I make homemade ketchup with fish sauce. It's still a favorite of my grandkids, even though the smell lingers in the kitchen, lol. I let it ferment for a day or two on the kitchen counter after making it.
I dont actually know, but this seems like something that already happens. It's one of those really great ideas that just sounds stupid that it doesn't exist, and maybe it's because it does exist? I am like 60% sure this is real thing already
probably it would take too much effort. a museum is a static display that you set up once and leave there for months, not something you produce and dish out per-person. where you might do this, though, would be a historical theme park. I know there is one near where I live, and you can get historically themed concessions there (ye olde candy shoppe or whatever).
Suddenly I no longer feel as upset over the fact that I couldn't travel to mediterranean this summer. I'll stick with my local unsalted rotten fish soup, thank you very much.
2000 years from now, someone will be making a holo-video just like this about how to make Ketchup, the weird vinegar and tomato based sauce that people absolutely loved in the 21st century.
If I had to venture a guess, the holo-video would be mostly about how we compulsively added sugary corn syrup to pretty much everything, with an accompanying retching sound from the narrator: "They added copious amounts of glucose to nearly every food: salted and smoke-impregnated pig abdomen slathered with glucose and slowly roasted, a sauce made out of one-half tomatoes, one-half glucose and some capsicum. No matter how you count, it, our primitive ancestors did love some life-shortening high-fructose-maize-syrup."
I stumbled upon this in my search for high protein recipes and ingredients as I am out on the ocean waves in my kayak; undertaking a survey of The Firth of Clyde. I might just stick with Lea & Perrin's. Great presentation. I have subscribed.
Guys, it's the ancient world's MSG. The compounds featured in fermented sauces, including fish sauce, are glutamates, which is that umami flavor you find in mushrooms, meat, and, yeah, mono-sodium glutamate.
@@pavel9652 It's very likely going to be at about the same concentration, for the same reasons: Namely the salt's preservative qualities. But the good news is, you don't need to use very much of it, and it will probably lower your overall salt consumption because the glutamates will do a better job of enhancing the flavor of the stuff you put it on than salt would by itself.
It was around 10% protein so in a low protein diet based primarily on grain, you can see how valuable that would be for general health when you put it on everything
fish in general is quite healthy as long as you aren't getting too much mercury. fish products are bound to have health benefits too. it's nothing crazy, just that fish is nutritious.
@@19374hklmaq yeah, all those good omega oils? We know today the benefits of taking/consuming these oils, but I'm not overly surprised the Romans figured out years ago that it was good for you, just maybe not in the way that Galen dude thought. The idea to inject it for sciatica????😲😲 I suffer from sciatica quite frequently 😞😞 (that crap hurts!), and the thought grosses AND freaks me out in equal measure!🤢🤢😲😲
I am an old man, I hardly cook anything, ever. I AM interested in all things roman. I saw Max's parthian chicken recipe and between how tasty it looked and how well max presented everything...I made it. IT WAS. SPECTACULAR (thank you max) Now , having this huge bottle if chinese fish sauce, I'm trying it in EVERYTHING! This guy has enriched my life.
@@roberts1677 hi....thanks for that tip..il try finding it to try....BUT REALLY.:.....now I've got to know about how that ties into mc riding style....hahaha
When Garum is traditionally fermented, I can see why it would be used to treat both diarrhea and constipation. Probiotics are fairly effective at getting your gut in shape. I take daily fermented cod liver oil for health maintenance. There’s a reason you find different variations of this in multiple cultures! Not saying all ancient cures were on point but some were!
@@protercool8474 could be. But the large amount of scientific evidence linking the consumption of fermented foods to superior gut health is fairly definitive.
@@ashleysovilla2037 I mean... We had "definitive" proof that salt was bad for you... And that chocolate was bad for you... And that eggs were bad for you... And that bread was bad for you... And that bacon was bad for you.. And that cereal was bad for you... We have, at one point or another, called just about everything we eat or drink, a fast way to an early grave. Then several years later changed our minds.
Almost all sea creatures and weeds contain glutamic acid in their cells as it naturally ballances the osmotic pressure against outer sea water, that's why they're much tastier than fresh water fish. So boiling fish to broth always yields umami flavor, but what's presented here is just plain fish stock, nothing special. Leaving fish lacto ferment with salt and intestines (read: enzymes) for months and years desintegrates those meat proteins to simpler amino acids yielding TONS AND TONS of umami.
Fun fact: In modern Greek, if you want to say that a piece of cloth is really old, weathered and/or dirty, you call it 'γαριασμένο', literally meaning 'full of garum'!
@San Shinobi y-like in "you" - a-r-i-a-s-m-e(tone goes here)-n-o and y-a-r-o-s. In Latin there is no Γ and Romans heard it as G. Also the ending -ΟΣ and -ΟΝ in Latin became -UM.
@@rgerber no its beneath a wooden structure, called the metropol parasol, or simply the setas. It´s not as intense as fishsauce, ut there is a fishy smell lingering
I had to laugh so hard at the Seneca quote, I had to read the old git for my Latin finals in high school, and he was literally anti-anything that had any taste whatsoever. I think he even objected to mineral water as being too flavourful. Anything that Seneca hates is something I want to try!
Seneca would have made an awesome on-line vegan. (Actual everyday vegans are fine, but the professional-vegan assholes on line who post pictures of meat and fish with the caption "your mouth is a graveyard" are definitely Team Seneca.)
“Tasting History” sounds like a great channel. Instantly subbed. I don’t know why this video was in my recommended, but I’m excited to follow this rabbit hole.
If you haven't heard of Townsends, you'll probably sub to them as well. Similar historical cooking and other things, focused on the North American colonial era
As an Asian, I always thought of fish sauce as a uniquely Asian thing, never really expected the freaking Romans of all people to have their own version of fish sauce. Its called "patis" in my home country Philippines. Anyways, this is fascinating stuff. Subscribed
So this was a weird blast from the past for me. My degree is in archaeology and we were some of the first to recreate garum in an archaeological setting several years ago, it took months to create , and after we presented our findings, I was so surprised to see it starting to fall into mainstream again, it seemed to be everywhere. Very happy to see this video!
Why am I just finding your channel? I have a bachelors in Ancient History and am subscribed to many food channels...Thank you so much for doing this.....the binge has begun.
So, I am in Malaga Spain enjoying some travel and I came across something awesome. Right next to the old Roman Theater here in Malaga is a glass pyramid in the middle of the street/square. Well, underneath that glass pyramid are preserved and giant garum fermenting vats! O_O I want to send the pic I took but... cannot.
I’m from Málaga and my history teacher in high school was obsessed with garum. He probably spent much more time talking to us about it than he should have. Eventually he quit teaching and became an archaeologist 😅
Pliny the Elder died when he decided to sail to Pompeii during the eruption of Vesuvius so he could see it better, so not really all that good at making decisions.
@@johnpetry5321 Actually, according to his nephew, Pliny the younger, whose account of the destruction of Pompeii is one of the only surviving eyewitnesses accounts of the disaster, Pliny the elder's decision to head into the danger zone was made in order to rescue his friends Pomponianus and Rectina. According to the account, Pliny was appointed praefectus classis, and sailed to the area as part of his duties. During his observation of the disaster he recieved a message from Rectina and Pomponianus asking to be rescued. After ordering his fleet to begin evacuating survivors, he sailed to their location, despite being warned off the mission by the helmsman of the vessel. Unfortunately, though the rescue of Pomponianus was successful, he was unable to find Rectina. During their attempt to escape, Pliny the elder, already in failing health due to age and weight sat down and was unable to carry on and was subsequently left behind. Modern scholars believe that he probably suffered a heart attack, and died shortly after he fell, which is why they decided to leave him. A different account of his death, by Suetonius is less flattering. According to this account Pliny approached the shore out of curiosity and asked a slave to kill him due to the extreme heat. This account is not generally accepted due to the fact that Suetonius was not at Pompeii and his tale can not be verified.
Like Max said, it is basically the Roman version of fish sauce. If you think it's nasty or gross and wouldn't eat it, you already have If you've eaten Worcestershire sauce before.
Dresd'ner Worcestersauce is best! There was one original english I liked, quite some time ago, my father brought it from one of his trips for the trading marine back home, but I can't remember the name of it... same with the tasty dark red spice sauce he also got in England. Both were delicious! 😔
@@krankarvolund7771 The public fountains were continuous flow, which would have reduced (or even completely eliminated) the chance for the water to extract lead from the pipes. My concern would be the wealthy people's houses, where they could afford indoor plumbing (complete with taps to stop the water flow when they didn't want it).
@@benjaminmiddaugh2729 So, I made some researches, apparently some scientists have analyzed the water of the ancient Rome via the deposits in the Tibre and on some lead pipes we have found. And they found that the lead content of the water was very high (100 times more than the local sources of water) but probably not high enough to cause an epidemic of saturnism. The problem is more the other things Romans did with lead, they used it in their make-up, eat and drink in dishes made in lead and even to put in the wine to sweeten it ^^' And the Romans did knew that lead was bad for health, they described the saturnism, most prevalent in the nobility (wich was the class that could offer make-up and dishes in lead ^^). They also wrote about water, one author said that the water in lead pipes seems less healthy than the water in terra-cotta pipes ^^
@@krankarvolund7771 Thanks. I've collected a lot of that in my head over time, but it's been a while since I did any formal "look it up" sessions on the topic.
i was a music major but my favorite class in college was food history. my professor was obsessed with garum and the geoponica and had a mission to recreate the most authentic garum. respect!
I'd argue that this "quick" garum isn't real garum. Boiled and fermented are two very different things. This is probably the lite beer of fish sauces. Though honestly, I can't fault anybody for not wanting a big tub of fermenting fish in their domicile. Gross.
@@metterklume EXACTLY. My blood pressure says no mas to that action. I'm thinking that the original stuff was more salted fish _OIL_ than salted water or broth with fish boiled in it.
Thats what I was thinking, this is just basically a salty stock. It would be sort of like saying boiled cabbage is the same as sauerkraut or kimchi. Not trying to be too hard on the guy or anything.
This is more like the barley tea of fish sauces because you still have to ferment malted barley to make light beer. Fermentation would take the fishyness away and you’d have something similar to se Asian fish sauce with different added flavors. Fish sauce doesn’t really smell or taste like fish it’s just extremely savory.
I first discovered how amazing the standard Asian-American fish sauce was, when I tackled Korean cuisine during the pandemic. The smell had always turned me off, but too many recipes called for it, and I was feeling adventurous. It really does add a non-fishy umami. Now I incorporate it into all types of cuisines, including Italian and French. I friggin love the stuff. I start to panic when not well-stocked.
I have found fish sauce to be the perfect conveyor of salt (and umami) to dishes where you want to "brighten" the flavor, like a ratatouille, while soy sauce add those notes, but "darkens" the flavor, like for meat. A stir fry can go either way, and often benefits from both
In my country you can mix fish sauce with lime juice, garlic and a small amount of water, little vinegar to make it less smelly and more flavorful. Extra chilli if you like spicy too
I tell my boyfriend all the time to try it when we have thai food. He absolutely refuses so I got his mom to try it (she has the tendency of being fearful of new things - worse than him) and she won't eat thai food without it now! Muahahaha I'm sure he will try it if his mom goes to dinner with us enough times lol
Well, I thought it would be funny, being a new student of Latin. But I didn’t realise how gruesome the process of making Garum was! We also had a fish called Nam Pla.
