Making the 2000 Year Old "Pizza" from Pompeii

[@TastingHistory]

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[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Thanks Max! Gonna show it to My parents. They are hopeless in English (colombian here)

[@angeleyeszarai]

How come the video was posted just a few minutes ago but this comment was written 7 days ago? 🤔

[@TastingHistory]

@@angeleyeszarai I write my comment as soon as I upload it to the site so I don’t forget on posting day.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@TastingHistoryThat's wise Max! Always ready!🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤

[@angeleyeszarai]

​@@TastingHistory I love you. 🤗👑💜💐💐💐💐

[@Warkurus]

Regarding the amount of garlic: Could it be that 2000 years ago garlic cloves were smaller than today? This would explain why they used more.

[@leeshajoi]

That's what I've heard. Even recipes from a century or two ago need to have the garlic portions reduced because modern garlic is HUGE compared to what it used to be.

[@frocat5163]

I'm pretty sure Max used two _bulbs_ of garlic rather than two cloves. At least it looked like he had far more than two cloves in that mortar...

[@TJ-bg4fw]

@@frocat5163Those where pine nuts

[@Hwyadylaw]

Even today there are a lot of very differently sized garlic varieties.

[@frocat5163]

@@TJ-bg4fw 7:14 - That's absolutely the garlic going into the mortar, chief. Pine nuts aren't wildly different shapes and sizes, and they also don't have holes in the middle. Max's narration even pointed out that was the garlic.

[@feynthefallen]

Here's a tip my father brought into the family from Czechoslovakia: If you want to crush garlic in a mortar, you have to add salt. the salt grains act as abrasive to shred the garlic. not adding the salt to the mortar like Virgil says that's why it wasn't working.

[@aluminiumknight4038]

Also you need to pound violently at least a few times to crush any resistance

[@katherinewilson1853]

That's interesting.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Helps to have a mortar sizable enough to actually HOLD all the garlic (and other ingredients)... They HAVE reduced in size for the popular models over the years, particularly since the advent of the Cuisine-Art... ;o)

[@callysto11]

Insert rimshot here 😄

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@aluminiumknight4038 That's... graphic.

[@matthewsanchez1108]

i love that so many humans across time have agreed on putting toppings on and inside bready things

[@robbert-janmerk6783]

Bread is good, toppings are good, together they are even better :D

[@faithmoir1637]

fun fact about the phalluses of pompeii: there’s a common misconception that the phalluses often seen on the streets point to the nearest brothel, but that’s not the case! they’re sort of like the evil eye symbol, and are meant to ward off bad luck. so it makes sense that a phallus would be paired with the bakery’s inscription of good fortune.

[@Pollicina_db]

The italians never change, nemmeno 2 mila anni dopo i Pompeii lol

[@vanrensburgsgesicht]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascinus

[@keenancole2532]

You are Correct. It's an apotropaic symbol. Look up Priapus fresco or Priapus statue for some of the most famous versions. The best one is the tintinnabulum. (Might be NSFW).

[@RadenWA]

So all the “phallic” scribbles and grafitti of modern times were actually to cast blessing on where it’s drawn at! My school’s bathroom cubicle is sure to have much fortunes.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The humorousness is by design, because if you're distractedly laughing, then you ain't casting evil. That's what I learned about an Ancient Greek type of sculpture called a herm.

[@stanvelchoxx]

I like how Max says he is growing it in his garden but the subtitles say Jose is. Thanks for this creative recipe!

[@TastingHistory]

😂 it’s true. He does all the work.

[@jonathanbair523]

Max's or Jose's... All the same as they are a couple :) Love the video anyways :D

[@KetchupwithMaxandJose]

Wasnt gonna let him take the credit 🤭

[@LikeTheBuffalo]

I was curious as to why the CC was on by default. I turned it off before I got to this joke, so thanks to you for pointing it out

[@zennvirus7980]

Jose, the tacit deuteragonist of Tasting History.

[@viciousyeen6644]

Plinius was a good man, he tried his best to help people and died while doing so. We should remember him while eating pizza from time to time

[@anodyne321]

The way you styled the scene with the “pizza” when it was done to look like the fresco made me really happy

[@MossyMozart]

@anodyne321 - Details!

[@hotelvasthorizon]

Me too

[@Fiona2254]

It was satisfying to see that.

[@schedelworld]

The fact that you can have read about this archeological discovery and then produce a well-researched (and tasty looking) video in such a brief window really speaks to how well this format suits you. And who are the beneficiaries? We, the viewers! Thanks for this, I'm definitely going to try to make it :)

[@oenthusiast]

Do make it. I've had moretum (a friend of mine is an awesome cook and a Roman reenactor) and it's great.

[@Hathur]

The bread was stamped also (required under law at the time actually) because bakers sometimes would cheat and put sawdust into their bread (remember, Rome itself paid for the bread and it was given to the people. "Bread and circuses" were the social contract of Roman life - Rome gave you bread and you obeyed Rome. When Rome failed to give bread, riots happened). With the stamp, bakers could be held accountable if they were caught cheating by putting sawdust into the bread by checking the stamp on the loaf.

