SC - Period Islamic Dried Meat
david friedman
ddfr at best.com
Wed Sep 20 12:46:01 PDT 2000
From _Social Life Under the Abbasids_ by M. M. Ahsan, p. 113
- ---
The Abbasids inherited the art of food preservation from the ancient
east and the classical civilizations. The drying process was widely
used and the least expensive. Even the Arabs of the remote past were
fond of dried meat called qadid. ... The common people of the time
used this method extensively. Like meat, fish was also dried in the
sun and used throughout the year.
In one process for food preservation, antiseptic agents, especially
salt and vinegar, were used. The meat thus preserved was known as
namaksud, a Persian compound word indicative of hte Persian origin of
the method. To make namaksud, the meat was cut into slices, seasoned
with salt, and left in the sun on a plank to dry. When required, the
slices were moistened with water and cooked.
- ---
I should add that Ahsan is not entirely reliable--he repeatedly
describes murri as "brine," for example, and makes frequent errors of
arithmetic in doing currency conversions. The book has a tone of
"paste together all the references you can find to subject X in the
literature without really digesting or evaluating them." But I expect
that on a simple point like this he is accurate. He cites a variety
of sources, of which the most accessible is probably the Encyclopedia
of Islam; I haven't yet checked it.
- --
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list