How To Make Sourdough Like A Roman | A Cook Back In Time | Absolute History

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello and welcome to a cook back in time today we're in the peaceful town of Folkston high up on the east cliff for a dramatic reenactment of the Battle of lapis tit July which took place in the year 465 between the 4th and 5th centuries the Roman Empire which covered most of what is now Europe in the Middle East was in serious decline in this far-flung corner of the Empire the Roman Britons were left to defend themselves against the invading barbarian hordes of Saxons in 409 Britons revolted against the bankrupt Roman administration and from then on ruled themselves in much the same way the Romans had successfully rebuffing the Saxons for another 70 years until 480 when the whole of the East of England was invaded and became the kingdom of South Saxon in Sussex but the legacy of Roman rule lived on in the many technological advancements they left behind and the idea of cooking in a separate room on a purpose-built waist-level platform his walnuts remained unchanged until this day by moving cooking and food preparation away from a smoky wood fire in the centre of the house and using clean burning charcoal in a well-ventilated kitchen Roman cooking became precise and consistent and so their recipes became more and more elaborate today our expert guest chef and historic cookbook author Sally Granger will be setting up her Roman kitchen to create some Roman rations sourdough bread stuffed kidneys a sweet honey nut omelet and Leoben cake to feed the hungry troops of Britannia a Dark Ages reenactment society were here to recreate a battle that took place 1,500 years ago Sally were you trained as a professional cook I was yes for about 20 years and I worked worked as a chef but I got a little bit bored with it I was working at the top of my field as a pastry chef and I was still bored so I went back to university into a degree in ancient history why why I Claudius I think do you remember that yes I read the books by Robert Graves and I got fascinated in the ancient world I met people who were equally so we're demonstrating Roman techniques I'm offering food for people to taste that is the key to what we do it's freshly cooked and people stand around and watch the whole process going through and then they can say yes they can taste it when you find somebody who's who has something to give me as well they oh I've been to Greece and I've seen this being done in this way and then I can take them aside and tell me more I want the address of the person you met and so I'm learning all the time but I love talking to people I didn't think I would when I first started it but it's become a joy [Music] Sally how authentic is this cooking arrangement well it's it's a barbecue platform as you can see it would have been made of masonry a solid structure as I've hope I've conveyed at the front but mine is actually MDF and a sheet steel top that the actual level of which you cook would have been terracotta stones to hold the heat and of course the sheet steel does not hold that much heat which is the one disadvantage of it but apart from that it's it's barbecue Sally I love the pots or they were wonderful they must be based on offense they're called Klee bonus or Testim depending on whether you are fashionable and you want to use the Greek term or or use the Latin term they are small portable ovens they remind me of today's crocks this one is actually very hot now I've been heating it through but if I lift it up for you you will see like inside and it's it's getting fiercely hot when I'm ready it'll come aside so will the trivet so will the fire and the meats the bread the Kate will go directly onto the half a pot over the over the bread and the fire literally sits on the flange that's what the flange is for and you get a wonderful baked loaf well what are you going to cook for us first we're going to start with some bread a sourdough bread so this is my sourdough culture it's actually wild yeast and bacteria to leaven bread as opposed to the whole concept of compressed yeasterday which is totally aina it's wild because it just it is the yeast and bacteria in the air and in in the wheat now this is warmed water with a little salt because salt is very important in bread and that hot water will now give it a really good boost of extra the heat which will get the yeast going you've got to lots of flour why sadly now I'm I'm making a semi wholemeal I'm using spelt flour which is the which is the grain that the Romans would have known and grew it's very primitive not a high yield but will grow anywhere which is the key and it's got a wonderful nutty flavor now I'm going to add the recipe states about three cups but we'll just all just what you've been making it so yes exactly how much I'm just waiting I'm just looking for the right consistency and I will add a little more white flour the Romans wanted what white bread just like we won't work white bread it's much nicer for them but it's hard to achieve it takes an awful lot of effort and an awful lot of wastage but everything goes round in circles because we're all waiting the whole meal and the gravity and everything turning our noses up yeah yeah but we still want it light we still want it from there yeah nicely textured take the spoon away because after a point it becomes superfluous and you can handle hands and then I'm going to transfer it to my rather wonderful kneading trough would the Romans have got down on their hands and knees and done this I think so I think so very much so yes even even for bulk production of bread I think the only way to knead it is by hand it's a slave task I'm afraid it's one of those jobs anything unpleasant and heart it's almost certainly going to be a slave involved so it would have been the underling in the kitchen who'd have done this exactly how long for well I'm gonna do it for about ten minutes because it's a sourdough it's actually it doesn't need an awful lot sometimes I'm I