[@kreativjunkie8053]

Sawdust as an ingridient happens in nazi-germany when things fall apart for them, after they ate everything from their neigbors.

[@BowserTheSecond]

A 2000 year old pizza in a video precisely 20:00 minutes long. Feels perfect.

[@TastingHistory]

Ooooh I didn’t even notice that!

[@JohnClark-tt2bl]

​@@TastingHistorylol Nailed it!😎

[@ericdpeerik3928]

​@@TastingHistorywell done anyway 😂

[@Azaghal1988]

Interesting, for me the vid shows at 19:59min

[@Moostery]

19:59 for me

[@KickyFut]

Hey Max, you might not have noticed the significance of the part where he sprinkled the salt onto the garlic when put into the mortar! You add salt to garlic at the beginning, because the salt grains help add traction to the slippery garlic, which makes it much easier to grind it all up! Plus, our garlic heads are probably *much* bigger after 2000 years.😅

[@RockyPeroxide]

Are you implying there is such a thing as "too much garlic"? Those are fighting words! meet me outside with your musical instrument of choice!

[@KickyFut]

@@RockyPeroxide nowhere near! I merely said they probably used less by the measurements they were giving. It is all about ratios when it comes to cooking. I myself have roasted a whole head of garlic and squeezed it into the pasta I've made!😋 But if we must step out, I guess I'll pick my Alto Sax for its potential for blunt force!😁

[@RockyPeroxide]

@@KickyFut Was thinking about a musical battle :P But yeah, fair points ^^

[@KickyFut]

@@RockyPeroxide Oh!😅 Then recorder battle, alternating playing video game themes!😎

[@coolmanidk]

You people are cool

[@cancerino666]

You might being misled in the recipe with the amount of garlic. Plants were not the same 2000 years ago as they are now (we've selectively bred them since the invention of agriculture). It's very likely garlic cloves were smaller back then.

[@FrikInCasualMode]

It's weird to think that this baker would never, ever imagine that his name would be known to people all over the world 2000 years after he died.

[@rinber13]

They would faint if they saw that perfect loaf preserved in ash.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

I like to imagine him running away from the ash, escaping with his life, and then thinking, "Oh no! I left the oven on!"

[@Nadia1989]

Now time travellers know where to buy bread in Pompeii. Best ad ever!

[@Hailstormand]

That's the power of advertising.

[@tuttlespeachtree3413]

That is why for all of our faults and flaws, humanity is pretty neat as a whole.

[@cheesecrow81]

Man, how do you not have a Netflix show yet? Your production quality and depth of content is amazing, really love that I discovered this channel.

[@GutterBratt]

How do we start a petition? If that’s what Max wants

[@MossyMozart]

@cheesecrow81 - Then we would have to pay for yet ANOTHER streaming utility! I am not interested.

[@Butterfly1025A]

He’s too good for modern Netflix.

[@thananightshade]

Netflix sucks.

[@Uncle-Ruckus.]

Bcz netflix doesnt care about history

[@sarafactorial]

I couldn't bring myself to type it at the time, but since I'm back here, thank you for releasing this video when you did. Our cat Pompeii passed away June 25th of this year (named so because when we found him he was bath-level filthy and the water looked as if he had been covered in ashes) so it was nice to have his name pop up in a pleasant context 💜

[@PoppycockPrincess100]

It's extraordinary how well the volcanic ash preserved Pompeii.

[@descendentcross4105]

You might be onto something with this volcanic ash thing.

[@TheGallantDrake]

Townsends did a video where he found that plant ash could preserve eggs, fresh, at room temperature for an extraordinarily long time.

[@edithmolbach]

Herculaneum is even better but not so popular.

[@HavanaSyndrome69]

It's extraordinary how well Pompeii preserved YOUR MOM

[@SabrinaLaBelladonna]

_Ssshh!_ Let’s keep that our little secret…

[@devilslamp7306]

As a big fan of mortar & pestle, I will tell you that the flavor will be different if you grind vs chop the garlic! Also, the salt needs to go in WITH the garlic to grind. It helps, both mechanically and chemically. You can also notice a big difference in flavor if you make prik nam pla in a mortar vs food processor. Invest in a larger mortar and give it a try!

[@Cocoonen]

I agree. A processor will cut the ingredients, it doesn't smash them, like ol' good muscle powered mortar-pestle combination. (:

[@cjb8010]

Very interesting re the greater flavor from the mortar and pestle. Why is that? It seems like both methods would produce the same flavor.

[@Cocoonen]

@@cjb8010 , well , I would say surely it doesn't give same flavour. Tastes mix better with mortal and though new ones will born. Cutting creates less surface to ingredients to interact and releases less moisture (juices). I'm not orientated in physics or chemistry, but I know here's things going on considering oxidation and different types of chemical reactions, too. Even cut and ripped salad taste different, and personally I don't use garlic press because I prefer a taste of a cut one, and press smashes like Hulk...

[@cjb8010]

@@Cocoonen thank you. I’d never thought of any of that, particularity re the salad. Very interesting.

