Roman Feast - Wild Boar, Alexandrian Pumpkin and Roman Style Carrots

Well it's Friday, and not only the weekend, but also time for our Roman Feast! Well we've got to have some debauchery and wild times to be true Romans! I was going to go full Roman, find a bed sheet and fashion myself a toga, but as with everything else my old sheets are somewhere, in a box, in this house. I even thought about attempting a Roman hairstyle and makeup, but when doing further research and watching some makeup tutorials I despaired! I can cook, but my makeup skills are severely lacking. 

Still, if you would like to wine and dine like a Roman, wearing your finest toga and with your make up done to perfection, take a look at this video of people who know what they're doing! If you're like me, and are just here for the food, then we'll get started with the main course and then the side dishes. 

Roast Boar

One thing I've certainly noticed in my research and that is quite a cultural shift from what we consider the fine food of today (think beef and lamb) to how much throughout history people tended to prefer wild, game animals (as we'll also see with Medieval week that's coming up)! I ordered my wild game from the Wild Meat Company, in order to ensure I had the best quality meat and was helping a smaller company rather than the big old supermarkets! I'm not sponsored by them, but I feel during this time businesses like this need support. 

I took inspiration from Around the Roman Table Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome again and followed the recipe on there for Roast Wild Boar. As mine was only 900g I had to change the timings slightly (1 hour 45 minutes), but it came out really well and was absolutely delicious. The caroenum sauce that went with it was really good too, very rich and flavoursome, so would recommend going to the effort of making that as well. This recipe also requires you to leave the boar in the fridge for three days, to absorb all the flavour of the spices, so bear that in mind if you are going to make it!

Alexandrian Pumpkin

This was a majorly popular dish for the Romans, which was considered a main, but as my partner and I had adopted a small, decorative pumpkin after halloween I decided to make good use of it for a side dish instead! The recipe on Cook a Classical Feast: nine recipes from ancient Greece and Rome suggested the use of either squash or marrow, so it seemed to work well regardless of the veg used. I've now grown used to the amount of spices and herbs used in Roman cooking, they were such big fans of using really pungent flavours, to the point a lot of the food has really reminded me of either Indian or Chinese style dishes. Which isn't just me being a sad white person, who isn't used to flavour, but it does bring about that awareness of how much things change throughout history. The surprising thing is I know that Medieval week will still be big on using big, punchy flavours, but if I ever do a Victorian or Edwardian era week then I know that the wealthy were keen on surprisingly bland food. I'll be kind of sad when I do get to 1940s week or really any point after that, because there was a reason why Britian became known for having bland, brown food. 

As mentioned in my previous blog post, the food itself was quite light, there's nothing really stodgy or heavy when it comes to Roman food (or at least the food I've tried), but the flavour is almost so rich and incredibly good that it takes a few mouthfuls before you have to go 'Ok, I need to take a break.' I'm honestly surprised anyone managed to stuff themselves so full that they had to throw it all up again. I try a mouthful of Alexandrian Pumpkin and I'm like 'Well that's me satisfied for the next few hours!' 

Ancient Roman Style Carrots

This was a recipe I found on a blog called Slices of Blue Sky and reminded me a lot of a shredded carrot salad I had tried at Fishbourne Palace, with the use of cumin and mint. I made the mistake of not cooking it for quite long enough, so would definitely recommend trying a piece of carrot before serving. But even with the crunch of the carrot, it was still tasty and went very well with the boar. 

The End of an Era

And that's Roman week all done! It has been an incredibly, fascinating journey and I've really enjoyed having this little sneak peek into the past. There are certainly some dishes I won't recreate again (looking at you Olive relish), but definitely some that were so good they'll doubtless make an appearance during my regular cooking time. I feel that the Roman era has certainly lent itself well to summer BBQs and Picnics, the light delicate food that packs lots of flavour would be great for events like that.

As mentioned above, next week will be Medieval week, so pack your cupboards with as many currants as you can possibly fit in there and don't get rid of your spices just yet! I hope you'll join me on Sunday again when I make medieval style bread!