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Myma (Baked Plaice)

Myma (Baked Plaice) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a place in a wine sauce baked with feta cheese. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Myma.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

65 minutes

Total Time:

80 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Cheese RecipesBaking RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Myma (from Athenæus' Deipnosophistae)

Athenæus was born in Naucratis, Egypt circa 180CE. He is remembered chiefly for his his compilation Deipnosophistae (The Deipnosophists [which is most often loosely translated as The Partying Professors). Writing in Greek, the book itself is a dialogue in which a variety of characters debate a wide spectrum of topics. Luxury, diet, health, sexual relationships, music, humour and Greek lexicography all come under discussion, but the focus is on food, wine and entertainment. There are numerous descriptions of meals and the curses involved in those meals. So detailed are many of these that a modern redaction of the food can easily be created. Though Egyptian Athenæus was a learned member of the Roman empire (Greek being the second language of the Roman Empire) and it is fair to assume that the food described by Athenæus would have been known across the Empire. It is also good to have someone apart from Apicius as a source of recipes!

Translation

Epænetus says as follows in his Art of Cookery: a myma of every kind of meat, and also bird, should be made by finely chopping the sift bits of flesh, adding mashed offal and intestines and blood and seasoning with vinegar, baked cheese, and asafœtida, cumin, fresh or dried thyme, savory, fresh or dried coriander, horn onion, toasted onion that has been peeled or poppy seeds and raisins or honey and the seeds of bitter pomegranate. One can have the same myma with fish.

Modern Redaction

Fish has been chosen here so as to obviate the need for preparing the offal. If, however, you want to be adventurous I would suggest using lamb cutlets and adding 150g mashed lamb's liver and 100g mashed lamb's heart to the cheese and vegetable mixture and using this to cover the cutlets. If using lamb a sprig of finely-chopped mint would also go well with the mixture. It may seem odd to modern cooks, but part of the reasoning for this dish is to over-power the meat (which is why plaice was chosen). However, any firm white fish will do for the recipe above and any meat will work for the offal version (though venison is particularly good).

Ingredients:

4 fillets of plaice
1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
100g Feta cheese
150ml dry white wine
30g seedless raisins
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 sprigs of thyme
½ tsp asafoetida
sea salt to taste

Method:

Slice the onion into very thin rings and gently fry these in olive oil until they become clear. Arrange these on the bottom of a large oven-proof dish and place the fish fillets on top.

Place the coriander, cumin and asafoetida in a mortar and crush with a pestle. Add the raisins and sprinkle over the fish fillets. Cover with a sprig of thyme.

Mix the wine and vinegar together, season with salt and pour over the fish. Next slice the Feta cheese as thinly as possible and use to entirely cover each fillet. Cover the dish with a lid and bake in an oven pre-heated to 150°C (300°F/Gas Mark 2) for an hour.