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Burinya
Tuffahiya
Madira
Raihaniya
Rutabiya
Labaniya

A Baghdad Cookery Book

Sour dishes

Batd Masus
Zirbaj
Nirbaj
Hisrimiya
Halawiya
Rummaniya
Sumaqiya
Limuwiya
Mamquriya
Hubaishiya
Mishmishiya
Narenjiya
Narsirk

Milk dishes

Madira
Mujazza'a
Ukaike
Masliya

Plain dishes

Isfankiya
Rukhamiya
Aruz Mufalfal
Itriya
Muhallibiya

Fried and Dry dishes

Anbariya
Mishmishiya
Safarjaliya
Narenjiya
Fahtiya
Mudaqqaqat Hamida

Simple and sweet dishes

(on these, the "usual" in parentheses following means
that the recipe said "the usual seasonings", and that
similar recipes preceding and following all had mastic
in them. I didn't include any saying usual seasonings
otherwise.)

Burniya
Basaliya
Raihaniya
Nurjisiya
Nujumiya (usual)
Manbusha
Madfuna (usual)
Buraniya al-Qar
Khudairiya
Makhfiya
Dinariya
Rutabiya
Mugarressa Harisa al-Araz
Mudaqqaqat Sadhija

The last was simply titled "Chicken dishes" and
included a base spice blend, which included mastic,
and then discussed several variations.

Harisa and baked dishes

Harisa (usual)
Kabis
Sukhtar (or Kibi)
Tafshil
Akar

Fried, soused and turned dishes, pies, etc

Baid Masus (there were several dishes which stated
"usual seasonings " but I wasn't absolutely sure they
included mastic.)

Fish Dishes (fresh fish)

Samak Mushwa
Samak Maqlu (usual- these were the only two, but the
second was a variant of the first).

There was no Mastic used in the salted fish dishes,
nor in the strictly grain/vegetable dishes.

As you can see, mastic is quite common in Arabic
cooking. Most of the dishes included red meat, and
mastic was left out of most of the red meat/chicken
combos, but did appear in the plain chicken variations
(above)

I found no mastic in Platina, Anthimus, or Sabina.
Sabina did include mace, but by context, I think it
actually meant mace, beause the phrase was "nutmeg and
mace" in most cases.

Elizabeth, would you mind checking your translation of
"Fait de Cuisine" to see if the original might have
meant mastic instead of mace in any cases? I ask,
because I don't have access to the original to check
as I do with Sabina.

Aha, you say- so far this shows mastic only in Arabic
cookery, but not European?

Not so.

Taillevant has a Cameline sauce containg mastic
(there's also a garlic cameline, but more on that in
another post) with which he sauces Red Mullet, Fresh
Salmon, Gar, Dory, and Breem, all, IMO, fairly strong
flavored fishes. He also sauces Stewed Deer Testicles
with it. I am not including any of the recipes calling
for Garlic Cameline, because from context I can't tell
whether it's a separate variant, or an addition to the
base recipe.

Le Menagier de Paris, in the early part of his book
describes purchasing Cameline sauce for a couple of
parties- 3 half pints for 32 meals, and a 2 qt pot to
hold it, and a qt of Cameline for 40 meals. Later, he
describes the sauce itself, but it includes no mastic-
since it's the same century as Taillevant, and the
same area (France) I'm wondering id the mastic might
have been a temporary fad, or if perhaps changes of
trade patterns, between Crusades and the Mongols might
have made it unavailable, or if perhaps he might not
have known exactly what was in the Cameline he
purchased. His usage seemed to be on anything of
flesh, but I'm not including a list because I'm unsure
if it really included mastic or not.

Of course, "Soup for the Qan" included mastic in the
one soup dish, but the notes say that it was an import
from the Middle Eastern countries.

Margali said she thinks she remembers a reference in
Two 15th Century Cookbooks, but at this point, I'm so
tired of reading cookbooks, I didn't look. For the
same reason, Cindy, I didn't look at 1000 Eggs- do you
have any references?

And Stefan? I ran a search in your Florilegium, and
got 56 references, without repeats, including one for
a toothpaste made of mastic and alum- I'd think you'd
be familiar with at least THAT resource ;-)

Phlip

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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