read 20 minutes but that really does take take effort and they have to be left to prove how long it won't be long actually because of the sound oh they'll be about half an hour at the most I've took the bread with some bay leaves on there flop it down on to the half and cover it with you right we're going to start with the stuffing for the kidneys there's enough to kidnap and dishes the number of people that hate kidneys I've actually told me that they like them now because of this recipe so I'm very pleased to start with a little bit of pepper if I leave you too you have to bash each individual pepper right and I'm going to take the fennel and and roast it a little bit of heat to the fennel so that it brings out the flavor right if I add those now do those as well they're difficult to grind down now this is fresh coriander very fashionable nowadays yes and the more Terrier is so efficient I have to tell you that you can use the stalks on fresh coriander mm-hmm without any problem I just need to chop it up a little bit and then we add our fresh coriander I'm gonna start again and this is the process I find fascinating usually how quickly so that I've got the both together being pounded oil in pine cones and that's what we want to bring out it looks like pesto sauce doesn't it yes I think at that stage we can say you can say we're ready you see how much how glossy it is now it's the only I think we'll stop there and we'll move on to the kidneys which need to be prepared you just need to take away the sinew mm-hmm and then you take a little bit of stuffing make it into a sausage and lay it down and fold the meat over and then we use caul fat the most incredible ingredient holds all the intestines together in one place and we all have it if you if you buy yes at a butcher that makes his own then you will find caul fat or a butcher that makes his own sausages he might have some right it's a fat to go in the frying pan uh-huh so we need some oil Oh olive oil yes oh of course and we're going to fry off our kidneys just just seal them and then finish them off in the oven my frying pan is a new acquisition it's beautiful it has a handle which falls away is that Roman that's most definitely Roman that was yes that was traveling yes from probably military and why the well conical sure I think probably for making sauces afterwards you were able to pour out I suppose I mean it's quite commonly see now right we're now and to transfer our kidneys to our roasting dish I'm going to roast them but I'm going to roast them over the fire now this particular pot is is a very coarse sand stone and it will take the heat so it stands over the coals and the hot oven here stands over the pot how long do we need that to cook I would say about 20 minutes [Music] join us after the break when our chef Sally Granger makes an omelet with a difference when Dan puts his troops through their paces in Latin and the survivors tell us what they think of Roman grub welcome back well I'm in sort of no-man's land between the Romano Britain's and the Saxons they gonna have a scrap later it's called the Battle of lapis T July but first of all I'm going to go and speak to their commanders about their influence upon our culture down tell us about Britannia what is it Britannia is a society that's a really plug the gap in history in terms of the reenactment and research that actually goes out to the public we do the period from about 350 AD to about 600 AD you've been in films have you not just you personally but yes we started our first ever film was Robin Hood Prince of Thieves we played the bad guys in hat and then recently the icing on the cake for us was to take part in the opening battle scene with Ridley Scott's gladiator which we were delighted to be involved in well I'm aware that I'm ignoring your the opposition yeah so your Antoninus Antoninus would have been essentially the romanized version of my no means me and you're a Saxon I'm actually a Saxon I'm betraying hopefully an early Saxon by name of Hengist who would've invaded these shores he was invited over by the Romans as foederati essentially mercenaries to basically keep the northern tribes out from Scotland to pick tea and what they were would have done what if they would have been under the employ of Rome they would have settled here they would have been you know treated as mercenaries and then when the pay run out they said enough is enough we'll have this thank you very much and that's essentially what happened in the battle this afternoon are you just going at each other hell for leather or are you demonstrating for the like what would have happened different moves and things we are we turns of area don't really attentive area we try and stick to the tactics that would have been used at the time and we're all very well trained we we sorta like reproducing if you like the martial arts of the time how how the worries would have thought how the Warriors would have trained their attitudes and obviously by using the tactics of the timings so of all must get into the mindset of the people so chaps who wins today in the actual battle will be reacting something I believe the Romans will be winning okay I'm hoping to change that tournaments right but it isn't all battles is it Britannia does a lot of other things there's a lot of aspects to maintaining life that we like we like to show there's a lot of crafts about to show and also we tend to sort of we've got a fair amount of market stores and we tend to show people that are importing pottery things of that it's a huge gathering around your cooks stall they are always it and we don't get a look-in waffle smells good chaps you don't kill each other this afternoon yes would you actually like to come and partake of some really good food well we promise to be home as long as we better see you later [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so now we come to I presume it's a desert desert yes a patina it's either an omelet or a quiche without the pastry lining yeah no exactly but the patina was