The footnotes are identified by the initials of
their authors: Charles Perry, David Friedman, Elise Fleming, Huici
Miranda (editor of the Arab edition and author of a Spanish
translation), and Stephen Bloch.
[1]The
Spanish "albondiga," meaning "meatball," is from the Arabic
"al-bunduqa," meaning "hazelnut," which suggests that the
original meatballs were tiny. (CP)
[2]From
the name of a famous Berber confederation, the Sanhaja, which
included the Tuareg and played an important part in the Almoravid
Empire. (CP)
[3]I
do not know whether this refers to one of the Razis, historians of
the Umayyad caliphate in al-Andalus, or to a doctor, a resident of
Medina Sidonia, cited by al-Shaquri, folio 54 v and 56 r. (HM)
It might also be the famous Rhazes, "the Galen of the Arabs,"
renowned doctor of Iran and Baghdad. He did write about diet.
(CP)
[4]Tharid
was a dish of bread moistened with meat juices, of great importance
since the Prophet valued it above all other dishes; he once said of
his adored wife Aisha that she "surpasses other women as
tharid surpasses other dishes." (CP)
[5]In
other words, it is not sent out of the house to an oven. (CP)
[6]Governor
and admiral of Ceuta, son of the Almohada Caliph Yusuf I. (HM)
[7]The
word "janb" is always translated as "flank," but studying
these recipes makes me suspect that it refers here to lamb breast:
all the emphasis on putting a stuffing between the meat and the
bones. I wouln't be surprised if the meaty part of a side of lamb had
been removed for shishkebab and these recipes are for the more
challenging lamb breast. (CP)
[8]All
the recipes given for roasts, as well as those of marrows, explained
here, are of lordly and refined dishes. There is a break in the
account here, and it seems two recipes for birds by the same unknown
author are given in the break in the manuscript. After the break the
source goes on to copy the cookbook of Abu Salih al-Rahbani, of whom
we also know nothing. (HM)
[9]That
is, it has medicinal value but is not a compound. (CP)
[10]Al-Baghdadi
also gives a recipe for this, p. 13 of the text and 36 of the
translation. Rodinson, in his "Recherches sur les documents arabes
relatifs a la cuisine," pp. 134 & 137, cites two more recipes
that appear in the manuscript of Wusla ila al-habib, as yet
unedited. (HM)
[11]Al-Baghdadi
reads "sikbâj" and gives two recipes, pp. 9 and 56. (HM)
Sikbâj and zirbâj are dishes that appear in all
medieval Arabic cookbooks. (CP)
[12]This
spelling reflects Andalusian pronunciation; the literary form would
be "munashshâ." (CP)
[13]al-Shaquri,
fol. 61 r, gives the recipe and says in al-Andalus it is
called "al-`asami," the color of dark amber. In
Marrakesh it is the dish for `Id al-kabir. (HM)
[14]Several
recipes call for hot coals to be put on a pan or lid above the
cooking pan so that heat comes from above. In this case it is to
cause browning, like a salamander. In other cases more coals may be
heaped up around the sides to cause cooking from all sides-a
substitute for having an oven. (CP)
[15]There
is a recipe in the section on drinks. (DF)
[16]In
Spanish, buchones, a type of pigeon or dove well known in the
Levant. The word used in the Arabic text is taken from medieval
Spanish: bûjûn. Elsewhere "pigeon" and "dove" both
render a native Arabic word, hamam. (CP)
[17]"Hantam"
was originally the name of a particular kind of earthenware jar, of a
shade of red mingled with green or black, that wine was imported to
Medina in before Muhammad's time. Occasionally it became a synonym
for pottery in general. (CP)
[18]Ibrahim
ibn al-Mahdi, an Abbasid prince, who was anti-Caliph for some months,
and whose hospitality and culinary expertise made him famous.
Al-Bagdadi gives his name to this dish and calls it
Ibrahimiya. (HM)
[19]Four
ounces of garlic (1/3 of a pound, of course, since there were 12
ounces to a pound) works out pretty close to the 40 cloves called for
in a famous classical Provencal dish. Leave out the spices and the
almonds, and you'd about have poulet à 40 gousses
d'ail. (CP)
[20]an
Almohad prince, nephew of 'Abd al-Mu'min and governor of Marra kesh.
