Pullum Frontonianum

This recipe comes from a Renaissance manuscript of Apicius, the legendary Roman collection of cookery compiled roughly in the 4th or 5th century CE but widely referenced and copied in later centuries. This particular manuscript was copied in Italy in the late 15th century, a time when ancient Roman culinary traditions were being rediscovered and celebrated. Roman cookery, as shown in Apicius, favored the use of aromatic herbs, grape products, and the unique pairing of sweet and savory. Pullum Frontonianum—with its chicken poached in oil and must (young wine or grape juice), aromatic with dill and leek and finished with pepper—captures the elegance and flavor layering prized by Roman gourmets.

In Antiquity and the Renaissance, this dish would have been made in a large, heavy clay or bronze cooking pot set over a charcoal or wood fire. Meat would be simmered slowly to tenderness, often covered to preserve aromatic flavors. Cooking implements included long-handled spoons or ladles of wood or bronze, knives for butchering, and pronged tools or skewers to pierce and serve the meat. After cooking, a basin or bowl with clean water would be used for rinsing the cooked bird, and a mortar and pestle would grind spices like pepper for the final flourish before serving.