Bringing Medieval Arab Cooking to Life
This is a recipe by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274), one of the most famous scholars of the Middle Ages. He claimed the dish remedies foul temperament and strengthens sexual potency. It is made with lamb and onions, coconut oil. cardamom, cinnamon, and musk. It is recommended for lunch. [Sultan’s Sex Potions, pp. 102-3]
This rabbit feast comes from a 13th-century Andalusian treatise and involves stuffing the meat of one rabbit inside another! The meat for the stuffing is made with onion, fresh coriander juice, various spices, and eggs. This is then sewn inside the second rabbit, which is roasted on a spit, or in a pot. Any meat that cannot fit into the rabbit is turned into meatballs, which are roasted or fried with the rabbit. The final stage of the preparation requires making a lid with almonds, sour leaven, walnuts, eggs and rue to continue the cooking of the rabbit. When the dish is ready, the rabbit is opened up and decorated with eggs, meatballs and spices. [Andalusian, fol. 15v.]
This highly popular delicacy (also known as judhab), is a drip pudding; a chicken is roasted above a kind of bread pudding made by layering flatbread and, in this case, bananas (though other fruit, such as dates or apricots, was used as well). The juices of the chicken suffuse the pudding and keep it wonderfully moist. It was usually served with pieces of chicken on top of the pudding, but you can also simply have parts on the side. This particular variety is said to have been the creation of the third Abbasid caliph Ibrahim al-Mahdi (779-839), a renowned gourmet (and author of a cookery book), as well as a gifted poet and singer. In the course of its history, the dish underwent a number of transformations (in Muslim Spain, for instance, it referred to layered waffles and nuts stuffed with chicken) before disappearing from the Arab culinary repertoire altogether.
A layered omelette with mince meat of your choosing (but chicken works best). The meat is cooked with spices (except cumin), olive oil and rose water. The meat is then layered in between omelettes and cooked. [Andalusian, 20v.-21r.]
This is the 13th-century ancestor of a modern North African favourite, which still bears the same name, even if the result is somewhat different. These sweetmeats are made with semolina dough, stuffed with sugar and almonds, or dates, and then deep-fried in oil until golden and crispy. Sprinkle on sugar before serving. [al-Tujībī, 2012, p. 79]
A great vegetable dish from 14th-century Egypt, made with chickpeas, walnuts, salted lemons, olive oil, tahini, coriander, caraway, rue, aṭrāf al-ṭīb (أَطْراف الطِّيب), mint, wine vinegar, and pistachios. If you think that you’ve seen this one before, you’re right since it is the ancestor to the modern favourite hummus!
This tagliatelli-type pasta is referred to in several culinary treatises, and sheds some interesting light on the history of pasta. In the recipe recreated here it is part of a dish which also contains sour yoghurt, meat (you can use chicken, lamb or beef), garlic, pepper, onions, and coriander (both fresh and dried). Some of the meat is cut into slices, the rest is shaped into balls. The pasta is served on top of the yoghurt, with the meat being put on last. [Ibn Mubārak Shāh, fol. 12r.]
Despite its name (arnab, ‘hare’), this is a vegetarian dish made with two aubergines, which are first boiled in water and salt. They are then cooked in the oven with garlic, olive oil and spices such as pepper, cumin, thyme, and saffron. You can also break some eggs into the dish before baking, which is how it was done in the recreation. [Andalusian, fol. 52v.]
This recipe from a fifteenth-century Egyptian cookery book is for samosas made with mince, vegetables, sesame oil, vinegar, pepper, and hazelnuts (or almonds). It is a wonderful snack or light lunch. [Ibn Mubārak Shāh, fols. 12v.-13r.]
This is a recreation of a recipe dating from 1226CE for a popular stew, known as the ‘king of dishes’. While it has not survived in contemporary Middle Eastern cuisine, a descendant can be found in the Spanish escabeche, fish (or meat) marinated and cooked in vinegar. The ingredients include chicken, wine vinegar, coriander, ginger, saffron, black pepper, parsley, and rue. Sometimes, it was made with various cuts of meat and garnished with bazmāward (sliced sandwich wraps), sausages, and topped with cheese. Mustard is the condiment of choice. [al-Baghdādī, 1964, pp. 13-4]