[@f75gunslinger]

​​@@cjb8010the flavor of garlic is almost all from the smell . If you plug your nose and eat a raw clove , it doesn't taste like much . The flavor/smell from garlic is produced when you cut the cells of the clove and the chemicals mix together , producing allicin . The more the cells are broken and mixed the stronger the garlic will be . That (among other reasons ) is why recipes call for broken , sliced , diced , or pasted garlic . The strongest flavor you'll get out of a raw clove is fresh garlic paste , made either by a microplane or a mortar and pestle . But adding the salt to a m+p with the garlic also changes the flavor and adds a grit that helps to break the cells down .

[@blueninety]

it's unexpected that a channel of this quality about this exists Sometimes it's awkward explaining to people who think I like cooking in general that my interest in culinary is only "historical"... Thanks a lot for your videos, they're really nice

[@TastingHistory]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@carolinejames7257]

I'm with you there! Love eating good food, love the history thereof, cooking itself I have never enjoyed.

[@betmo]

🙋‍♀️

[@DankBurrito420]

I love Jose's corrections on the captioning at 6:27 LOL. Another great video Max!

[@angelinaduganNy]

That is why I turn the captions on everytime I watch Max.I enjoy a good chuckle.

[@tracybartels7535]

Jose is growing it in his garden, indeed! Best subtitles, ever. I knew from the poem that the rue was going to get a shout-out, but it turned out even better than I'd thought. Way to garden, Jose! It looks lovely.

[@KetchupwithMaxandJose]

Thank you Pikachu! ⚡️

[@NicoleHawthorne]

My husband and I visited Pompeii in December 2023 and actually saw one of the pizza ovens. Pretty cool to see a pizza dish being made here

[@RobertRodgers-r5h]

My 76-year-old mother and I absolutely LOVE your channel. This post was outstanding. Thank You!

[@Level_1_Frog]

Its wild to think that archeologists are still making new discoveries at Pompeii, youd think they'd have everything dug up, dated, and cataloged, but its really cool that Pompeii still has secrets left to find. Also the recipe looks great, I'd imagine it would taste amazing with some caramelized onions and fried or baked tomatoes 😋

[@keenancole2532]

Only two thirds of the area has been excavated. There's 54 acres that is still buried and remaining to be excavated. Who knows what will be discovered when they do. But the problem right now is that museums and archeologists are overloaded with tons of artifacts to catalogue so who knows when they'll get to it. Plus, once you excavate something it becomes lootable and subject to decay.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@keenancole2532 "Too many artifacts to catalogue" is a problem I would never have imagined.

[@keenancole2532]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Oh yeah! You can get tons of artifacts from a dig (mostly pottery, dishware, sometimes skeletons or frescoes) that all have to be laboriously labeled and catalogued. And there's only so many over-worked, under-paid graduate students to do it all.

[@megelizabeth9492]

And archeology is destructive, since you kind of have to take a site apart to understand it. So you have to have lots of records so someone could theoretically put the site back together mentally.

[@dayros2023]

Very interesting video Max! I’m from Rome and what you baked really look like a focaccia or a “pizza bianca” that you can find in any bakery in Rome. I like to eat it with sheep ricotta, olive oil and either mortadella or prosciutto on the top, not really that different from what they were eating 2000 years ago. For those that love ancient history visiting Pompei and Ercolano is really a must do, they even started a high speed direct train service directly from Rome to Pompei a few days ago. ☺

[@alice_agogo]

The pick pockets tho

[@marksmithwas12]

Yes, I thought the same! Here at LIDL in the UK, you can get freshly made focaccia every day that has goats cheese on it (I think it also has tomatoes?). It's really delicious! Google images keeps showing what I can only assume is a modern version of focaccia? Which looks nothing like the pizza shape seen in both the Pompeii painting and at LIDL

[@tristonkent]

Perfection. I've been to Pompeii when I was in the Navy. Beautiful place and it's no surprise how that art was so well preserved. Inside the buildings you can see lots of colored murals and the bathhouses still have lead and copper pipes in the walls.

[@gastonbell108]

Pompeii had a reputation as a libertine vacation destination with many brothels and taverns, and thus has what is surely the best preserved collection of sexual artwork and graffiti in the ancient world. Everything from elaborate and ridiculously expensive erotic frescoes to lewd drawings literally scratched on toilet walls. The Italians were scandalized when they first uncovered it all.

[@Buttercup697]

@@gastonbell108😂😂😂 scandalized??

[@VeretenoVids]

@@Buttercup697 Yes. All the "naughty" stuff was hidden for a long time, just like all the erotic scenes on Greek vases were hidden away in "special collections." Can't let the commoners see that, you know. Then tourists started showing up and they would only let the men into the brothels or other buildings with erotic frescoes.

[@splendidcolors]

@@gastonbell108 So it's the Ancient Roman equivalent of Vegas? Or Risa in the Star Trek universe?

[@AuraHero]

@@VeretenoVids Yeah, the ancient Greeks and Romans weren't shy about their genitals. I remember doing a presentation for a class about Dionysia and I discovered that part of the celebration would be a procession where they paraded around statues of phalluses on poles or in carts.