I absolutely love this video. My grandpa always taught me when making brines, that if your ever want to ensure there is enough salt - use a raw egg. I've always wondered where the heck that came from. Even he didn't know. But it always works. Every time. The only thing is- make sure the egg is fresh. Old eggs tend to rise easier. In fact, it's also a way to tell if your eggs are bad.
yes! old eggs, especially bad eggs, float because of decomposition in the egg making it lighter! love to hear this knowledge is something that's been passed down
Galen's contradiction makes sense, actually. Garum will have sodium, but probably also magnesium, potassium, calcium, and aminos. Dysentery, like many other illnesses, kills by dehydration but just water (or wine) isn't going to replace the electorlytes. This will. On the other hand, a LOT of salt your body will get rid of quickly, so if you're bound up, it should help you there- just like a quart or so of ice water with a tablespoon of salt in it if you chug that on an empty stomach. It isn't totally crazy. Unlike injecting it. That's just madness. But even then... this is saline with particles of fish and herb. They're on the right path, they just have a LONG way to go.
IT IS OF COURSE NOT CRAZY! I think they all miss the point of argument on why the Romans took Garum to take the minerals and healthy substances even if it was actually the remains of poinsoned fish. It's like pickly olive and kimchi which people ate in the past who had nothing really to eat and survive in harsh times. It was only after the 19th century that there were supermarkets, fridges, foodstock, store systems etc. What would you do for feeding your family especially during the winter? If you are not in tropical countries where you can get a plenty of fruits veggies and edible plants growing naturally all year round, you'll have nothing to eat except for meat from your livestock (I guess that's why Carnival feasting took place in Feb which is the hardest time of the year). Thanks to the supermarkets and tradesmen we have an enormous range of choices in the food stores which means we have a number of replaceable food for the garum stuff. If you want magnesium potassium calcium etc perhaps you can replace garum with potatoes beans dairy stuff, but garum was perhaps the only choice for the people long time ago simply because fish is the easiest food to get during the winter (the sea doesnt freeze like your field does and there's always fish to be taken). The reason they fermented fish and kept it in salt/vinegar to make Garum is not because they wanted rotten food to be disgusted, but it is a particular issue of history of storage and preservation. If you dont want to starve during the winter you need something to eat for at least 3 months to survive from your frozen fields and dead orchard trees even if you have harvesting time in September. The easiest thing people can do is just put some salt, vinegar, or sugar to preserve fish, milk, grapes to stay at least for a few months. Garum, cheese, wine stuff is the traditional food which is the essence of cultural knowhow and the food doesnt stand the test of time without them. That's why the medieval times had traditional book of hours, to make a strict schedule for the right time to prepare preserved foods because being lazy means costing human lives during the winter (interestingly the book tells that medieval people slaughtered the pigs and livestock in Feb which is just the same as carnival feasting to my eyes. And if you go to a church museum in Venice there's a good example to show how deadly the winter seemed in the old times. There's a clock with calendar that shows how important timing and the four seasons were to the medieval ppl for survival. Among the characterised pictures of four seasons the winter was almost always described as the time of death, represented as a horrifying skeleton). Things do get rotten in 1 month even if you have a good cavern storages without much oxigen and direct sunlight. That's why the surviving tradition is always fermented food, like olive, cheese, wine, kimchi, pickles, anchovies, garum, ... Because they did really survive in history with salt and vinegar.
I didn't understand the love for garum until I went on a raw food diet. I ate only "raw food", which generally meant uncooked vegetables and fruits. I started craving salt like never before, and anything that had salt in it became 10 times tastier. I suspect this is what happened with garum. It's amazing how your diet can affect your perception of how tasty something is. If you really need something, your body will perceive it as tasty. We get tons of salt in modern processed food, so we're not that sensitive to it. But ancient Romans, on a more primitive diet, would have been much more sensitive to salt, and it was probably like Cocaine to them. I'm not at all surprised that so many old sauces had lots of salt in them.
I don't know about the cocaine part, but due to its ability to slow spoilage and flavor food, soldiers throughout history were paid in some form of salt. Unless you had the cash, salt was also super hard to get, so that probably drove up its price.
Romans were paid in salt, as in he is definitely worth his salt. But wait----Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to ... Various Hittite and Assyrian texts speak of ceremonially strewing salt, minerals, or plants (weeds, ... At least as early as 1863, various texts claimed that the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus plowed over and sowed the city . ?? Tried it as a weedkiller once. Useless.
As a chef I love garum. It’s super versatile, and delicious! You can’t use just about any kind of meat, fish or vegetables to make it. Taking anywhere from 30 days to 6-12 months to ferment. The flavour changes and deepens the longer you let it ferment. You can use a dehydrator to maintain a stable temperature for several months. Definitely worth the wait!
The fermented garum must be better than boiled one. What is the salt level in garum? Asian fish sauce I have always used, the one available in the shop, from Thai cuisine, has 21% salt in it.
@@kingofhearts3185 Fish sauce is the worst one at 21g, but the Chinese soy sauce has circa 16g per 100ml, at least the one I buy. Normally very little sauce is required, though. I did the math a few years ago and it was circa 2g of salt per full skillet of pasta, and I boil pasta/noodles without salt. There are a lot of products with hidden salt. Bread has a lot of salt, for instance. I bake my own and I add 1tsp of salt per 2x350ml cups of flour. I could probably add less, but my bread isn't salty, unlike some loafs from supermarkets.
In Thailand, we do have a condiment for sour fruit called "Sweet Fish Sauce", which is made from caramelization of coconut sugar and fish sauce together, then spiced it with chopped shallot and roasted chili. I'm really surprised that Rome also used garum with fruit too. LOL
Rome and the Mediterranean were THE trading capitals. And the Silk Road covered everything going to China, Japan and other East Asian countries. So chances are it traveled from Asia along the Silk Road and was duplicated because it's just so damn good. Since there are different fish and herbs, you get different flavors and consistency.
@@ttyngordon - Probably not via the Silk Road, but rather by sea via the Persian Gulf. Garum was typically transported in huge clay jars (amphorae) which are a little fragile for long-distance overland transport by camels and donkeys.
well, the enzymes would denature over time, so unless they were being actively produced (by like, a living fish), the enzymes would likely only be active for a few days, max.
@@snarkylive The fish is still rotting, but only certain microbes can function in such an environment, which turns out to not produce poisonous byproducts. I am sure the natural enzymes do a little initial work, but it's mostly microbes doing the work, though I am not sure which ones. Hydrogen sulfide is still produced, so it's going to smell like rotting fish.
For filtering, try Coffee Filters instead of Paper towel. Tighter weave and less likely to have (for lack of a better way to put it) paper-y cilia that are great at soaking up spills, but prone to breaking off and ending up in your sauce. Also pre-fluted to better fit a funnel.
I am so glad i found this channel. I was a chef for many years, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and always loved my food history classes. Max Miller, you are awesome.
My mouth was watering the entire time. I just wanted to add some green veggies into the garrum pot, and serve it with white rice. 🤤 But I'm from the Philippines, so it looked completely normal to me. 😂
At 2:30 when he said *Dead body* i kinda laugh cause when i went to my cousin who was making Patis. Couple of brits asked what the smell was. They said as if *There was a Dead Body rotting* we jist point ro patis and have lil akward silence then i explained, he said *Oh it's like that time he travelled to Sicily Italy where they had a condiment called *Garem*....Guess we aren't such a Weird county after all. I mean brits like Put Lards which are meat juice that they put on bread 🧐
@@ryanahr2267 you didn't watch his channel? here ruclips.net/video/jHpkqBFKmvA/видео.html he talk about quitting when he got invited back to be employed on disney, but he decided to quit disney and prefer to continue his work on YT
Collatura di Alici is basically the "Luxury Garum"... it is definitely a direct descendent and tastes well like fermented anchovies.. I like the taste, there is a special type of Spaghetti served in the area using it. But even in Europe it is rather hard to come by outside of italy, it is very seasonal and the Alici area basically sells most if its annual production within Italy.
This video inspired me to pick up a bottle of Thai fish sauce, and now I really love the stuff. It smells vile and tastes even worse, but it really does act kind of like super-salt when used in small amounts. I've been adding a splash to almost anything I can think of where salt would be involved, and there's only been a couple times I've regretted it.
I don't know about the other sauces, but how you pronunciated "colatura di alici" was perfect. Damn, had it been a little less stiff you could have passed for an italian! i was just so impressed! (You trust me on this: I AM Italian)
@@jarekwrzosek2048 Listening to a lot of old Greek music, I can attest to this because I'll see obviously Greek words, and I'll give it the Greek pronunciation in my head, but Greek pronunciation sounds weird to everyone so I have to convert it back to the English pronunciation.
This is coming from a black man and when you said this I instantly subscribed. I've constantly heard about Garum as if it was fantasy lore. Thanks for the history lesson here.
I used to work in North America's last sardine packing plant in Blacks Harbour, NB, and I just had to laugh at Max's facial expression as he smelled the garum. If it's anything like the smells that permeate the air near the factory and drift through that seaside village, I am well aquainted with that scent and feel a bit of sympathy for Max as he sniffed.
I'm Italian and i can already imagine making it and then having a screaming match with my boyfriend about our ancestry and me always making him weird food
Drinking pure garum sounds like a bet made by drunk legionnaires or as a welcoming tradition for the new guy. In any case, amazing that you actually made it!
Your comment reminds me of my introduction to Marmite: Former friend: "Hey Kyle, I'll give you five dollars if you eat a tablespoon full of Marmite." Kyle: "Deal!" That was some nasty stuff...
Boiling the fish for 40 minutes might be enough to extract the nucleic acids and free glutamate from the fish flesh, but it had no chance of hydrolyzing the fish proteins to any appreciable degree.
"Tastes like the sea." I know this taste. I've gotten a mouthful of seawater more than once. Salty enough that if you've got any cuts or sores, you'll find out.
2 years ago in Spain i was in the ocean with my mates. I was facing in land, talking to someone, and i turned round just as a big wave hit me - and i had my mouth open. Before i knew what had happened, the wave pushed a load of water down my throat and straight into my stomach I threw up within about 10 seconds. Got out the water and needed to refill my stomach so we went and got some fresh bbq'd sardines with tons of lemon, was fuckin delicious
Then it goes up in your nose and now your sense of smell is crying in salt. On a unrelated note, have you seen how crazy cuts look after you go to the beach?
So what your telling me. Is that people back then loved it but also loved to hate on it once they knew it was made of. So garum is the equivalent of hot dogs.
Now i want garum sauce for Mcnuggets! Or better yet- order fried unsalted and dip them in... Waaay back in high school,bi worked bussing tables at a Chinese restaurant and we'd all eat together after closing (the GREAT food notnonnthe menu). I tried several fish sauce condiments but they were always hot, rather than salty. I think one sauce was fermented fish and crushed red peppers.
When you described the making process of garum, I distinctly thought "I'm pretty sure I remember Caitlin Doughty from Ask A Mortician using almost those exact words to describe odor of human decomp." And then you told the story about your friend in Vietnam. Yep, sounds about right. Human decomp.
