tell us how to actually make the posca,
but I am going to read you one of those later medicinal recipes just so you can get an idea
of what the concoctions were like. They were all kind of of the same ilk. This one is called lithium tripic posca and that means that it had something to do with dissolving kidney stones. "Kidney stoooones." "The lithontripic posca. Of pennyroyal, of mastich, of parsley seed, of dried mint... of common salt toasted... of coriander seed, of spikenard, of anise, of bishop's weed.. of indian leaf, of white pepper,
of the seed of gromwell, of bettony, of fine vinegar... when all are pounded, sifted, and triturated very
fine, let them be mixed with vinegar for three days, and exposed in the sun for forty days." It then goes on to have the patient sit this potion in a warm bath. Now an ancient Roman legionnaire would
not have access to almost any of those ingredients nor would they have access to a hot bath on
most days. So we know that they weren't making this. In fact it's likely that by the time this
recipe was written down the term posca had really completely changed to something very different
from what the ancient Roman legions were drinking but we can use it to to see maybe what kind of
herbs would have gone into it, and so i'm going to add some of those herbs in one version because
why not. So for this recipe what you'll need is: a cup of water, a little red wine vinegar, and
some optional herbs. I'm going to use spikenard and coriander seed, because I had those on hand. Don't use pennyroyal though because even though you can get it depending on the person it
could kill you or at least make you very sick. Don't use it. I'm also going to add some optional salt. Legionaries pretty much always had access to salt, so it's not odd that they would maybe add it for a little flavor or just as a way to get their salt, but this is a good time to
dispel the myth that they were paid in salt. They weren't actually paid in salt. It was part
of their ration but it wasn't a form of payment per se. That idea comes from a mistranslation of
Pliny the Elder who even when properly translated should be taken with a grain of salt. Though
the word salary does have its roots in the word salt or sal, and you shouldn't do that today. Pay
people in salt because most people won't be happy, especially the IRS. They really don't have a sense
of humor about these things... But with the addition of salt this really does become the ancient Roman Gatorade albeit with less added sugar and fewer fun colors. So if you're not using any herbs just mix the ingredients and you're done, but if you are using herbs and salt
go ahead and let them soak for a while before straining them out. Either way this is definitely the simplest recipe I've ever made, so simple that you really have no excuse not
to hit the Like button and Subscribe unless you don't want to, which I guess would be a
valid excuse but why wouldn't you want to. Now the recipe for laridi coctura, or
cooked lard from 'De re Coquinaria' is almost as simple but we will get to that after
we look at what a Roman legion might have eaten. "It takes supreme skill to subdue an enemy
more by famine than by the sword. For in the latter, fortune tends to have more influence than
bravery." That was Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, and I always get a kick out of how Medieval
and Renaissance artists would depict ancient Romans wearing the clothes of the Medieval or
Renaissance, I just think it's funny. Anyway the Vegetius wrote 'De re military' which was all about
how to run a functioning Roman army, and one of the most important things in the book is on making
sure that they're well fed and watered. "They should have grain, wine, sour wine and even salt
in plenty at all times." Though the word plenty is rather relative since "...a frugal distribution of the provisions... will ensure sufficient plenty. When provisions once begin to fail parsimony
is ill-timed and comes too late." Supply chain management and logistics the backbone of any army even today. And many, many armies have been undone by their supply chain or by lack of food and water. Writing about the Second Punic War Appian says, "Hannibal was cut off in the midst of a plane
without water and was engaged all night digging wells. His army by toiling in the sand with great
difficulty obtained a little muddy water to drink... Scipio, mindful of this, moved against them at daybreak
while they were exhausted with marching, with want of sleep and want of water. Hannibal was
troubled since he did not wish to join battle in that plight yet he saw that if he should
remain there his army would suffer severely from want of water." Well Hannibal wasn't about to retreat because Hannibal was Hannibal and so he took his 50,000 men and his 80 elephants and
he fought a battle that he didn't want to fight, and he lost big time. Pretty much ended the Second
