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Crispy Parthian Chicken: A Recipe from Ancient Rome

Mandy Haga

A recipe originally from

APICIUS - DE RE COQUINARIA

400-500 A.D.

Apicius, or De re coquinaria, is a collection of Roman recipes thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. The text contains ten books, each dedicated to a different culinary subject such as The Sea, The Fisherman, The Meat Mincer, and The Gardener.

Pullum Parthicum, or Chicken, Parthian-Style, can be found in the sixth book Aëropetes. It’s a dish of fried chicken, simmered in a wine and herb sauce featuring laser, lovage, and caraway. It hails from the vast Parthian Empire, a major political power based in ancient Iran, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire and China’s Han dynasty.

Explore the original recipe (Joseph Dommers Vehling translation) along with a modernized version below.

Original Parthian Chicken

DIRECTIONS

  1. Dress the chicken carefully and quarter it. [1]

  2. Crush pepper, lovage, and a little caraway [2], moistened with broth.

  3. Add wine to taste.

  4. After frying, place the chicken in an earthen dish. [3]

  5. Pour the seasoning over it, add laser and wine. [4]

  6. Let it assimilate with the seasoning and braise the chicken to a point.

  7. When done sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Notes

Dr. Martinus Lister, who provided notes in the book’s 1705 publication, is of the opinion that the Pullus Parthicus is a kind of chicken that came originally from Asia, Parthia being a country of Asia, the present Persia or northern India, a chicken of small size with feathers on its feet, i.e., a bantam.

  1. Pluck, singe, empty, wash, trim. The texts: a navi. Hum. hoc est, à parte posteriore ventris, qui ut navis cavus & figuræ ejus non dissimile est. Dann. takes this literally, but navo (navus) here simply means “to perform diligently.”

  2. Tor. casei modicum; List. carei—more likely than cheese.

  3. Cumana—an earthenware casserole, excellent for that purpose.

  4. G.-V. laser [et] vivum.

Modernized Parthian Chicken

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. of boneless chicken breasts

  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil

  • 1 cup of white wine

  • 1 cup of chicken broth

  • 1 tablespoon of dried lovage (eliminate if pregnant)

  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper

  • 1 teaspoon of dried caraway

  • 1 teaspoon of asafetida (a strong scented replacement for now-extinct laser)

  • Flour and additional salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.

  2. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

  3. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.

  4. When the skillet is hot, add the chicken flour-side down and fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Turn and repeat.

  5. Remove the skillet from heat and pour in the wine-herb mixture.

  6. Place in the oven and braise for 25 minutes.

  7. Serve over rice with the sauce drizzled over top.

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