[Sca-cooks] Question & Artemisian Iron Chef

[Elaine Koogler]

lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> Jeanne P / Casamira <jeannecas at gmail.com>
>
>> I need some good period sources for Chinese / Persian cooking that
>> show which ingredients were used in period.
>> Was Coconut milk ever used?  Can it be documented?
>> I know it's not part of Mediterianian, French or English medieval fare.
>
>
> Well, i haven't run across Chinese Persian cooking :-)
>
> But i have found information about Persian cooking in two books.
>
> One is the inestimable "Medieval Arab Cookery". While none of the 
> cookbooks therein are Persian, Charles Perry has footnoted 
> extensively, pointing out the Persian linguistic and cultural roots of 
> many of the recipes. There are also quite a few essays by Perry 
> discussing specific styles or ingredients, and many of them touch on 
> Persian cooking. I find this book to be invaluable.
>
> The other is a recently published Indian cookbook with Persian 
> content, The Ni'matnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu: The 
> Sultan's Book of Delights, translated by Norah M. Titley. 
> RoutledgeCurzon, 2005.
>
> So while neither is purely Persian, "Medieval Arab Cookery" shows the 
> confluence of Arab and Persian, and the Ni'matnama shows the 
> confluence of Persian and Indian.
>
> I have heard of surviving Persian cookbooks, but to the best of my 
> understanding one or two exist, but have never been translated into 
> English.
>
> Was coconut milk used? By whom? Obviously it was used in the tropical 
> regions where the coconut palm grows... but i don't recall any 
> European recipes using it, nor any Arab recipes. It does show up in 
> the Perso-Indian cookbook...

You might also look at "A Soup for the Khan", which is mostly Mongol 
recipes, but some have Persian influences.  It's frightfully expensive, 
but you may be able to find it in a larger library...or get it on 
inter-Library loan. 

Kiri