[@SolrunHedda]

LIVING for José's soft rue-growing shade in the captions 😂🥰

[@SPierre-dm4wo]

Q: Is rue a shade plant? A: Any plant can be a shade plant if Max tries to take credit for its presence in the garden while José's captioning the videos :D

[@cassiolins1203]

I caught that aswell! HAHAHAHAHA XD

[@erikdalna211]

You deserve a documentary series on the BBC. Your material is well researched and entertaining, and you are a joy to watch. Compared the the dreadful dross that passes for history on most so called educational channels, you shine like a diamond. Never stop.

[@TastingHistory]

Hey thank you

[@TakeWalker]

I always let my parents know when a new episode of Tasting History has dropped, and what the topic is. Today, I tell them it's Pompeiian pizza, and my dad goes, "It'll just be burnt."

[@Are_We_Having_Tea]

No, smoked…

[@anaihilator]

​@@Are_We_Having_Tea slow roasted

[@LaurieLeeAnnie]

😂😂😂

[@mrs.g.9816]

Love that dry wit!

[@erinrising2799]

peak dad joke

[@patrickbroome5427]

Interesting fact too about buried Roman sites being often the best preserved: The Domus Aurea is actually incredibly well preserved BECAUSE Nero was so widely hated. they buried it almost immediately after he was killed and as such it was actually kept extremely intact compared to many areas, and you can take tours of it today, but you need a guide, because it still has most of the original paint

[@AmericanAppleProd]

Ironic lol

[@nz7033]

most of the domus aurea was destroyed, so not really true

[@Warriorblood96]

Rosso Nero🤢

[@FaeAstray]

I love how the captions specify that Max is not the one growing the herbs, JOSE is the one growing them in HIS garden 😂 I'm even more amused that unless you actually have the KZbin captions on, you'd never see this slight shade being thrown either 😂😂😂😂😂

[@maxlensherr]

Who is jose

[@LeeLeeCRN]

​@@maxlensherrJose is Max's husband😊

[@MemeGremlin]

Those white blobs were probably chestnuts, but ground and mixed with honey to bake into balls. The odd shapes make me think its not a natural item, and honeyed chestnuts roasted were a common food in Rome. Also pretty tasty.

[@Goldenretriever-k8m]

i was thinking they were chestnuts too but just a guess because i dont have mcuh knowledge of pompeiian food

[@slwrabbits]

interesting take! maybe we will get that recipe in the future, too.

[@verenamaharajah6082]

I thought they were broken walnuts.

[@gracequach6769]

I recently read this book called I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii and it sent me spiralling down this ancient Rome rabbit hole and dumped me on this channel a few days ago I'm not complaining I've already made the gladiator puls (But made it Hispanic for flavor), the Sally Lunn buns, and the carrot cake :D

[@TastingHistory]

Sally Lunns are still one of my favorites.

[@platapus112]

Make hard tack next, it'll make Max very proud 😂

[@ArchaicAnglist]

​@@platapus112Aha! You're part of Max's claque-claque!

[@aluminiumknight4038]

Interested in your puls recipe

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@ArchaicAnglist Max + Hard-Tack NEVER gets old! ;o)

[@Wesleym134]

I got inspired from this vid to make my version of that Roman "Pizza"; I made the Moretum with white goats cheese blended with garlic, cilantro and parsley. I put hot italian sausage, walnuts and some pomegranite bits on top. The crust is prebought califlower pizza crust. It tasted great!

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

I love that the national motto of the United States is a pizza recipe.

[@bl3343]

I mean, the national anthem's melody is an old drinking song, so I guess it makes sense. I'm still having a hard time believing this was the earliest example of the phrase.

[@morsletum5348]

It‘s not .Did you even watch the video?

[@bl3343]

@@morsletum5348 according to Max (always take what you hear on the Internet with a grain of salt) the phrase comes from a poem that includes the recipe for the sauce that Max is using. That's what Winston and I were referring to. Don't take things so literally.

[@lizlanman47]

To Anacreon in heaven Star Spangled banner is from OPERA. So nice that we can look up this stuff now. Peace!

[@hazelpixie56]

The cheese spread looked so good that I immediately paused the video, went to the kitchen, and made a quick variation with spinach dip, feta and garlic. Think I got the garlic amount just right; right at spicy and garlicky but not overwhelming. Yum! Definitely want to make the real version now!

[@aiugiamos3057]

Try that with fresh chopped chive 👌

[@luigi1488]

yours it's not a fucking variation it's a whole new thing

[@snoozegrunthypna]

You could probably use homade ricotta

[@archaurore3323]

I know this is an 8 month old video, but this comment might still be of interest. The "mortar" being talked about in the poem is most likely a mortarium, which is a very large bowl-like vessel, just a bit flatter, usually with one to three spout-like depressions you can pour more easily from and the rims are quite wide. The bottom of the mortarium has something like really coarse grit literally stuck in the ceramic fabric. It's clear that not only it was used for food processing, but it also is clear that they were used to process a lot of food at a go because they can be quite sizeable! You can easily fit four heads of garlic in one. So not exactly like a modern mortar...

