[Sca-cooks] Nuskha-e-Shajahani

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

-----Original Message-----
>Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2018 18:28:20 -0500
>From: Sam Wallace <guillaumedep at gmail.com>
>
>The comment concerning the translation and transcription is simply an
>observation. I prefer to have at least a transcription facing the
>translated text and have seen this as a standard in many other
>publications. I look at Perry's work as following quite a high standard and
>very much appreciate what he brings to the table (sorry!).

There is only one translation by Charles Perry that keeps a version in Arabic on the facing page. None of the others of his that have been published do so. So that one is an exception.

>This publication
>has a lot of issues that should have been solved during the editing
>process. While the original measures might have been left, the format is
>certainly modern. I believe some of the ingredients have been listed as
>what is typically used today versus what was used in the period of the
>original text (e.g. pumpkin vs. ash gourd). My overall impression is that
>the author wanted to make a cookbook that the general population would be
>interested in rather than target the historical cooking community.

Based on reading what actual Indians posted to the internet after reading this book, it very much did not suit the general population. They were quite mystified by it - by the weights and measures and by the procedures for making the dishes.

As for the format, i don't know what the original was like. However, the Ain-i Akbari recipes include lists of ingredients and quantities (altho not the procedures for making them!). So it is possible that these recipes did as well, and perhaps the only thing the translator did was put each on a separate line.

For example, this recipe from the Ain-i Akbari
Qutab or Sanbusa
Qutab, which the people of Hind call sanbusa: This is made in several ways. 10 s. meat; 4 s. fine flour; 2 s. ghee; 1 s. onions; 1/4 s. fresh ginger; 1/2 s. salt; 2 d. pepper and coriander seed; cardamons, cumin seed, cloves, 1 d. of each; 1/4 s. of summaq. This can be cooked in twenty different ways, and gives four full dishes.

Or, without changing the contents of the recipe, only adding line breaks:
Qutab, which the people of Hind call sanbusa:
This is made in several ways.
10 s. meat
4 s. fine flour
2 s. ghee
1 s. onions
1/4 s. fresh ginger
1/2 s. salt
2 d. pepper and coriander seed
cardamons, cumin seed, cloves, 1 d. of each
1/4 s. of summaq

This can be cooked in twenty different ways, and gives four full dishes.

--end recipe --

The recipes in the Nuskha-e Shajahani could very will have had the ingredients enumerated. We won't know unless the manuscript is given a proper translation, but i would not judge the recipes as modernized until then.

>To follow up the issue of the units of measure, the modern equivalents
>given in the book are not consistent. In one case, the UOM given in the
>glossary isn't even used anywhere in the text. I did some digging so that I
>would have at least a starting point and found the following
>
>Weight
>
>seer 637.74 gram
>pao 159.44 gram
>dam   20 gram
>tank     5 gram
>masha     1.5 gram
>damri     1 gram
>
>Measurements of volume were, from what I found in a couple of different
>resources, just the amount of volume that the given weight of a particular
>liquid would take up. It is not a similar question to liquid vs solid
>ounces for example.

Yes, i have a file of those measurements and several others

Commodity weight:
1 Ser = 637.74 grams = 1.41 lb (2.55 grams less than 1.5 lb)

Commodity Spice weight:
1 Dam = 20 grams = .71 oz (1 gram less than 3/4 oz)
The ''Dam'' was a copper coin used as a weight as well as currency.

Gold and Expensive Spice weight: 
1 Misqal = 6.22 grams = .22 oz (.85 gram less than 1/4 oz)

I continue to find Salma Husain’s limited translation of the Nuskha-e-Shajahani valuable and frustrating - valuable for giving us recipes from the time of Shah Jahan and frustrating for only giving us *some* of the recipes from this manuscript.

Husain also translated the 16th century Alwan-e-Nemat, a royal cookbook for Prince Salim, who was born August 1569, but did not ascend to the Mughal throne as Shah Jajangir until 1605. It apparently has over 374 recipes. The published version of Husain's translation has only about 100 of them. However i have been unable to find much information about it, and i would certainly love to see it!

Urtatim al-Qurtubiyya