Pullum Parthicum (Parthian Chicken)

I quite enjoy a bit of historical cooking. Cooking in the Archives has been a lot of fun (even if I don't always agree with their interpretations). And I've quite liked some of the recipes from Shakespeare's Kitchen and Townsends as well.

Reiver was actually the one who originally put me onto Townsends. And now he's shared a few more of his favourite cooking channels. One of which is Max Miller's Tasting History. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the videos I've watched on his channel, but Reiver has his cookbook and had pointed out that we had all the bits for this chicken recipe. And, unlike some of his other recipes, he actually seems to have a reasonable source for this one and hasn't been overly... "creative" in his interpretation of it.

This was quite a surprising recipe. It honestly didn't really grab me at first. It looked unusual, but not that exciting. But, I have to say, this turned out very nice in the end! I don't think it was quite a favourite for me, but it was nice.

I never would have thought of combining red wine and fish sauce, but the combination works surprisingly well! And the caraway, black pepper, celery, and asafetida is a somewhat bewildering -- but not unpleasant -- way to complete the flavours.

I think I might put somewhat less wine next time. I do feel like using a full cup was a bit heavy-handed and possibly excessive for a recipe that calls for "seasoning" with wine. But otherwise, I really can't complain or suggest any changes or alterations. This was actually quite lovely!

We served our Parthian chicken over a bit of saffron rice with a slice of buttered rye bread and some silverbeet gratin on the side. This turns out to have been an excellent (and fairly thematically appropriate) combination. Would definitely recommend!

Parthian Chicken: Open the chicken and quarter. Pound pepper, lovage, a little caraway, moisten with garum, season with wine. Arrange the chicken in an earthen dish and put the seasoning on top. Dissolve silpuium in warm water, and put it with the chicken and cook. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
-- Apicus, De re coquinaria

Pullum Parthicum

Slightly adapted from Tasting History by Max Miller

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (~1.5kg)¹
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lovage or 1/4 c. celery leaves²
• 1/2 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. caraway seeds, ground
• 1/2-3/4 c. dry red wine
• 3/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• 1/4 c. warm water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Quarter the chicken and place the pieces, skin-side-up, in a baking dish.
3. Combine the fish sauce, lovage (or celery), pepper, and caraway and mix well.
4. Stir in the wine.
5. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Try to distribute the spices as evenly as possible and press them into the chicken skin a little.
6. Stir the asafetia into the water and pour it over the chicken as well.
7. Roast at 230°C (450°F) until chicken is cooked through and meat registers ~74°C/165°F (~45 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Serve drizzled with the sauce and extra black pepper.

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¹ Honestly, any skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces should work reasonably well for this. I actually ended up using a bunch of thighs for my rendition. ^Back
2 I used both the leaves and the ribs of the celery for my rendition and liked that quite a lot. I only used one rib this time around, but Reiver and I agreed that a bit more would have been even better. Personally, I would recommend 1/4 c. of leaves + 2 ribs of celery if going that route. ^Back

Lovage, Tomato, and Cheese Tart

This tart is way tastier than it has any right to be! I don't understand it. There's nothing wrong with the ingredient list, but it didn't seem particularly inspiring either. No herbs, no spices (beyond black pepper), no Parmesan. There's some onion and garlic and Cheddar and things, but I wasn't confident that any of it would really shine. I put one or more kinds of cheese in almost every quiche I make -- onions and garlic are pretty common too -- but they don't all come out like this! They're usually tasty, sure, but not the addictive, rich, satisfying flavour-bomb that this one turned out to be. I am really impressed. I was already planning the modifications and improvements in my head while preparing it but, now that I've actually tried it, I don't think it needs any changes at all.

Loveage, Tomato, and Cheese Tart

Slightly adapted from the Book of Old Tarts by Elizabeth Hodder

Ingredients

• 175g Pastry
• 25g unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh lovage (young leaves only)¹
• 3 large eggs
• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• black pepper, to taste
• 4 ripe tomatoes, skinned, chopped, and juices drained²
• 115g old/sharp/mature Cheddar, grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a shallow 23cm (9") tart tin³ with the pastry.
2. Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Blind bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat.
4. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Add the lovage and cook, uncovered, for 1 more minute. If using celery instead, cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Remove from heat and set aside.
8. Lightly beat the eggs.
9. Remove the parchemnt paper and pie weights from the pie shell and brush the pastry with beaten egg.
10. Return the pie shell to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.
11. Mix the cream with the beaten eggs and season to taste with pepper.
12. Once the pie shell is fully baked, remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 190°C (375°F).
13. Sprinkle ~1/2 of the cheese over the bottom of the pie shell.
14. Add the onion mixture in an even layer on top of the cheese.
15. Add an even layer of chopped tomatoes over the onion.
16. Pour in the custard, being careful not to overflow the pie shell.
17. Top with remaining cheese.
18. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30 minutes.
19. Serve warm.

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¹ If you don't have access to fresh lovage, you may use celery instead. (This is, incidentally, what I did.) Celery has a much milder flavour than lovage, so you'll need a lot more of it. Use 3-4 stalks of minced celery to replace the lovage. ^Back
2 I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand, so I used fire-roasted tinned diced tomatoes with the juices drained. I didn't measure the amount. I think I probably used ~300mL of tomatoes. ^Back
3 I used a shallow 23cm tart tin as directed but found that there wasn't enough room for all the custard. I had a scant cup left over. I would recommend either using a deep dish 23cm pie plate or scaling back the custard slightly. Maybe just two eggs and 200mL of cream. ^Back