(HM)
[21]This
recipe too must be from Ibrahim b. al-Mahdi. (HM)
[22]
The Barmakis (aka Barmecides) were a family of Persian viziers
who served some of the early Umayyad Caliphs, in particular Haroun
al-Rashid, and were famed for their generosity. (DF, modified from
HM)
[23]This
word usually means pears, but in some dialects of Arabic, and
apparently in this recipe, it means prunes. (CP)
[24]Apparently
a particular variety of basil. (CP)
[25]There
may be a break here; this dish of chicken with breast meat meatballs
"as in the preceding" has little resemblance to lamb stewed with
prunes. (CP)
[26]In
other words, the (egg and) batter covering of the preceding recipe is
to be repeated. (CP)
[27]See
the discussion of period gourds in the glossary at the end. (DF)
[28]These
eggyolks are probably from the "six or eight eggs". (SB)
[29]The
author inserts this fish recipe out of its place. (HM)
[30]Perhaps
a specific call for "that murri which people make from bread crumbs
and other things," which the author so disparaged earlier? (SB)
Note that these recipes are from cookbooks by several different
authors. (DF)
[31]A
different recipe from that given at first. (HM)
[32]i.e.
very finely powdered-kohl is powdered antimony. (HM)
[33]might
also be translated as "spangle," since it literally means "place
stars on." It's the usual word in this book for placing eggyolks on
top of something. (CP)
[34]Named
after Hâ rûn al-Rashîd, the famous Caliph who
appears in some of the stories of the 1001 nights. (CP)
[35]a
Persian name whose recipe we shall find further on.The same sort of
little Persian pie that became samosa in India. (CP)
[36]Alternatively,
the Arabic might perhaps be read as "if it be near."(CP)
[37]"Pie
crust" ("mukhabbazah") literally means "made into or with
bread," and it evidently meant either a small pie or a crust.
(CP)
[38]The
word is unfamiliar to me as the name of an ingredient-it simply means
"beneficial," but Huici Miranda, who gives it as fennel in his
Spanish translation, may know more. (CP)
[39]Following
this in the text is a heading with the title of "Recipe for Cooled
Chicken," in which is repeated the previous recipe with the title of
"Recipe for Refreshed Chicken," in which the text has been confused
by the similarity of titles. It returns to copy another title already
given, that of the Jewish chicken, followed by the stuffed-goose
recipe and those of Jewish-style partridge and stuffed partridge; I
have omitted these repetitions in the Arabic manuscript, pp. 17-18.
(HM)
[40]the
sediment from vinegar. (HM)
[41]"Khabis"
and "khabisa," names derived from "khabasa"--to mix.
Belot gives it as a mix of dates, cream, and starch; see Dozy. Later
we shall find several more recipes for this dish. (HM)
The word referred to a whole class of puddings, not just date
pudding. (CP)
[42]A
version of adafina (from an Arabic word meaning "buried
treasure," related to the word madfûn, "buried," which
is found in the name of this dish), the Sephardic equivalent of the
Ashkenazi dish cholent, which could be left in the oven overnight on
Friday so that Jewish housewives wouldn't have to violate the Sabbath
by cooking. (CP)
[43]Presumably
of coals, as in the Jewish Partridge dish above. (SB)
[44]These
are small samosa-or bö rek-like pies with a cheese filling
(mujabbanâ t). (CP)
[45]meat
cooked with sour milk. (HM)
There is a recipe in al-Baghdadi. (DF)
[46]perhaps
"hisrimiya," which means [a dish flavored with] sour
grapes. (HM)
[47]al-Shaquri,
p. 61r, gives the recipe and says that in al-Andalus it is
known as "al-`asami." (HM)
Here referred to as al-tabkh al-murûzi, suggesting that
the name of the dish is actually marwaziya, "the dish of
Merv," an incient Iranian city in what is now the Independent
Republic of Turkmenistan. (CP)
[48]The
last is a kind known to the country folk of Morocco. (HM)
[49]See
Rodinson, pp. 100-101. (HM)
[50]This
must refer to a famous garden of that name in Cordova, possibly also
to a palace of the same name. (HM)
[51]From
"rafasa"--to mash. Later the author gives various recipes for
it in dealing with pies and sweets. (HM)
[52]A
vinegar flavored dish. (CP)
[53]This
cookbook has already been mentioned on the first page preceding this
text. al-Shaquri, p. 52v, mentions the book and identifies it as that
of Kisra Anushirwan ibn-Barzajamhar. (HM)
Chosroes is the Greek spelling of the Persian name Khusrau, Kisra the
Arabic. (CP)
[54]This
is obviously a sausage stuffing tube. (CP)
[55]An
Umayyad caliph. (HM)
[56]The
practice of serving a dinner in courses, so characteristic of
Al-Andalus, is not found in Baghdad or Damascus. It was
introduced to Spain by a Persian musician and arbiter
elegantiarum named Ziryab, who had been driven from Baghdad by
Ishaq al-Mausili as a dangerous rival and found a home in the Umayyad
court. (CP)
This was in the ninth century. (DF)
[57]Various
recipes, of which more later. al-Shaquri, pp. 58v & 59r, says it
is called "isfidabaja" in the East, and that an easy kind is
known as "Slaves' Stew"; he gives the recipe and divides it into two
kinds, white and green. Al-Bagdadi describes it, p. 32. Dozy mentions
it under the name masluq--a boiled dish. (HM)
[58]The
word is "shiwâ," which was the Medieval word for
shishkebab; the sense seems to be that it is cooked in a pot, rather
than directly over the flame, but seasoned like grilled meat.
