The World That Was - Illyrian Fig Cake (smokvenjak)

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was!

Today I’m making a simple pressed fig and almond cake - known today as Dalmatian or Croatian “smokvenjak”. Dried fruit turned into pressed cakes were a common way of storing figs, dates, and other high-sugar, low moisture goods in antiquity - like we can see with the mersu from Akkadian society. This recipe is based on early Greek descriptions of food the Illyrians ate.

In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above!

Ingredients

300g dried figs

100g almonds

fresh fennel

Method

1 - Prepare the Almonds

To begin with, place your dried almonds into a mortar and pestle and grind them into a very fine meal. You don't need to peel or blanche the nuts for this, so just add them as-is. It should look like sand granules when you’re done.

2 - Prepare the Figs

Now we need to deal with our figs. The stalk is edible, but is considerably tougher than the inside of the fig. So I’d recommend removing them before you mash them. It's unlikely to be what ancient Dalmatian people did, but then again, this little change really improves the final texture. Chop your figs into quarters. Then, mince this in your mortar and pestle - or a food processor if you have one. - into a very smooth paste.

3 - Chop Fennel

Now, go mince a few sprigs of fresh fennel, and finely chop these. Fennel was known to the Graeco-Roman world for centuries, and is even referenced in Mycenean Linear B (from Bronze Age Greece). As such, it would likely have been used to flavour preserves like these. Fresh fennel fronds have a licoricey taste, and can be quite bitter. But the taste will mellow out when we slowly bake this. I used three strong sprigs, but you can use more or less than this

4 - Mix Ingredients

Much like my mersu, we'll need to knead this together like a bread dough. Toss your figs, almonds, and fennel into a bowl, and get to kneading. Fold and press down on your mixture repeatedly. If it's very dry, add a little splash of water - no more than a 1/4 of a  cup - just to help it along. Try and work the water through the mix before you add more! We don't want this turning into a soup!

5 - Bake

When your mix is somewhat cohesive, try and form it into one of two shapes: either a long, log-shaped cake. Or a flat, round cake. Either one works, just try and keep whichever shape you make roughly the same thickness.

When it's been formed, place this into the middle of an oven heated to 80° C / 175° F for about 40-45 minutes. This is to simulate the heat of the sun, as these would likely have been left out on stones to bake during the day. Needless to say, an oven is faster and more hygienic than leaving it outside. When it's done, take it out of the oven and leave it be until it cools. Wrap this up in baking paper for storage!

The finished cake is very sweet, with a lovely texture thanks to the seeds of the figs. The fennel included in the cake offsets the sweetness of the figs slightly, and really adds some nice bittersweet flavour profiles to it. Dalmatia is a region of modern-day Croatia, but is named after the Roman province of Dalmatia. These cakes would likely have stored for several months at a time, and would have been edible up to a year from creation. The modern parallel of this is smokvenjak, which is eaten today in Croatia! The main difference between the ancient dish and the modern one, is that schnapps or brandy is added to the mix, and that it's eaten alongside cheese and wine!