Punic War on that day and it was all because, or at least partly, because he had to fight
a battle due to a lack of fresh water. All he had was muddy water and Vegetius says "Neither should the army use bad or marsh water for bad drinking water like poison causes disease
for the drinkers." And while wine vinegar is not going to make muddy water potable it might make
somewhat bad water a little bit more drinkable. Also historians think that the Romans possibly
were under the impression that it might help ward off scurvy because in the Middle Ages they did
think that it warded off scurvy, Europeans did. It doesn't but they thought it did so there you
go, but likely the best reason for having them carry around sour wine is that while wine vinegar
doesn't actually hydrate you in fact in large amounts it can do the exact opposite, it does
slake your thirst. "A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to his mouth. That is one of several versions of the story
where Jesus is up on the cross and it's usually a Roman soldier who gives him a drink possibly
of posca in this case with a bit of hyssop, but depending on the version of the gospel that
you're reading it's either seen as an act of mercy or as an act of mockery. In fact in one version
they add a bit of gall to the the vinegar or the posca and who carries around gall with them. I
don't know, I don't think I want to know them. Maybe someone can explain to me why someone would
just be carrying that around. Kind of demented but whether good or bad in the Bible, in Roman history
it was always seen as a refreshing thing to drink. Even Roman emperors took up the cup. The Emperor
Hadrian of wall building renown famously ate and drank just as his soldiers did. "He inspired his soldiers by proofs of his own powers of endurance, actually led a soldier's life... Cheerfully ate out
of doors on such camp fare as bacon fat, cheese, and sour wine." And not to be outdone the Emperor
Caracalla "...used to eat whatever bread was readily at hand. He would grind enough grain for himself
with his own hands and make a barley cake, which he would eat after baking it on charcoal. He claimed that he loved being called a fellow soldier by them instead of the Emperor." Did he though because it kind of sounds like when my old boss used to come up and chat with the team. "What's up fellas how's it going? What's the scuttlebutt? How was the weekend? You can tell me. I
know I'm the boss but come on, we're a team." -_- Yeah I'm guessing once he got back to Rome he
really preferred being called emperor again. Now while grain, sour wine, salt and fat were the
staples of the Roman legion's diet it's not all that they ate, partly because they often had to
provide a lot of their own food. There are stories of towns coming together trying to get as much
food as they can to give to their soldiers before they went off to war whenever a herald would come
and announce a conscription and there's a papyrus fragment from Alexandria Egypt in the second
century. It's a letter from the legionary Claudius Torrentianus to his sister. "Take every step to supply me with two containers of the largest size of olyra, and an artab of radish oil." Like a care package when you go to camp. Also food got better when you were in foreign territory because Roman legions were not above pillaging. "Cestius sent out a great many of his soldiers into neighboring
villages to take up their grain." There are numerous mentions of troops living abroad after something
has been conquered where they're living it up but the best written one is actually a Greek source.
So forgive me for using a Greek source but it's just so good. "Xenophon made a round of the villages, at each place he would visit the troops stationed there, and everywhere he found them being well entertained in merry-making... There was no place where they did not serve on the same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, poultry, and many loaves of bread, some of wheat and some of barley. And whenever
a man might wish to drink to another's health he would drag him to the big bowl of wine, and when
there he must duck his head and take a long pull gulping greedily like an ox." Those crazy Greeks but if things ever got a little too out of hand they got a little too lackadaisical. There was
always some stick in the mud general coming around to put an end to the party. In the second century BC Scipio, now this is a different scipio than Scipio Africanus who fought Hannibal but a general
all the same. He went to Spain to restore order "When he arrived, he drove out all traders and
harlots, and the soothsayers and the diviners... He also ordered all wagons and their superfluous
contents to be sold, and all pack animals... For cooking utensils it was only permitted to have a
spit, a brass kettle, and a single cup. Their food was limited to plain boiled and roasted meats.