(HM)
[59]The
author repeats here almost verbatim the recipe he gave at the start.
(HM)
[60]Alternatively,
one might read "hâl" for "hîlaj," to give
"cardamom;" admittedly an extreme emendation, but I can't see why
myrobalan, a bland fruit of the plum family, would be called for
among the spices, and hîlaj in itself would be a highly
irregular variant of halîlaj. (CP)
[61]Dozy
discusses the etymology of this word and gives a recipe. Rodinson,
"Recherches," p.140, note 6; al-Bagdadi, p.80. (HM)
Qataif usually means crepes; this seems to be an
´asîda recipe that has gotten mistitled. (CP)
[62]Another
unknown Baghdadi. (HM)
[63]or
fâlû dhaj; the author gives the recipe for this
later. See al-Bagdadi, pp. 48 and 72. (HM).
This is simply the Persian word for "filtered, refined," and has been
applied to a number of elegant sweets, particularly those made from
strained fruit juice and starch puddings.[CP]
[64]from
"khabasa," to mix. Al-Bagdadi, p. 73, devotes a chapter to
this. The Arabs of Africa made it with dates. (HM)
[65]Apparently
this means the flesh of the eggplant, judging by its use in this
recipe. (DF)
[66]The
dictionaries are vague about this bird: "a species of partridge," "a
bird smaller than a partridge, a quail." (CP)
[67]According
to al-Shaquri this is called "al-mukhallal"--"vinaigrette"--in
al-Andalus. Al-Bagdadi, p.9, gives a recipe and Rodinson cites
it in his "Recherches," pp. 134 and 137. (HM)
[68]In
Tunisia, "little monkey". Prof. de la Granja found in the manuscript
for his doctoral thesis, La cocina ará bigo-andaluza
(Arab-Andalucí an Cooking), recipes for a maimú
n (monkey) pastry and soup. (Martin Alonso, in Enciclopedia
del Idioma, says maimó n or maimú nis
a ring-shaped pastry, often filled with conserves; the soup called
maimones and made with olive oil is to this day an
Andalusí an specialty. (SB)
[69]The
word translated as "necessaries" (hawâ'ij), which can
also mean "things," is used in some cookery writings to mean
ingredients other than spices added for flavoring. (CP)
[70]...
the bucket (of clay or metal, holding about 2-1/2 gallons) used to
draw water from a well. (HM)
[71]See
the beginning of this cookbook. (DF)
[72]The
recipe calls this a tharda in the title and tharid in
the text. Actually, "tharda" is probably a back-formation from
"tharida." In the colloquial language "tharida" was
pronounced "thrîda," which could be taken for the
diminutive of an imaginary word "tharda." (CP)
[73]Known
in Morroco as qrun. (HM)
[74]The
"mix fold with fold" instruction is vague, but we may proceed on the
assumption that the product will look like an ear when fried. I must
say that the prospect of eating an "ear" stuffed with green paste
bothers me. (CP)
[75]A
mush of flour with a little boiling water, butter and honey. In
vulgar Arabic it means starch. (HM)
[76]al-Baghdadi,
p.48, gives the following recipe the name of
"al-faludhajiyya." (HM)
[77]This
is part of a khabîs recipe and probably seemed to follow
the preceding recipe because it calls for khabîs. The
"wheat milk" is evidently a thin batter made with flour, rather than
the milky starch liquid mentioned elsewhere, or the "leaves" would
not hold together in frying. (CP)
[78]al-Shaquri,
fol. 61, mentions a dish-the hisrimiya based on vinegar-from
unripened grapes. (HM)
[79]Perhaps
the interweaving spoken of is like the arrangement of apple slices in
or on a tart? This would be possible with sliced eggs. (CP)
[80]It
would seem the walnuts themselves are not used. Huici Miranda
translated "walnuts" as "almonds," which would mean that the birds
are cooked in almond milk. This is an attractive solution, but
against it is the fact that the recipes in this book that call for
almond milk always refer to it as milk. (CP)
[81]Persian
name. See al-Bagdadi, p. 58 and Rodinson "Recherches," pp.
