[HN Gopher] A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary ...
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A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-
Andalus
Author : apollinaire
Score : 98 points
Date : 2024-01-25 05:47 UTC (17 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
| DrNosferatu wrote:
| Some of those dishes are still present today in the Iberian
| Peninsula!
| emblaegh wrote:
| > I mean, it's ridiculous the number of eggs that they used. I
| often joke that an Andalusian would not have been able to get
| through a meal without eggs.
|
| I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy deserts
| in Portugal.
| marcomourao wrote:
| > I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy
| deserts in Portugal.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventual_sweets
|
| Egg whites were used to make communion wafers and starch habits
| so they had a lot of yolks going around.
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| Kind of like how liquid N2 is dirt cheap because people pay a
| lot for all the other liquified fractionations but air is
| mostly nitrogen, or veal is in supply because dairy cows have
| both male and female offspring?
|
| (Have you heard the new rules about dating the novice nuns?
| They'll allow it on a casual basis -- but you're not supposed
| to get into the habit)
| sgc wrote:
| Egg whites were used to starch habits and for various other
| tasks, but communion wafers are pressed bread, and don't have
| any egg in them at all. I could not find any confirmation of
| your statement in a reputable source, and I have never heard
| of such a practice. The Catholic Church has long maintained
| that the host should be made of wheat flour (in the past
| sometimes with a small addition of another flour) and water
| only. Egg whites were used to clarify wine for the Eucharist,
| which might be the source of that likely fable.
| ggm wrote:
| Dorothy Dunnett writes that cypriot sugar production in the
| early middle ages used prodigious quantities of egg white for
| purification of the cane juice prior or during crystallisation.
|
| It's fiction, but she researched heavily. Given the Moorish
| occupation of the Iberian peninsula it's possible they used
| eggs heavily in sugar production there too
| bluGill wrote:
| Eggs are easy to get - just keep a few chickens which will in
| turn eat your trash. So we would expect anyone allowed chickens
| would have them. Before 1800 95% of the world population was a
| farmer of some sort, so space for chickens was not hard to find
| - other livestock need more space, but chickens can get by on
| very little. (many of those farmers would have been slaves, but
| they may have still be allowed eggs from the farm)
| SinjonSuarez wrote:
| Looks pretty well done but confused why they used art from the
| Safavids as the cover art. Entirely different cuisine and time
| period of the contents of the book. Surely they could've
| celebrated art from the region?
| thisislife2 wrote:
| What I found "odd" was that an Iraqi author was the first to
| translate the manuscript and publish the English version -
| https://www.amazon.com/Delectable-Foods-Dishes-al-Andalus-al...
| - and yet, while they make a _one line_ mention of this, the
| whole article is about a _British_ cook and author, and his
| book.
| SinjonSuarez wrote:
| Precisely how we end up with a generalization of middle-
| eastern culture. Pretty frustrating
| verisimi wrote:
| I generally think history articles are promo material for
| books or tourist destinations.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| They don't really hide that fact. There's a limit to how in
| depth the knowledge of any history journalist can be on
| their own, and experts on an issue are going to want
| payment for their time.
|
| Actual payment costs money, it's much easier to pay them in
| publicity by discussing a topic they released a book on or
| area they work at.
| nerdponx wrote:
| I've heard that publishers don't give authors much say in cover
| art. Maybe someone at the publishing company looked up "Sultan
| art high res" and found this.
| mtalantikite wrote:
| Looks like the translator has a blog where he posts about
| particular recipes. [1] The original author, al-Tujibi, later
| resettled in my father's hometown [2], and lots of these are
| still in the food culture (particularly the desserts!).
|
| [1] https://eatlikeasultan.com
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9ja%C3%AFa
| throwup238 wrote:
| _> This is a recreation of a 13th-century Aleppine recipe for a
| drink made with pomegranate seeds, fresh mint leaves, sugar and
| a dash of rose water. For that real medieval experience you
| might wish to consider fumigating the goblet from which you
| drink with that most aromatic of spices, _ambergis_! It is best
| drunk chilled with some crushed ice -- a delightful mocktail to
| suit all occasions!_ [1]
|
| Yeah, I'll get my sperm whale guy right on that... Can I use
| agarwood instead?
|
| [1] https://eatlikeasultan.com/medieval-syrian-pomegranate-
| drink...
| _a_a_a_ wrote:
| Thanks for the goddamned image. Brain bleach please.
| arein3 wrote:
| Nothing revealed about the culinary life in the article.
|
| I wanted to know what would they eat, but got a wall of text
| about general things surounding the period.
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(page generated 2024-01-25 23:01 UTC)