Garum (Roman fish sauce)

For @moco_history's experimental archaeology class I made garum, a Roman fish sauce, out of two pounds of Mediterranean fish (sardines in this case), dried oregano, dried mint, and enough sea/kosher salt to put Carthage to shame (or 500 gr). To make this recipe one must simply

1. Boil water and place all ingredients (except salt) in the pan for 15 min.

2. Add 250 gr of salt half way and stir.

3. Separate the fish content from the liquid content using a strainer; mash the fish into finer portions and combine the ingredients thrice more. Discard the fish.

4. Place the sauce into a bowl and add a paper towel to your strainer, atop a vessel; strain and stir so only the sauce proper is left.

Notes: *The garum I made is yellow because of the inclusion of olive oil; traditional garum is reddish amber.

*In the days of the Roman Empire a sack would have been used to strain the sauce out. *Be careful of any boiling froth which may happen during the cooking process

*The recipe which I based this experiment on is from De Re Coquinaria

Bard B