[Sca-cooks] pre-Baghdadi Recipes in Waines - PT. 1

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

--- PART ONE ---

 From Anahita

Spurred by a message long ago requesting recipes from before the
?12th? century. I've gone through "In a Caliph's Kitchen" and tried
to pull out those that are non-Baghdadi/pre-Baghdadi, i.e. before the
13th century. Most of these are from other Arabic books, or at least
attributed to early chefs. Since i already have al-Baghdadi's recipes
elsewhere, these are what interest me the most anyway, besides
Waines' essays at the beginning of the book and some of his comments
on the recipes.

I'm sending this message to the list in three parts, because it is
rather long for e-mail (39K total according to my e-mail client - so
each part is about 12 to 14 k).

In a Caliph's Kitchen
David Waines
Riad El Rayyes Books Ltd.
56 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7NJ
1989
ISBN 1-869844-60-2

I realize that this could be considered a copyright violation, so i
am presenting it to the cooks list, because this book is out of print
and very very hard to find - even to ILL, which is what i did, then
photocopied. I would much rather have purchased the book but
despaired after searching for it from used booksellers on-line for
several years.

I don't know the date of the anonymous Egyptian book, but i suspect
it is one included in "Medieval Arab Cookery" and is a bit later than
al-Baghdadi. al-Warraq, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, and Abu Samim are
pre-al-Baghdadi.

They are presented in the order in which they appear in Waine's book
- they don't appear to me to be organized in any clear way.

I include Waines' intro to each recipe and the translation of the
original, but NOT Waines' "modern" version, which is often not much
like the original.

Words in the recipes in (parentheses) are from Waines. Remarks [in
square brackets] are from me.

The Arabic "gh" is pronounced rather like a German or French "r",
that is, it is rather gutteralized or uvular.
The Arabic "r" is flapped or rolled, like a Spanish or Italian "r".

Note that "fresh coriander" is coriander greens, variously called
cilantro or Chinese parsley; and that "dried coriander" is coriander
seeds.

Aubergine is eggplant.

Where only "meat" is specified you can't go wrong with lamb (or
mutton), although goat is also a possibility. Beef (or ox) is ok to
substitute, but less likely to have been used in the original.
Naturally pork or boar is out of the question.

A number of recipes call for "washing the sides of the pot". Since
this is generally done before leaving the pot to cook on the fire
without stirring, i assume it is so none of the food burns on the
sides which would look unattractive upon serving, and could ruin the
flavor of the completed dish.

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Shaljamiya - pp. 34-35

WAINES: This recipe is taken from the earliest extant Arabic culinary
work of al-Warraq. Attributed to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, it is on of
two in which he used shaljam or turnip, an Arabized word from the
Persian shalgham. Radish is recommended by al-Warraq as a substitute
for turnip in this preparation; or, if turnips were not in season,
gourd and onion could also have been used. In the modernized version
here [which i, Anahita, am omitting], the vegetable known in English
as swede [that's rutabaga in the US, yes?, and OOP?] makes an
excellent substitute for turnip, giving a richer and more distinctive
flavour. Ibrahim composed a poem on this dish in which he compare the
turnip to the moon and stars, or again, as silver coins.

ORIGINAL: Take the breasts of chicken or other fowl, cut into thin
slices and place in a pot with a lot of oil adding water to cover.
Remove the scum. Throw in chick peas and olive oil and the white of
onion and when cooked, sprinkle ion top with pepper and cumin. Next
take the turnip and boil it until cooked and then mash it so that no
hard bits remain in it. Strain in a sieve and place in the pot. Then
take shelled almonds and put in a stone mortar adding to it a piece
of cheese and bray very fine. Break over this the whites of five eggs
and pound until it becomes very soft. Put this mixture over the
turnip and if there is milk in it, put in a bit of nard and leave on
the fire to settle. Serve it with mustard.

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Badhinjan mahshi - pp. 36-37

WAINES: This is one of a wide range of dishes known collectively as
bawarid, that is, cold dishes. They were made from various vegetable
feature, for example, carrots, gourd, and beet. Examples of such cold
dishes can also be found made from meat, poultry or fish. This
particular preparation is attributed also to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi who
was very fond of the vegetable. Medieval physicians regarded
aubergine as an excellent food specifically because of its property
of causing any obstruction in the kidney or spleen to be removed.

ORIGINAL: Take the aubergine and stew it. Cut it up into small pieces
after stewing. Next take a serving dish and put into it vinegar,
white sugar and crushed almonds, saffron, caraway and cinnamon. Then
take the aubergine and the fried onion and put them in the dish. Pour
oil over it and server, God willing.

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Rutab mu'assal - pp. 38-39

WAINES: In English this literally means 'honeyed dates'. Dates were
the common staple food of the rural and nomadic populations
throughout the Middle East where the hardy date palms of the arid and
semi-arid zones produced vast quantities and varieties of this
nourishing fruit. The Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said that
dates possessed the special quality of dispelling poison and magic.
He also is said to have commented that a household without dates was
a hungry one. This preparation, from the thirteenth century, has all
the features of the more sophisticated urban cooking tradition in its
use of rosewater, almonds, musk, camphor and hyacinth. Only the first
two need to be used, however, to enjoy this dish.

