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Isicia de Cerebellis (Brain Dumplings)

Isicia de Cerebellis (Brain Dumplings) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic forcemeat made from brains blended with herbs and spices, bound with eggs and served with a sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Brain Dumplings (Isicia de Cerebellis).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

50 minutes

Total Time:

70 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Sauce RecipesSpice RecipesHerb RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Isicia de Cerebellis (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) II, i, 5

Isicium [Isicia de Cerebellis]: adicies in mortarium piper, ligusticum, origanum, fricabis, suffundes liquamen, adicies cerebella cocta, teres diligenter, ne astulas habeat. adicies ova quinque et dissolves diligenter, ut unum corpus efficias. liquamine temperas et in patella aenea exinanies, coques. cum coctum fuerit, versas in tabula munda, tessellas concides. adicies in mortarium piper, ligusticum, origanum, fricabis. in se commisces, in caccabum facies ut ferveat. cum ferbuerit, tractum confringes, obligas, coagitabis, et exinanies in boletari. piper asperges et appones.

Translation

Forcemeat [Brain Forcemeat]: In a mortar, place pepper, lovage and oregano; grind and moisten with liquamen then add cooked brains and grind diligently so that the mixture is smooth. Incorporate five eggs and continue mixing well until thoroughly incorporated. Blend with stock then empty into a bronze pan and cook. When cooked, turn it out onto a clean board and cut into neat pieces. Now grind pepper, lovage and oregano in a mortar. Add stock, pour into a pan and heat. Break [in] pastry, thicken and stir then empty into a serving dish. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

450g calf's brains, boiled to cook (or use tinned corned beef)
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
2 tsp lovage seeds (or celery seeds)
1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
5 eggs, beaten

For the Sauce:
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp lovage seeds (or celery seeds)
1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
150ml liquamen
1 tbsp plain flour

Method:

Begin with the dumplings: Grind together the pepper, lovage seeds (or celery seeds) and oregano in a mortar. Chop the calf's brains (or the corned beef), add to the mortar and pound with the flavourings until smooth. Now mix thoroughly with the beaten eggs. Turn into a greased and floured baking pan, place in an oven pre-heated to 160�B0;C and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the custard has set. When done, allow to cool then turn out onto a chopping board and cut into cubes.

When the meat mixture is done, pound together the black pepper, lovage (or celery) seeds and oregano for the sauce in a mortar. Work in 50ml of the liquamen until smooth. Whisk the flour and 4 tbsp of the liquamen together to form a smooth slurry. Combine the remaining liquamen with the contents of the mortar and turn into a pan. Add 100ml water and bring to a simmer and whisk in the four slurry. Now bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until thickened. Add the dumplings to this sauce and cook until re-heated. Serve hot.

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.