“And now the feast commenced, in earnest; as the first course, consisting of fresh eggs boiled hard, with lettuce, radishes, endive and rockets, olives of Venafrum, anchovies and sardines, and the choicest luxury of the day—hot sausages served upon gridirons of silver, with the rich gravy dripping through the bars upon a sauce of Syrian prunes and pomegranate berries—was placed upon the board.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Drain twelve sardines and cook in a chafing-dish until heated, turning frequently. Remove from chafing-dish. Make one cup Brown Sauce with one and one-half tablespoons sardine oil, two tablespoons flour, and one cup Brown Stock. Season with Anchovy essence. Reheat sardines in sauce. Serve with Brown Bread Sandwiches, having a slice of cucumber marinated with French Dressing between slices of bread.
Sources: The passage is from Henry William Herbert, The Roman Traitor, Vol. 1, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Farmer, The Boston cooking-school cook book of 1896, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — moss cloth, amphora stamp.