[Sca-cooks] Side Dishes for al-Warraq

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

In their article "History of Rice in Western and Central Asia" [included in "Rice : origin, antiquity and history", edited by S.D. Sharma, 2010], authors Mark Nesbitt, St John Simpson, and Ingvar Svanberg note explicitly the small number of recipes that include rice among al-Warraq's 615 or so recipes compiled in the 940s or 950s. They also state that most are porridge-y or desserts. In some meat dishes, a relatively small amount of rice is added, apparently chiefly as a thickener.

They counted about 23 savory dishes that included rice as an ingredient - 3.7% of al-Warraq's total number of recipes - 14 are porridge-y; one is qibba - stuffed tripe (which has the Persian name "gipa"); 5 meat dishes have rice added, but not in a great quantity; one chicken dish has rice listed as optional; one is simmered ribs and rice and milk are cooked in the resulting broth - the description sounds like it results in mushy rice; and an oven baked meat dish with equal quantities of beans and rice. None results in anything like a modern pilaf. A number of these dishes have Persian names, which suggests a foreign source of the rice.

On page 316, they note that there are no references to serving dishes on a bed of rice, whereas many recipes refer to serving dishes with bread.

They also noted about 7 rice desserts, all pudding-like except one (which they call a pudding) which is a judhaba baked with duck drippings, and most made with rice flour.

When i get home i will verify this myself, since it seems i didn't keep a record of my initial count.

They also say, on pp. 316-317: "the references to adding rice may reflect courtly associations rather than common cooking traditions... This is particularly clear in the case of the golden condensed puddings (faludhaj, from Middle Persian paludag, literally “purified”), where the ingredients include expensive long-distance imports (the main source of camphor was Japan and even the rice is specified as preferably coming from Syro-Palestine or Yemen, in both cases far removed from the kitchens of Baghdad), the process was labor intensive and there is gratuitous reference to straining through costly silk or linen cloth. The implication of these references is that rice was still regarded as a speciality ingredient rather than a staple. Several of these recipes are referred to in connection with Iranians or have Iranian names, and the fact that many other Abbasid court dishes also have Iranian names suggest a strong legacy from earlier Sassanian cuisine."

The authors note that there are four important cookbooks from the 13th century which include recipes for rice (they appear to be unaware of the anonymous Andalusian cookbook, perhaps because it has not be published in book form). They books they mention are :
-- The one compiled in Baghdad in the first half of the century by Muhammad ibn al-Karim al-Katib al-Baghdadi
-- The second is known as Kitab al-Wusla ila l-habib fi wasf al-tayyibat wa-l-tib (Book of the Relation with the Beloved in the Description of the Best Dishes and Spices), usually attributed to Ibn al-‘Adim of Aleppo who emigrated to Gaza and thence to Egypt and includes a number of North African dishes as well as recipes identified with particular regions
-- The third is known as Kanz al-Fawa'id fi tanwi' al- mawa'id (The Treasury of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table), compiled in Egypt during Mamluk rule
-- the fourth was almost certainly compiled by ibn Raz n at Murcia in Andalucia and is titled Kitab Fadalat al-khiwan fi tayyibat al-ta'am wa-l-alwan (Book of the Excellent Table Composed of the Best Foods and the Best Dishes)

The authors say, on p. 318, the "Kitab al-Wusla is the most important for our purposes as it expressly refers to certain dishes which resemble what we recognize as pilaf." I note that this is 300 years after al-Warraq. Many of the other recipes are for meat dishes that include rice among their other ingredients much like al-Warraq's recipes, i.e., as a thickener or one of several ingredients, not a primary ingredient.

The authors go on to discuss rice in Central Asia, noting on p. 320, "Although the name [pilov] indicates a long tradition in Central Asia it was until rather recently more commonly made of barley rather than rice among the oasis dwellers. It was only the rich and wealthy that could afford to use rice in their pilov. However, during the approximately last century or more rice has become the most common ingredient."

On the other hand, the two, as yet untranslated, 16th c. Safavid Persian cookbooks have masses of recipes in which rice is a major ingredient, and a meat dish is either prepared and served on very carefully cooked rice, or the partially and separately cooked meat and rice are layered in a pot and cooked without disturbing before being carefully turned out on a dish and served. By that time - and in that place - two Persian provinces, Mazandaran and Gilan, were and are major rice growing regions - rice has achieved the status and condition with which we associate it.

But in earlier times, in Arabic speaking regions, rice is not the primary starch on which the savory dishes are served, but rather an ingredient used in modest quantities in savory dishes. The primary starch was bread, and a meal quite easily could include no rice whatsoever.

Urtatim
Not yet at home, but catching up on e-mail and work