s in specially
constructed bottoms of the galleys.

X

[15] MAKING A LITTLE LASER GO A LONG WAY
_UT NUCIA _[1]_ LASERIS TOTO TEMPORE UTARIS_

PUT THE LASER [2] IN A SPACIOUS GLASS VESSEL; IMMERSE ABOUT 20 PINE
KERNELS [pignolia nuts]

IF YOU NEED LASER FLAVOR, TAKE SOME NUTS, CRUSH THEM; THEY WILL IMPART
TO YOUR DISH AN ADMIRABLE FLAVOR. REPLACE THE USED NUTS WITH A LIKE
NUMBER OF FRESH ONES [3]

[1] List. and G.-V. _uncia_--ounce. Making an ounce of
laser go a long way. Tor. _nucea_; Tac. _nucia_. Lister,
fond of hair-splitting, is irreconcilably opposed to
Tor., and berates Caspar Barthius for defending Tor.
List. _Quam futilis sit in multis labor C. Barthii ut
menda Torini passim sustineat, vel ex hoc loco
intelligere licet: Et enim lege modo uncia pro nucea cum
Humelbergio, & ista omnia glossemata vana sunt._

V. both readings, _uncia_ or _nucia_ are permissible,
and make very little difference. We side with Tor. and
Tac. because it takes more than an ounce of laser to
carry out this experiment.

[2] _Laser_, _laserpitium_, cf. dictionary.

[3] V. This article illustrates how sparingly the
ancients used the strong and pungent laser flavor [by
some believed to be _asa foetida_] because it was very
expensive, but principally because the Roman cooks
worked economically and knew how to treat spices and
flavors judiciously. This article alone should disperse
for all time all stories of ancient Rome's extravagance
in flavoring and seasoning dishes. It reminds of the
methods used by European cooks to get the utmost use out
of the expensive vanilla bean: they bury the bean in a
can of powdered sugar. They will use the sugar only
which has soon acquired a delicate vanilla perfume, and
will replace the used sugar by a fresh supply. This is
by far a superior method to using the often rank and
adulterated "vanilla extract" readily bottled. It is
more gastronomical and more economical. Most commercial
extracts are synthetic, some injurious. To believe that
any of them impart to the dishes the true flavor desired
is of course ridiculous. The enormous consumption of
such extracts however, is characteristic of our
industrialized barbarism which is so utterly indifferent
to the fine points in food. Today it is indeed hard for
the public to obtain a real vanilla b