|
Tracta (dough)
Tracta, tractum ( grc, τρακτὸς, τρακτόν), also called laganon, laganum, or lagana () was a kind of drawn out or rolled-out pastry dough in Roman and Greek cuisines. What exactly it was is unclear:Charles Perry, "What was tracta?", ''Petits Propos Culinaires 12:37-9 (1982) and a note in 14 "Latin ''tracta''... appears to be a kind of pastry. It is hard to be sure, because its making is never described fully"; Andrew Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World from A to Z'', , ''s.v.'' 'Pastry', p. 251 and it may have meant different things at different periods. ''Laganon/laganum'' was at different periods an unleavened bread, a pancake, or later, perhaps a sort of pasta. ''Tracta'' is mentioned in the ''Apicius'' as a thickener for liquids. Vehling's translation of ''Apicius'' glosses it as "a piece of pastry, a round bread or roll in this case, stale, best suited for this purpose." Perry compares it to a " ship's biscuit".Charles Perry, "Old Non-Pasta", ''Los Angeles Times'Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pastry Dough
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries as a synecdoche. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches, croissants, and pasties. The French word pâtisserie is also used in English (with or without the accent) for the same foods. Originally, the French word referred to anything, such as a meat pie, made in dough (''paste'', later ''pâte'') and not typically a luxurious or sweet product. This meaning still persisted in the nineteenth century, though by then the term more often referred to the sweet and often ornate confections implied today. Pastry can also refer to the pastry dough, from w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD. The '' Suda'' says only that he lived in the times of Marcus Aurelius, but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus, who died in 192, shows that he survived that emperor. He was a contemporary of Adrantus. Several of his publications are lost, but the fifteen-volume '' Deipnosophistae'' mostly survives. Publications Athenaeus himself states that he was the author of a treatise on the ''thratta'', a kind of fish mentioned by Archippus and other comic poets, and of a history of the Syrian kings. Both works are lost. The ''Deipnosophistae'' The '' Deipnosophistae'', which means "dinner-table philosophers", survives in fifteen books. The first two books, and parts of the third, eleventh a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Cuisine
Greek cuisine ( Greek: Ελληνική Κουζίνα) is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, and meat, including pork, poultry, veal and beef, lamb, rabbit, and goat. Other important ingredients include pasta (for example hilopites), cheeses, lemon juice, herbs, olives, and yogurt. Bread made of wheat is ubiquitous; other grains, notably barley, are also used, especially for paximathia. Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, and filo pastries. It continues traditions from Ancient Greek and Byzantine cuisine, while incorporating Balkan, Turkish and Italian influences. History Greek cuisine is part of the culture of Greece and is recorded in images and texts from ancient times. Its influence spread to ancient Rome and then throughout Europe and beyond. Ancient Greek cuisine was cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Cuisine
Roman cuisine comes from the Italian city of Rome. It features fresh, seasonal and simply-prepared ingredients from the Roman Campagna.Boni (1930), pg. 13. These include peas, globe artichokes and fava beans, shellfish, milk-fed lamb and goat, and cheeses such as Pecorino Romano and ricotta.Boni (1930), pg. 14 Olive oil is used mostly to dress raw vegetables, while ''strutto'' (pork lard) and fat from prosciutto are preferred for frying. The most popular sweets in Rome are small individual pastries called ''pasticcini'', ''gelato'' (ice cream) and handmade chocolates and candies. Special dishes are often reserved for different days of the week; for example, ''gnocchi'' is eaten on Thursdays, ''baccalà'' (salted cod) on Fridays, and trippa on Saturdays. History Rome's food has evolved through centuries and periods of social, cultural, and political changes. Rome became a major gastronomical center during the ancient age. Ancient Roman cuisine was mainly based on cereals, chees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greek Cuisine
Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality for most, reflecting agricultural hardship, but a great diversity of ingredients was known, and wealthy Greeks were known to celebrate with elaborate meals and feasts. The cuisine was founded on the "Mediterranean triad" of cereals, olives, and grapes, which had many uses and great commercial value, but other ingredients were as important, if not more so, to the average diet: most notably legumes. Research suggests that the agricultural system of Ancient Greece could not have succeeded without the cultivation of legumes. Modern knowledge of ancient Greek cuisine and eating habits is derived from textual, archeological, and artistic evidence. Meals At home The Greeks had three to four meals a day. Breakfast Breakfast ( ''akratismós'' and ἀκράτισμα ''akratisma'', ''acratisma'') consisted of barley bread dipped in wine ( ''ákratos''), sometimes complemented by figs or olives. They also ate a sort of pancak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lagana (bread)
