Recipe Manuscript

Ventricula

Name: Ventricula
Prep time: PTPT45M
Cook time: PTPT1H20M
Yield: 8
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: 1 whole cleaned pig's stomach; 150 ml red wine vinegar; 25g sea salt; 500g roasted pork shoulder, chopped and sinews removed; 3 pork brains (or substitute with 3 eggs); 4 eggs, raw; 50g walnuts (chopped); 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon lovage or celery leaf; a pinch of asafoetida (as silphium substitute); 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 sprig fresh rue (optional); a few dried juniper berries (optional); 4 tablespoons fish sauce (as liquamen); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons water (as needed); Toasted bread, to serve; 150 ml red wine (for soaking bread, optional)

"Pork Stomach Sausage"

1475

From the treasured pages of Apicius - De re coquinaria (handwritten excerpts)

Written by Apicius

Renaissance (1400 - 1700)European Advanced Dinner Lunch

Original Recipe • 1475

Original Manuscript(circa Renaissance, 1400 - 1700)

As inscribed by the original author's hand, transcribed with care by Lost Kitchen Scrolls

Ventricula

"Ventrem porcinum bene exinanies aceto et sale postea aqua. Lauas & sic hanc impensam imples. Pulpam porcinam tostam excitam ita ut enervata commisceas cerebella tria & oua cruda cui nucleos infundis & piper integrum mittis & hoc iure temperas. teres pip liguisticum Sulphium zingiber rute baccam. Liquamentum optimum olei modicum repleas aquatum. Prout lassamentum habeat ne diffluat. Proctura findas ambas & in ollam bullientem. Tum mittis leuas & pungis acu ne crepat. qua dimidia cocta fuit leuas et ad fumum suspendas ut coloretur & denuo eum phrixabis ut coqui possit. Diu hunc cumine mero oleo modico & cultello aperies et cum liquamine & liguistico apponis. Ventrem in tosta facies cantabro in udum postea vinum mittis sic coque."

English Translation

"Thoroughly clean out a pig’s stomach with vinegar and salt, then rinse with water. Prepare the stuffing as follows: Take roast pork meat, pull it apart and remove the nerves, mix in three brains and raw eggs, add pine nuts, and put in whole peppercorns; season with this mixture. Grind pepper, lovage, silphium, ginger, rue berries, add a very good garum (fish sauce) and a little oil, making it more liquid with water as needed. Make sure the filling is moist so it doesn’t fall apart. Cut open both ends, and boil in a pot. Then lift it, prick with a needle so it doesn’t burst. When it is half cooked, remove and suspend it over smoke so it takes on color, then roast it so it can cook further. Serve with cumin, wine, a little oil and open it with a knife; serve with liquamen and lovage. Make toast with the stomach like a pudding, then add wine and cook as such."

Note on the Original Text

The recipe is written in terse, imperative Latin, reflecting the oral tradition of Roman cookery. Steps are detailed in order of execution but without exact measurements—typical for pre-modern recipes, where proportion and intuition ruled. Many ingredients, like silphium (a now-extinct pungent herb), are unfamiliar today, so substitutions are advised. Spelling and vocabulary may vary as the manuscript was copied in Renaissance Italy, resulting in some Latinized Italian flourishes or alternative terms. Modern reconstructions must rely on interpretation, with careful conversion to metric measurements and ingredient analogues while maintaining the luxurious, aromatic intent of the Roman original.

Modern Kitchen Interpretation

Recipe's Origin

Apicius - De re coquinaria (handwritten excerpts) - Click to view recipe in book

Title

Apicius - De re coquinaria (handwritten excerpts) (1475)

You can also click the book image above to peruse the original tome

Writer

Apicius

Era

1475

Publisher

Venice

Background

A delectable compendium of ancient Roman cookery, this collection invites you to taste the flavors of antiquity through ten tantalizing sections based on Apicius’s famed De re coquinaria. Savor recipes, tips, and culinary wisdom penned in a fine Italian hand for the epicurean elite of the 15th century.

