[Sca-cooks] Side Dishes for al-Warraq

[Terry Decker]

Ah, the someone averred defense.  Not necessarily a successful play on this 
list.  A number of us like references, footnotes and bibliography.

The comment on the nature of the recipes in al-Warraq is more telling and a 
far better point.  Multiple sources would be better, but I think I can make 
a speculative case for your observation.

Rice (and all cereals) have been cooked in water (and many other liquids) 
since the Neolithic and that manner of cooking is still with us.  There are 
recipes from the same region later than al-Warraq that use water.  So, the 
probability that plain rice is somewhat out of period is wrong.  However, it 
may have been out of favor.

The general opinion is rice entered Persia during the Achaemenid Empire 
(550-330 BCE) probably from India.  Lambton (Landlord and Peasant in Persia) 
provides the fact that rice production in Persia was limited during the 
early Islamic period and had expanded some in Persia by the later medieval 
period.  The conquest of Persia was essentially complete by 651 CE. 
Al-Warraq is 9th Century.  We are discussing a period of roughly 200 years 
during which rice cultivation in Persia was likely limited and the grain was 
more expensive than it would be after cultivation was expanded in Egypt, 
Spain and Sicily (becoming notable in the 10th Century).  Al-Baghdadi is 
13th Century placing it well after the expansion of Islamic rice 
cultivation.

Given and accepting these points as fact, the lack of a simple rice dish in 
al-Warraq might be attributed to the cost of rice in comparison to wheat and 
barley.  The speculation might be further reinforced by comparative cost 
data, contemporary recipes for simple boiled cereals, other other 
observations from the period.  Not an area where I am familiar with the 
available resources.

Bear



-----Original Message----- 

Now, why do you consider plain rice as "somewhat out of period."
>

Well, the shortcut is that someone said so on Facebook a few weeks back. :)
More usefully, I see mentions throughout the text of serving with bread, or
of including rice IN a dish, but none of serving with rice, and no recipes
that we would describe as being a rice dish on its own. These do occur in
later period books, such as al-Baghdadi.

There is, of course, the argument that there would be no need to include a
recipe for something as basic as plain rice, but al-Warraq is very careful
to cover everything else in detail - right down to the ma' wa milh recipes;
meat simmered in salted water.

Le meas,
Aodh