Lagana (, from ) is a Greek flatbread traditionally baked for Clean Monday, the first day of the Great Lent. Traditionally, it was prepared unleavened (without the yeast), but leavened lagana is nowadays more common. It is typically flat, oval-shaped, with surface decorated by impressing fingertips. Sesame seeds are a common topping, and it may also be topped with other herbs, and seasoned with olive oil. The name comes from a Greco-Roman pastry dough '' lagana'', which is also the origin of the word ''lasagna'',''Vocabolario Etimologico Pianigiani'', 1907, ''s.v.'lasagna see more in the tracta (dough) article also known as ''tracta'', from . See also * Focaccia Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ..., a similar bread from Italian cuisine Notes Greek cuisine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasagne
Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ragù (ground meats and tomato sauce), vegetables, cheeses (which may include ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan), and seasonings and spices. The dish may be topped with grated cheese, which becomes melted after baking. Typically cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then baked in an oven. The resulting baked pasta is cut into single-serving square portions. Origins and history Lasagna originated in Italy during the Middle Ages. The oldest transcribed text about lasagna appears in 1282 in the ''Memoriali Bolognesi'' ("Bolognesi Memorials"), in which lasagna was mentioned in a poem transcribed by a Bolognese notary; while the first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th-century ''Liber de Coquina'' (''The Book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deipnosophistae
The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of literary, historical, and antiquarian references set in Rome at a series of banquets held by the protagonist for an assembly of grammarians, lexicographers, jurists, musicians, and hangers-on. Title The Greek title ''Deipnosophistaí'' () derives from the combination of ' (, "dinner") and ''sophistḗs'' (, "expert, one knowledgeable in the arts of ~"). It and its English derivative ''s'' thus describe people who are skilled at dining, particularly the refined conversation expected to accompany Greek symposia. However, the term is shaded by the harsh treatment accorded to professional teachers in Plato's Socratic dialogues, which made the English term ' into a pejorative. In English, Athenaeus's work usually known by its Latin form ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placenta Cake
Placenta cake is a dish from ancient Greece and Rome consisting of many dough layers interspersed with a mixture of cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves, baked and then covered in honey.. The dessert is mentioned in classical texts such as the Greek poems of Archestratos and Antiphanes, as well as the '' De agri cultura'' of Cato the Elder. Etymology The Latin word ''placenta'' is derived from the Greek ''plakous'' ( grc, πλακοῦς, gen. πλακοῦντος – ''plakountos'', from πλακόεις – ''plakoeis'', "flat") for thin or layered flat breads. The placenta of mammalian pregnancy is so named from the perceived resemblance between its shape and that of a placenta cake. History An early Greek language mention of ''plakous'' as a dessert (or second table delicacy) comes from the poems of Archestratos. He describes ''plakous'' as served with nuts and dried fruits and commends the honey-drenched Athenian version of ''plakous''. Antiphanes (fl. 4th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Roman Cuisine
The cuisine of ancient Rome changed greatly over the duration of the civilization's existence. Dietary habits were affected by the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and the empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new provincial culinary habits and cooking methods. In the beginning, dietary differences between Roman social classes were not great, but disparities developed with the empire's growth. Archaeology Most organic foods decay under ordinary conditions, but ashes and animal bones offer some archaeological details about the Ancient Roman diet. Phytoliths have been found at a cemetery in Tarragona, Spain. Imported figs were among the charred foods preserved when Boudica and her army burned down a Roman shop in Colchester. Chickpeas and bowls of fruit are known from Herculaneum, preserved since Vesuvius destroyed the town in 79 AD. Remains of small fish bones, sea urchin spines and mineralized plants have survived in the city's sewers; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cato The Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his ''Origines'', a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. His work '' De agri cultura'', a rambling work on agriculture, farming, rituals, and recipes, is the oldest extant prose written in the Latin language. His epithet "Elder" distinguishes him from his great-grandson Cato the Younger, who opposed Julius Caesar. He came from an ancient Plebeian family who were noted for their military service. Like his forefathers, Cato was devoted to agriculture when not serving in the army. Having attracted the attention of Lucius Valerius Flaccus, he was brought to Rome and began to follow the '' cursus honorum'': he was successively military tribune (214 BC), quaestor (204), aedile (199), praetor (198), consul (195) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
