This was served as part of the second course at the Ymir 2025 feast.
What, Where, When
- Roasted beets dressed warm and served cold, in a mustard-and-vinegar dressing built out from Apicius’s recipe #98, “Beets Another Way.”
- Core triad (mustard, oil, vinegar) is period-attested from Apicius #98; caraway and horseradish are modern additions.
Discussion
Apicius’s De re coquinaria gives two consecutive beet recipes. The first, recipe 97, pairs the beets with leeks, coriander, cumin, and raisin wine, thickens the liquid, and serves the beets separated from the broth with oil and vinegar. Vehling’s commentary notes that the dish was typically served cold and calls the method “indeed a method that cannot be improved upon.” The second, recipe 98 — Aliter Betas Elixas, “Another Way” — is a much simpler preparation: beets cooked with mustard and served “well pickled in a little oil and vinegar.”
This salad uses recipe 98 as its structural base and fills in around it. The three named ingredients — mustard, oil, vinegar — form the core of the dressing and are preserved intact. Two additions are mine: caraway and horseradish. Caraway is the smaller leap — it was present in the Roman kitchen and its aromatic profile sits naturally alongside beets, but it is not named in either of the Apicius beet recipes, which use coriander and cumin in #97 and no warm spices at all in #98. Horseradish is the more substantial modern addition: prepared jarred horseradish is not a period ingredient in either its cultivation or its preparation, though horseradish is an ingredient found within Apicius’s work. It is there because it falls in the category of “pungent condiments that pair well with beets” and it tastes good!
I followed Vehling’s note on recipe 97 for the serving temperature: beets dressed warm, so the dressing penetrates the flesh, then cooled and served cold. The dressing-while-warm step makes a real difference; cold beets tossed in cold dressing stay bland no matter how assertive the dressing. The caraway and horseradish both benefit from the short contact with warm beets as well. The final dish is a cold salad, consistent with period practice.
Sources
Apicius, De re coquinaria, recipe 98 — Aliter Betas Elixas (Vehling translation)
ANOTHER WAY. COOK THE BEETS WITH MUSTARD [seed] AND SERVE THEM WELL PICKLED IN A LITTLE OIL AND VINEGAR.
Apicius, De re coquinaria, recipe 97 — Betas (Vehling translation)
TO MAKE A DISH OF BEETS THAT WILL APPEAL TO YOUR TASTE SLICE [the beets, with] LEEKS AND CRUSH CORIANDER AND CUMIN; ADD RAISIN WINE, BOIL ALL DOWN TO PERFECTION: BIND IT, SERVE [the beets] SEPARATE FROM THE BROTH, WITH OIL AND VINEGAR.
Beetroot Salad with Horseradish and Caraway
Whole-roasted beets, peeled warm and cubed, then dressed while still warm with a Dijon, apple cider vinegar, horseradish, and caraway dressing. Served cold. Built from Apicius’s recipe 98 as a structural base.
Ingredients
- Roasted Beets:
1 lb beets, whole, skin on, tops trimmed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
- Dressing:
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1½ tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-4 tbsp prepared horseradish (jarred), to taste
½ tsp caraway seed
¾ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- Garnish:
Sliced green onions
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Rub the whole beets with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place directly on a rimmed baking sheet — no foil wrap.
- Roast for about 1 hour, or until a paring knife slides in easily through the thickest beet. Smaller beets (tennis-ball size) may be done in 45-50 minutes; larger beets can take 75-90 minutes. Test the biggest one and trust the knife, not the clock.
- While the beets roast, make the dressing: whisk together the vinegar, mustard, olive oil, horseradish, caraway, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust — horseradish is especially worth dialing to your preference, and a sharper beet will want a less aggressive dressing than a sweeter one.
- When the beets are tender, remove from the oven and let cool only until you can handle them — they should still be warm. Wearing gloves (the pigment stains), rub the peels off with your thumbs or a paper towel; the skin should slip off easily from a properly-roasted beet.
- Cube the warm peeled beets into roughly 1-inch pieces and add them to the bowl with the dressing. Toss to coat thoroughly. Dressing the beets while they are still warm lets the flavors penetrate the flesh rather than sitting on the surface.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to overnight. Taste before serving and adjust salt if needed — cold food generally wants a bit more than warm.
- To serve, scatter the sliced green onions over the top.
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