Gastronomy is culture, tradition and history. It is a living, tangible tradition. It is a pleasure to know the culture of a country through its table and its food. For this reason, many historians and recreationists try to know what our ancestors ate. The cultures and traditions that were carried out in our land. In some way, are part of our heritage. Here we bring you one of those “forgotten” heritages that the Romans left us, the Garum.
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What is?
Garum or garo is a fish sauce, according to historians, prepared with fermented viscera. This sauce was very widespread in Roman gastronomy in all parts of the empire. It used to flavor foods. According to recreationists, it also came to used as medicine and cosmetics. Apparently it healed burns, eczema, dysentery, ulcers … It even healed wounds and relieved ear ailments.
Why is it important in Andalucia?
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Cádiz (UCA) has spent several years researching the ruins of Baelo Claudia (Bolonia, Cádiz), one of the most important archaeological sites in the western Mediterranean. The excavations have revealed the existence of fishing factories where salted fish made and pools in which the garum rested, which then exported to the entire Roman territory in amphorae. This was easier, thanks to the coastline and the tides in the Strait of Gibraltar area. Exports began to promote trade in the area, creating large cities and becoming cultural centers.
Has it been recreated?
There is several attempts to produce garum in recent times, but it was not until 2014 that the original garum that they perfectly preserved in a garum shop in Pompeii analyzed. From there, the product begins to be commercialized, which could refine and complemente with other organic remains found in Baelo Claudia in 2015. It is not easy to prepare authentic homemade garum and it requires technique, time and many tests.
Do you have the recipe?
We can make something slightly similar with simple ingredients and a mixer. Calling it garum would be saying a lot, but at least we will get slightly closer to that umami flavor of the historic sauce, we just have to crush some anchovies (of good quality) with the oil from the jar (or can) together with some black olives without bone, garlic, aromatic herbs (rosemary, oregano, etc.) and oil. We can make the sauce somewhat more liquid by adding a little water. And if we prefer a less salty sauce, we can use canned sardines instead of anchovies.
How can i use it?
Here we show you how some culinary experts use it:
- Petri Benítez en Venta Melchor (Conil, Cádiz): She has used the mythical sauce in multiple recipes, from bread dough to game dishes or desserts in which “sweetness remains , be it fruit or chocolate, “he clarifies.
- Mauro Barreiro in La Curiosidad de Mauro (Cádiz): His aim is to use it from the perspective of a chef today, hence his thousand-year-old egg yolk, which macerates for eight hours and serves with a salted tomato stew, or pate creamy mullet liver with garum and artichokes. But he has made the interior dressing of octopus or monkfish.
- Ángel León in Aponiente (El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz): He succumbed years ago to a cephalopod to season a broth, the base of some indoor choco dumplings.
- Albert Raurich from Dos Pebrots (Barcelona): He dives into ancient cookbooks and this has led him to prepare a garum, first following orthodox recipes and then incorporating the same enzyme that the Japanese use for soybeans. Translated to the plate, they produce results as appealing as the black onion to the flame; Poseidon tuna, raw, only dressed with anchovy garum, or an original pigeon garum.
- Kiko Moya in L’Escaleta (Cocentaina, Alicante): He makes them himself from the interiors, heads, salt, honey and herbs. “We have experimented with different types, shrimp, red mullet, oysters…”. He highlights the salted yolk with garum, the tuna belly with salt dressed with garum, the partridge or the rice with the garum of red mullet.
From Alsherry Experiences, we are sure that we have awakened your appetite, or at least your curiosity. If you want to know more about the culture and history of Andalusia, contact us.