Hi Max, you’re doing wonderful. I’m from Thailand and I’m overjoyed that you mentioned our Num-Pla 😊. I understand that westerners might find it weird that fish sauce can belong in desserts but there is a dish where we do exactly that. It is most often served as a set called Ma-muang Num-pla-wan (Thai is a tonal language and I wish you the best 😅). Whereby Ma-muang means mango, Num means water, Pla means fish, and Wan means sweet. Actually any fruit can go with this sweet dipping sauce but unripe sour ones will mingle better and make things more well balanced. Here comes the sweet fish sauce part: fish sauce + sugar + fried shallot I think that’s basically it as far as I can remember 😂😂😂 (If you’re interested in more Southeast Asian cuisine there are a ton of weird stuff for you to be surprised at 😂)
Cures constipation and diarrhea. Sounds like a probiotic? Would make sense considering the original kind was heavily fermented. Though if you consume irresponsibly high levels of sodium, you can get the runs. Also, all the fish would make it a great source of Omega 3 fatty acid, which is good for cardiovascular health, which would improve bowel function over time.
Very interesting video! Thank you! I had never heard of the "boiled" version of the garum recipe. Must still be quite different from the "real" garum, in my opinion, because of one very specific reason: autolysis. Garums (and the well known Nuoc Mam *is* a garum) are (were) not only considered as condiments, but as a medicine too. The Romans used to send it over, beyond the price of perfume, to the Northern legions for the military men to stay healthy despite the hard conditions/climate differences (and recent studies do show immunity "boosts" thanks to such products, like almost all the possible fermented foods). The fermentation process in garums is done by the gut bacteria of the fish themselves, which is called autolysis. This is actually different from rotting/decomposition, despite close smells (honestly), thanks to the salt/brine that prevents external bacteria/yeasts to spoil the whole process. Boiling the fish, actually kills the fish's gut flora/microbiome, thus discard autolysis. Your friend was right: never try to make "real"/non-boiled garum unless in an isolated area - the smell is really, really, reaaaalllly strong. And last a long time - if not forever... If you ever have a chance to try the first, raw recipe, there is one really important point: an *opaque* container. Can be anything really, but if it is glass, you have to keep it from light (and above all direct light). I made this mistake with my first try years ago, and ended up with fish glue. Literally. Was awesome and strong as a glue, so strong actually that I had to throw it away along with the wooden stick that I used to mix it with, and that eventually stayed glued in it ^^ So: opaque pots and dark environment. If you are interested in garum's "cousins" too: in the south of France, in the Nice area, there is a local, historical "garum" called "pissalat" (which a famous local pizza was named after: la "Pissaladière"), which is made with anchovies and/or sardines (adult fishes and/or bait - there still is a strong debate over the recipe of the "authentic" pissalat), and is actually used as a paste (the do not draw the liquid extracts like in ancient garums or Nuoc Mam, ...). And you could probably be interested in the Swedish "Surströmming", which is not a garum but not that far actually, as a fermented, verrrrrry smelly fish (herring) ;-)
@@mamagdita I'm afraid so 😅 But this recipe is legit, considering the sources. Salt was not cheap (at all) in the past, and this was one of the reasons why garum was so expensive: with this in mind, I guess that this recipe was *possibly* made to allow using less salt without compromising the storage life, for a cheaper garum?...
Interesting info and great story! I would love to see baffled archeologists when they excavate the site and find your fossilized garum ;) The taste of the real garum has to be different. It is probably like bakers yeast bread vs proper sourdough bread. There are so much additional flavors introduced by fermentation!
@@pavel9652 😂Those archeologists would probably think "hey we've got some archaic woodworker glue right here..." 🤭 Interesting comparison! Indeed, bacterial/yeast activity does change quite a few things, chemically-wise
There's a guy who still makes this in Asia in clay pots and buries them in a smoking hut but sadly it's going to die with him as he is still making an old royal recipe
2:53, lol. It has a pointing hand like a modern For Dummies book! "The makings of Garum for the classes which are literate but regardless manage folly."
If I remember right, garum was popular because garum acted as a flavor enhancer..it was ancient MSG.Also he mentioned defrutum. Defrutum was a sweetener that was customarily added to wine because Roman wine was sour. The problem with defrutum was that it was made using lead lined pots. Hence, along with your sweet, got got a huge dose of lead poisoning. Now imagine some Emperors who drank wine heavily, even by Roman standards, with some socio or psychopathic tendencies and give them a heavy dose of lead poisoning!
People have never been as fool as to systematically poison themselves over long periods of time. Dangerous practices were identified and stopped in less than a generation usually. In ancient times clay pots were used for the reduction of grape juice in order to make desfrutum. When copper pots started being used they were lined using tin and this practice continued until recent times wherever copper pots were used. Desfrutum is still made in all greek villages during grape harvest season and is quite simple yet elaborate.its a sweet and fruity syrup. The egg method for testing the salt brine was shown to me by my dad as a traditional way to preserve feta or any other white cheese. Interesting, as to how information spreads, is that he showed me when i needed to take a quite large quantity of cheese with me to England as a treat for my english friends. Eventually the brine tip was passed on to them😀
In Hong Kong we have fermented shrimp paste. There is a fishing village in rural Hong Kong that still makes it the old-school way, and shrimp are fermented along a beach next to a popular coastal footpath. When I visited there, it was quite funny watching the tourists' faces change as they approach, then hold their breaths or pinch their noses, and make a run for it.
Fun fact: in the south part of Thailand, we still make and use garum (like, EXACTLY the same sun-soaked recipe the Roman made) but it's used in pretty much one popular Southern dish. Most Southern households make their own from their leftover fishy entrails, but we do have commercially available "ไตปลา" (tai pla) around for restaurants and those who just can't.
Many of the 'recipes' in the video implied entrails, rather than actual fish. The one mentioning the tunny fish springs to mind. It makes more sense for garum to be made from the entrails of fish that were intended to be eaten - it's a by-product from a waste product. Anchovies may be the exception as who's going to be bothered to gut them? Aside from Worcestershire sauce, I'm used to Malay budu (fermented anchovy sauce with tamarind and sugar) and belac[h]an (fermented prawn paste usually sold in block form).
Also it's the inspiration of "Worchester Sauce" that traveled from England to New Orleans US with Salt, fish and new world peppers as the base with soy sauce/tamarind as an addition.
Worcestershire sauce was invented in Britain while trying to recreate an Indian chutney. They failed but tweaked the recipe until it was edible and became Worcestershire sauce
I tried garum in Italy once. I'm not much of a seafood person so thought I'd hate it immediately. Actually wasn't too bad at all. I love ancient recopies like this.
Thanks for the video. After watching it I bought a bottle of thai fish sauce that is basically garum (50% anchovies, 29% salt, 18% water, 3% sugar) and now I basically put it in everyrhing except for desserts. It really makes everything better as long as you dont put in too much so it dont tastes fishy.
It probably taste like asian fish sauce. First time i smelled fish sauce (i was 9) i thought it smelled like hot summer garbage. But now, it's one of my favorite cooking ingredients. it is suprisingly good on certain soups.
I lived in Thailand for 3 years and there was a nam pla “factory” (very small, backyard effort; think “artisanal”) with several lightly covered tanks about the the size of those individual swim pool in which you adjust the current for swimming in place. I don’t recall it smelling particularly bad. There was a smell but maybe knowing how tasty the result would be ameliorated noticing it?
@@susanlangley4294 It might also just have been well sealed, so what little of the smell seeped through wasn't that bad. But yeah, if you're also used to smelling it and then eating it and the taste being very good, I'm sure our brains eventually stop having a "Gross!" gut reaction whenever we smell it.
I ordered your cook book, Max,... and I have to tell everyone out there listening to your show,... having this one in your Cook Book collection it will be your Prize Headliner..! LOVE-love this book, but I would never even think of giving up your vids ~ you are hilarious and I'd miss all your comments. You keep me company regularly. Thank you, Max & Jose.
So, I literally - and I mean it - watched everything in your channel during my workday today. Basically back-to-back. Your content is really great! Interesting, well-researched, fun and funny; it has the production value one would expect from a long-established channel with a strong cohort of Patrons. I genuinely hope that you continue to create, and that you do so without ever losing the sincerity of your expression. I lament there isn't more to binge!
Thank you! Hope you got work done 😆. I figure I’ll keep creating as long as I enjoy it, and one thing that makes me enjoy it is knowing how others are liking it so thank you.
Yes. RUclips's algorithm wants us to procrastinate, and I'm not gonna fight it. I only wish we were from the future so we could procrastinate for much, much longer watching more of these addictive videos.
You are to young to have been my High school history teacher(1975-1979), but I wish he had been more like you. Love your videos, have not made a bad one yet.
I immediately hit the Like Button when I heard that you knew that Gaius Julius Caesar had defeated Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus. ... One of my favourite facts about garum is that it was so popular in the Ancient World that traders would take it all the way down to the East Coast of Africa to transport it, along with Roman wine, on the Monsoon winds to India. Indians would pay a high price that would justify shipping those two products all the way to that subcontinent with the merchants' still making a sizeable profit.
I always wondered if the maritime trade between rome and india played a role in creating a hybrid/fusion cuisine. Similar to what happened to Europeans and Indians during the age of exploration
“Byzantium which is the *Eastern Roman Empire*” THANK! YOU! So many people fail to mention that and it drives me crazy. If you consider that empire, the roman empire lasted for darn near 2000 years, just under a different name halfway through. Like rebranding before it was cool.
And if you make the claim that the holy roman empire was the continuation of the roman empire, rome lasted until 1806. Then the russian tsars made the claim also so that would take you to 1917! History is so fun. 😊 It just is what it is!
It wasn't even rebranding, they always simply called themselves Roman, even the Greeks generally saw themselves as Romans after it finally fell up until the 19th century. It was German historians who started calling it Byzantium because they considered *themselves* to be the true inheritors of Rome
@@rebeccaburrow7199 holy german empire was just a branch of frankish kingdom larping as Roman. Eastern Roman Empire is heir of Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Heraclius, etc. And the inhabitants were actual subjects of Roman World; armenians, greeks, syrians, latins and during peak tunisians and andalucians.
Well until the fall of the Roman Empire Byzantium was the capital of the eastern side BUT The Byzantine Empire was not the continuation of the roman empire. It was something else, despite that they called themselves roman. They did not speak latin, they did not have roman "culture" and definitely did not have Rome. The Empire had collapse but any other state that came after wanted to buy into their prestige and while Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire, it was not the roman empire.
It's like *patis* we Filipinos use it as a salt replacement when cooking. New to your channel and for an ex-seminarian who studied latin Im finding the few latin inserts rather charming.
I love Asian fish sauces so much, I'm sure I'd love this too. One of my favourite things is mixing canned smoked kippers with barbecue sauce and eating it as a dip with toasted Turkish rolls.
Doubt it, it's readily available at an oriental store and even walmart. This is only being brought up as Garum in an attempt to take a piece of the market but they can't produce it at the same quality or even volume as asian countries that have been doing it for centuries. ...Gives me an idea. Maybe I should take asian fish sauce, bottle and relabel it as Garum with a 200% marked up price and sell it to these people.
@@chinhphan4787 Oooohhh dude, kinda funny how many ppl have never heard of (much less tasted) any of the dozens of Fish Sauces, huh? I like your Fish Sauce-rebottled-to-"Premium Garum" markup idea.
@@paulpolito2001 Billions of people have tasted fish sauce. The issue is fish sauce has hundreds of competing brands. To most people fish sauce is just fish sauce. Just like in the beer brewing world dominated by ale and lager it really is a small niche of people that take the time to seek out anything else.
