Part 9 (2/2)

X

[15] MAKING A LITTLE LASER GO A LONG WAY _UT NUCIA _[1]_ LASERIS TOTO TEMPORE UTARIS_

PUT THE LASER [2] IN A s.p.a.cIOUS GLa.s.s VESSEL; IMMERSE ABOUT 20 PINE KERNELS [pignolia nuts]

IF YOU NEED LASER FLAVOR, TAKE SOME NUTS, CRUSH THEM; THEY WILL IMPART TO YOUR DISH AN ADMIRABLE FLAVOR. REPLACE THE USED NUTS WITH A LIKE NUMBER OF FRESH ONES [3]

[1] List. and G.-V. _uncia_--ounce. Making an ounce of laser go a long way. Tor. _nucea_; Tac. _nucia_. Lister, fond of hair-splitting, is irreconcilably opposed to Tor., and berates Caspar Barthius for defending Tor.

List. _Quam futilis sit in multis labor C. Barthii ut menda Torini pa.s.sim sustineat, vel ex hoc loco intelligere licet: Et enim lege modo uncia pro nucea c.u.m Humelbergio, & ista omnia glossemata vana sunt._

V. both readings, _uncia_ or _nucia_ are permissible, and make very little difference. We side with Tor. and Tac. because it takes more than an ounce of laser to carry out this experiment.

[2] _Laser_, _laserpitium_, cf. dictionary.

[3] V. This article ill.u.s.trates how sparingly the ancients used the strong and pungent laser flavor [by some believed to be _asa foetida_] because it was very expensive, but princ.i.p.ally because the Roman cooks worked economically and knew how to treat spices and flavors judiciously. This article alone should disperse for all time all stories of ancient Rome's extravagance in flavoring and seasoning dishes. It reminds of the methods used by European cooks to get the utmost use out of the expensive vanilla bean: they bury the bean in a can of powdered sugar. They will use the sugar only which has soon acquired a delicate vanilla perfume, and will replace the used sugar by a fresh supply. This is by far a superior method to using the often rank and adulterated ”vanilla extract” readily bottled. It is more gastronomical and more economical. Most commercial extracts are synthetic, some injurious. To believe that any of them impart to the dishes the true flavor desired is of course ridiculous. The enormous consumption of such extracts however, is characteristic of our industrialized barbarism which is so utterly indifferent to the fine points in food. Today it is indeed hard for the public to obtain a real vanilla bean.

Cf. also notes regarding flavoring to Nos. 276-7, 345 and 385.

XI

[16] TO MAKE HONEY CAKES LAST _UT DULCIA DE MELLE DIU DURENT_

TO MAKE HONEY CAKES THAT WILL KEEP TAKE WHAT THE GREEKS CALL YEAST [1]

AND MIX IT WITH THE FLOUR AND THE HONEY AT THE TIME WHEN MAKING THE COOKY DOUGH.

[1] Tor. and Tac. _nechon_; G.-V. _cnecon_; Dann.

_penion_.

[17] SPOILED HONEY MADE GOOD _UT MEL MALUM BONUM FACIAS_

HOW BAD HONEY MAY BE TURNED INTO A SALEABLE ARTICLE IS TO MIX ONE PART OF THE SPOILED HONEY WITH TWO PARTS OF GOOD HONEY.

List. _indigna fraus_! V. We all agree with Lister that this is contemptible business. This casts another light on the ancients' methods of food adulteration.

[18] TO TEST SPOILED HONEY _MEL CORRUPTUM UT PROBES_

IMMERSE ELENCAMPANE IN HONEY AND LIGHT IT; IF GOOD, IT WILL BURN BRIGHTLY.

<script>