ORIGINAL: Take freshly gathered dates and lay in the shade and air
for a day. Then remove the stones and stuff with peeled almonds. For
every ten ratls of dates take two ratls of honey. Boil over the fire
with two uqiya of rose water and half a dirham of saffron, then throw
in the dates, stirring for an hour. Remove and allow to cool. When
cold, sprinkle with find-ground sugar scented with musk, camphor an
hyacinth. Put into glass preserving jars, sprinkling on top some of
the scented ground sugar. Cover until the weather is cold and
[braziers] are brought in.

[My Comments: Waines' wrote "chafing dishes", but the original word
is qanun, which is a brazier, a metal one is used to heat a room in
cold weather]

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Zirbaj - pp. 40-41

WAINES: There are many varieties of this dish which is Persian in
origin. The tenth century compiler of recipes, al-Warraq, includes
this in a chapter of his work entitled zirbaj preparations and those,
such as the one given here, made a la Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi. The sweet
and sour flavours (in this case provided by the sugar and vinegar)
were a common feature of dishes of Persian origin and may be found
today in certain North African preparations.

ORIGINAL: Take a fine quality chicken, joint it and clean it and
place it in a clean pot. Then pour over one half ratl of fresh water
and one half uqiya of a good quality oil, some white of onion, and
boil together. When boiled, pour in white vinegar, a half ratl and
two uqiya of white sugar, and one uqiya peeled almonds, and one uqiya
rose water. Add spices, pepper, cinnamon and ginger tied up in a fine
cloth so that they do not alter the dish's colour. Place on the fire
a little allowing it to thicken.

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Sibagh - pp. 41-43

WAINES: This is a general term for many kinds of seasoning or
condiment and applies here specifically to the sauce to accompany
fish. The preparation is attributed to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi. Recipes
have also come down to us for poultry dishes. One type of sibagh was
used by travellers and came for convenience in the shape of small
dried cakes made of currants with pomegranate seeds which, when read
for use, could be reconstituted with vinegar. The purpose of such
condiments at meals was to cleanse the palate of the oiliness of
certain dishes, to stimulate the appetite and assist digestion.

ORIGINAL: Take a handful of choice raisins and soak them in vinegar.
Then mash. Add a little garlic and beat in with the vinegar. Prepare
a saucer of this.

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Masliya - pp. 44-45

WAINES: This preparation, also one by Ibriham ibn al-Mahdi, has a
distinct Arab character about it. Masl, a by-product of milk, is
variously described as dried curds, cooked and dried whey, or dried
milk. In any event, milk was part of the staple diet of the Beduin
and was considered by them to be 'one of the two meats' (the other,
of course, being meat flesh). In its dried form it could be kept for
a long while until needed when it required being chopped into small
pieces for the cooking pot. Galingal (khulinjan in Persian) of the
greater variety belongs to the ginger family and the two are often
found together in medieval dishes. Like ginger, is is the spicy root
of the plant which is used., and as galingal is difficult to obtain
ginger alone makes a good substitute. [yeah, right, sure] For
convenience, spinach has been substituted for beet leaves in
modernized version of the recipe. [see if you can get beet greens.
They're really really tasty, and they taste very different from
spinach]

ORIGINAL: Take the meat of a small young animal and cut it into
finger like strips and place it in the pot after cleaning it
thoroughly. Pour over it fine oil, a stick each of galingal and
cinnamon and add fresh coriander and chopped onion. Cook and when
nearly done, sprinkle over it pepper, dried coriander and ground
cumin. Next boil beet (leaves) and add to the pot. Then cut up masl
very fine and place over the contents and present it, God willing.

[My Comments: I think i can get masl at my local Persian market or my
local hallal Pakistani meat and grocery market. Waines used Gruyere
cheese in his version, which i think would be way off]

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Madira - pp. 54-55

WAINES: One of the classic Arab dishes, so-called because it is
cooked with sour milk, which 'bites the tongue'. In order to get the
proper degree of bite, fresh milk would be mixed with milk gathered
in a goat's skin bag which would quickly sour it. Its original,
rustic preparation was simplicity itself. Here, in the hands of
Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, a transformation has occurred to suit the urban
palate. Ibrahim using his favourite vegetable the aubergine. The dish
was judged to be so tempting that people could be driven to renounce
their fast in order to indulge in it. Also deemed comforting for
whatever ailment afflicted you, the dish was called "the miracle
food'.

ORIGINAL: Take milk in sufficient amount for the meat and let it be
of moderate sourness; if it is too sour, then let (the proportion) be
two thirds sour milk and one third fresh milk. Light a gentle fire
under it and set (the pot) on it covered, and be patient for an hour
so that the sour milk settles to the bottom and the water rises to
the top. Strain the water from it and set it aside. Next take the
meat from the shoulder (of the animal) and the ribs next to it, cut
up into thin slices and wash. Stew lightly if you are in a hurry.
Then remove from the pot and cover with cold water, allowing it to be
absorbed. When the water had been drawn off from it, the pot with the
sour milk is placed on the fire after the meat has been added to it.
Kindle a gentle fire under it so that when the (contents) have boiled
twice, you then peel and chop aubergine and gourd and onion round and
place in water and salt for an hour. Add to the pot so that when it
boils again, a bunch of mint is then added. When the contents have
thickened, the water previously strained (from the sour milk) is
sprinkled over it little by little. Wipe around the pot and leave it
on the embers. Do not add any spices except cumin alone. Then remove
the bunch of mint and add fresh mint so that it does not become
blackened; if this, however, is not a matter of concern, then add
dried coriander to the cumin. And, if asparagus is plentiful, use
some.

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