@@chinhphan4787 good point, the brand selection is inconsistent, at best, in this area (S-Central Louisiana); and badly made fish sauce is worse than no fish sauce (imo) lol.
Yeah not the same thing, but the smell is something to experience. I dare to claim it will be the most terrifying smell I will most likely ever experience.
And let's not forget the Icelandic hákarl, fermented shark meat (though the fermentation here is done for a different purpose). BTW, surströmming is banned from being transported on airplanes. :D
the mixture of silly accents, dry humor, serious talk, pop culture references, mentioning your cat, history of foods & their usage, and recreating historical foods & using it means an instant sub from me. Kudos!
Me: “Ugh. It’s been a long day. Gotta go to slee…” RUclips algorithm: “Hey, wanna see how to make an ancient condiment?” Me: … “Ok, RUclips, let’s do this.”
You did a good job on the pronunciation of nước mắm. Your Three Crabs brand shown in the video is the best low-cost fish sauce from Vietnam. Red Boat is somewhat more expensive and better, but the best comes from Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Thailand.
Three Crabs is my go-to fish sauce, but one day I'll splurge on Red Boat! It's such a magical ingredient for taking soups and sauces from "good" to "amazing".
I just saw an episode of Mythical Kitchen where they discussed garum and Pliny the Elder and I totally fangirled thinking, "Oh my god, I know this from Tasting History!" Haha. Thanks for teaching us!
@@GrimmDelightsDice It's a great educational channel that makes recipes that date back to colonial America. Check out some of their stuff! ruclips.net/video/1PLv76rQiq0/видео.html
Max you are funny, witty, smart and so entertaining. This channel was a genius idea on so many levels, you made a history lesson using food as the focus, brilliant!
@@Silverwind87 Foie gras is made of liver, which is very much an expensive and desirable ingredient. Gravy is made of bones, which aren't expensive or desirable but aren't nasty in the least. The Mcnuggets, though, I have to agree with you about that
3 years later and made some true garum: ruclips.net/video/ICZww0DtQKk/видео.htmlsi=uFlWuAneS7guQqld
Now that looks good
I rewatched this video to learn how to make the quick version of garum and I realized that we had the same type of measuring spoons.
HAD ME AT GARUM!
But why? Anchovies cost$$$$
I make homemade ketchup with fish sauce. It's still a favorite of my grandkids, even though the smell lingers in the kitchen, lol. I let it ferment for a day or two on the kitchen counter after making it.
Hear me out: Museums to have restaurants nearby that serve historical recipies like this
Your a Genius
Why don’t they? Sounds like a great extension of their educational efforts.
I dont actually know, but this seems like something that already happens. It's one of those really great ideas that just sounds stupid that it doesn't exist, and maybe it's because it does exist? I am like 60% sure this is real thing already
probably it would take too much effort. a museum is a static display that you set up once and leave there for months, not something you produce and dish out per-person. where you might do this, though, would be a historical theme park. I know there is one near where I live, and you can get historically themed concessions there (ye olde candy shoppe or whatever).
Not sure how keen people would like to try it though. I know a few people who can't even stand the taste of anchovies.
"Tastes like the sea"
I mean, what is the sea but a giant vat of salt water full of dead fish and heated by the sun?
Ha! Good point.
"A giant vat of salt water, full of dead fish and heated by the sun" is actually not an inaccurate way to describe the sea.
oysters do too though. Smells of the sea which to me causes most of the "tastes like the sea"
How philosophical
Suddenly I no longer feel as upset over the fact that I couldn't travel to mediterranean this summer. I'll stick with my local unsalted rotten fish soup, thank you very much.
2000 years from now, someone will be making a holo-video just like this about how to make Ketchup, the weird vinegar and tomato based sauce that people absolutely loved in the 21st century.
My introduction to Garum as a Classics major in college: look, just think of it as their ketchup.
If I had to venture a guess, the holo-video would be mostly about how we compulsively added sugary corn syrup to pretty much everything, with an accompanying retching sound from the narrator: "They added copious amounts of glucose to nearly every food: salted and smoke-impregnated pig abdomen slathered with glucose and slowly roasted, a sauce made out of one-half tomatoes, one-half glucose and some capsicum. No matter how you count, it, our primitive ancestors did love some life-shortening high-fructose-maize-syrup."
It would be one chapter in a series titled "The Mysterious Canadian Civilization."
I am an HP sauce man myself. Heinz Tomato Ketchup at a pinch if no HP!
I stumbled upon this in my search for high protein recipes and ingredients as I am out on the ocean waves in my kayak; undertaking a survey of The Firth of Clyde. I might just stick with Lea & Perrin's. Great presentation. I have subscribed.
Guys, it's the ancient world's MSG. The compounds featured in fermented sauces, including fish sauce, are glutamates, which is that umami flavor you find in mushrooms, meat, and, yeah, mono-sodium glutamate.
"Haiyaaa, add that Garum to your dish!" - Uncleus Rogerius of Ancient Rome
MSG Make-shit-good
@@fogwar lol awesome
What is the salt level in garum? Asian fish sauce I have always used, the one available in the shop, has 22% salt in it.
@@pavel9652 It's very likely going to be at about the same concentration, for the same reasons: Namely the salt's preservative qualities. But the good news is, you don't need to use very much of it, and it will probably lower your overall salt consumption because the glutamates will do a better job of enhancing the flavor of the stuff you put it on than salt would by itself.
"the romans didn't really salt their food"
Understandable. Salt was shipped to Carthage for other uses
Don't forget Jerusalem.
@@kiyashi85 "Jerusalem" returned no results.
Did you mean "Aelia Capitolina" ?
I was referring to the siege of Jerusalem where it's claimed that Titus commanded the sowing of salt on the Temple ground.
Moreover, I am of the opinion that Carthage must be destroyed.
Q.E.D.
*CARTHAGO DELENDA EST*
It was around 10% protein so in a low protein diet based primarily on grain, you can see how valuable that would be for general health when you put it on everything
fish in general is quite healthy as long as you aren't getting too much mercury. fish products are bound to have health benefits too. it's nothing crazy, just that fish is nutritious.
@@AmberLB93 the fat is very good from fish
@@19374hklmaq yeah, all those good omega oils? We know today the benefits of taking/consuming these oils, but I'm not overly surprised the Romans figured out years ago that it was good for you, just maybe not in the way that Galen dude thought. The idea to inject it for sciatica????😲😲 I suffer from sciatica quite frequently 😞😞 (that crap hurts!), and the thought grosses AND freaks me out in equal measure!🤢🤢😲😲
@@19374hklmaq loving the name BTW
Good, thoughtful comment.
I am an old man, I hardly cook anything, ever. I AM interested in all things roman. I saw Max's parthian chicken recipe and between how tasty it looked and how well max presented everything...I made it.
IT WAS. SPECTACULAR (thank you max)
Now , having this huge bottle if chinese fish sauce, I'm trying it in EVERYTHING!
This guy has enriched my life.
Yup just pour it on life lol.
thats fun. good for you
I like the Thai kind. Squid Brand is my favorite. It might have something to do with the way I ride my motorcycle.
@@roberts1677 hi....thanks for that tip..il try finding it to try....BUT REALLY.:.....now I've got to know about how that ties into mc riding style....hahaha
@@perrykuehr5538 as a Thai people i can confirm that squid brand is the best
When Garum is traditionally fermented, I can see why it would be used to treat both diarrhea and constipation. Probiotics are fairly effective at getting your gut in shape. I take daily fermented cod liver oil for health maintenance. There’s a reason you find different variations of this in multiple cultures! Not saying all ancient cures were on point but some were!
As a wellness expert that was my first thought as well.
Or maybe we're still just as wrong about everything that we eat 😂
@@protercool8474 could be. But the large amount of scientific evidence linking the consumption of fermented foods to superior gut health is fairly definitive.
If its basically digested itself, I’d be kind of surprised if it didn’t help balance gut health.
@@ashleysovilla2037 I mean...
We had "definitive" proof that salt was bad for you... And that chocolate was bad for you... And that eggs were bad for you... And that bread was bad for you... And that bacon was bad for you.. And that cereal was bad for you...
We have, at one point or another, called just about everything we eat or drink, a fast way to an early grave. Then several years later changed our minds.
The fermenting of the salt fish produces mono sodium glutamate . That’s why it was so popular. I doubt boiling fish will result in any MSG.
you could add MSG manually tho
Thank you. I love some chemistry up in my history lesson. 👍
@@Ephidiel
The point is that back then before alchemy advanced into chemistry they were not able to figure that out.
no vegetarian version that replaces the fishes with (sea)weeds?
Almost all sea creatures and weeds contain glutamic acid in their cells as it naturally ballances the osmotic pressure against outer sea water, that's why they're much tastier than fresh water fish. So boiling fish to broth always yields umami flavor, but what's presented here is just plain fish stock, nothing special. Leaving fish lacto ferment with salt and intestines (read: enzymes) for months and years desintegrates those meat proteins to simpler amino acids yielding TONS AND TONS of umami.
Fun fact: In modern Greek, if you want to say that a piece of cloth is really old, weathered and/or dirty, you call it 'γαριασμένο', literally meaning 'full of garum'!
Yes, because when γάρος dropped on a cloth or dress, left a grey-brown stain that never got out!
@San Shinobi y-like in "you" - a-r-i-a-s-m-e(tone goes here)-n-o and y-a-r-o-s. In Latin there is no Γ and Romans heard it as G. Also the ending -ΟΣ and -ΟΝ in Latin became -UM.
Long live for metaxas
@@Mistcal αυτό πού κολλάει τώρα;
Garum is actually a Greek sauce not Roman.
You can visit the roman ruins of a roman Garum Factory in Seville, Spain. It still smells bad 2000 years later
really?
You really are kidding right?
@@rgerber no its beneath a wooden structure, called the metropol parasol, or simply the setas. It´s not as intense as fishsauce, ut there is a fishy smell lingering
Oh my goodness!
@@jethrojackson2524 that's insane there's any lingering smell from 2,000 years ago
I had to laugh so hard at the Seneca quote, I had to read the old git for my Latin finals in high school, and he was literally anti-anything that had any taste whatsoever. I think he even objected to mineral water as being too flavourful. Anything that Seneca hates is something I want to try!
Haha, I know only few quotes by him ;) To paraphrase meme, he must have been fun at the parties ;)
He'd be that white guy that thinks mayo is spicy in the modern era
Didn’t he live a long life? Or did it just seem to take forever? Hehe
Seneca would have made an awesome on-line vegan. (Actual everyday vegans are fine, but the professional-vegan assholes on line who post pictures of meat and fish with the caption "your mouth is a graveyard" are definitely Team Seneca.)
Seneca is antiflavor? Now I think your framework is legit 😂🎉
“Tasting History” sounds like a great channel. Instantly subbed. I don’t know why this video was in my recommended, but I’m excited to follow this rabbit hole.
Same!
Same! Ancient condiments instantly got my attention as I was randomly scrolling through my feed.
same!
If you haven't heard of Townsends, you'll probably sub to them as well. Similar historical cooking and other things, focused on the North American colonial era
Yup! Same!
As an Asian, I always thought of fish sauce as a uniquely Asian thing, never really expected the freaking Romans of all people to have their own version of fish sauce. Its called "patis" in my home country Philippines. Anyways, this is fascinating stuff. Subscribed
La receta os la llevamos los españoles.
