All recipes require an electric skillet. Roman Cooking Buon Appetito Apicius: De re Coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking) https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/marcus-gavius-apicius-top-gourmand-roman-world-004712 Gopal K. Kapur, President FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. [email protected] 1 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] Roman Cuisine Testimonials AWESOME! I thoroughly enjoyed the Roman Smart Cuisine. I made it with chicken, green bell pepper, mushrooms, onions, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and always spinach. For pasta I used red lentil pasta. I really liked the roasted pine nuts, they are more than just a garnish. Added flavor and a nice crunch. I thank you so much for allowing me to be a tester. GF. We invite you to join the SMART™ Cuisine Group on Facebook. SMART Cuisine Group. Thank you. 2 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] Nutrition in the time of Covid-19 HARVARD, T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “We have known for a long time that nutrition is intricately linked to immunity and to the risk and severity of infections. Poorly nourished individuals are at a greater risk of various bacterial, viral, and other infections… Indeed, consuming good quality diets is always desirable, and this is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. A healthy diet… fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts, moderate consumption of fish, dairy foods, and poultry… Added fats should be primarily liquid oils such as olive, canola, or soybean oil.” https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2020/04/01/ask-the-expert-the-role-of-diet-and-nutritional- supplements-during-covid-19/ The SMART Cuisine™ Our SMART Cuisine™, based on the recommendations above, demonstrates the preparation of a healthy and tasty meal that requires minimal cooking skills and for very affordable cost per serving. For all our dishes, we use a 12" x 16" electric skillet, other sizes should work well. Recipes are not suitable for stove top cooking. A key step to develop a good flavor and mouth feel for vegetables is caramelization, this draws the natural sugars out and creates a slight crunch. Typically, caramelization requires long cooking time, timely stirring and turning, not for the faint of heart. Through experimentation, I figured out that if one adds a bit of cooking oil and uniformly sliced vegetables to a heated electric skillet, covers it (no stirring), caramelization occurs at the bottom while steaming the vegetable tops – Wallah, great taste and mouth feel. During the total 15 minutes of cooking time, the electric skillet is kept covered by its lid for 12 minutes, while you do nothing; no stirring or turning of the food. You actually spend 3 minutes of hands on cooking work. This way, very little steam is released from the skillet – what happens in the dish, stays in the dish. This keeps the flavors intact resulting in a richer tasting dish. In the conventional stove top cooking, all ingredients don't get cooked to the same degree, as the different parts of a cooking pan develop different degrees of heat, and uneven stirring of ingredients cooks them unevenly. Additionally, the SMART technique reduces the cooking time from the traditional 30 minutes to less than 15 minutes. The net saving of gas/electric energy is considerable – reduces carbon footprint by half. Finally, the color of the finished dish stays vibrant and visually attractive. Prep Time The 15 minutes is the actual cooking time, additional time is needed to get the ingredients ready – measuring the spices, preparing the vegetables and meat or seafood – cleaning, slicing, and measuring. The additional time spent of the “prep” is dependent on your skills, availability of kitchen help, and planning skills. 3 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] I had the pleasure of demonstrating the technique to Randy Peters, a master chef. Gopal Kapur with Randy Peters Roman Banquet Fresco https://www.ancient.eu/Marcus_Gavius_Apicius/ Note: The information provided in this document is meant for educational use only, and is not a substitute for professional medical diagnosis, advice, or treatment. Products do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician or other qualified health professionals with any questions related to any medical condition and before embarking on any nutrition, supplement, diet, or other health related program. 