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Aliter in Locusta (Another Sauce for Lobster)

Aliter in Locusta (Another Sauce for Lobster) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic dish of boiled lobster served with a spiced sauce with nuts, vinegar, honey, wine and mint sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Another Sauce for Lobster (Aliter in Locusta).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

50 minutes

Serves:

2

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Sauce RecipesSpice RecipesAncient Roman Recipes


Original Recipe


Aliter in Locusta (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) IX, i, 6


Aliter in locusta: piper, ligusticum, cuminum, mentam, rutam, nucleos, mel, acetum, liquamen et vinum.

Translation


Another [Sauce] for Lobster: Pepper, lovage, cumin, mint, rue, nuts, honey, vinegar, stock and wine.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1 whole lobster, about 1.2kg

For the Sauce:
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp lovage seeds (or celery seeds)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mint
pinch of rue (or rosemary)
4 tbsp pine nuts or blanched almonds, chopped
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
250ml reserved lobster stock
120ml white wine

Method:

Bring a pan of water just large enough to hold the lobster to the boil. Plunge the lobster in this, bring back to a boil and continue cooking for 25 minutes. Take off the heat, remove the lobster and set aside to keep warm (reserve the stock).

In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Pound together the black pepper, lovage (or celery) seeds, cumin, mint and rue (or rosemary) in a mortar. Add the pine nuts or almonds and pound until smooth then work in the honey, white wine vinegar and white wine. Turn into a pan and mix in the reserved lobster stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced.

Serve hot to accompany the meats from the lobster.

Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.