Andalusian crunchy broad beans

This scrumptious recipe from The Exile’s Cookbook is easy to make, but does require a bit of preparation since you first need to germinate broad beans (فول, fūl). Once that is done, however, you’re good to go; after a quick rinse, the beans are fried in olive oil until golden brown. Before serving, add a dusting of salt, pepper and cinnamon — or, as the author says ‘anything else you like to enhance the flavour’ — and enjoy! It’s an amazing snack, and much healthier than crisps!

And what’s more, there are quite a few benefits to eating broad beans, which, according to medieval physicians, were among the foods that preserve health. In addition, they were said to soften the throat, and even clear freckles. Unpeeled broad beans boiled in vinegar were recommended against diarrhoea and vomiting. On the downside, their flatulent effect was said to be unmatched, and may cause heaviness in the head and confused dreams! Life is all about choices…

Mamluk Pickled Onions

A recipe from 14th-century Egypt involving cut onions being pickled in salty water, vinegar, lemon juice, parsley, mint, coriander, caraway, and the aṭrāf al-ṭīb (أطراف الطيب) spice mixture. And the best thing about it is that one only has to wait one day before eating it (though it can be kept for much longer, of course)! The medieval Arab culinary tradition reveals the importance of pickled vegetables in the diet, with onions being a particular favourite.

This is a most apt recipe for this time of the year, as we are inexorably sliding into autumn, which, so the Tunisian-born scholar Ahmad Ibn Yusuf al-Tifashi (أحمد بن يوسف التيفاشي, d. 1253) reminds us, is “marked by a cold, dry nature. It contrasts with the temperament of the blood, making it a time when illnesses are common due to fluctuating conditions. It increases the risk of diseases like quartan fevers and spleen disorders due to the build-up of black bile. Therefore, during autumn, it is recommended to avoid purging or vomiting, and limit food intake. Fruits should be avoided, and one should refrain from cold baths.” Good advice, as ever!

Andalusian Shrimp

This unique dish from 13th-century al-Andalus and North Africa from The Exile’s Cookbook for shrimp (prawns), known as qamarun (قمرون), a borowing from the Latin cammarus. They could not be easier to make: take as many prawn as you like and bring them to a boil three times over a gentle fire. Then they’re ready to serve, with a sprinkling of crushed salt and oregano. The author recommended prawns from the Seville region, but said that a similar variety was found in Bijāya, Algeria. In addition to being delicious, the dish also serves a medicinal purpose since the prawns were allegedly prescribed for breaking up calculi

Wisps of incense (بخور, bakhūr)

This recipe for bakhūr Barmakiyya from a 14th-century Egyptian cookery book is named after the Barmakids, a powerful family of Persian origin, several of whose members held high offices — including that of vizier — to a number of Abbasid caliphs in the 8th and 9th centuries. The most renowned member of the family is no doubt Ja’far, who was the favourite companion of Harun al-Rashid, and both occur as protagonists in several stories from the 1001 Nights, often involving them roaming around Baghdad at night. With such great favour came untold wealth and power, but the Barmakid rule came to a brutal end when, for reasons that are still a mystery, Harun suddenly turned on them, had Ja’far executed, and their property confiscated. However, their fame and generosity lived on through many stories in Arabic literature.

In the Arabian Nights, the Barmakids are also involved in a wonderful story where food — or rather the absence thereof — is the plot. A beggar is invited to share a meal at one of the Barmakid houses but finds that all the food is invisible, while his mischievous host (whose name is never mentioned) pretends to be eating and praises the quality of the dishes. The beggar plays along until, at the end of the meal, he rises and hits his host on the neck. When asked why he did this, the beggar apologizes profusely, blaming his behaviour on the effect of the (invisible) wine he was given! The host is so enchanted by this astute reaction that he orders a real banquet be served to the beggar. Much later, the beggar meets with a particularly gruesome way but that, as they say, is another story… The invisible banquet is the origin of the English expression ‘a Barmecide feast’, which refers to pretended or imaginary wealth, generosity or hosptality.

Returning to more fragrant matters, today’s recreation is of an incense which, according to the author of the cookbook, is particularly suited for those in the toilet! It is made with a number of aromatics, such as costus, myrtle leaves, labdanum resin, sour orange and lemon peels, saffron, and honey. So, cook, dry, light up, and let yourself be carried away on the wisps of Mamluk Cairo!


