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Tyros Dia Koskinou (Cheese and Honey)

Tyros Dia Koskinou (Cheese and Honey) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a snack of feta cheese served in a honey and black pepper sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Tyros Dia Koskinou.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

5 minutes

Total Time:

25 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian RecipesCheese RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Tyros Dia Koskinou (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

Break off a piece of cheese, put it in a bowl, then turn a bronze sieve over the top and work the cheese through. Whenever you are about to serve pour sufficient honey over it.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

200g feta cheese
4 tbsp clear honey
Twist of black pepper

Method:

This is an extremely simple dish, yet the saltiness of the feta and the sweetness of the honey work very well together.

Grate the cheese as best you can, pour the honey over this, add a twist of pepper and serve. Because of its crumbly texture and salty nature Feta cheese is a good starting point for this dish. However, other cheeses can be used to suit individual states (blue cheeses such as Stilton and Danish Blue also work quite well).