@LTNetjak Yes. Like zero chances.
No one cares about Philippines
@Ericcartman1992 wonder what the hell they were thinking tasting that funky smelling fluid
@@alfonsopalacios2725 Desperation in times of food shortness
Alternatively something forced to a loser of a game
Fish sauce is one of life's confounding miracles. Smells like death. Makes food taste heavenly.
It's fairly well known. Fermented fish sauce is a major source of MSG and thus is a source of umami.
Literally every time i use it i always think i messed up the entire dish, but it makes or breaks some sauces/foods.
I hope my corpse is as tasty for the worms in the dirt.
No
Much like life itself: We all live, but eventually, nobody gets out alive.
So this was a weird blast from the past for me. My degree is in archaeology and we were some of the first to recreate garum in an archaeological setting several years ago, it took months to create , and after we presented our findings, I was so surprised to see it starting to fall into mainstream again, it seemed to be everywhere. Very happy to see this video!
Did it taste good lol
@@xgtwb6473Good Garum is liquid gold! 😃
But offending my neighbours is the whole reason the barrel of rotting fish is out in the yard
And that my friends is why you don't piss off your neighbours
🤣🤣🤣
That's the best part of making this sauce tbh 😂
I like to ferment those barrels in my room mate's car.
He wants to move out now, so now I gotta find someone else's car to ferment them in.
If you make sauce out of that, I'll bet it will taste better knowing that your neighbors suffered.
You should bottle and label it:
Schadenfreude Sauce
I just toss my fish up into my neighbors gutters when he's not home. When he bangs on my door a few weeks later, I know it's done.
That is very grumpy old men of you.
@@abelcheng2073 roman old men*
What a fantastic life hack! I’m gonna go out tomorrow and get some neighbours so I can try this.
Proper recipe,well done!
I wager the taste is exceptionally heady with a rich savory broth.
Positively diabolical.
Why am I just finding your channel? I have a bachelors in Ancient History and am subscribed to many food channels...Thank you so much for doing this.....the binge has begun.
I'm pretty new to it (about 3 months) but I'm glad you've found it! Thank you for binging 😄
@@TastingHistory Looks like this vid is taking off! Good luck with the channel!
damn man and i wanted to continue doing history
So, I am in Malaga Spain enjoying some travel and I came across something awesome. Right next to the old Roman Theater here in Malaga is a glass pyramid in the middle of the street/square. Well, underneath that glass pyramid are preserved and giant garum fermenting vats! O_O I want to send the pic I took but... cannot.
I’m from Málaga and my history teacher in high school was obsessed with garum. He probably spent much more time talking to us about it than he should have. Eventually he quit teaching and became an archaeologist 😅
There's a really great Ancient Roman webcomic, SPQR Blues, where one of the protagonists' family are garum merchants....
I’ll have to find that.
What is this amazing comic called. I must know.
@@Balloonoid SPQR Blues...
The way i read that made me think the webcomic was from ancient rome
Thanks for that Suzanne
I love the horrified Magicarp in the background 😂
Oh my gosh I noticed that after you mentioned it. Hahahaha
The magikarp in the back was pretty much the first thing I noticed, I love it
It really sets the mood
He's like ... 😲
I think he changes the Pokemon depending on the recipe
Pliny the Elder sounds like a dude who likes hot dogs but recognizes that he doesn't want to the think about what goes into a hot dog.
Haha that is the perfect modern example :)
That's exactly what I was thinking too
Depends on which brand of hot dogs. Pliny would definitely be thinking of the cheap ones.
Pliny the Elder died when he decided to sail to Pompeii during the eruption of Vesuvius so he could see it better, so not really all that good at making decisions.
@@johnpetry5321 Actually, according to his nephew, Pliny the younger, whose account of the destruction of Pompeii is one of the only surviving eyewitnesses accounts of the disaster, Pliny the elder's decision to head into the danger zone was made in order to rescue his friends Pomponianus and Rectina. According to the account, Pliny was appointed praefectus classis, and sailed to the area as part of his duties.
During his observation of the disaster he recieved a message from Rectina and Pomponianus asking to be rescued. After ordering his fleet to begin evacuating survivors, he sailed to their location, despite being warned off the mission by the helmsman of the vessel. Unfortunately, though the rescue of Pomponianus was successful, he was unable to find Rectina. During their attempt to escape, Pliny the elder, already in failing health due to age and weight sat down and was unable to carry on and was subsequently left behind. Modern scholars believe that he probably suffered a heart attack, and died shortly after he fell, which is why they decided to leave him.
A different account of his death, by Suetonius is less flattering. According to this account Pliny approached the shore out of curiosity and asked a slave to kill him due to the extreme heat. This account is not generally accepted due to the fact that Suetonius was not at Pompeii and his tale can not be verified.
Like Max said, it is basically the Roman version of fish sauce.
If you think it's nasty or gross and wouldn't eat it, you already have If you've eaten Worcestershire sauce before.
I was gonna ask, how close is this to worcestershire in taste?
@@1873Winchester
Slightly different aftertaste but pretty close in my opinion.
@@asoncalledvoonch2210 British did it better 🇬🇧😂
@@xgtwb6473
I agree with that..
Lea & Perrins is always a must for the refrigerator door !
The British got something right other than America
Jk.
🥂
Dresd'ner Worcestersauce is best! There was one original english I liked, quite some time ago, my father brought it from one of his trips for the trading marine back home, but I can't remember the name of it... same with the tasty dark red spice sauce he also got in England. Both were delicious! 😔
When you consider the amount of lead used as a wine sweetener in ancient Rome, garum is harmless
People like to blame the plumbing for Roman lead poisoning, but it's far more likely that it came from their culinary decisions.
I think Romans knew that they should not drink the water from public fountains, because it was filled with lead ^^
@@krankarvolund7771 The public fountains were continuous flow, which would have reduced (or even completely eliminated) the chance for the water to extract lead from the pipes. My concern would be the wealthy people's houses, where they could afford indoor plumbing (complete with taps to stop the water flow when they didn't want it).
@@benjaminmiddaugh2729 So, I made some researches, apparently some scientists have analyzed the water of the ancient Rome via the deposits in the Tibre and on some lead pipes we have found. And they found that the lead content of the water was very high (100 times more than the local sources of water) but probably not high enough to cause an epidemic of saturnism.
The problem is more the other things Romans did with lead, they used it in their make-up, eat and drink in dishes made in lead and even to put in the wine to sweeten it ^^'
And the Romans did knew that lead was bad for health, they described the saturnism, most prevalent in the nobility (wich was the class that could offer make-up and dishes in lead ^^).
They also wrote about water, one author said that the water in lead pipes seems less healthy than the water in terra-cotta pipes ^^
@@krankarvolund7771 Thanks. I've collected a lot of that in my head over time, but it's been a while since I did any formal "look it up" sessions on the topic.
i was a music major but my favorite class in college was food history. my professor was obsessed with garum and the geoponica and had a mission to recreate the most authentic garum. respect!
How was it?
Do you happen to have their recipe or their name so I could search for their recipe?
@@sneedle252 She's never published it, I think it's a constant work in progress
I'd argue that this "quick" garum isn't real garum. Boiled and fermented are two very different things. This is probably the lite beer of fish sauces.
Though honestly, I can't fault anybody for not wanting a big tub of fermenting fish in their domicile. Gross.
Yeah it's just fish stock with 5x the salt. I honestly don't get the point.
@@metterklume EXACTLY. My blood pressure says no mas to that action. I'm thinking that the original stuff was more salted fish _OIL_ than salted water or broth with fish boiled in it.
I imagine south east asian fish sauce would be closer to garum than this one
Thats what I was thinking, this is just basically a salty stock. It would be sort of like saying boiled cabbage is the same as sauerkraut or kimchi.
Not trying to be too hard on the guy or anything.
This is more like the barley tea of fish sauces because you still have to ferment malted barley to make light beer. Fermentation would take the fishyness away and you’d have something similar to se Asian fish sauce with different added flavors. Fish sauce doesn’t really smell or taste like fish it’s just extremely savory.
I first discovered how amazing the standard Asian-American fish sauce was, when I tackled Korean cuisine during the pandemic. The smell had always turned me off, but too many recipes called for it, and I was feeling adventurous. It really does add a non-fishy umami. Now I incorporate it into all types of cuisines, including Italian and French. I friggin love the stuff. I start to panic when not well-stocked.
I have found fish sauce to be the perfect conveyor of salt (and umami) to dishes where you want to "brighten" the flavor, like a ratatouille, while soy sauce add those notes, but "darkens" the flavor, like for meat. A stir fry can go either way, and often benefits from both
In my country you can mix fish sauce with lime juice, garlic and a small amount of water, little vinegar to make it less smelly and more flavorful. Extra chilli if you like spicy too
@@donnguyen3795 Nước mắm is the best! My mom adds ginger and pineapple too haha.
@@donnguyen3795 do you store it like that?
I tell my boyfriend all the time to try it when we have thai food. He absolutely refuses so I got his mom to try it (she has the tendency of being fearful of new things - worse than him) and she won't eat thai food without it now! Muahahaha I'm sure he will try it if his mom goes to dinner with us enough times lol
I had a fish called Garum once. Slightly morbid in retrospect.
How did you come up with that name if not intentionally?
Well, I thought it would be funny, being a new student of Latin. But I didn’t realise how gruesome the process of making Garum was! We also had a fish called Nam Pla.
@U. N. Owen
you mean like this
ruclips.net/video/pMA3x-bc8iM/видео.html
did you turn him into garum?
@U. N. Owen my friend had a pig named Chris P. Bacon. Needless to say they ate him lol
And I'm not making a joke, she raised the pig to be food.
"Smash that like button like Caesar smashed Pompey's army at the battle of Pharsalus."
Jesus dude I don't want to destroy my computer.
Smash that like button like Ceaser smashed Cleopatra (;
😂 Right? OMG, I love it! 😂 My son and I are hated by coworkers because of comments like this we make! I've found a kindred spirit!
@@lisaanderson7128 ?
@@johnpijano4786 It’s Antonius btw, and because of that a civil war broke out with his best friend Octavianus (Emperor Augustus).
@@remiicario Ceasar also had an affair with Cleopatra producing at least one child (Cesarion) I can't remember if there were others.
The Magikarp in the back is quite fitting for a historical fish sauce recipe!
He always Keeps a plush of a pokemon related to the topic in the background of each video. I love it
I absolutely love this video. My grandpa always taught me when making brines, that if your ever want to ensure there is enough salt - use a raw egg. I've always wondered where the heck that came from. Even he didn't know. But it always works. Every time. The only thing is- make sure the egg is fresh. Old eggs tend to rise easier. In fact, it's also a way to tell if your eggs are bad.
yes! old eggs, especially bad eggs, float because of decomposition in the egg making it lighter! love to hear this knowledge is something that's been passed down
@@gabewright5571 it’s been all over the internet for a while, I’ve used it since I learned the trick on Pinterest lol
Galen's contradiction makes sense, actually. Garum will have sodium, but probably also magnesium, potassium, calcium, and aminos. Dysentery, like many other illnesses, kills by dehydration but just water (or wine) isn't going to replace the electorlytes. This will. On the other hand, a LOT of salt your body will get rid of quickly, so if you're bound up, it should help you there- just like a quart or so of ice water with a tablespoon of salt in it if you chug that on an empty stomach.