Medieval Arab kitchen hacks

It should not come as a surprise that a cuisine as technically complex as that of the medieval Arab world required a wide array of skills and tools. We’ll return to the latter in another post, but for now, let’s take a look at some of the advice offered in the cookery books about good culinary practice. There seems to have been a commonly agreed set of rules very early on as a number of cookery books start with a chapter on ‘useful things the cook should know’, which reveal quite a few overlaps across the centuries. Some things will sound very familiar, as they are still applied in modern kitchens, whilst others are perhaps more arcane.

In terms of ingredients, the principal advice was the fresher the better, particularly spices, and one should only pound the quantity that will be used so as not to weaken the potency of the spice. Nor should spices be crushed in a mortar that contains traces of other spices. Incidentally, the material of the mortar also matters; for meat, it should be made out of stone, but for spices, copper.

If you want food to cook quickly, add melon grounds; if it is chickpeas you’re making, throw a few mustard seeds into the pot. When it comes to the sequence of adding ingredients, salt should be added at the end, especially if you’re cooking grains, since it slows down their cooking time. The quantity of spices is linked to the type of dishes; al-Baghdādī (13th c.) suggests using large quantities in fried (dry) dishes, but only a limited amount in sour stews.

Cleanliness and the removal of bad odours are often mentioned, and authors frequently specify using a new pot. Al-Warrāq (10th c.), recommended washing pots both before and after coating the insides with clay. The Sultan’s Feast, for its part, tells us to wash cooking vessels with hot clay, saltwort, and dried roses, after which they should be wiped down with rubbed dried sour orange or citron leaves. Porcelain bowls should be fumigated with mastic and agarwood before putting food in them. And if you overcook the food and it starts smelling, one or two walnuts in the pot apparently does the trick as they absorb the bad odour. They can be used in the same way, to remove any bad smells from a cooking pot.

“Preparation for a Feast” (Folio from a Divan of the Persian poet Jami), Metropolitan Museum of Art

Digital Humanities and Food Studies: Webinar talk

At today’s webinar on Digital Humanities in the MENA region organized by Hamad bin Khalifa University, I presented an exciting joint project with Prof. George Mikros related to the analysis of recipes in mediaeval Arab cookery books using advanced Natural Language Processing methods. This is the first time state-of-the art Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods are applied to a corpus of mediaeval Arab recipes. The aim is to identify (1) patterns of ingredients and flavours; (2) diachronic changes in the selection and frequency of ingredients; and (3) relationships among the treatises. This analysis will not only help us detect the core themes of Arabic cuisine in medieval times, but will also show how these topics evolved over time as the structure of the constituent ingredients changed. Finally, this information will reveal crucial evidence about the authorship of recipes since quantitative profiling can reveal significant aspects of style. These findings are especially useful in the identification of anonymous texts.

New Book!

Today is the official release of The Sultan’s Feast, a study, edition and annotated English translation of a fifteenth-century Egyptian cookbook (London: Saqi Books). Based on the sole surviving manuscript, it contains 332 recipes, ranging from bread-making and savoury stews, to roasts, sweets, pickles and condiments, as well as perfumes.

Breath sweeteners

This is a 13th-century Syrian recipe for fragrant chickpea-sized pills made with rosewater, ambergris, sugar, musk, cloves and agarwood. Though primarily intended to sweeten the breath, the lozenges were also used as a digestive, or even to perfume dishes. They should be taken twice a day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

Mediaeval Arab banquet at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (Qatar)

Last Saturday, I joined the team at the Alain Ducasse restaurant Idam led by Executive Chef Damien Leroux for a culinary feast. The menu included mediaeval Arab dishes culled from cookery books from the tenth to fifteenth centuries, from both the Middle East and Muslim Spain (al-Andalus). The meal was preceded by a talk on the museum’s extraordinary collection of mediaeval Arab kitchenware and tableware.

Welcome / مرحبًا بكم

If you are interested in finding out more about the fascinating history of the Arab culinary tradition in the Middle Ages, then this is the site for you! Don’t hesitate to reach out (contact@eatlikeasultan.com) for more information about recipes, ingredients and any other aspect of this subject.

Check out the background stories about the types of dishes that were cooked, the link between food and medicine,  the batterie de cuisine, as well as the dining experience at the time.

The recipe section includes detailed instructions to reproduce some of the ancient culinary delights.