133, 135 and 139-40. (HM)
[82]Spanish
name, which according to al-Shaquri, pp. 58 v, end and 59 r,
corresponds to the Eastern isfidabaya; he gives his recipe
twice, white and green. See also al-Bagdadi, p. 32. (HM)
[83]The
Saqaliba, whose name literally means "Slavs," were northern
Europeans recruited for the praetorian guard of the Umayyad Caliphs
of Spain. Some of them were certainly Slavs, but they were a mixed
bunch including Germans and French. (CP)
[84]Here
is the "dish of murri" called for in the outline of the prescribed
order of serving dishes. (CP)
[85]He
has already given another recipe for goose, different from this one.
Also some of the following dishes are repetitions with variations.
(HM)
[86]The
name "hasty" is a misnomer here, but the 10th century recipe deserved
the name-it was just ground meat fried with vinegar and spices. This
must be an elaboration. (CP)
[87]This
is one of the only recipes to specify stirring the pot with a spoon;
note that (1) that verb "Yukhammar" that I've been translating
"cover the contents of the pot" is not found in this recipe, and (2)
the verb translated as "to stir" is not "yuharrak"(to agitate)
but "yu´arrak." (CP)
[88]This
is a Jû dhâba because it's a sort of Yorkshire
pudding placed under cooking meat to catch the juices. "According to
the size of the mould" seems to mean that the size of the crepes or
tortillas should match closely the size of the (possibly moulded)
casserole. (CP)
[89]Deep-fat
fritters and fine bread. See Rodinson, Recherches, p. 140. (HM)
[90]Properly
speaking, a mutajjan is a dish cooked in a tajine. Here
it is cooked in a pot. (CP)
[91]"Tabahajiya"
is a Persian name. Al-Bagdadi also gives this recipe, p. 14. (HM)
[92]Mithqal
is a small coin. (HM)
Also a weight. (CP)
[93]Before
the 16th century or so celery was grown only for the leaf; the stalks
were inedibly bitter. (CP)
[94]As
I read the recipe, the cooked egg is cut apart, the yolk removed and
mixed with spices and then stuffed back in. The egg is then put back
together with the thread and the stick (a medieval toothpick?!). The
outside is coated with runny egg white (to which, perhaps, some water
has been added). This keeps the coating of flour on the egg and the
whole thing is then fried. The leftover egg yolk and spices are then
made into a sauce to go with it. (EF)
Note the clearer recipe on page A-24. (DF)
[95]Where's
the meat? (CP)
[96]The
recipe calls for silfâh, a non-existent word; Huici
Miranda plausibly reconstructs it as silhâf, tortoise,
except that we 'd rather expect to hear something about the shell.
(CP)
[97]I
hesitantly propose that the missing title of this dish is
"luqumât al-qâdi," "the Cadi's Morsels."
(CP) Ibn Battuta, writing in the fourteenth century, refers to a dish
with that name; see Volume III, p. 757 of the translation by H.A.R.