It isn't totally crazy. Unlike injecting it. That's just madness. But even then... this is saline with particles of fish and herb. They're on the right path, they just have a LONG way to go.
A bit like pumpkin for dogs - feed them it when they are blocked or runny. Works both ways!
Came on here to say that and found your comments lol 😀
IT IS OF COURSE NOT CRAZY! I think they all miss the point of argument on why the Romans took Garum to take the minerals and healthy substances even if it was actually the remains of poinsoned fish. It's like pickly olive and kimchi which people ate in the past who had nothing really to eat and survive in harsh times. It was only after the 19th century that there were supermarkets, fridges, foodstock, store systems etc. What would you do for feeding your family especially during the winter? If you are not in tropical countries where you can get a plenty of fruits veggies and edible plants growing naturally all year round, you'll have nothing to eat except for meat from your livestock (I guess that's why Carnival feasting took place in Feb which is the hardest time of the year). Thanks to the supermarkets and tradesmen we have an enormous range of choices in the food stores which means we have a number of replaceable food for the garum stuff. If you want magnesium potassium calcium etc perhaps you can replace garum with potatoes beans dairy stuff, but garum was perhaps the only choice for the people long time ago simply because fish is the easiest food to get during the winter (the sea doesnt freeze like your field does and there's always fish to be taken). The reason they fermented fish and kept it in salt/vinegar to make Garum is not because they wanted rotten food to be disgusted, but it is a particular issue of history of storage and preservation. If you dont want to starve during the winter you need something to eat for at least 3 months to survive from your frozen fields and dead orchard trees even if you have harvesting time in September. The easiest thing people can do is just put some salt, vinegar, or sugar to preserve fish, milk, grapes to stay at least for a few months. Garum, cheese, wine stuff is the traditional food which is the essence of cultural knowhow and the food doesnt stand the test of time without them. That's why the medieval times had traditional book of hours, to make a strict schedule for the right time to prepare preserved foods because being lazy means costing human lives during the winter (interestingly the book tells that medieval people slaughtered the pigs and livestock in Feb which is just the same as carnival feasting to my eyes. And if you go to a church museum in Venice there's a good example to show how deadly the winter seemed in the old times. There's a clock with calendar that shows how important timing and the four seasons were to the medieval ppl for survival. Among the characterised pictures of four seasons the winter was almost always described as the time of death, represented as a horrifying skeleton). Things do get rotten in 1 month even if you have a good cavern storages without much oxigen and direct sunlight. That's why the surviving tradition is always fermented food, like olive, cheese, wine, kimchi, pickles, anchovies, garum, ... Because they did really survive in history with salt and vinegar.
@@hyekang3850 this is a great and well written comment that could answer a lot of questions viewers may have. Thanks for sharing your insight
Magikarp just be chillin in the background while observing the slaughter of his brethren
He does look rather distressed
more like potential rivals
Didn't even notice. Good eye!
Oliver Johansson Homeboy doing his own thing just waiting to evolve 😂
Went looking for this comment and found it pretty quick. Nice.
I didn't understand the love for garum until I went on a raw food diet. I ate only "raw food", which generally meant uncooked vegetables and fruits. I started craving salt like never before, and anything that had salt in it became 10 times tastier. I suspect this is what happened with garum. It's amazing how your diet can affect your perception of how tasty something is. If you really need something, your body will perceive it as tasty. We get tons of salt in modern processed food, so we're not that sensitive to it. But ancient Romans, on a more primitive diet, would have been much more sensitive to salt, and it was probably like Cocaine to them. I'm not at all surprised that so many old sauces had lots of salt in them.
I don't know about the cocaine part, but due to its ability to slow spoilage and flavor food, soldiers throughout history were paid in some form of salt. Unless you had the cash, salt was also super hard to get, so that probably drove up its price.
That's a pretty cool angle to consider!! That which is tasty is that which is scarce? I'm sure that's something worth exploring!
Imagine eating only raw foods, especially with no meat. You must look like a malnourished concentration camp victim
Romans were paid in salt, as in he is definitely worth his salt. But wait----Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to ... Various Hittite and Assyrian texts speak of ceremonially strewing salt, minerals, or plants (weeds, ... At least as early as 1863, various texts claimed that the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus plowed over and sowed the city . ?? Tried it as a weedkiller once. Useless.
@@AverageAlien Yeah, I'll stick to mostly cooked foods. We didn't become the apex species by eating just raw foods.
As a chef I love garum. It’s super versatile, and delicious! You can’t use just about any kind of meat, fish or vegetables to make it. Taking anywhere from 30 days to 6-12 months to ferment. The flavour changes and deepens the longer you let it ferment. You can use a dehydrator to maintain a stable temperature for several months. Definitely worth the wait!
I run through an entire bottle about every month.
Do you have a recipe?
The fermented garum must be better than boiled one. What is the salt level in garum? Asian fish sauce I have always used, the one available in the shop, from Thai cuisine, has 21% salt in it.
@@pavel9652 and I thought I put a lot of salt in my food
@@kingofhearts3185 Fish sauce is the worst one at 21g, but the Chinese soy sauce has circa 16g per 100ml, at least the one I buy. Normally very little sauce is required, though. I did the math a few years ago and it was circa 2g of salt per full skillet of pasta, and I boil pasta/noodles without salt. There are a lot of products with hidden salt. Bread has a lot of salt, for instance. I bake my own and I add 1tsp of salt per 2x350ml cups of flour. I could probably add less, but my bread isn't salty, unlike some loafs from supermarkets.
In Thailand, we do have a condiment for sour fruit called "Sweet Fish Sauce", which is made from caramelization of coconut sugar and fish sauce together, then spiced it with chopped shallot and roasted chili. I'm really surprised that Rome also used garum with fruit too. LOL
Rome and the Mediterranean were THE trading capitals. And the Silk Road covered everything going to China, Japan and other East Asian countries. So chances are it traveled from Asia along the Silk Road and was duplicated because it's just so damn good. Since there are different fish and herbs, you get different flavors and consistency.
Reminds of when my wife puts bagoong on green mango
@@ttyngordon - Probably not via the Silk Road, but rather by sea via the Persian Gulf. Garum was typically transported in huge clay jars (amphorae) which are a little fragile for long-distance overland transport by camels and donkeys.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 Cool!
My great gran had a Scottish fish sauce recipe. I wish she wrote it down, Im still hunting for something like it.
"It's digesting itself"
This is true. Stomach enzymes can break down just about anything given time.
well, the enzymes would denature over time, so unless they were being actively produced (by like, a living fish), the enzymes would likely only be active for a few days, max.
Except the corona virus
@@snarkylive The fish is still rotting, but only certain microbes can function in such an environment, which turns out to not produce poisonous byproducts. I am sure the natural enzymes do a little initial work, but it's mostly microbes doing the work, though I am not sure which ones. Hydrogen sulfide is still produced, so it's going to smell like rotting fish.
@@Bubu567 probably lactobacillus is a major one.
For filtering, try Coffee Filters instead of Paper towel. Tighter weave and less likely to have (for lack of a better way to put it) paper-y cilia that are great at soaking up spills, but prone to breaking off and ending up in your sauce. Also pre-fluted to better fit a funnel.
I am so glad i found this channel. I was a chef for many years, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and always loved my food history classes. Max Miller, you are awesome.
My mouth was watering the entire time. I just wanted to add some green veggies into the garrum pot, and serve it with white rice. 🤤 But I'm from the Philippines, so it looked completely normal to me. 😂
PATIS!!! Yummy as a dip with sliced green mangoes...with lemon/lemoncito and hot peppers...with beef nigala soup...etc
Seafood is so good. I was disappointed he didnt actually ferment the fish. Its simply not the same
Yup god bless our country weird and decent n all
At 2:30 when he said *Dead body* i kinda laugh cause when i went to my cousin who was making Patis. Couple of brits asked what the smell was. They said as if *There was a Dead Body rotting* we jist point ro patis and have lil akward silence then i explained, he said *Oh it's like that time he travelled to Sicily Italy where they had a condiment called *Garem*....Guess we aren't such a Weird county after all. I mean brits like Put Lards which are meat juice that they put on bread 🧐
@@stalinsoulz7872 same thing happened to us in the US when my mom made tuyo. 🤣
2:51 hold up, did those dudes underline *and* draw a "👈" to stress a point?? 😂
Nice catch! That's a pretty funny historical detail, really.
They used emojis before it was cool 🤣
It was apparently extremely important :p
LMFAOOOO WHY DOES THAT LOOK SO CUTE AND WHOLESOME THO HAHA
I thought it was something else... naughty romans 👈
now knowing this mans disney background, i can't unsee his very disney-prince-eske demeanor as he enthusiastically tells of historical foodstuffs
I didn't know that, but it really does make sense.
and the sass loll
What's that about a Disney background, now?
@@ryanahr2267 you didn't watch his channel? here ruclips.net/video/jHpkqBFKmvA/видео.html
he talk about quitting when he got invited back to be employed on disney, but he decided to quit disney and prefer to continue his work on YT
@@karenstraborvsky5235 so he was an actor in Disney World, or on a show?
Collatura di Alici is basically the "Luxury Garum"... it is definitely a direct descendent and tastes well like fermented anchovies.. I like the taste, there is a special type of Spaghetti served in the area using it.
But even in Europe it is rather hard to come by outside of italy, it is very seasonal and the Alici area basically sells most if its annual production within Italy.
This video inspired me to pick up a bottle of Thai fish sauce, and now I really love the stuff. It smells vile and tastes even worse, but it really does act kind of like super-salt when used in small amounts. I've been adding a splash to almost anything I can think of where salt would be involved, and there's only been a couple times I've regretted it.
I don't know about the other sauces, but how you pronunciated "colatura di alici" was perfect. Damn, had it been a little less stiff you could have passed for an italian! i was just so impressed!
(You trust me on this: I AM Italian)
As an anglo (all right, one part of me) we can't help that little edge of reserve.
Unfortunately he butchered the pronounciation of Haimation. IT'S A GREEK WORD, AND IT SHOULD NOT BE SPELLED LIKE ANIMATION, DAMMIT!
@@jarekwrzosek2048 Listening to a lot of old Greek music, I can attest to this because I'll see obviously Greek words, and I'll give it the Greek pronunciation in my head, but Greek pronunciation sounds weird to everyone so I have to convert it back to the English pronunciation.
“I ain’t some people!” Love it!
I knew you’d know the reference 😁
@@TastingHistory Hah! I can't stand em!
This is coming from a black man and when you said this I instantly subscribed. I've constantly heard about Garum as if it was fantasy lore. Thanks for the history lesson here.
LINA FOR THE WIN 🗞👒
I used to work in North America's last sardine packing plant in Blacks Harbour, NB, and I just had to laugh at Max's facial expression as he smelled the garum. If it's anything like the smells that permeate the air near the factory and drift through that seaside village, I am well aquainted with that scent and feel a bit of sympathy for Max as he sniffed.
Came for the history, stayed for the faces he makes when he tastes things
Sorry to break your 69 likes
He is so watchable!
I'm Italian and i can already imagine making it and then having a screaming match with my boyfriend about our ancestry and me always making him weird food
"This is our culture!!!"
"I'll just buy you a pair of Gucci sunglasses instead."
