Blatian military rations

Just as important as having an army well drilled, disciplined and well equipped is having a well-fed one, and the Ikarians/Blatians understood this perfectly over their millennia of military campaigns. For them, having the legions well supplied on campaign, in perhaps, hostile territory is one of the key elements for victory. These are some of the rations that the Legionaries might eat on campaign, I assure many of them are very ease to make and delicious!.  

Boukelaton, military cookies

These rations are the origins of the name of a military unit, the Bucellarii, an elite troop that acts as guards both of the emperor and its family as well as powerful senators, dignitaries and officials in the Empire. They received that name because these biscuits are their main ration they eat. But this food is not only reserved for them, it is expected that every legionary must carry at least a ration of these ones for at least three days of march or even for a week!! depending on the campaign.   These are usually baked in the camps and fortresses where the army is stationed and then distributed among the soldiers. The recipe is very simple , the ingredients (given to each soldier or to each legion as part of the military Annona, the supply of food to the Blatian Imperial army ) are the following:    

PREPARATION

Put the sifted flour in a bowl with the oil, salt and aromatic herbs. Place the sifted flour in a bowl with the oil, salt, and herbs. Gradually add the warm water until a smooth dough forms, then add the chopped olives and knead.   Next, roll out the dough and shape the cookies by hand or with a cookie cutter (legion cooks typically use a cutter to standardize the shape and weight of all the cookies). Sprinkle sesame seeds over the cookies.   Finally, bake them in the oven at 250°C (480°F) for 10-15 minutes. Depending on the oven temperature, they may bake for a shorter time, so be careful not to burn them!   And that's it! You're ready to go on campaign with some nice, tasty (and perhaps a bit hard cookie, but that's for preservation reasons! Enough to not having to rely on foraging for a couple of days.  

Pastelloi, sweet energetic bars

The Imperial army also wanted another type of easy to make and long-lasting food, especially for cavalry regiments in the frontier, whose task was preventing barbarian raids. And they came up with another type of very easy to make and absolutely delicious food for the soldiers, Pastelloi, which was not only healthy and long lasting but also provided an energy boost to the soldiers. The recipe itself was very well known outside the Empire by their cousins, the Oronai, who were already creating this type of food for their hoplite armies at least from the 5th century BP when they were first recorded by a historian and strategist called Parmenides of Elea. The Blatians realized its potential and usefulness and adopted this food as another element of the diet of soldiers on campaign.    

PREPARATION

First, toast the sesame seeds on a dry pan for around 3 minutes. Then, once, they are toasted, removed them and place them on a dish or cup. Next, we will add the honey, but first, we have to warm it on a saucepan until it becomes slightly thinner but be careful, it can't boil!. Then add the orange zest if you like and once you have done this, add the sesame seeds again to the pan and mixed them with the honey until they are fully coated.   Next step is pouring the mixture onto a parchment-lined tray or a greased plate and flattening it with a spoon or spatula, then you allow the whole thing to cool for about 15–20 minutes at room temperature. Once cooled, cut it into small rectangular bars or bite-sized squares, and... you have some nice Sesame Honey Bars that will sweeten your already tough days of marches, camping, and fighting. Needless to say, that every legionary that you ask will say that, without any doubt, they prefer these bars to the cookies, not only because they're sweeter than the cookies but also for the energy boost and that a sort of nostalgia from home (since these bars are also cooked by many Blatian families as a sort of dessert). But you've to be really careful not to each too many or you could run out of those precious rations (perhaps you are lucky and your friends could share some of them with you, but I think they'd rather get rid of the cookies than give you one of those delicious bars).  

Their production and distribution

As it has been said, much of the ingredients for elaborating these military rations provided by the state to the army through the Annona. Part of the harvest given by the peasants as part of their taxes is distributed among the various legions and serves as their primary source of supplies for much of the year. These supplies (alongside their pay) are given to the unit commanders by the Dukes (the commanders of the Blatian frontier armies) and then in turn distribute the supplies and the pay to the soldiers of their respective units.   For the Field Armies the distribution of food, clothing and pay works the same way but it is given by the Counts (the commander of the Field Armies) the prefects (commanders) of their respective units. And for the units of the Imperial Guard this distribution of supplies is given directly by the emperor to the commanders of the Imperial Guard.   Now, once you have the ingredients for the cookies there are two ways of producing them. Either by fellow soldiers in the ovens located in each legionary fortress or they can be cooked by the wives of the soldiers themselves. Legionaries would of course tell you that either the cookies or the sesame bars taste better if they are prepared "with love".