They were forbidden to have beds, and Scipio was the first to sleep on straw... Those who had servants
to bathe and anoint them were ridiculed by Scipio, who said that only mules having no hands need others to rub them." "She is really a party pooper." Then there was General Gaius Marius whose troops
were known as Marius's Mules because he forced them all to carry their own food in a bundle on
their back. And while surely it wasn't pleasant to march around with all of your meager foods on your back, it wasn't a punishment it was just as a way to keep the army lean, but food could be
used as a punishment. "Augustus dismissed the entire 10th legion in disgrace... without the rewards of which would have been due for faithful service. If any cohorts gave way in battle he decimated
them and fed the rest on barley." So yeah you got barley instead of wheat and Polybius says "The public humiliation for receiving barley rations... is best calculated to inspire fear." It's a mighty strong feeling to have about a grain, especially when you kind of gloss over
the first part of the punishment which was decimation or decimatio. That's when all of
the men would draw lots and ten percent of them would suffer fustuarium or being beaten to death
with sticks. I'll take the barley thank you. But not today, no barley for me. No it's just posca and
lard enough to keep any Roman soldier up and running. Just like those that you'll be commanding
in the PC strategy game Total War Rome Remastered. So the recipe for arlard or lardo comes from
Apicius and says "Cooked lard: Boil covered in water with plenty of dill, drizzle a little oil and a little salt." So all you need is some Italian lardo or smoked fatty pork. You'll often see it translated as bacon but it is not bacon like Americans know bacon, or anyone knows
bacon. It's pretty much just pure fat. A bunch of dill, olive oil and salt. Add the dill to a pot of boiling water and then add in your lard and cook for five to seven minutes or until it's nice and soft. Then slice, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and serve. Here we are posca and laridi coctura. Here we go. That ain't half bad. It's actually really good. :D So it's quite salty because it's been been cured which it probably would have been at the time and
I don't really like the texture because it's fat, but the flavor is really nice. It kind of
tastes like bacon. I don't really get the dill. Maybe, maybe a little bit. It's good. What it doesn't need is added oil. Like who thought you know what, you know what this piece of
fat needs? Some liquid fat drizzled on top. Well whoever wrote De re Coquinaria who might have
been Apicius he thought that, but I don't think that. Let's try the posca. So I actually have two glasses of posca. I have the one with no herbs and no salt and then the
one with herbs and salt. I only have one of these cool little cups so instead I got
a fancy glass. So i'll try this one first. Definitely smells like vinegar. That's actually not bad. I
wouldn't want a bunch of it but it's actually kind of nice. What does it remind me of, it's like a sour Fresca or something like that without the
bubbles. It's like it's sour but it's not. It's not overwhelmingly sour.
Let's try it with the herbs. I actually really like that. Again
i'm not going to want like a glass of it, but I wouldn't turn it down. You can really taste the- I think it's the spikenard that I'm tasting and if you don't know what spikenard is, then you don't know what i'm talking about, but you should order some because it has a really
interesting flavor and interesting scent. It's usually used as incense. It was actually
one of the things that like Mary Magdalene put on Jesus's feet and hair. It's got like a
woodiness to it. Almost like the the smell of Aspen. You know what Aspen trees kind of have
that clean woodiness to it and it cuts the the tartness of the vinegar, and again we don't
know how much vinegar they would have used. Maybe they used a ton of vinegar and I would just spit
it out but I used a fair amount enough to color it pretty pink, and it's it's not bad. It's not bad at all. So one more thing about the history of posca it was also often sold on streets in Roman towns, and Suetonius writes a story of the Emperor Vitellius coming across one such seller of posca. "This fellow had immoral relations with Vitellius in his youth but later grew weary of him and ran away. When Vitellius came upon him selling posca at Puteoli, he put him in irons... but at once freed
him again and made him his favorite. His vexation was renewed by the man's excessive insolence
and thievishness and he sold him to an itinerant keeper of gladiators." And I tell you this because the rather interesting Emperor Vitellius is the subject of next week's video where we will
be making Vitellian peas. So make sure to join me next Tuesday for our continuation of Rome month, again English not sure why, on Tasting History.
Sponsored by video games now, way to go Max.
I damn near choked on my dinner at the "who wants to feed a legionnaire bit". Best laugh I've had in a while!
That was really interesting. I can see eating the boiled fat for energy and the posca to get rid of the fatty residue in your mouth. It's a wonder that they didn't drink the water the fat was boiled in.
Ahhh, speaking the Queen's Latin, are we?
You can blame Americans for having difficulty signifying social class with accents. So when you need to differentiate between Patricians and Plebeians, it's helpful to use what American's think is a 'high class' Brittish accent.
invigorating.
This episode made so so happy! I hope to see more, love the channel :)
Occured to me shortly after watching this episode that a) they would have been using homemade vinegar, which has the mother in it, and b) would this taste similar to kombucha!?
So, I grabbed some leftover Manischewitz I had from Passover (super sugary wine), and poured some of the mother from a bottle of raw red wine vinegar I bought, and now I'm letting nature take it's course. I'm curious if it'll be less dry than store stuff.