This is the most Italian thing I've read today. ... Hope it went well 😂
Normally, Italians are known for the recipes that are passed down from a grandmother; I guess you could go a few millennia further.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 it's still coming from a grandmother tho. Just a great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother 😂
Lol you had your blood tainted by moors filthy guinea
Drinking pure garum sounds like a bet made by drunk legionnaires or as a welcoming tradition for the new guy.
In any case, amazing that you actually made it!
Semper vomitus!
*downs and entire bottle of Garum*
My 1st intro to Garum ! Well done 👍 and quite entertaining 🕺
Your comment reminds me of my introduction to Marmite:
Former friend: "Hey Kyle, I'll give you five dollars if you eat a tablespoon full of Marmite."
Kyle: "Deal!"
That was some nasty stuff...
I'm imagining drinking Worcestershire sauce. No, thank you.
@@armorfrogentertainment I always loved sprinkling some on my tongue as a kid. Such a strange unique taste.
Boiling the fish for 40 minutes might be enough to extract the nucleic acids and free glutamate from the fish flesh, but it had no chance of hydrolyzing the fish proteins to any appreciable degree.
@@DT61636 At least you didn't bang her too!
@@DT61636 did the "former jock" part of you write that comment too
@@archkull did the mean part of you write this comment?
@@maddieb.4282 You win the medal for the most pedantic clown on planet Earth. Congratulations.
😅
"Tastes like the sea."
I know this taste. I've gotten a mouthful of seawater more than once. Salty enough that if you've got any cuts or sores, you'll find out.
2 years ago in Spain i was in the ocean with my mates. I was facing in land, talking to someone, and i turned round just as a big wave hit me - and i had my mouth open. Before i knew what had happened, the wave pushed a load of water down my throat and straight into my stomach
I threw up within about 10 seconds.
Got out the water and needed to refill my stomach so we went and got some fresh bbq'd sardines with tons of lemon, was fuckin delicious
Then it goes up in your nose and now your sense of smell is crying in salt.
On a unrelated note, have you seen how crazy cuts look after you go to the beach?
Step 1: Eat entire box of Cap'n Crunch.
Step 2: Gargle seawater.
Step 3: Scream.
Great on mosquito bites!
So what your telling me. Is that people back then loved it but also loved to hate on it once they knew it was made of. So garum is the equivalent of hot dogs.
Or McNuggets
Ketchup, relish.
RONKLEDONK ANUSMONCHER love mcnuggets
Now i want garum sauce for Mcnuggets! Or better yet- order fried unsalted and dip them in...
Waaay back in high school,bi worked bussing tables at a Chinese restaurant and we'd all eat together after closing (the GREAT food notnonnthe menu). I tried several fish sauce condiments but they were always hot, rather than salty.
I think one sauce was fermented fish and crushed red peppers.
I _love_ hot dogs.
When you described the making process of garum, I distinctly thought "I'm pretty sure I remember Caitlin Doughty from Ask A Mortician using almost those exact words to describe odor of human decomp." And then you told the story about your friend in Vietnam. Yep, sounds about right. Human decomp.
Hi Max, you’re doing wonderful. I’m from Thailand and I’m overjoyed that you mentioned our Num-Pla 😊.
I understand that westerners might find it weird that fish sauce can belong in desserts but there is a dish where we do exactly that. It is most often served as a set called Ma-muang Num-pla-wan (Thai is a tonal language and I wish you the best 😅). Whereby Ma-muang means mango, Num means water, Pla means fish, and Wan means sweet. Actually any fruit can go with this sweet dipping sauce but unripe sour ones will mingle better and make things more well balanced.
Here comes the sweet fish sauce part: fish sauce + sugar + fried shallot
I think that’s basically it as far as I can remember 😂😂😂
(If you’re interested in more Southeast Asian cuisine there are a ton of weird stuff for you to be surprised at 😂)
"breathe forth the fumes of yesterday's debauch" is my new favorite turn of phrase.
Cures constipation and diarrhea. Sounds like a probiotic? Would make sense considering the original kind was heavily fermented. Though if you consume irresponsibly high levels of sodium, you can get the runs. Also, all the fish would make it a great source of Omega 3 fatty acid, which is good for cardiovascular health, which would improve bowel function over time.
imagine they made a modern day supplement? I would take that, not sure i could use it in its ancient form BAHAHA
@Duggin Raymond no one asked raymond
@Duggin Raymond Duh-doy Duggin, no one asked yokel. Hope you don't drink it, you're already spewing plenty of shite.
Duggin Raymond why did you have to bring that here?
Stripes Hummus none of which are bad 😏
"Smash that like button like Ceasar smashed Pompey's Army--"
I instantly subscribed.
but you didn't smash the button. how typical.
@L S en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey
Ironically enough, ceasar dressing is made from anchovies, you sir are a true wordsmith.
@@christophercallahan3263 well, to his defense (though you're right) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
Very interesting video! Thank you!
I had never heard of the "boiled" version of the garum recipe. Must still be quite different from the "real" garum, in my opinion, because of one very specific reason: autolysis. Garums (and the well known Nuoc Mam *is* a garum) are (were) not only considered as condiments, but as a medicine too. The Romans used to send it over, beyond the price of perfume, to the Northern legions for the military men to stay healthy despite the hard conditions/climate differences (and recent studies do show immunity "boosts" thanks to such products, like almost all the possible fermented foods). The fermentation process in garums is done by the gut bacteria of the fish themselves, which is called autolysis. This is actually different from rotting/decomposition, despite close smells (honestly), thanks to the salt/brine that prevents external bacteria/yeasts to spoil the whole process. Boiling the fish, actually kills the fish's gut flora/microbiome, thus discard autolysis.
Your friend was right: never try to make "real"/non-boiled garum unless in an isolated area - the smell is really, really, reaaaalllly strong. And last a long time - if not forever...
If you ever have a chance to try the first, raw recipe, there is one really important point: an *opaque* container. Can be anything really, but if it is glass, you have to keep it from light (and above all direct light). I made this mistake with my first try years ago, and ended up with fish glue. Literally. Was awesome and strong as a glue, so strong actually that I had to throw it away along with the wooden stick that I used to mix it with, and that eventually stayed glued in it ^^ So: opaque pots and dark environment.
If you are interested in garum's "cousins" too: in the south of France, in the Nice area, there is a local, historical "garum" called "pissalat" (which a famous local pizza was named after: la "Pissaladière"), which is made with anchovies and/or sardines (adult fishes and/or bait - there still is a strong debate over the recipe of the "authentic" pissalat), and is actually used as a paste (the do not draw the liquid extracts like in ancient garums or Nuoc Mam, ...). And you could probably be interested in the Swedish "Surströmming", which is not a garum but not that far actually, as a fermented, verrrrrry smelly fish (herring) ;-)
yeah wouldn't this just be... broth?
@@mamagdita I'm afraid so 😅
But this recipe is legit, considering the sources. Salt was not cheap (at all) in the past, and this was one of the reasons why garum was so expensive: with this in mind, I guess that this recipe was *possibly* made to allow using less salt without compromising the storage life, for a cheaper garum?...
Interesting info and great story! I would love to see baffled archeologists when they excavate the site and find your fossilized garum ;) The taste of the real garum has to be different. It is probably like bakers yeast bread vs proper sourdough bread. There are so much additional flavors introduced by fermentation!
@@pavel9652 😂Those archeologists would probably think "hey we've got some archaic woodworker glue right here..." 🤭
Interesting comparison! Indeed, bacterial/yeast activity does change quite a few things, chemically-wise
There's a guy who still makes this in Asia in clay pots and buries them in a smoking hut but sadly it's going to die with him as he is still making an old royal recipe
He doesn't want to share the recipe?
apparently not
leaving comment for updates
I wonder if someone will bury him in a clay pot and make fish sauce from him when he dies
He appears in that netflix documentary, Street Food, for those who wanna know
2:53, lol. It has a pointing hand like a modern For Dummies book! "The makings of Garum for the classes which are literate but regardless manage folly."
Right?! I actually hadn’t noticed that. Omg that’s so funny.
i noticed that too! I wonder if it's original to the manuscript. It looks like how cartoons are drawn today.
If I remember right, garum was popular because garum acted as a flavor enhancer..it was ancient MSG.Also he mentioned defrutum. Defrutum was a sweetener that was customarily added to wine because Roman wine was sour. The problem with defrutum was that it was made using lead lined pots. Hence, along with your sweet, got got a huge dose of lead poisoning. Now imagine some Emperors who drank wine heavily, even by Roman standards, with some socio or psychopathic tendencies and give them a heavy dose of lead poisoning!
People have never been as fool as to systematically poison themselves over long periods of time. Dangerous practices were identified and stopped in less than a generation usually. In ancient times clay pots were used for the reduction of grape juice in order to make desfrutum. When copper pots started being used they were lined using tin and this practice continued until recent times wherever copper pots were used. Desfrutum is still made in all greek villages during grape harvest season and is quite simple yet elaborate.its a sweet and fruity syrup. The egg method for testing the salt brine was shown to me by my dad as a traditional way to preserve feta or any other white cheese. Interesting, as to how information spreads, is that he showed me when i needed to take a quite large quantity of cheese with me to England as a treat for my english friends. Eventually the brine tip was passed on to them😀
Gotta stay happy one way or another
In Hong Kong we have fermented shrimp paste. There is a fishing village in rural Hong Kong that still makes it the old-school way, and shrimp are fermented along a beach next to a popular coastal footpath. When I visited there, it was quite funny watching the tourists' faces change as they approach, then hold their breaths or pinch their noses, and make a run for it.
Hongkonger here, same! A lot of people say they don't like the smell, but to me it's the scent of pure culinary heaven. Shrimp paste forever.
Fun fact: in the south part of Thailand, we still make and use garum (like, EXACTLY the same sun-soaked recipe the Roman made) but it's used in pretty much one popular Southern dish. Most Southern households make their own from their leftover fishy entrails, but we do have commercially available "ไตปลา" (tai pla) around for restaurants and those who just can't.
When you say entrails, is it literally made from fish organs? If so, which ones? All of them? I'm so curious! I might try to make it some day lol
Many of the 'recipes' in the video implied entrails, rather than actual fish. The one mentioning the tunny fish springs to mind.
It makes more sense for garum to be made from the entrails of fish that were intended to be eaten - it's a by-product from a waste product. Anchovies may be the exception as who's going to be bothered to gut them?
Aside from Worcestershire sauce, I'm used to Malay budu (fermented anchovy sauce with tamarind and sugar) and belac[h]an (fermented prawn paste usually sold in block form).
@@evan8463You need the entrails for the right fermenting! Same withe the northern europe/german "Matjes"-hering!
@@RaimoHöft this is all so fascinating to me. I definitely would have assumed you ferment the entire fish
I found this channel way too late in 2020. I can’t stop binging.
I found it just now.
This is me 100%... Can't get enough!
You should check out the show Supersizes Go. They eat and dress for a week according to different ages through history.
9th of January 2021 :/ binging as well!
Me too bro
Also it's the inspiration of "Worchester Sauce" that traveled from England to New Orleans US with Salt, fish and new world peppers as the base with soy sauce/tamarind as an addition.
It's Worcestershire sauce, actually. Goes great with shepherds pie!
