Feeding a Roman Legion | Posca & Laridum

Who out there played the original Rome: Total War? I played it all through college and can't wait for the remastered version.

“Who wants to feed a legionnaire” was a solid joke

Switzel is a similar vinegar drink from a later period and is very tasty. The legions did try to conquer the Germanic tribes; maybe the drink did were Rome failed.

hi

are you sure they used actual lard and not something like kaizer? It also translates as bacon but isn't bacon.

Alcohol and acids are good for prevention from sickness by bacteria in the water, so adding it was probably needed to stau alive/healthy for battle

I know the version of posco (never knew it's a real common legionnaire drink!) from my old gym coach: water + vinegar (apple vinegar is very cool for that) + honey + salt + some herbs you personally like. I usually did it without herbs, just the easy version, but that was always very refreshing to drink after a hard workout, somehow helping to recover faster, and tasted much better than any overpriced isotonic, kinda cool stuff when you are on the budget. The coach was always saying, that that was a secret drink of Roman legions. That's really amazing to find out, that it was actually quite accurate. Wonderful content, Max, thanks a lot for all the research and effort you have put in this video!

*Except that once in a while, in a raging thirst …*
That’s your first clue that it was taken only as a last resort? 🤦‍♂️

I would think the lard would be spread on the hard tack and not just eaten by itself.

the lard the way is in your video in Portugal we call it toucinho and we cure it with salt, some times we eat it raw and some times we fry it and is really nice with olives, chease, and bread. It is basically the skin of the pork. we usually fry the pork skin where is less thick in is own fat producing the "liquid" lard that we use for cooking and the fried skin it self (with less fat of course and some times a bi of meet) we call it torresmo and we eat it as a appetizer and is really nice. Of course all this usually goes with wine ahahahaha

The whole "Roman soldiers got paid in salt" is such a stupid myth 😂 If it was so valuable, why wouldn't everybody just go and make their own salt from the sea water. It's very simple, just let the water evaporate. There is another very common myth too, saying that "salt was more valuable than gold" 😂 gimme a break, half of our world is salt water and 3,5% of sea water by weight is salt..

As someone who loves steak fat, i could see some boiled seasoned lard being a tasty treat out on the battelfield

the idea behind olive oil is not the "fat". but the taste of olive oil, a good olive oil has a very subtle taste of olive, very soft and round flavour.
fat by itself is a flavour magnet, it soaks in flavours and get infused in it. so if you add say... chopped olives, the flavour would be way too strong for the laridum, but a good quality olive oil has subtle enough of a taste to soak into the laridum, without overpowering anything, just like it would happen in a carpaccio.
but yeah. not the healthiest snack. i agree.

borderline cursed that lard dish is

Made a bootleg posca with a little too much honey (about a tablespoon and change), a splash of slightly too old 2 buck chuck, a generous 2-3 oz of apple cider vinegar, and another 8 oz or so of water. The comparison to gatorade is quite apt. I liked it a lot and will try this again with a little less honey and an italian red wine vinegar next time.

"Skippy-you" pronunciation does not seem correct.

Somehow missed this one. To my shame, sometimes the recipes are just so surreal I skip the history lesson and go right to the test taste. This one I couldn't resist. I blame you for my search history on where to get cured pork belly Max.

i hate that the algo chose to give me a food video with a total war ad, it knows me too well

I think they may have even offered him hemlock before they strung him up to die. But he refused the suicide way out. I am sure the other two would have gladly taken the poison if offered. But maybe with passover they thought they could find someone to set their broken legs if they lived until the end of the day. What ever hapend to those two thieves any way?