[@marienygard1173]

I was very much amused at 6:29, when Max was talking about growing the rue in his garden, but the captions said that Jose was growing it in his! 😂

[@eledatowle8767]

Jose may be behind the scenes, but his personality shows through in the captions. I love that! I caught that line and laughed so hard!

[@KingDLetsPlay]

As a German having taken a combined 6 years of Latin lessons during school and university I actually stumbled across the moretum poem before! To answer the question of what "moretum" would be translated in German - and that's kind of lazy since we basically just took what we could find in our dictionaries - it's "Mörsergericht" although I recall some dictionaries called it something else which didn't make all that much sense in the contest. Translated back to English "Mörsergericht" literally means "mortar meal" :D Thanks for making me look for my old notes from 10th grade in school, a nice blast from the past!

[@erntefreude]

I would guess that the German word(s) that describe " Moretum" are, "Weichkäse mit Kräutern".

[@-----REDACTED-----]

Frischkäsezubereitung römischer Art mit Knoblauch, Kräutern, und Olivenöl 😂

[@raphaelpuig9118]

I am not native (but learning) and my best guess would have been Knoblauchkräuterkäse since it's common in German to concatenate words to make a single one. Would that have been a legit word ?

[@schnetzelschwester]

@@raphaelpuig9118 Yes, it is. You actually can buy "Knoblauchkräuterkäse".

[@altairibn-laahad1309]

​@@-----REDACTED-----definitiv das hier

[@derskalde4973]

My family recently made this, and I can't believe how much everyone loved it! None of us would have ever thought of combining garlic with sweet things like dattes. My mother also did one with fish and a sweet one instead of the garlic. And for toppings we had: some crushed nuts, pomegranate, Onions, tomatoes, dattes, bananas, and a few other things I can't remember. My mother also planned to make roasted meat strips as toppings, but forgot to make them in the end (though I'm sure it'd have tasted great). It wasn't exactly historicaly accurate, but it was very tasty ^^ So thank you very much for this amazing recipe.

[@marykirkland82]

i'll be honest, one of my favorite parts of this series is seeing which pokemon he chooses to set up in the background! camerupt is a hilarious choice for today!

[@AlexTenThousand]

The history of how the word "pizza" came to be is interesting. Romans and Greeks ate a flatbread called Pita (which is different from modern pita), ate in various ways with and without toppings. When Lombards came to Italy and essentially conquered most of it in the 6th century, they adopted a lot of elements of Roman life, including food, and Lombards had the tendency to turn soft T sounds into hard Z sounds, so "pita" became "pizza".

[@RotheAlien]

I always say Italians and Greeks are like long lost brothers or cousins when it comes to cuisine, very cool and we share a love for olive oil

[@AlexTenThousand]

@@RotheAlien You can pretty much consider almost all of the people facing the Mediterranean as a sort of cultural group with shared basis.

[@AlexTenThousand]

@@RotheAlien Plus, the Greeks colonized Southern Italy throughout the centuries, the city where I was born was founded as a colony of Sparta.

[@donaldfuck]

​@@AlexTenThousandyeah and arabs too

[@Buttercup697]

@@RotheAlienUna faccia una razza! 😉🇬🇷🇮🇹

[@VocalArmory]

Hey Max! I work in a bistro that makes our pizza fresh every day, and I am going to share with you the trick we use to prevent the dough from sticking to the transfer spatula and stone, we lightly oil and flour the surface (flour side touches the stone in the oven) before and after each pizza we pop in the oven! The oil on the transfer tool enables the dough to not stick to the tool OR the inside of the oven!

[@RejonMunchausen]

Finally a recipe video on youtube that uses the amount of garlic I would prefer 😅

[@TastingHistory]

😂

[@slwrabbits]

My Thai friend from college would still look at that amount and say we were just getting started. (The skin peeled off several of my fingers the next day. Worth it, though.)

[@chiaracestari4419]

I highly advise everyone to always put on subtitles, they're highly entertaining

[@FaeAstray]

Mwahahahaha that's what I came here to comment about too 😂

[@dex1lsp]

I too am a caption error enjoyer!

[@bsvenss2]

In what language? Italian? ;-)

[@chiaracestari4419]

@@bsvenss2 nah, the original ones

[@benjamintillema3572]

This is a good one 6:26

[@alfonsotatto8365]

Being born and raised in Castellammare, which is the modern Stabiae (covered as well as Herculaneum and Pompeii) just a little miles away from Pompei, and being a huge fan of the channel, I'm just really fascinated at how you managed to make everything so similar to the original and to the pizza we bake today here at home. This is one of the most interesting videos I've ever seen on KZbin. And, also, congrats for your latin pronounciation which is perfect!

[@mefallen]

When you get to Germany or Austria, get the "Bayerisches Kochbuch". It contains many classic German recipes, some which are quite old

[@TastingHistory]

Looking it up right now.