something that had eggs but he could be sweet or sour savory or fish meat it was always served as a third course are you the sweet course mm-hmm which had savory things just like they do today and we start with long pepper and ordinary pepper now long pepper was was known to the Romans and particularly treasured it was very much more expensive very odd-looking it's smells sweet in fact I smell smoke Mickey yes it's odd so we're going to start with probably one mm-hm which I would like you to and we're going to try a little bit of ordinary pepper strokes we want some heat because heat heat the sweet things is good particularly with honey which is what we're what we have raspberries with pepper no way I would bang them first dry roast is the term and some pinecones - I think we will go with these we'll go and we'll start to pound that's sprayed you can see all the the oil yes the almonds coming out yeah okay now we're going to add some eggs mm-hmm - it's certainly use lots of different types of egg yeah quails eggs we know about for instance yes yes a bit stuck round lovely yellow eggs which is nice and I'm also going to give you honey yeah we're going to add the fish sauce I'm going to have some wine if you move your arm to one side so what does I want to get honey on your sleeve there we go and the fish sauce you need a substantial amount I find you can see that right we've had office just now we had our we had some milk just a touch of milk like I go by a couple of tablespoons of each quite frankly you can just do it cos - yes and we add the wine across wine wine yes now the Romans cooked with wine all the time and very rarely cooked with water or at least the wealthy ones Oh lovely so all the stereo and intense so a couple of tablespoons again and that is our mixture ready to go it looks very very very thick you think yes this is when the little a little lip on the mortar is useful this is called a patina a patina was was the name of the dish and also the name of the container the dish was cooked in mm-hmm no you're going to put our oven on the top of it so we need to jiggle a little because yes it may be too much did you know of course this one actually sits nicely nice and flush on the top yes and how long does that one say to go oh this is the kind of one where I would actually have a look two or three times and I wouldn't tell you how long it took me till it was finished probably 20 to hover no to make a sacrificial cake it's called a Lieber which is a honey cake honey cheesecake the Romans made these to put on the altar to their loved ones but you're using very modern-day ricotta cheese I am we know that they used the hard sheep's cheese which we were equate with pecorino romano a bit like Parmesan one of the byproducts of that now is ricotta so we start with our ricotta we add an egg together so now fully mixed up we then add I have never actually weighed this I should I know two handles of Fleur I would say roughly about four ounces but it probably more like three pounds of flour mix the two together the secret is to handle it as little as possible it is supposed to be it's almost like a cheese soufflé and the fair is simply there to bind the cheese so when it's mixed in I then bind it into a ball now honey cheesecakes were very common in temples here I think in in in Britain too but specifically in Rome was a beautiful story from our tour Pope Marshall of a runaway slave who when captured actually says I couldn't stand eating honey cakes I wanted bread I was fed up of eating honey cake and because everybody brought their stale old honey to the gods they weren't eaten they weren't meant to be and and so the poor are slain that's all he had to eat he just what doesn't right so it's it's now loosened so now I take it out and I put some bay leaves on the bottom now this give flavor and they protect it from the hearth because I'm putting it directly on the half off it down pick up the testam and cover it up how long will that take 2530 minutes there we go oh wow well I'm pleased with that that's a lovely color oh it looks excellent I can smell it it has the appearance of a souffle I find when it comes out like this is really wonderful really wonderful squidgy and you need to cut into it and you see the texture it's a wonderful texture that's exactly what I wanted it to be like and I basically I put a cross on it and then with across I knew smother it with him well chaps you're both still alive after the battle and we did promise you some food will our wonderful cook here Sally will you explain what they're going to have well done you have stuff kidneys with pine kernels coriander fennel seed and pepper dig in yes please do who's like some wine yes please we have a spell loaf as well what's in the bread that's spelt flour much is the ancient wheat that the Romans knew and we have a pudding which is a patina or a quiche without the pastry or an omelette depending on how you want to define it really like a sweet custard I can't travel easy the only time of course when the Romans did using utensils with dessert that's unusual that unusual combination of flavors yes it works oh this is the honey cake mmm which needs to be eaten with your fingers so dig in very sticky times I'm what sort of food actually well they say an army marches on its stomach this blood aren't going anywhere I do hope you've enjoyed our Roman barbecue cooking and that you'll join us again soon for another cook back in time [Music]

Channel: Absolute History

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Rating: 4.8572297 out of 5

Keywords: history history documentary funny history fun history school, timeline, timeline documentary series, timeline world history, jan leeming, a cook back in time, roman cooking show, roman documentary series, bbc roman documentary, roman cooking show cake, roman cooking show lasagna, roman food documentary, roman food recipes, roman food horrible histories

Id: cb2X9QXhdvI

Length: 22min 45sec (1365 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2019