Recreating a 1500-Year-Old Burger

Adaptation of the Roman burger, Isicia Omentata

Photo by Niklas Rhöse on Unsplash

Have you ever wondered what a hamburger might have tasted over a thousand years ago? Was it a juicy treat with melted cheese on a mushy bun like today? While we debate the origin of the burger, most food historians associate it with the Hamburger steak, a minced meat steak famous in Hamburg, Germany.

But what if it’s even older than we thought?

The oldest evidence of a burger is in the Apicius, an unidentified author’s 5th-century Roman cookbook. The dish was named Isicia Omentata.

Although it wasn’t a replica of the burgers we eat, the preparation technique was quite similar. Can we recreate a modern burger using the Apicius recipe? Surprisingly, it is doable. Let’s look at the recipe and ingredients for this ancient Roman burger.

Selecting the right meat.

The Chianina cattle, one of the oldest cattle breeds in the world. Chianina was raised during Roman times in Italy. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

How do you choose the best meat for a Roman burger?

Oddly, there is no mention of a specific type of meat in the Apicius. Other recipes in the cookbook make use of a variety of meats. Squid, mussels, pheasant, peacock, and pig brains are among them. The recipe for Isicia Omentata calls for minced meat.

But Romans prized their cattle, and beef was a special occasion dish. During religious festivals, they sacrificed oxen to the gods as a mark of high honor.

When Cato the Elder, a Roman senator, was asked what the most profitable venture on an estate was, he replied, “Raising cattle well.” When asked what the second-best investment would be, he said, “Raising cattle with ordinary care.” His third choice was “Raising cattle with neglect.” Farming was Cato’s fourth option. This shows the pride the Romans had in their cattle.

Thus, we can confidently select a prime cut of beef for a Roman burger. Back then, there were no meat grinders, so the meat was hand-chopped. As there are no specifications for the meat, we can assume Romans may have blended pork with beef or even added bacon bits (Okay, I may have adapted this from Sean Brock’s iconic American cheeseburger, but trust me, it works!)

The Romans may also have made the burger with pheasant or peacock meat. Another ingredient suggests that the Romans perhaps used lean game meat rather than beef or pork in their burgers.

The secret ingredients

A Roman Garum factory. Garum was used to make burgers in Rome. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

A few unique ingredients were used in the ancient Roman burger, which are still available, although less common. One of them is caul fat.

Caul fat is the thin membrane surrounding the internal organs of pigs, cows, and sheep. The use of caul fat suggests that the Romans may have prepared their burgers with lean meat. Because game meat, such as pheasant or peacock, was lean, extra fat had to be added for flavor.

But, aside from meat, what else was in the patty?

Apicius asks us to bind the meat with breadcrumbs soaked in wine and season it with ground myrtle berries, black pepper, and pine nuts. The Romans imported black pepper from India, a spice of choice for their chefs. They farmed myrtle berries and pine nuts locally.

Then Rome’s most prized condiment, garum, was added to the meat. Garum was a fermented fish sauce widely used in Roman cuisine. Its manufacturing process was similar to soy sauce or modern fish sauce. Oily sea fishes such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies, sprats, or tuna were crushed and fermented in brine over a long period, bringing out an intense flavor. People from all social classes consumed garum.

They were cooked once the meat was seasoned and made into burger patties. The exact cooking method isn’t described, but we can imagine they were grilled like a modern burger.

According to the recipe, the meat is to be served with caroenum. Caroenum is a Roman liquid sweetener prepared by reducing grape juice or red wine to one-third of its original volume.

How to select the right bread

Photo by Andrea Riezzo on Unsplash

Burgers in ancient Rome were different from what we eat today, and tomatoes were a thousand years away from the shores of Europe. But what about the bread? The recipe doesn’t mention serving the burger patties between a delightful squishy bun, as we do nowadays. However, if you want a burger, you will need bread.

You’ll stay authentic to the era since the Romans loved their bread. The aristocratic class ate bread made of refined white flour, which the Roman physician Galen describes as light enough to float on water.

The poor ate bread, including the bran, which was harder and thinner than the fine flour bread. Besides wheat, Roman bakers made bread using rye, acorn, and millet. Barley was frowned upon, and Romans associated its consumption with slaves, convicts, and gladiators.

Romans despised butter. They didn’t use it for cooking but for massaging babies. Hence, toast the buns in olive oil like a proper Roman!

Cheese, lettuce, and pickles were common in the Roman Empire. Feel free to add them. They won’t ruin the authenticity of the dish. But if you want to stick to the Apicius recipe, you can skip them since it does not mention serving burgers with cheese, lettuce, or pickles.

I am not a fan of lettuce in my burgers, but I can’t imagine them without cheese and pickles. Sadly, tomatoes will be missed.

Recipe for the ancient Roman burger.

Ingredients

• 450 g hand-chopped lean red meat, beef, lamb, pork, or a combination of two or more. Those living in the Americas can go for bison. However, it won’t be authentic, and those living in Asia can use water buffalo, which will be more authentic than bison since, by the 6th century, we see water buffaloes in Italy.

• 50 g pine nuts.

• Black peppercorns

• Myrtle or Juniper berries.

• Caul fat(unlikely to be available at a supermarket; contact your local butcher, and they’ll have it for you).

• Garum or fish sauce.

• Leftover bread, chopped, soaked in wine, and then crushed.

• Cheese( optional).

• Burger buns (optional).

• Chopped bacon 50 g (optional).

• Dill pickles two slices (optional).

Directions

1. Chop the sirloin steak into tiny pieces, as small as possible. Then grind them using a mortar and pestle; do not use a meat grinder.

2. Add the breadcrumbs and bacon to the mortar and pestle with the meat and continue grinding.

3. Crush the juniper or myrtle berries with the black pepper. Mix it with garum or fish sauce. Add the mixture to the meat.

4. Add pine nuts to the seasoned meat mixture and shape them like burger patties.

5. Wrap the patties in caul fat. Grill on a flat-top grill for ten minutes, turning regularly.

6. If you want to stay true to the recipe, you can serve the patties as such. Otherwise, add cheese, pickles, lettuce and serve it with a burger bun. Remember, no tomatoes!

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Would you try the Isicia Omentata? Is there any ingredient that makes you uneasy? In the comments, let me know your thoughts on this ancient recipe.

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