Camila Rodriguez Clips

Hesiod of Askra,

In his commentary on the Theogony Hesiod, Martin West examines the myth of Prometheus and speculative function of this narrative. As I explained in another entry , the story begins with a mythical justification of the way the Greeks made their sacrifices (bones and fat for the gods, the flesh for us.)

According to West, within this part of the myth is also included aition (explanation) of another aspect of Greek culture, seemingly marginal and prosaic. In essence, the question is: It

that the reference to Prometheus makes use belly of the ox in lines 538-9 of the Theogony ("To him [Zeus] and offal meats rich in fat / skin in presented, after covering them with the belly of the ox") relates to culinary uses of the Greeks, with the preparation of a dish similar to what we know today as the "wineskins" Bierzo botillo and other neighboring regions of Spain or Portugal.

is important to note that this interpretation is not, without more, an ingenious conjecture West, we know that in ancient dishes are prepared similar to our botillo by Apicius (7.7.1) quien incluye una receta para el estómago de cerdo:

Ventrem porcinum bene exinanies, aceto et sale, postea aqua lavas, et sic hanc impensam imples: pulpam porcinam tunsam tritam, ita ut enerviata commisceas cerebella tria et ova cruda, cui nucleos infundis et piper integrum mittis et hoc iure temperas. teres piper, ligusticum, silphium, anesum, gingiber, rutae modicum, liquamen optimum et olei modicum. reples aqualiculum sic ut laxamentum habeat, ne dissiliat in coctura. surclas ambas et in ollam bullientem summittis. levas et pungis acu, ne crepet. eum ‹ad› dimidias coctum fuerit, levas et ad fumum suspendis ut coloretur. et denuo eum perelixabis, ut coqui possit, deinde liquamine mero oleo modico et cultello et cum aperio liquamine et LOVAGE adponis.

Two of my professors at the Autónoma de Madrid, Esperanza Flores and Torrego Primitiva, translated this passage:

"pig stomach. Empty it, wash it with water, salt and vinegar and fill with batter follows: the minced pork mixture skinless three sesadas clean, and three raw eggs, this will add pine nuts and peppercorns, and work with the sauce, grind pepper, privet, laser, anise, ginger ...".

And the recipe follows.

THIRST FOR SATIS PORCO

José B. Torres Guerra