This recipe is far more than a mere exercise in historical replication. It is delicious in its own right, leaving one to wonder why it ever slipped away into the folds of time. So, this is my campaign to resuscitate it.
It is a bit of work and requires some equipment beyond the standard, but if you don’t already have a meat grinder with a sausage attachment, it’s worth the effort rounding one up for this dish. I’d recommend making a large batch and then vacuum packing and freezing them (actually, you will want to freeze then vacuum pack or they get misshapen).
The main ingredients were part of the culinary identity profile of the ancient Romans: pork and farro, or emmer wheat. Pork was favored above all meats, and farro encapsulated the idealized vision of themselves as virtuous farmers. Ovid captures this in his depiction of the goddess Carna, who stands by tradition and does not bend to the whim of fashion by eating fish and seafood, ironically one of the pillars of today’s so-called Mediterranean Diet:
You ask why fat bacon is eaten on these Calends, and why beans are mixed with hot emmer. She is a goddess of the old times, and subsists upon the foods to which she was accustomed before; no wanton is she to run after foreign foods. Fish still swam unharmed by the people of that age, and oysters were safe in their shells.
The recipe is part of the only surviving recipe collection from ancient Rome, De re coquinaria, generally referred to as Apicius, the person to whom it is attributed. The original says:
“Make a mixture of boiled farro grits and coarsely minced meat that has been pounded with pepper, liquamen and pine nuts. Stuff a sausage skin and boil. Then grill with salt and serve with mustard or serve boiled cut up on a round dish.”
The most significant alteration I make is adding the aromatic salt directly to the sausage mixture before packing the casings so that the herbs and spices have a chance to meld and can be brought to their potential while cooking. The recipe for aromatic salt was listed separately, exalted for its medicinal qualities. The original has been simplified here only slightly.
If you want to forgo the actual sausage making, it is also possible to prepare them as patties.
Recipe
Farro and Pork Sausage
1500g fatty pork, preferably neck meat
250g uncooked farro
200g pine nuts
1/4 cup fish sauce
25g aromatic salt (see recipe below)
Sausage casings
Directions
Cook the farro in 600ml water until fully cooked but not mushy. Set aside
Meat grinder method:
Cut the pork into manageable pieces and mix with the other dry ingredients.
Push the lot of it through the grinder using the medium die. In a large bowl, add the fish sauce and mix well.
Fry up a small amount to test for seasonings.
Load the casings onto the feed tube and make into four-inch lengths of sausage. Do not pack them too tightly.
Prick the casings all over with a pin so that they will not burst when cooking.
Pan fry or cook on a grill. Both are excellent.
No-grinder method:
Put the pine nuts in the food processor and pulse so that none of them remain whole.
Add the farro and pulse watching carefully that the grains retain some texture and do not become a pap.
Take the selected pork you have had your butcher grind (ok, ok, you can buy packaged ground pork) and put it into a large bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Form into patties and pan fry, or load the patties into a bbq cage and cook on the grill. I would not recommend placing them directly on the grill grating and attempting to flip them with a spatula. This might lead to serious regrets
Aromatic Salt
1 tbsp of each white/black peppercorns
1/2 tbsp powdered ginger
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp celery seed or adjust for celery salt
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp saffron
1/4 cup salt
Grind all of the ingredients except the salt in a coffee mill, then mix with the salt. This is most likely a recipe that was a variation on a theme of widespread use. Apicius recommends it to aid digestion, ward off plagues, and as a catch-all preventative measure. Feel free to add other herbs that might suit your fancy. From the original recipe I have left off arugula seed, parsley, and dill, so add them back in if desired.
Teaser.