[@mefallen]

@@TastingHistory I actually wanted to gift it to you, but sadly Amazon does not deliver that to the US for some reason ;(

[@BananaPeelEuroTrash]

@@mefallen Max doing Käsespätzle would be so hammer

[@OldRhino]

​@@mefallen I mentioned this about a year ago, but I was dismissed out of hand, which is understandable seeing that Americans have a severe bias towards Germans, so much so that to this day they still call people they disagree with Nazis.

[@mefallen]

@mikm1879 Or Rouladen 🤤 Something like Schäufele would probably be more interesting for the viewer though

[@catherineoneal1030]

I visited Pompeii 52 years ago when I was a sophomore in High School. It was a wish come true for me. 5 years earlier (when I was 10 yrs old) I had come across an article in National Geographic about Pompeii and I was so amazed by it I decided, some day I would walk the streets of Pompeii and experience it almost like an ancient Roman. Well, when the opportunity came in HS, I convinced my parents to let me go. It was the most exciting experience of my whole life up till that point and a memory I will ALWAYS cherish. I will try this recipe as soon as I am able to get all the ingredients. I can make homemade Goat Cheese so that will be the cheese base for me. Salve!!

[@alice_agogo]

What's a magazine? 🤔

[@doroparker1702]

​@@alice_agogoGoogle the word. Magazine

[@diane9247]

What a wonderful story, Catherine! Thank you for sharing it.

[@diane9247]

@@alice_agogo A book of wonders that anyone could afford way back when...and National Geographic was the king of wonders, then.

[@Daekar3]

I am absurdly excited for the "long" garum episode. I never have trouble sticking to keto except when watching Max, and then I really really want to be able to eat all the yummy things he shows us! 😊

[@gustavcavalcant]

almost throw up with the footage of the garum, but I eager to watch as well.

[@JHaven-lg7lj]

I am, too! Once Max and José got a backyard, I knew it wouldn’t take very long to show up!

[@octavia8836]

I got curious when you mentioned that those old pizza breads were called mensa so i looked it up and my hunch was right, mesa rock formations are in fact named after that word!

[@Orkel2]

Visiting these ancient places and reading on all the history makes one realize that it wasn't actually that long ago in the grand scheme of things. It's like 50 generations. A blink of history's eye.

[@reiksson5729]

I wonder if the moretoum paste is related the modern garlic paste toum. That is almost all garlic but the preparation method of the garlic is a little more involved to reduce the harshness of it.

[@Marshadow69]

You are a wonderful historian. This sort of history is what should have been taught in primary school and an introduction to social history.

[@lemondrizzlecake7766]

Max, your recreations of ancient roman recipes are always my favourite of yours! and as an italian, this history of "pizza" is really interesting. So many things have changed since roman times but so many have not at all. it's fascinating.

[@Humorless_Wokescold]

The crier from Rome has been stuck in my brain for years. "Gaius! Julius! Caesar!" pops into my head whenever I hear someone be introduced.

[@shelterit]

It's odd how much love this channel. I specialize in medieval cooking (14th century re-enactment) myself, and love how you fold in literature and poetry, wonderfully done! Oh, and Pompeii ... one of the saddest but historically and scientifically incredible events ever to take place. Truly astounding!

[@shelterit]

@@MorainStaria No, proper re-enactment :) with no compromises

[@be6715]

@@shelterit Hard core! :)

[@Jason-tz7ir]

Another fantastic installment of tasting history with Mark Miller

[@TastingHistory]

Thank you!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@TastingHistoryYou're awesome Max ❤❤

[@Sheerwinter]

@_@ i made Toast with butter and garlic paste. Home made mix fruit jam on the top of that some nuts and dried grapes also some other fruits. And cheese. I used salt and pepper for different bites. The whole thing was super delicious. +additionally Hot chocolate and berry tea.

[@bloodycupcake219]

I just adore this show. I jump on every post.

[@midlifecrisis2988]

Someday, I'd love to see you take on a project like building a Roman oven in your yard. That way you could experiment not only with the ancient recipes but the cooking techniques as well. Love your channel. It's my escape from politics and nastiness. Like a palate cleanser.

[@jeannerogers7085]

A portable Roman army field oven is made of bricks, assembled on campsite, not too hard to put together.

[@TheGr8Herd]

I can't tell you how much I love your videos. They embody two of my favorite things: Food and History. Keep'em coming!

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

An interesting poem-recipe is "Oda al caldillo de congrio" (Ode to the conger eel soup) by Nobel Prize Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Now, he adds cream to the recipe, which has caused some head-scratching among connoisseurs of Chilean cuisine. Once at high school, I was charged to read the poem before the class. No problem, except that it was the last morning class hour, right before lunch time. Everyone was drooling when I ended reading! 😂

[@ZuriM]

Max! You should try and make Mole Poblano like the nuns used to do it in Puebla Mexico. It is said to have over 100 ingredients and is a staple in Mexican cuisine

[@danacarpender2287]

I made mole poblano once, subbing extra pepitas for the tortilla crumbs because I'm low-carb. It was a long and somewhat tedious process, but it was delicious. It also made a *lot*, and froze well.

