The First Celebrity Chef and the First CookbookToday our media is filled with the exploits of celebr

The First Celebrity Chef and the First CookbookToday our media is filled with the exploits of celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, Anthony Bourdain,  Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, and many, many more.  The history of celebrity chefs goes way back in history, even thousands of years to the world of Ancient Rome.  One of the first celebrity chefs was a man named Marcus Gavius Apicius, a gourmet who seemed to be a popular man in the Roman world.A lover of food and luxury, Apicius was certainly in good company as many of his friends and acquaintances were the richest and most powerful people in the Roman Empire, including famous Romans such as Sejanus, Drusus, Seneca, Maecenus (adviser to emperor Augustus),  Junius Blaesus and Lucius Antistius Vetus (Roman Consuls), and of course the Emperor Tiberius.  In the first century AD Apicius made another contribution to culinary history, one of the first cookbooks ever published. Called De re coquinaria (on the subject of cooking,) it was written in the early 1st century AD and features 10 chapters on housekeeping, ground meats, vegetables, ingredients, soups, poultry, pastries and baking, red meat, and seafood.  While Apicius was not the direct author of the book, the cooking styles and recipes contained within are attributed to him.  Interestingly De re coquinaria  was not written in Classical Latin but in Vulgar Latin (commoners speech), demonstrating that it was to be used as a common kitchen tool.  Despite this, De re coquinaria clearly was a manuscript of gourmet foods consumed by the wealthy, as it uses rare ingredients such as goose liver, flamingo tongue, and dormice (edible mouse).  Over time several translations and editions were printed.  Today modern English translations of De re coquinaria can be easily found on Amazon and other book sites. A Recipe by Apicius: Pullus Fusilus (Stuffed Chicken)Ingredients1        fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg)300g     minced meat (half beef, half pork)100g     oats2        eggs250ml    white wine1 tblsp  oil1 tblsp  Lovage (can substitute with celery leaves)¼ tsp  ground ginger¼ tsp  ground pepper1 tsp    green peppercorns50g      pine nutsLiquamen (white wine and salt) or salt to tasteInstructionsGround pepper, lovage, ginger, minced meat and cooked oats. Add eggs and mix until you have a smooth mass. Season with Liquamen, add  oil , whole peppercorns and pine nuts. Fill this dough into the chicken. Cook approximately 1 hour at 220 deg C in the oven. -- source link

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