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Garum: Fermented Fish Sauce for the Ancient Roman Masses

48 points by davesailer 11y ago

joe5150 11y ago
If you're interested in a close approximation, you can find colatura in gourmet shops and online. It's a direct descendant of garum, but more refined.
- scentoni 11y ago
  Parallels (rather than descendents) in other cultures include Thai _nam pla_ and Vietnamese _nuac mam_ and a related product is Worcestershire sauce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce
  - DonaldFisk 11y ago
    Colatura, nam pla and nuoc mam are all modern equivalents of garum/liquamen and are made in much the same way. The recipe for garum is on my ancient Roman cookery page http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/Apicius.html http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/Apicius.html (scroll down). Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce may contain anchovies but has many other ingredients and bears little resemblance to garum. Other brands (e.g. Heinz) even omit anchovies.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - contingencies 11y ago
      Interestingly the Vietnamese version[1] appears to be named 'sauce of the Cham[2]', who are an ancient pre-Sinitic (actually Hindu) empire of the region, who were in contact with their neighbour Funan[3], who in turn are known to have had at least sporadic contact with Rome by sea. PS. Southeast Asian history is awesome, especially when you consider the great number of huge temple complexes[4], Austronesian ocean voyaging and the development of multihull sailing vessels! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_ch%E1%BA%A5m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_ch%E1%BA%A5m [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Funan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Funan [4] https://picasaweb.google.com/106883718971909092529/20120316BangAnAndMySon https://picasaweb.google.com/106883718971909092529/20120316B...
- archagon 11y ago
  Super easy to make delicious pasta: 1.5 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp colatura, 2 cloves minced garlic, a bit of dried pepper flakes, a handful of parsley, 120 g pasta. Cook pasta, mix ingredients in a bowl, combine while hot. No need to cook the sauce!
  - swimfar 11y ago
    Where do you buy your colatura? The prices I see online are about $30 for a 100ml bottle. That comes out to $4.50 for the single tablespoon (15ml) in your recipe. Exorbitant may be too strong of a word, but that seems like a lot of money. (I'll have to try out that recipe regardless. :) ) edit: I see a bottle for $15 as well, which makes it a bit more reasonable.
    - archagon 11y ago
      The one bottle I have I bought in Italy, I'm afraid. :) But yeah, the Amazon 100ml-for-$15 price seems quite reasonable. I might not be using full tablespoons either because my colatura of the same size has definitely lasted me more than 7 servings. (I'm guessing it'll end up being closer to 10-15.) PS the parsley should be chopped Italian parsley. Some recipes also involve a bit of lemon zest. Here's a dude making it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr18nP8GIgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr18nP8GIgc
    - mapt 11y ago
      Southeast Asian fish sauce, on the other hand, can be bought in the US for around $3 a liter.
giardini 11y ago
Mark Kurlansky's book titled "Salt" covers the history of fish sauce in both the West (Rome) and the East, among a great number of other topics. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001619?keywords=Salt&qid=1445573599&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001619?keywords=Salt&qi... While I put off reading it for months (neither title nor cover appealed to me), once I started it proved to be one of the most fascinating books I've read.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

48 points by davesailer 11y ago

If you're interested in a close approximation, you can find colatura in gourmet shops and online. It's a direct descendant of garum, but more refined.

scentoni 11y ago
Parallels (rather than descendents) in other cultures include Thai _nam pla_ and Vietnamese _nuac mam_ and a related product is Worcestershire sauce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce
- DonaldFisk 11y ago
  Colatura, nam pla and nuoc mam are all modern equivalents of garum/liquamen and are made in much the same way. The recipe for garum is on my ancient Roman cookery page http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/Apicius.html http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/Apicius.html (scroll down). Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce may contain anchovies but has many other ingredients and bears little resemblance to garum. Other brands (e.g. Heinz) even omit anchovies.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - contingencies 11y ago
    Interestingly the Vietnamese version[1] appears to be named 'sauce of the Cham[2]', who are an ancient pre-Sinitic (actually Hindu) empire of the region, who were in contact with their neighbour Funan[3], who in turn are known to have had at least sporadic contact with Rome by sea. PS. Southeast Asian history is awesome, especially when you consider the great number of huge temple complexes[4], Austronesian ocean voyaging and the development of multihull sailing vessels! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_ch%E1%BA%A5m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_ch%E1%BA%A5m [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Funan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Funan [4] https://picasaweb.google.com/106883718971909092529/20120316BangAnAndMySon https://picasaweb.google.com/106883718971909092529/20120316B...
archagon 11y ago
Super easy to make delicious pasta: 1.5 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp colatura, 2 cloves minced garlic, a bit of dried pepper flakes, a handful of parsley, 120 g pasta. Cook pasta, mix ingredients in a bowl, combine while hot. No need to cook the sauce!
- swimfar 11y ago
  Where do you buy your colatura? The prices I see online are about $30 for a 100ml bottle. That comes out to $4.50 for the single tablespoon (15ml) in your recipe. Exorbitant may be too strong of a word, but that seems like a lot of money. (I'll have to try out that recipe regardless. :) ) edit: I see a bottle for $15 as well, which makes it a bit more reasonable.
  - archagon 11y ago
    The one bottle I have I bought in Italy, I'm afraid. :) But yeah, the Amazon 100ml-for-$15 price seems quite reasonable. I might not be using full tablespoons either because my colatura of the same size has definitely lasted me more than 7 servings. (I'm guessing it'll end up being closer to 10-15.) PS the parsley should be chopped Italian parsley. Some recipes also involve a bit of lemon zest. Here's a dude making it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr18nP8GIgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr18nP8GIgc
  - mapt 11y ago
    Southeast Asian fish sauce, on the other hand, can be bought in the US for around $3 a liter.

giardini 11y ago

Mark Kurlansky's book titled "Salt" covers the history of fish sauce in both the West (Rome) and the East, among a great number of other topics. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001619?keywords=Salt&qid=1445573599&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001619?keywords=Salt&qi... While I put off reading it for months (neither title nor cover appealed to me), once I started it proved to be one of the most fascinating books I've read.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]