De Re Coquinaria — "On the Subject of Cooking" — was compiled in the 1st century AD and is the most complete Roman cookbook to survive. It contains hundreds of recipes, covers everything from sauces to game to pastry, and reads like the work of someone who took food very seriously indeed. Pullum Frontonianum is one of its ancient Roman recipes that has aged particularly well: chicken braised in fish sauce, wine, and oil with leeks, coriander, and savory. It is genuinely delicious, which is probably why it survived.

Apicius calls for liquamen in these ancient Roman recipes — fermented fish sauce, the Roman universal seasoning, used the way we'd use salt today. You'll know it better as garum, though the two were technically distinct: garum was the premium liquid strained from fermented fish, liquamen a broader term for the everyday cooking version. In practice the distinction blurred even in Roman times, and both terms are used interchangeably today. Blue Dragon fish sauce does the job here — the same fermented fish principle, two thousand years of refinement further along. If you've made the Fish Sauce Chicken Wings on this site, you already know how well fish sauce works with chicken. This is where that idea came from.

Pullum Frontonianum is one of the ancient Roman recipes that adapts most naturally to a modern kitchen. Thyme in place of savory — satureja, a herb similar to thyme that's well attested in Roman cooking but essentially impossible to find in rural Jaén. Declared, not hidden. Aceite verde from the Montetucci mill for the olive oil — the Romans were pressing oil in this area two thousand years ago, so it belongs in a Roman recipe. Two chicken quarters rather than a whole bird: cook both, eat one, the other goes in the freezer for another day. A braise this size works better with two pieces than one.

The technique is simple. Sear the chicken first in oil until the skin is golden, then braise in fish sauce, white wine, and oil with leeks, coriander, and thyme. Simmer covered until the chicken is cooked through, then remove the chicken and reduce the cooking liquor until glossy. That sauce is the point of the dish.

Ancient Roman Recipes — Pullum Frontonianum

Ingredients

• 2 chicken quarters
• 2 tbsp olive oil — aceite verde
• 2 tbsp Blue Dragon fish sauce
• 150ml white wine
• ½ leek, sliced
• Small bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Sea salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in the 28cm wide pot over high heat. Season the chicken quarters with sea salt and sear skin-side down for 8–10 minutes until the skin is deep golden and beginning to crisp. Turn and sear the other side for 3–4 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the leek to the pot and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened.
3. Add the fish sauce, white wine, coriander, and thyme. Stir to combine, scraping up any caught bits from the bottom of the pot.
4. Return the chicken to the pot, skin-side up. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 35–40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and beginning to fall from the bone.
5. Remove the chicken and set aside. Increase the heat and reduce the cooking liquor for 5–8 minutes until glossy and slightly thickened.
6. Return the chicken to the pot, spoon the sauce over, and serve. One quarter for dinner, one for the freezer.

The reduced cooking liquor is the dish. Fish sauce, wine, olive oil, cooked down together until glossy — it's the Roman mother sauce. Everything that came after it, across two thousand years of European cooking, is a variation on the same idea. Apicius knew that. He just didn't call it a sauce.

Footnote:

This Roman braised chicken recipe is featured in my Cooking Through History hub, where I cook my way through the ancient world — from Mesopotamian flatbreads to Medieval English pottage.
You'll also find it in my Chicken Recipes hub and my Slow Cooker & Slow Cooking Recipes hub.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef