Oa Pnikta
(Poached Egg in White Wine)

Origin: Roman      Period: Traditional

Original Recipe

Oa Pnikta (from Galen's On the Powers of Food)

Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (circa 129–200 CE), better known in English as Galen. He was born in Pergamum (modern-day Bergama, Turkey), the son of Nicon, a wealthy architect. His interests were eclectic — agriculture, architecture, astronomy, astrology, philosophy — until he eventually concentrated on medicine. Galen was a proponent of Hippocratic medicine and was so influential that he transmitted the teachings of Hippocrated right up to the Renaissance. As well as treatsies on the Hippocratic system of the four bodily humours and wirtings on the structure and function of the human body he also reported the medical uses and effects of foods, which is where the recipe given below is derived.

Translation

Better than boiled and baked eggs are those called poached. The recipe for them is as follows: pour some olive oil, fish sauce and a little wine over the eggs, put hot water into a large basin in which is placed the pot containing the eggs, then cover everything with a lid. Put the basin over a flame until the eggs are of a moderately firm consistency. If they become too firm, they turn out like boiled and baked eggs, but if they are only just firm they are better digested than hard eggs and furnish the body with superior nourishment.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients

6 eggs
3 tbsp Garum (or Nam Pla)
6 tbsp dry white wine
6 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Take six ramekin dishes and grease them with a tablespoon each of olive oil. Crack an egg into each and place into a large pyrex dish. Fill to half-way up the ramekins with boling water.

Very carefully pour a tablespoon of wine and half a tablespoon of Garum. Cover with a lid (or aluminium foil) and place in an oven pre-heated to 190°C for fifteen minutes. Serve immediately.

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