[Sca-cooks] "Blattes de Bysance" in the Baghdad cookery book

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
>Does anyone who what this mystery ingredient is?  Our cook's
>guild is doing Middle Eastern for the next meeting, so I've been
>reading through the Anonymous Andalusian and al-Baghdadi.  The
>literal translation seems to be "cockroaches of Byzantium".  I
>thought I'd seen this discussed somewhere, but a Google search
>isn't turning anything up.

Yes i know what it is. It is a mistranslation. The real thing is
Atraf al-tib. I sent a long message to the list about this rather
recently. Perry talks about it elsewhere in "Medieval Arab Cookery"
but neglects to correct it in the "Baghdad Cookery Book" section. My
message was in response to the long forward Cindy sent to the list.

It really and truly is NOT any kind of insect. It really and truly is
Atraf al-tib, a  spice blend.

There is a recipe for atraf al-tib elsewhere in "Medieval Arab
Cookery" in another cook book...

Ill send the recipe and my message again...

Anahita