Pullum Frontonianum

Pullum frontonianum (chicken a la Fronto) is a dish from ancient Rome, found in Apicius, a cookbook from ancient Rome from the 4th or early 5th century. This is a fried chicken dish.

Ingredients

 * 1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg)
 * 100ml oil
 * 200ml liquamen
 * 1 branch of leek
 * Fresh dill, saturei, coriander, pepper to taste
 * A little bit of defrutum

Notes:

 * Liquamen is salty fish sauce, a condiment derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. This is one of the basics of Roman cooking, it is salty in flavour.There are various fish sauces available in oriental shops. Alternative: 1 tablespoon of salt dissolved in 100ml (3½ fl oz) of wine.
 * Saturei is a violet or white flowered kind of labiate plants which grows mainly in Southern Europe (Satureia hortensis). Used as a spice plant, especially for bean dishes. Alternative: dried rose petals.
 * Defrutum is a reduction of must used by cooks and others in ancient Rome. It was made by boiling down grape juice (called must) in large kettles until it had been reduced by at least half. The sweetest defrutum was further boiled down into an even stronger concentrate called sapa. This is a thick fig syrup. This is how to make defrutum:
 * 600ml (1 pint) wine or grape juice
 * Boil the liquid until reduced by two thirds.
 * Let it cool.
 * Produces 200ml (7 fl oz)
 * Adviced not to use bronze or copper kettle because the metals would react with the acids in the defrutum and give the finished product an unpleasant metallic taste.

Method

 * 1) Start to fry chicken and season with a mixture of liquamen and oil, together with bunches of dill, leek, saturei and fresh coriander.
 * 2) Cook approximately 1 hour with 220°C in the oven.
 * 3) When the chicken is done, moisten a plate with defrutum, put chicken on it, sprinkle pepper on it, and serve.

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