For my second acta, I decided to do another actum delectamentum. This time, I sought to recreate the dessert dish “ova Spongia ex Lacte. This ancient Roman dessert is thought to be similar to a sweet omelet a pancake with milk. Once again, I noticed the lack of ingredients in the recipe. Maybe this makes sense since if it was during the Roman Republic, then they had not gone too far to find other ingredients like they would have during their imperial period. I did not really understand how this was supposed to be a pancake since there were only wet ingredients. A sweet omelet with milk felt more appropriate. Because of the simplicity of the dish, I luckily had all of the ingredients in my apartment already. I scaled the recipe down and mixed the eggs, milk, and oil together. I used olive oil because I thought that it would add more flavor than a neutral oil like canola oil. Because of the oil, it was fairly difficult to emulsify since I would whisk it and achieve that but I was also cooking a Bolognese at the same time so I only paid the actum so much attention. I poured the mixture into a heated pan and let it cook until the bottom and some of the top set and then I attempted to flip it. However, because of my lack of skill and the omlete to pan ratio, I broke it a bit. I let that cook for a bit longer and then served it on a plate and topped it with honey and black pepper.

I was honestly happy with the dessert. I thought it tasted better than the libum I had previously made. I guess that isn’t too surprising considering that it was basically an omelet with some honey. The honey was a great touch as it served to complexify the flavor a bit more. Once again, the dish was in dire need of salt. That would have definitely brought the sweetness and egg/milk mixture out more. I feel that this would have been a great combination of sweet and savory for a dessert course after having a Roman dinner with some savory garum!

For my Actum Delectamentum, I decided to make Libum, otherwise known as an Ancient Roman cheesecake. The recipe comes from Cato’s writings he made for farmers which included these simple dishes that they can make. The ancient recipe doesn’t deviate too much from the modern interpretation of libum I found, with the cheese and cooking method being different. For this modern libum, I collected ricotta, flour, eggs, bay leaves, and honey. I beat the ricotta until it softened, and then added an egg and flour to it to form a dough. From there, I split the dough up into four buns and inserted a bay leaf on top of each one. In ancient Rome, they would have cooked it in a hot fire and covered it with a brick called a tetso. To replicate this, I covered the baking dish with another baking sheet and put it into the oven at 425 degrees for 35 minutes.

I appreciate the simplicity of the dish as it seems like something that could be made by most Romans, especially considering this would normally be a sacrificial cake offered to spirits. To me, this modern version was fairly lacking in flavor, although I can imagine it would be improved with some higher quality ricotta. The bay leaf did add a nice herbal touch, providing some more depth to the cake and the drizzled honey added some flavor as well. I invited some friends over to try it as well and they enjoyed it more than me. They appreciated the different flavor from a New York style cheesecake, viewing it as something a little lighter. If I were to make it again, I think I would add a few extra elements. To get some more flavor into it, I would first add salt, a crucial ingredient in any recipe. A teaspoon or two of vanilla extract and sugar would provide some sweetness that could make it a bit more fitting for a dessert. Also, adding one egg yolk in addition to the egg in the recipe could make it richer and I think would make the ricotta flavor pop out more.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/libum.html