Worcestershire sauce was invented in Britain while trying to recreate an Indian chutney. They failed but tweaked the recipe until it was edible and became Worcestershire sauce
i dont know who to believe lol
Lea and Perrins (one of the biggest and oldest makers of Worcestershire sauce) made a video on it
I tried garum in Italy once. I'm not much of a seafood person so thought I'd hate it immediately.
Actually wasn't too bad at all. I love ancient recopies like this.
I have no idea why this of all things was in my recommended feed, but you have earned a new subscriber.
Thanks for the video. After watching it I bought a bottle of thai fish sauce that is basically garum (50% anchovies, 29% salt, 18% water, 3% sugar) and now I basically put it in everyrhing except for desserts. It really makes everything better as long as you dont put in too much so it dont tastes fishy.
what is the brand you used?
It probably taste like asian fish sauce. First time i smelled fish sauce (i was 9) i thought it smelled like hot summer garbage. But now, it's one of my favorite cooking ingredients. it is suprisingly good on certain soups.
I lived in Thailand for 3 years and there was a nam pla “factory” (very small, backyard effort; think “artisanal”) with several lightly covered tanks about the the size of those individual swim pool in which you adjust the current for swimming in place. I don’t recall it smelling particularly bad. There was a smell but maybe knowing how tasty the result would be ameliorated noticing it?
@@susanlangley4294 It might also just have been well sealed, so what little of the smell seeped through wasn't that bad. But yeah, if you're also used to smelling it and then eating it and the taste being very good, I'm sure our brains eventually stop having a "Gross!" gut reaction whenever we smell it.
What kind of soups??
@@aokiaoki4238 i put fish sauce when i make spicy korean meat/fish soups.
@@jkim078 how much put? Thanks
I ordered your cook book, Max,... and I have to tell everyone out there listening to your show,... having this one in your Cook Book collection it will be your Prize Headliner..! LOVE-love this book, but I would never even think of giving up your vids ~ you are hilarious and I'd miss all your comments. You keep me company regularly. Thank you, Max & Jose.
Random guy: "I'm making smelly ancient sauce made out of salt and fish"
91k people: "Fascinating"
I guess in one day this version blew up because it’s has over 200k views now.
Is this what they called a Gollum juice.....
Everyone else: "That's gross, Wtf is wrong with you"?
400k now
almost a million people*
So, I literally - and I mean it - watched everything in your channel during my workday today. Basically back-to-back. Your content is really great! Interesting, well-researched, fun and funny; it has the production value one would expect from a long-established channel with a strong cohort of Patrons. I genuinely hope that you continue to create, and that you do so without ever losing the sincerity of your expression. I lament there isn't more to binge!
Thank you! Hope you got work done 😆. I figure I’ll keep creating as long as I enjoy it, and one thing that makes me enjoy it is knowing how others are liking it so thank you.
Did anyone else randomly find this in their recommended for absolutely no reason??
Miki’s Missing Marbles ........ yup
o/
Yes. RUclips's algorithm wants us to procrastinate, and I'm not gonna fight it. I only wish we were from the future so we could procrastinate for much, much longer watching more of these addictive videos.
First of youtube's random recommendations I'm actually interested enough to click on in quite a while.
yeah but not for no reason. Seems the algorithm knows I like niche cooking content.
You are to young to have been my High school history teacher(1975-1979), but I wish he had been more like you. Love your videos, have not made a bad one yet.
Thank you!
Anyone: "Hey, Max, what're bringing to the potluck?"
Max: "Garum."
never gets invited ever again
I immediately hit the Like Button when I heard that you knew that Gaius Julius Caesar had defeated Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus. ... One of my favourite facts about garum is that it was so popular in the Ancient World that traders would take it all the way down to the East Coast of Africa to transport it, along with Roman wine, on the Monsoon winds to India. Indians would pay a high price that would justify shipping those two products all the way to that subcontinent with the merchants' still making a sizeable profit.
I always wondered if the maritime trade between rome and india played a role in creating a hybrid/fusion cuisine. Similar to what happened to Europeans and Indians during the age of exploration
Possible origin of the term "garam masala"??
Patricia Morgan “garam” means hot or spicy in Hindi. But Hindi and Latin are both Indo-European languages so perhaps they had a common sauce!
@@lewisham in Indonesia and Malaysia garam means salt
Wow, thank you for making this video!!!
“Byzantium which is the *Eastern Roman Empire*”
THANK! YOU! So many people fail to mention that and it drives me crazy. If you consider that empire, the roman empire lasted for darn near 2000 years, just under a different name halfway through. Like rebranding before it was cool.
And if you make the claim that the holy roman empire was the continuation of the roman empire, rome lasted until 1806. Then the russian tsars made the claim also so that would take you to 1917!
History is so fun. 😊 It just is what it is!
It's only Roman in name. It was effectively Greek and we will never concede this point
It wasn't even rebranding, they always simply called themselves Roman, even the Greeks generally saw themselves as Romans after it finally fell up until the 19th century. It was German historians who started calling it Byzantium because they considered *themselves* to be the true inheritors of Rome
@@rebeccaburrow7199 holy german empire was just a branch of frankish kingdom larping as Roman. Eastern Roman Empire is heir of Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Heraclius, etc. And the inhabitants were actual subjects of Roman World; armenians, greeks, syrians, latins and during peak tunisians and andalucians.
Well until the fall of the Roman Empire Byzantium was the capital of the eastern side BUT The Byzantine Empire was not the continuation of the roman empire. It was something else, despite that they called themselves roman. They did not speak latin, they did not have roman "culture" and definitely did not have Rome. The Empire had collapse but any other state that came after wanted to buy into their prestige and while Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire, it was not the roman empire.
The look on Magikarp face at 0:44 as he said fermented fish sauce is priceless
It's like *patis* we Filipinos use it as a salt replacement when cooking. New to your channel and for an ex-seminarian who studied latin Im finding the few latin inserts rather charming.
"Fish sause in dessert, what could go wrong?"
A cat: Nothing, probably
Considering cats can't taste sweet, fishy tasting dessert would probably taste good to them.
@@13thMaiden it would probably smell more alluring too xD
Don't worry, the chocolate will get 'em.
I love Asian fish sauces so much, I'm sure I'd love this too. One of my favourite things is mixing canned smoked kippers with barbecue sauce and eating it as a dip with toasted Turkish rolls.
Meanwhile, in a specialty factory in Italy that makes fermented fish sauce: Why are we getting a deluge of overseas orders??
Doubt it, it's readily available at an oriental store and even walmart. This is only being brought up as Garum in an attempt to take a piece of the market but they can't produce it at the same quality or even volume as asian countries that have been doing it for centuries.
...Gives me an idea. Maybe I should take asian fish sauce, bottle and relabel it as Garum with a 200% marked up price and sell it to these people.
@@chinhphan4787 Oooohhh dude, kinda funny how many ppl have never heard of (much less tasted) any of the dozens of Fish Sauces, huh? I like your Fish Sauce-rebottled-to-"Premium Garum" markup idea.
@@paulpolito2001 Billions of people have tasted fish sauce. The issue is fish sauce has hundreds of competing brands. To most people fish sauce is just fish sauce. Just like in the beer brewing world dominated by ale and lager it really is a small niche of people that take the time to seek out anything else.
@@chinhphan4787 good point, the brand selection is inconsistent, at best, in this area (S-Central Louisiana); and badly made fish sauce is worse than no fish sauce (imo) lol.
@@paulpolito2001 That's why they are marketing it as like it is something new...."Garum". 🤣 The social elites and hipsters will eat it up.
Fermented fish, have had that, “Surströmming”, the smell is not the best but the salty taste is quite nice. :)
I’ve never tried it. You’re braver than I 🤣
Not the same thing
Yeah not the same thing, but the smell is something to experience. I dare to claim it will be the most terrifying smell I will most likely ever experience.
Surströmming is amazing. The taste has no connection to the...some would say scent, others stench XD, but it has a fantastic unique taste.
And let's not forget the Icelandic hákarl, fermented shark meat (though the fermentation here is done for a different purpose).
BTW, surströmming is banned from being transported on airplanes. :D
the mixture of silly accents, dry humor, serious talk, pop culture references, mentioning your cat, history of foods & their usage, and recreating historical foods & using it means an instant sub from me. Kudos!
Me: “Ugh. It’s been a long day. Gotta go to slee…”
RUclips algorithm: “Hey, wanna see how to make an ancient condiment?”
Me: … “Ok, RUclips, let’s do this.”
You did a good job on the pronunciation of nước mắm. Your Three Crabs brand shown in the video is the best low-cost fish sauce from Vietnam. Red Boat is somewhat more expensive and better, but the best comes from Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Thailand.
Red Boat actually does come from Phu Quoc (though there are other Phu Quoc brands that are famous). Just thought I'd let you know. :) (I'm Viet.)
Three Crabs is my go-to fish sauce, but one day I'll splurge on Red Boat! It's such a magical ingredient for taking soups and sauces from "good" to "amazing".
Thanks for the brand info guys! I'll look for them.
Welp, I was today years old I found out worshishshshs sauce is actually fish sauce. Huh!
Wanna know something sad? I drink it..like a beverage..i have a problem...
Its easy to pronounce
Wooster-sheer sauce
@@panzer107 wor-chest-or-shire
@@FirstNameLastName-ug7rp nope
@@FirstNameLastName-ug7rp thats uhh wrong
“And I’m guessing just like a cold brew, a tall iced glass of garum in the morning will REALLY get you going!” Haha Love the descriptors!
I can see why this was the episode that hooked people, it’s a real banger, even by your current work max! Well done!!
I just saw an episode of Mythical Kitchen where they discussed garum and Pliny the Elder and I totally fangirled thinking, "Oh my god, I know this from Tasting History!" Haha. Thanks for teaching us!
So this channel is basically an ancient/medieval version of Townsends?
I like it.
:D
Townsends?
@@GrimmDelightsDice It's a great educational channel that makes recipes that date back to colonial America. Check out some of their stuff! ruclips.net/video/1PLv76rQiq0/видео.html
does Townsends make fake foods like this fake fish stock?
His face after he smelled it. I laughed entirely too hard.
U buff
I thought I would wet myself!!! 😂😂
That whole bit was hilarious, I completely lost it at the deadpan "okay"
@@TooLittleInfo It's not really deadpan, more like "we are not going to talk about that ever again"
Max you are funny, witty, smart and so entertaining. This channel was a genius idea on so many levels, you made a history lesson using food as the focus, brilliant!
You can't mention your cat and not show the guy. That's illegal. Pay your cat tax!
I concur!! Show us the cat!!
Cat! Cat! Cat! Cat!
Cat tax cat tax cat tax!
They're right. Why not just take a dab on your finger?
She did show up in an early video and Max said she was in a mood because a little brother had joined the household: Cersei and Jaime.
"It's the worst parts of fish! It's also my favorite."
So it was ancient hotdogs, except liquid.
LOL! Parts, except here there must be fermentation, so micro-organisms. Hot dogs aren't salami.
@president camacho Yes.
Throughout history, humans have made delicacies out of the nasty parts of animals. Foie gras, gravy, McDonald's chicken nuggets.
@@Silverwind87 Foie gras is made of liver, which is very much an expensive and desirable ingredient. Gravy is made of bones, which aren't expensive or desirable but aren't nasty in the least. The Mcnuggets, though, I have to agree with you about that
I came for cool weird historic cooking shit, I stayed for the way his eyes gaze deep into my soul while he explains ancient fish sauce to me