[@ZuriM]

@@danacarpender2287 that’s so cool! I haven’t made it from scratch myself, but I have heard from family members it is a tedious process sometimes

[@caripescadr533]

Yes!!!

[@JustMe-gs9xi]

had to look that up, mole,,,, what can you compare that to?? in taste,,,it looks like brown gravy to me. no tomatoes????

[@fawful94]

​@@JustMe-gs9xiI would say spicy chocolate, but its flavour is quite unique.

[@ManaSpooky]

This Italian here appreciates your history lesson and love for our pizza

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

HA! I literally -- and I don't use that word often or lightly -- LITERALLY just watched another video last night, showing that exact fresco image from the beginning of your own video, and wondered if you'd already made a video about it, or were planning one. And here it is! Oh, and outstanding video, as always. Thank you!

[@TheBrownMON]

As a life long pokemon fan, I get super excited seeing the plushies you place in the background! The camerupt on an episode on Pompeii?? Chef's kiss!

[@blackdragon7979]

Thank you. It was just out of focus for me to determine which Pokemon it was.

[@manon_0411]

Pompei and Herculaneum are one of my biggest history obsessions and at the top of my list of places to visit! What happened was a tragedy but it's a goldmine for archaeologists. I can't wait to see them excavate more and more, although most of it is under current houses and I probably will never see it in my life.

[@AlbertFleming-u2e]

It's extraordinary how well the volcanic ash preserved Pompeii.. LIVING for José's soft rue-growing shade in the captions .

[@shinyagumon7015]

I didn't expect to hear my native language in a video about roman Pizza. Sehr schön.

[@slwrabbits]

I always get a kick out of hearing German, as it's the first foreign language I studied and honestly still my favorite.

[@AB-gk8cs]

Compliment not only for researching the food (and the history behind it) but always also presenting it so nicely!😊

[@DaveTheBunny]

Knowing how many of America's founders were geeks and nerds the idea that they chose a description of a recipe as our national motto is the best thing I've heard today. Probably in several days

[@isbeb507]

they actually didnt. e pluribus unum was a very popular phrase across the whole 18th century, appearing as the motto of tons of newspapers and journals. furthermore, the moretum poem isnt the sole source of the phrase, as big names like st augustine and pythagoras also used it in some of their famous works. so even if it was a reference to the food, they were getting it third-hand.

[@schwermetall666]

Awesome how you jumped on the opportunity of making this "pizza" so soon after the fresco was discovered! Also: Vienna! I hope you'll have a pleasurable stay in my hometown. I don't know your budget of course, but if you can be had for hearty Austrian cuisine, I may recommend the restaurant "Waldviertlerhof" in the 5th district. Slightly on the more pricy side (from my local's POV), but definitely not a tourist trap. As for cultural treats like museums, oh there's so many...

[@Lforaday3]

I love history. I love collecting recipes. This channel is perfection ❤

[@raychumon]

ALWAYS happy to see more Rome. And good on you Jose for that gardening correction, get your credit where you deserve! LOL

[@COMMISSARIVS_PLEBIS]

I've been making moretum for years now for various occasions and I have to say I use way less garlic, maybe 2-5 cloves for that amount of cheese. Also I find that refrigerating the moretum overnight mellows out and balances the flavours a lot.

[@michaelbanister2515]

I made this yesterday and I think doing one bulb of garlic will do quite nicely. It has a strong garlic taste like hummus but it doesn't drown out the herbs. Its quite good. Thanks Max.

[@A8T8T]

It’s true, sweet fruit mixes surprisingly well with something garlicky, especially a strong (fresh) garlic flavour - when I was very young I made a dish for my family with, among other things, peaches and garlic, and it tasted so dang good that my dad ate so much that he had garlic breath for a week 😄

[@schnetzelschwester]

Fresh apricots taste declicious with a whiff of garlic. I once cut garlic and with the same knife I put out the apricot kernel and it tasted great. I also think a sauce with apricots and garlic would taste very well with roasted porc.

[@A8T8T]

@@schnetzelschwester yes indeed, perhaps some sort of cold fruit sauce made with a little wine, spices and garlic served with roasted pork or chicken (heavily inspired by many of the recipes from the Middle Ages or Ancient Rome served on this channel, and Max's cookbook)

[@JesterJones]

I make pizza all the time and also struggled a lot with transferring pizza even when using cornmeal, I really appreciate the parchment paper trick, I’ll be using that lol

[@momma636]

I use that all the time, so much easier to get the pizza from the spade to the oven. And no need for extra flour either. Wich reminds me need to set a pizza dough so it´s ready for friday pizza :)

[@TheOnlyFMP]

I think moretum in this instance would be called "Kräuterkäsepaste" (herb-cheese paste) in german.

[@bootwheelwingandkeel5506]

Daily Dose of Internet: "Archeologists discovered evidence of ancient pizza in Pompeii" One day later... Max: "I made the ancient pizza!"

[@Baccatube79]

And the "Speck" part in "Kummerspeck" is actually more like "flubber" than actual bacon. But still, Max is right, German is worth learning.