Kindly made available by

University of Pennsyllvania

Historical Background of the Recipe

Learn about old traditions

This remarkable recipe hails from a manuscript attributed to the famed Roman gourmet Apicius, namely the 'De re coquinaria', though preserved here in a 15th-century Italian codex. Throughout Europe, such cookbooks were hand-copied and transmitted amongst the literate elite, affording a rare glimpse at the luxurious tables of ancient Rome. In Apicius's era, stuffed animal stomachs—particularly of pigs—were both a delicacy and a showpiece. These dishes showcased not only culinary skill but also an affinity for bold flavors, exotic spices, and complex textures, signifying a household’s sophistication and wealth. The use of brains, lovage, and garum (liquamen) would have been immediately recognizable to a learned Roman diner, even if some of these ingredients are rare or vanished today.

Culinary Tools when the Recipe was Crafted

Tools and techniques from kitchens of old

In antiquity, the preparation required sharp knives for butchering, wooden bowls or mortars for pounding and mixing the filling, and long, sturdy needles or skewers made possibly from bone or metal for sewing or pricking the stuffed stomach. Cooking would be accomplished in earthenware or bronze pots set over open fires or coals. The coloring step might have taken place over smoldering wood chips for gentle smoking, or by hanging near an open hearth. Serving involved slicing atop wooden boards, with rustic bread disks moistened in wine as accompaniment—transporting the finished dish directly to the table from kitchen to triclinium.

Modern Kitchen Adaptation

Ingredients and techniques for today's cooks

ounces, cups, Fahrenheit

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

1 hr 20 mins

Servings

Ingredients

1 whole cleaned pig's stomach
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
7/8 oz sea salt
1 lb 2 oz roasted pork shoulder, chopped and sinews removed
3 pork brains (or substitute with 3 eggs)
4 eggs, raw
1 3/4 oz walnuts (chopped)
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon lovage or celery leaf
a pinch of asafoetida (as silphium substitute)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 sprig fresh rue (optional)
a few dried juniper berries (optional)
1/4 cup fish sauce (as liquamen)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons water (as needed)
Toasted bread, to serve
2/3 cup red wine (for soaking bread, optional)

Instructions

Begin by thoroughly washing a cleaned pig’s stomach in vinegar and salt, then rinse with water.
Prepare the stuffing by combining about 1 lb 2 oz of roasted and finely chopped pork (removing any sinews), 3 fresh pork brains (or substitute with 3 eggs if brains are unavailable), and mix in 4 raw eggs.
Stir in around 1 3/4 oz of chopped walnuts and 2 teaspoons of whole black peppercorns.
Season this mixture well.
For the aromatic seasoning, grind together 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon lovage (or celery leaf), a pinch of asafoetida (as a substitute for silphium), 1 teaspoon ground ginger, and a sprig of fresh rue (or omit if unavailable), along with a few dried berries such as juniper.
Blend with your mixture along with a generous splash (1/4 cup) of liquamen (use Thai fish sauce as a substitute), a dash (1 1/2 tablespoons) of good olive oil, and just enough water (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) for a soft but firm stuffing that will not leak.
Stuff the washed pig’s stomach with this mixture, being careful not to overfill.
Use a sturdy kitchen needle or skewer to prick the stomach in several places, allowing steam to escape, and gently poach the filled stomach in a large pot of gently simmering water.
Remove when halfway cooked (about 30 minutes), let dry, then hang over gentle smoke or in a warming oven until it takes on a little color.
Return it to the pot to finish cooking (another 30-40 minutes).
When done, slice the stomach and serve warm with a drizzle of liquamen (fish sauce) and a sprinkle of lovage or celery leaf.
Optionally, serve with gently toasted bread dipped in wine.

Estimated Calories

400 per serving

Cooking Estimates

Preparing this dish involves cleaning the pig's stomach, chopping and mixing ingredients, and stuffing the stomach. Cooking includes gentle poaching, drying, smoking or warming in the oven, then finishing in simmering water. In total, it will take a little over 2 hours. Each serving contains an estimated 400 calories. This recipe yields about 8 servings.