Ancient Roman Cheesecakes
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.
