Pork with Apple, alias Minutal Matianum

This is from the On Hadrian's Wall chapter; I cooked it a couple of years or so ago but the memory lingers on! Roman cooks apparently had a reputation for not knowing where to stop when it came to seasoning, and this recipe is probably a good illustration; it's basically a stew of pork, leek, apple and little beef meatballs with spices and a LOT of vinegar and fish sauce, the two ingredients which for me tipped it over the edge. Having said that, after my first taste of the finished dish I toned it down by straining off about three-quarters of the sauce and replacing it with chicken stock, and the result was pretty good.