[@cleibealvesteixeirajunior5923]

The way you introduced the sponsor to us was awesome... Really shows how clever and knowledgeable you are.

[@TheLastHylianTitan]

This channel is a goddamn blessing to the world. As a general rule I’ve stopped buying cookbooks bc I never use them but you can be sure I’m gonna try to make something out of the Official Tasting History Cookbook.

[@HappleProductions]

If you have an ice cream maker, the parmesan ice cream recipe is simple and delicious.

[@gyrogeargoose]

Why curse God?

[@davidegaleotti94]

I was reading the news weeks ago and one of my first thoughts was: I wonder if Tasting History will try to recreate this. I'm not disappointed :D

[@mrbr4587]

I love this channel!! From Brazil!

[@LenaMel]

While "Speck" does indeed mean bacon, it is also colloquially used to refer to body fat, so while the translation of "grief bacon" is technically correct, a more accurate and still literal translation would just be "grief fat".

[@TasteOfButterflies]

It's like calling yourself "lard ass"

[@wickeddyno]

"Grief bacon" is much funnier though.

[@matthewc4590]

@Tastinghistory I suspect that garlic bulbs have become a bit larger over the last 2000 years. The two bulbs referred to in the recipe were likely only about a teaspoon each.

[@FxTR22]

I am amazed by how much background knowledge you have outside of just food. Amazing, love to learn and cook under your guidance.

[@okletmesignup]

OK.... Now I want to buy a few loaves of Max's stamped bread!

[@Terrelli9]

You are officially a culinary archaeologist and I thank you for your valuable research, sir! (Only slightly kidding. Seriously, thank you for making education so much fun.)

[@lauraschilling5088]

Thanks to your episode on Garum, I was able to explain to my kids (and some bystanders) at the Pompeii exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry last week just what it is. One sign talked about the jars of things found in a kitchen and it included oil, salt, and garum. My kids just shrugged and said something about it likely smelling nasty but giving it an interesting flavor. The others were immediately turned off till I mentioned that it is no different than using oyster or fish sauce in Asian cooking. Not to say I'm making it nor have I ordered any yet for use with your cookbook, but at least the ones subjected to me culinary exploration are willing to try things before giving me their opinion. Oh, and the youngest is not a fan of long pepper, which is lovely, but a bit spicier than the regular black pepper we use at home.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Keep in mind that even with "normal" black pepper there is a massive different in flavour between grinding fresh and buying already as powder.

[@ciaobastajulia]

You had me at garum 💀⚰️🤣🤣 Max, thank you for always keeping the historical fresh!

[@ulrike9978]

While I fully get the use of the food processor, because why make life more difficult, if you do want to try this in a mortar and have one large enough, sprinkling the salt over the garlic at the beginning will help to grind it down faster, as long as you use a coarse/sea salt! And I´m so very much looking forward to the new garum episode!

[@ChefIlonaDaniel]

Anicient garlic bulbs we much smaller- like smaller than a fig or about the size of a fig. It also had thicker skin/paper than today. There were 4-7 tiny cloves per bulb.

[@marisabascope6842]

You, and your book, are fantastic. I am slowly going through the recipes and they work perfectly. I hope you are working on your Vol. 2 including this pizza recipe (also think about a series, you traveling around the world, talking to the locals, uncovering the history of food..) Thanks for doing this. I can tell it is a lot of work. Just know that you are appreciated!

[@hogwashmcturnip8930]

They reckon they have only uncovered a fraction of it. So centuries of learning to go!

[@kyihsin2917]

I think the original recipe called for four *cloves* of garlic, not four *heads* of garlic, so even though you reduced it to two heads, you were still using like six times more garlic than the recipe intended.

[@slwrabbits]

But why would the speaker in the poem refer to digging out individual cloves of garlic from the ground? I think it makes more sense for him to say how many heads it was. Now, perhaps one could argue they were likely much smaller in size, sure, but if he meant only a part of one head of garlic, I don't think he would have phrased it that way.

[@giulia885]

In the poem it's four heads of garlic. In the de re rustica no garlic is used for the moretum recipe if you prefer (there is onion or leek instead)

[@thatbillguy5211]

Your videos are quite entertaining and informative, it's amazing to see you litterally create a recipe from a drawing.

[@smokedavocados]

Been binging this man's videos while I eat my meals and I've noticed that whenever there's a sponsor, the way he leads you into talking about that is so smooth! Unlike other videos I've seen which just straight up cuts into the sponsor, he actually connects whatever he's talking about to the topic of the sponsor. I don't know, it seems so clever to me! I like that a lot.

[@greywell2982]

Same I love watching his videos when I am eating.

[@smokedavocados]

@@greywell2982 Great choice!

[@joshuaamoore]

That's called a segue.

[@smokedavocados]

@@joshuaamoore Thanks, I didn't know that :)

[@fearlessfreedom6097]

I was just in Pompeii 1 week ago, and the brick ovens that have been preserved were really amazing ❤❤❤

[@okidoxb4846]

applaud this man, we love a smooth transition, to self made ads or otherwise. Also we need a rare herb garden update!