4 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] Roman Cuisine Buon Appetito One of the earliest cookbooks in recorded Western history, De re Coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), is based on the recipes by Marcus Gavius Apicius, a wealthy Roman merchant and connoisseur who lived during the reign of Tiberius Caesar Augustus (14 AD – 37 AD). The book, comprising of more than 400 recipes, was likely compiled during 4th/5th century AD. Apicius, a member of the Roman elite, famous for his love of food used multiple seasonings, often ten or more per dish, in many of the recipes. Exotic and then expensive spices from faraway India – cardamom, cumin seed, coriander seed, fennel, saffron – were featured in many dishes. Interestingly, measurements and cooking times were seldom specified. Assumption was that the cooks using the recipes were well trained and understood the cooking process – measurements, cooking times, and the specific cooking techniques. A recipe by Apicius might read as follows: Flamingo: Scald the flamingo, wash, dress it, put it in a pot, add water, salt, dill, and a little vinegar, to be parboiled. Finish cooking with a bunch of leeks and coriander, add some reduced must (grape juice) to give it color. In the mortar crush pepper, cumin, coriander, laser root, mint, rue, moisten with vinegar, add dates, the fond of the braised bird, thicken, cover the bird with the sauce. Apicius Green Sauce: Pepper, carraway, Indian spikenard, cumin, bay leaves, all kinds of green herbs, dates, honey, vinegar, wine, little broth, and oil. As the recipe does not provide any ingredient measurements or cooking directions, below is the result of few experiments; try it, and feel free to adjust the ingredient quantities to match your taste. ¼ to ½ cup EVOO 1 teaspoon paprika or ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper 1 teaspoon carraway, crushed 1 teaspoon Indian spikenard, crushed 1 teaspoon cumin, crushed 2 bay leaves ¼ cup wine vinegar ½ cup wine ¼ cup broth – chicken or beef 1 tablespoon honey 5 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] 1.5 cups herbs, chopped – basil, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme 4 dates, seeded, chopped 1. In a pan, bring the oil to medium level of heat over low flame (don’t want the oil too hot, will burn the spices). Turn off the heat. 2. Add paprika or pepper, carraway, spikenard, cumin, and bay leaves to the pan, stir to mix; let steep, uncovered for 5 minutes. 3. Add vinegar, wine, broth, and honey to the pan, stir well. 4. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, stir well, let steep for 5 minutes. 5. Discard the bay leaf. 6. Pulverize the mixture to form a smooth sauce; if too thick, add 2 tablespoons of broth or water at a time, stir, bring to a desired consistency. Note: Tell us what you think of this sauce, and any changes you’ve made. [email protected] Within the Roman lexicon, Apicius had come to mean "gourmand" as a result of his fame and the love of grand massive feasts. Apicius’s life and food extravagances eventually drained his revenues, jeopardizing his ability to maintain the grand culinary lifestyle. “Having spent a fortune of 100 million silver sestertii (c. $325,000,000) on his kitchen, luxuries and grandiose feasts, Apicius found that he had only 10 million sestertii (c. $32,500,000) left. Afraid of dying in relative poverty, he poisoned himself.” https://earlychurchhistory.org/food/apicius-author-of-ancient-roman- cookbook/ In this set we are including recipes based on the basic ingredients used by Apicius, leaving out the more exotic – crane, flamingo, partridge, peacock, raisin wine, sparrow, and wood cock. Apicius developed great liking for the flamingo's tongue, he enjoyed what he described as its specially fine flavor. Notice, tomato is not included in any of the recipes as it was introduced to Italy (Tuscany) around 1548 AD; about 1,500 years after Apicius. ELABORATE THERMOSPODIUM A heater for the service of hot foods and drinks in the dining room. Project Gutenberg's Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome 6 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] Roman Cuisine The Apicius manuscript (ca. 900 AD) of the monastery of Fulda in Germany Acquired in 1929 by the New York Academy of Medicine https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/marcus-gavius-apicius-top-gourmand-roman-world-004712 "Apicius, the most gluttonous gorger of all spendthrifts, established the view that the flamingo's tongue has a specially fine flavor." Pliny, Natural History (X.133) 7 © 2019-2020 FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. Contact: [email protected] Spices in Roman Cooking At the rise of the Roman Empire, there was flourishing Indo-Roman trade. As Roman empire expanded and Roman gentry thrived financially, taste for Indo- Asian spices blossomed. Exotic herbs and spices from India/Asia were used to create delectable dishes, exhibit culinary accomplishments, and as a mark of host’s wealth. Another important factor for the use of herbs and spices was their beneficial “medicinal” properties. The legendary The Art of Cooking by Apicius mentions the following Indian spices profusely. The (n) after the herb or spice name is the number of times the item is cited in The Art of Cooking. Allspice (6) Clove (6)* Mace (9) Basil (13) Coriander Seed (113) Pepper (525) Bay (Laurel) Leaf (41) Cumin (161) Pepper Corn (4)*** Cardamom (10) Fennel/Anise (26) Saffron (15) Cayenne (3) Ginger (26) Sugar**** (32) Cinnamon (9) Indian spikenard (15)** Turmeric (3) *Clove: It is the dried unopened flower bud, has a highly pungent spicy aroma and astringent taste.