[Sca-cooks] Your top three books

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Shoshanah wrote:
>My library seems to be sorely lacking. I have plenty of cookbooks and I
>use the Internet but I do not personally own many historical books,
>manuscripts or collections that focus on the foods of a particular region.
>
>I'm all over the place. I love Middle Eastern, Indian, Russian, Baltic,
>Balkan, European, English, just about everything.
>
>My family is always asking for ideas for gift giving. So, here is my
>question: what three resources can't you live without or would like to
>have in your own collection?
>
>You don't have to limit yourself as to price. Both reasonably and
>unreasonably priced will be appreciated.

I don't think i have a top three... i have books on a wide variety of SCA-period historical cooking. Since my focus is the Islamic world, i'll mention a few i am very fond of, since i suspect that the European cookbooks will be well covered.

1. "Medieval Arab Cookery: Papers by Maxime Rodinson and Charles Perry with a Reprint of a Baghdad Cookery Book" by Charles Perry, A. J. Arberry, Maxime Rodinson
Prospect Books, 1998
ISBN-10: 0907325912
ISBN-13: 978-0907325918
This is an essential book, in my opinion, not only because it includes translations of three complete cookbooks, but also for Charles Perry's and Maxime Rodinson's essays. It contains A.J. Arberry's groundbreaking but somewhat flawed 1939 translation of al-Baghdadi's cookbook with MANY notes by Perry (so many that in 2005 Perry published a completely new translation - which I also recommend picking up to supplement this book. A Baghdad Cookery Book (Petits Propos Culinaires #79), Charles Perry (Translator), Prospect Books. ISBN-10: 1903018420; ISBN-13: 978-1903018422). It also includes The Book of the Description of Familiar Things, more expansive than al-Baghdadi's, and a very modest 15th c. cookbook from Syria. There's much much more - the essays are great.

2. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Kitab al-Tabikh published as
"Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens", translated by Nawal Nasrallah
Brill, 2010
ISBN-10: 9004188118
ISBN-13: 978-9004188112
This is a fabulous book, and i am ever so thankful that Nasrallah made this translation and created a useful, if occasionally off the mark glossary. al-Warraq's work is massive and covers far more than just cooking, altho there are about 600 recipes in the book. He also discusses food in relation to the humors in a couple sections (but this does not pervade the book), how the cook should manage his kitchen, how to clean the hands before the meal, various compounds for cleaning the hands after the meal, how to comport oneself in exalted company (the gourmets and gourmands often quoted within included princes and even an anti-caliph), and even a chapter on who useful it is to nap after a big meal... There is so much to learn about the culinary culture of the higher echelons of 'Abbasid Baghdad with this book.

Note: It is worth spending a bit extra to get the hardcover. The book has *900 pages* and the paper binding just doesn't hold up to hard use.

3. "Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes"
(California Studies in Food and Culture)
translated by Lilia Zaouali
This book is problematic in that it does not address its topic in a scholarly manner. It does not include a translation of one single cookbook, which is ok. But it does include 143 recipes from four cookbooks. 24 recipes are from Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 9th & 10th c. cookbook from Baghdad (see above). The remaining 3 are from the 13th c. from al-Andalus in the west, Egypt, and Syria in the east. Zaouali never considers any differences among them, which would have been helpful (and there are regional differences). Nor does she address the differences that arise from the 10th to the 13th century. She also includes a section with 31 modern North African recipes, i guess to show how similar the old ones are to the new ones. This is STILL a good book to have because the three 13th c. cookbooks have never been fully translated into English, and with this book we now have a good selection from them.

Note that none of these cookbooks present modern worked-out versions of the medieval recipes.

Urtatim al-Qurtubiyya
(that's oor-tah-TEEM!)