Garum is one of the basic ingredients in the cuisine of
Roman antiquity. It is a fish sauce that was used to salt dishes. You can't
simply use kitchen salt, because instead of extracting moisture (which is what
salt does), garum adds moisture to a dish.
If you want to cook an authentic Roman dish you'll need this sauce,
especially when you are using recipes from De Re Coquinaria. It is used in
much the same way as our Worcestershire Sauce or Maggi: you add it in small
quantities to a dish. The fish sauce is not meant to be used as a sauce on its
own.
There are two ways to acquire fish sauce. You can buy Eastern fish sauce, like
the Vietnamese Nuoc Mam or the Thai Nam Pla. These sauces are made with
fermented fish, salt and water. But you can also make your own garum.
There are several Latin sources for the process of making
garum. In the Geoponica,
cited extensively by Faas, five manners of making garum are described:
1. Small fish are covered with salt, spread out in the sun end turned from time
to time. When they have completely fermented they are scooped into a fine-meshed
basket that is hanging in a vase. The liquid that seeps into the vase is
liquamen.
2. This is the method that I'll call the "method Wunderlich" (see
below). Fish (anchovy, mackerel, tuna) is mixed with salt in a ratio of 9:1,
then left in a pot in the sun for several months, and stirred occasionally.
3. For each half litre of fish a whole litre of old wine is added.
4. The "fast and cheap" garum the recipe of which is found below:
brine and fish go in an earthenware pot with oregano. This is brought to the
boil, then strained after cooling until the liquid is clear. The garum in the
bottle you see in the picture on the left is made like this.
5. The very best garum, according to the Geoponica, is called haimatum.
It was made with solely the innards of the tuna, with blood and gills. These are
put in a pot with salt, and after two months the liquid is garum.
Recipe for
cheap and fast garum
This recipe is inspired by the one J.M. van Winter gives in her book Van soeter cokene, pp.
35/36. All I did was leave out all the other herbs, using only oregano. This is
the fourth method described in the geoponica. The resulting liquid is
very tasty when used in recipes, and will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.
It is easy to make in modern kitchens. Do not be put off by the revolting mess
in the cooking pan, the endresult will be a clear, amber-coloured liquid with an
intriguing (but not overly fishy) smell. Although I must say, my cats were
thrilled when I was making this.
Ingredients:
500 gram (1 pound) small fish (smelt, sprat, anchovy, sardine),
whole
375 gram (1 1/2 cup) seasalt
1 Tbsp. oregano with a top
water
Preparation:
Rinse the fish under running water, leave them intact (do not remove gills,
innards or whatever).
Put fish, salt and oregano in a cooking pan, add enough water to cover the fish
with one or two inches of liquid on top.
Bring to the boil, let boil for fifteen minutes. The fish are cooked to a pulp.
Crush the fish even more with a wooden spoon, continue boiling until the liquid
starts to thicken.
Now start straining. First use a coarse strainer or colander to remove all the
larger bits and pieces. Then strain the liquid several times through a kitchen
cloth until the liquid is clear. Depending on the fish you use, and how long
everything has boiled, you'll end up with a pale yellow to deep amber coloured
liquid.
Let it cool completely, and keep it in a glass jar in the refrigerator. It may
be that salt crystals are collecting at the bottom of the jar.
Because of the high content of salt, this sauce will keep for years. You'll need
but a tea- or tablespoon full at the time. Take care that you use a completely
clean spoon for taking garum out of the jar.
The endproduct, home-made garum, although "cheap and
fast", is surprisingly tasty and not at all fishy. The main difference with
the Eastern fish sauces is that this sauce is not fermented but boiled.
Moreover, the Roman garum is made with herbs, which adds an extra dimension to
its taste.
Recipe for
authentic fermented garum
Real garum is not made with boiled fish but with fish that
has fermented in the heat of the Mediterranean sun. In the Netherlands there is
quite a lack of Mediterranean sun. But the German
Heinrich
Wunderlich explains on his site (in German) how to make fermented fish
sauce with a yoghurt-maker. You need small, whole fish or just the innards, and
15 to 20% their weight in salt. Make sure the salt is mixed evenly with the
fish. Put this mixture in the yoghurt-maker, in which it must ferment for three
to five days at a temperature of 40EC (104EF).
Stir it through once a day. The fish will dissolve completely, only the
fishbones will be left. According to Wunderlich the garum will be even better
when you let it ferment longer (up to several months). This means the
yoghurtmaker will have to be switched on all that time.
I haven't tried this method out yet, first I'll have to acquire a yoghurt-maker.
But I am certainly going to!
Wunderlich reminds us that it is absolutely vital that the amount of salt is
sufficient. Better to err on the excessive side than be too stingy.
Garum should be clear. If it turns turbid, throw it away.
Make sure to always use a clean spoon when taking garum out of the pot to
prevent the garum "going off".
P.C.P. Faas, Rond de tafel der Romeinen (Diemen,
1994). English edition: Around the table of the Romans: Food and
feasting in ancient Rome (Palgrave McMillan 2002) J.M. van Winter, Van Soeter Cokene. Recepten uit de romeinse en
middeleeuwse keuken ("Van Soeter Cokene. Recipes from the Roman
and Medieval kitchen")(Enschede/Bussum, 1971)
The Roman Cookery Book. A critical
translation of "The art of cooking" by Apicius, for use in the
study and kitchen. Barbara Flower and Elizabeth Rosenbaum (London,
1980, reprint of edition from 1958) (De Re Coquinaria, more
on this book)
