Feet in the trough

摘要

Cato the Elder may have served Rome as quaestor, aedile, praetor and consul, but he came from an an-cient plebeian family in the Sabine region. His an-cestors were called Por- cius, and his only com- plete surviving work, "De Agricultura," is a farming manual in which he pays tribute to his family ori-gins with this recipe: "After buying legs of pork, cut off the feet. One-half peck ground Roman salt per ham. Spread the salt in the base of a vat or jar, then place a ham with the skin facing downwards. Cover completely with salt. After standing in salt for five days, take all hams out with the salt. Put those that were above below, and so rearrange and replace. After a total of 12 days take out the hams, clean off the salt and hang in the fresh air for two days. On the third day take down, rub all over with oil, hang in smoke for two days...take down, rub all over with a mixture of oil and vinegar and hang in the meat store. Neither moths nor worms will attack it."