[Sca-cooks] The Sweets of Araby...
Johnna Holloway
johnnae at mac.com
Mon Oct 3 17:41:48 PDT 2011
Ok my copy of The Sweets of Araby: Enchanting Recipes from the Tales
of the 1,001 Arabian Nights by Leila Salloum Elias and Muna Salloum
arrived today. I ordered a used hardback which with shipping cost
$4.07. It seems to be a brand new book, so this was a bargain at only
eight cents! So I am perfectly happy with the volume given its little
cost. It's a pretty volume with colorful illustrations and I could see
a parent or grandparent reading the tales and then making the recipes
with their children or with grandchildren.
For anyone who wants a scholarly volume, ok the book does not include
a list of sources or a reading list. There are original recipes given
with some of the recipes. They don't indicate who translated them.
Sometimes the authors note that they are substituting or using
ingredients like phyllo so the pastries will need to be baked.
Also recipes use ingredients like corn starch, but I suspect corn
starch is used in modern versions of the sweets. Anyway I am sure
that it won't meet your standards Urtatim. Sorry.
***
One thing I think is important to mention is that the authors' father
is the Canadian author Habeeb Salloum. He has written such cookbooks
as: The Arabian Nights Cookbook: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghanouj,
Delicious Homestyle Arabian Cooking and From the Lands of Figs and
Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes from the Middle East
and North Africa. His other works include: Arab Cooking on
Saskatchewan Homesteads: Recipes And Recollection and Bison Delights:
Middle Eastern Cuisine, Western Style. I suspect in fact that recipes
in The Sweets of Araby have been adapted or suggested from some of
their father's books.
The back flap of the book which talks about the authors mentions that
they along with their father are the author of a work called Medieval
Arab Cookery! I searched this title and didn't locate it. So I looked
him up in Wikipedia and came across this note: under currently in press
Medieval Arab Cooking. Co-authored with Leila Salloum Elias and Muna
Salloum - [Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press] I can't
find a expected publication date for this book.
(Let's just hope that the title is changed so it doesn't confuse new
readers with the classic Prospect Press by Rodinson, Arberry & Perry
work of the same name!)
Amazon mentions that he is at work on two medieval cookbooks so there
should be or might be another title too.
I also will note that Habeeb Salloum is the author of the chapter:
"Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Sicily", in Regional Cuisines of
Medieval Europe (ed. Melitta W. Adamson), New York: Routledge, 2002,
pp. 113–123.
Oh by the way I did discover a Wall Street Journal online review of
The Sweets of Araby at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450604576417901323224780.html
also see http://countrymanblog.wordpress.com/
Hope this helps
Johnnae
On Sep 26, 2011, at 10:50 PM, Urtatim inquired about the book
>>> Are there any *real* reviews of the following book?
>>> The Sweets of Araby: Enchanting Recipes from the Tales of the 1,001
>>> Arabian Nights
>>> by Muna Salloum and Leila Salloum Elias
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