recipe must be left in a vessel for two months, out of the sun. Some recipes also call for oregano, some simply ask for strong herbs and others omit this altogether. This suggests to me that liquamen was more of an umbrella term for a style or type of sauce, rather than a specific one, perhaps in the same way as jams are a term for sugar and boiled fruit, rather than a specific condiment. Then again, the differences between the ‘brands’ could have been slight, as different as two brands of the same sauce today. The liquamen would probably be very similar to the oriental sauces available today; Thai nam pla and Vietnamese nuoc mam. This is made in a similar process. Tiny shrimp or fish are layered with salt and left to stand, as opposed to fish being mixed with salt and left to macerate as in the Roman version. Enzymes in the fish or shrimp reduce the fish to a liquid, which can then be strained, giving liquamen. The Geoponica is probably a reliable source. It gives several recipes for liquamen in the same way as a cookery book. It is a largely unbiased source, except in its comment that haimation is the best liquamen. Martial, on the other hand, believes garum sociorum, a Spanish preparation using mackerel, to be the best kind. Which sauce is best is a matter of opinion, rather than fact, so, in my opinion, the source is still reliable.
Liquamen is used in almost all the recipes of Apicius (q.v.), often in lieu of salt, which is recommended as a substitute. Whilst liquamen would have been extremely salty this is probably for hygiene rather than culinary reasons. Salt is added to nam pla and nuoc mam to prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Given the similarity of use between these sauces and liquamen it is reasonable to extrapolate that salt was added for the same reason. Even with the high salinity, certain bacteria would have been able to breed. Lactobacilli, a culture used in yoghurts today, would produce lactic acid, giving a flavour somewhat similar to sauerkraut or dill pickles. Coupled with the fish flavour this provides sufficient evidence, I think, to show that liquamen was a sauce in its own right, not just an interesting or healthier (the fish oil contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, much like cod liver oil today) alternative to salt.
As well as the standard fish sauces, garum and allec, the Romans diluted garum, with various liquids, to produce new sauces with different flavours. The most common things used to dilute garum were water, wine and vinegar to make hydrogarum, oenogarum and oxygarum, respectively. These sauces would be used in lieu of plain garum, to create a different flavour. In the egg recipe that follows, for example, oenogarum is used as the sauce. Oenogarum is also known to have been drunk, as Pliny documents:
"Garum, for instance, has been blended to the colour of old honey wine, and to a taste so pleasant that it can be drunk."
Pliny - Natural History Book XXXI Chapter XLIV
This is, perhaps, similar to a Bloody Mary cocktail, as they both contain an alcohol (a measure of vodka/wine), a sweet ingredient (tomato juice/honey) and a sharp flavouring (lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce/garum). While not exactly the same in flavour (although Worcestershire sauce does contain anchovy extract) they are the same style of drink. Oxygarum could have been quite similar to the fish infused soy sauce of East China. They both contain fish and are both salty and sharp. Some soy sauces of this kind are simply soy with a fishy taste, but some are quite vinegary in flavour.
I haven't been able to find any evidence of hydrogarum being used in recipes, so it may have been used as a substitute to plain garum only if a weaker taste was required. Garum would have been a dominant flavour but this would have been reduced if blended with water. There isn't really a sauce that I have come across that could be blended in the same way as garum, but the uses of the blended sauces are quite similar to those we have today.
“XIX Eggs”
“1. Fried Eggs. Serve with oenogarum
2. Boiled Eggs. Serve with liquamen, oil, and wine, or with liquamen, pepper and asafoetida.
3. <Sauce> For soft-boiled eggs. <Pound> pepper, lovage, soaked pine kernels. Add honey and vinegar, blend with liquamen.”
Asafoetida: a pungent herb, with an odour similar to sulphur.
- Apicius ‘The Roman Cookery Book’ – Translated by Flower and Rosenbaum
The recipes above are for boiled and fried eggs, a dish eaten by the Romans that is still eaten today. The only real difference between their recipe and ours (at least, as far as can be made out from the brief recipe Apicius provides) is in the garnish. Fried eggs, in Roman times, were served with oenogarum, a preparation of wine and fish sauce. Boiled eggs too are served with fish sauce, as well as herbs. The suggested sauce for soft-boiled eggs (a recipe commended by Flower and Rosenbaum) is also a fish sauce preparation, although it also contains honey, vinegar and assorted herbs. The striking thing is the odd, at least to our culture, combination of fish sauce and eggs. Although fish and eggs are not an unheard of combination, occurring in some salads or pizzas, as well as pasta dishes, it seems strange to put a fish sauce on fried eggs. What we do have now, perhaps instead, are sauces such as ketchup. Tomato ketchup with fried eggs would be considered a fairly normal dish. Although, on the face of it, ketchup and garum are very different, they are not that dissimilar. Garum would have been a fairly pungent (though not overpoweringly so, as one might assume) sauce, with a very strong fishy flavour. Ketchup is also a fairly pungent condiment, with, instead of a strong fish flavour, a tomato-like and spicy taste. Both are, or would have been, when applied to food, the dominant flavour and both are used liberally in their respective cuisine. Despite their superficial dissimilarity they could be considered similar in many ways. Perhaps a better example, however, is the use of soy sauce in Oriental cuisine. The use of soy sauce is as ubiquitous in the Far East as the use of liquamen would have been in ancient Rome. Taking a cursory glance through Apicius’ cookbook, I cannot find a single recipe that does not contain liquamen, in some capacity. Taking a cursory glance through ‘Ken Hom’s Chinese Kitchen’ I cannot find a single recipe that does not contain dark or light soy sauce. The fish soy mentioned earlier is not really comparable, as its use is more as a condiment than a key ingredient. Sichuan Peppercorn Onion Beef, for example is marinated in a soy sauce concoction, which is then served with it. Apicius’ fried veal, a very similar dish, both contain the same basic ingredients, is served with a liquamen-based sauce. Vegetables, seafood, meat, poultry and eggs are all served with some use of soy sauce or liquamen. Their use is almost identical. This evidence, however, may be misleading. Whilst soy sauce, without doubt, is an integral part of Oriental cookery, Apicius’ cookbook may be a poor source concerning everyday food. Garum is, certainly, an important aspect of the cooking Apicius was used to but it is important to remember that he was a millionaire, a wealthy Roman who, reputedly, committed suicide upon discovering he had spent all his money on food. Apicius’ lifestyle is quite clearly that of the Roman uppermost classes and his cookbook is not representative of the food of the typical Roman. Garum could well have been an expensive condiment; there is evidence that suggests this:
“Scarcely any other liquid except unguents has come to be more highly valued, bringing fame even to the nations that make it."
- Pliny Natural History Book XXXI Chapter XLIII
Apicius’ extensive use of it could be misrepresentative of its true niche within Roman cookery, representing a luxury only available to the richest of Roman society as vital to Roman cuisine.
Quotes: 533
Essay: 1534
Total: 2067
Bibliography
Natural History Books 28-32 Vol. VIII
Pliny - Translated by W.H.S. Jones
Published 1963, Reprinted 2000 by Loeb Classical Library
0-674-99460-4
A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain
Maggie Black
Published 1993 by British Museum Press
0-7141-1732-3
The Sainsbury Book of Cocktails and Party Drinks
Joe Turner
Published 1983 by Cathay Books
0-86178-182-1
The Classical Cookbook
Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger
Published 1996 by British Museum Press
0-7141-2208-4
The Roman Cookery Book (trans. Apicius)
Flowers and Rosenbaum
London 1961
Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen
Ken Hom
Published 1994 by Pavilion
1-85793-4172
Itsa.vcsf.edu/~smlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/garum.html
Itsa.vcsf.edu/~smlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/
wine/wine.html
www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-CONDIMENTS/garum-msg.html