Gibb and p. 139 of the translation by Mahdi Husain. The latter gives
the Arabic, the former only the English. (DF)
[98]Doubtful
term; seems to identify a parcel shape of some sort. Dozy translates
it as intestines with meat. (HM)
[99]I'm
reaching a little here; "scattered" represents
"munajjamât," a participle from the verb I've been
translating as "to dot" and which literally means "to make into or
like stars, to spangle." (CP)
[100]Huici
Miranda has the word "meat" here but places it in brackets, whether
to indicate an unclear word or to throw doubt upon the literal
reading; since the "it" of the next phrase doesn't agree in gender
with "meat," I presume that the recipe is actually calling for gut or
paunch here, to be stuffed and made into 'usbas as in the
"Dish of Chicken or Whatever Meat You Please" above. (CP)
[101]Variant
of "`asba." Derived from "`asaba," "to tie, to bind
down." See third recipe above. (HM)
[102]When
I translate "removing its water," I'm reading the incomprehensible
"dhâ 'uhâ" as "mâ'uhâ," "its
water." "Draw off the grease to the oven" is a strange instruction,
not found elsewhere. The instruction to boil and take off the fire
indicates that the pot itself does not go to the oven. (CP)
[103]A
small coin. (DF)
[104]A
giant thistle with edible stalks from which the artichoke was
developed, almost certainly in Andalusia (our word artichoke
ultimately comes from "al kharshûf," which is a
diminutive of "kharshaf.") Since the recipes say nothing about
leaves, choke or calyx, I think we should assume that cardoon is
really what is being called for here; probably the artichoke had not
been developed yet. (CP)
[105]reading
"khabbâza" for "jâziya."(CP)
[106]Perhaps
the master of Jahiz, author of the Book of Misers. (HM,
corrected by CP)
[107]Here
I think we see a rare usage of the word "thumn" meaning 1/8 of
a dirham. This is a credible measurement for saffron, though
it doesn't amount to much for the honey. (CP)
[108]Rodinson
cites in the Kitab al-Wusla a recipe for jamaliya,which
seems to be related to this. Professor De la Granja in his thesis on
the Kitab fadalat al-khiwan gives a dish called
"jamali." (HM)
[109]This
may just possibly be a fish .... (HM)
[110]Probably
the eggs are used to cover the contents of the pot, though the recipe
says nothing of their fate. (CP)
[111]text
has "yukhammar," to cover or coat, in error for
"yughmar," to cover as a liquid covers; to engulf, submerge.
(CP)
[112]Huici
Miranda translates as if the text reads "yuhammar," to brown
or redden, instead of "yukhammar," to cover, coat. (CP)
[113]Probably
refers to the earlier dish "isfunj." There is also a later
recipe for a "sponge." (EF)
[114]admittedly,
this is a puzzling instruction unless a measurement of liquid or eggs
has been omitted. (CP)
[115]We
do not know how many recipes are taken from this anticaliphate cook.
(HM)
Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, brother of Harun al-Rashid, was a famous poet
and singer and a proverbial gourmet.It may be that only the one
recipe is his; he would not have known of the Saqaliba. (CP)
[116]More
later on this recipe. See al-Bagdadi pp. 48 and 72. (HM)
[117]This
is a poetical or fantasy name: the green fava beans are compared to
pistachios. (CP)
[118]I
do not know "durra" and "jaus." 'anqara is the
fatty part of a bullock's neck, known today in Morocco as
"'angra." (HM)
[119]This
reads a little confusingly, but I think what is happening is that the
stewed bird is taken from the fire, bubbling hot, and then given one
of those coatings I'm always insisting on. Since the pot is not going
to the oven, the recipe specifies that the topping be made only of
breadcrumbs and eggs, with no flour-the breadcrumbs are already
cooked and the eggs will set because of the heat, though flour might
remain raw. The two yolks you chop over the completed dish are, of
course, the two you threw in the pot. NB: Huici Miranda translated
"large clay dish"-quite absurdly-as "outside to the cool air" the
first time it appeared in the text. (CP)
[120]The
recipe calls for "the fried fish," not "a fried fish," so I'm
inclined to think this is another scribal error: "the boiled bird "
is what is meant. Sloppy of the writer not to have mentioned those
eggs before, though. (CP)
[121]Here
the flesh of the eggplant is called "seeds" ("zurai'at," a
diminutive form), bringing to mind the pellicle business earlier.
(CP)
[122]I
admit these instructions are puzzling, but I'm going with the idea of
cabbage rather than cauliflower for two reasons: the recipe calls for
cabbage, while Arabic has a word for cauliflower; and "throw away the
rest of the leaves until it remains white like the turnip" suggests a
vegetable with a non-white color in its outer parts. I'm figuring the
heart of the cabbage is being treated like turnip. It may be that the
cabbages available were not very leafy; and the recipe calls for a
"coarse" cabbage. (CP)
[123]The
eyes are looking more and more like the gaps in a cabbage head toward
the heart. The hole has me stumped. (CP)
[124]Possibly
squeezing the fennel without letting any of the "body" or substance
into the fennel juice? (EF)
[125]The
famous arbiter of elegance during the caliphate of 'Abd al-Rahman II,
in Cordoba. (HM)
'Abd al-Rahman II became Caliph in 822. (DF)
[126]Musk,
moschatel, musk-crowfoot, hollow-root. (HM)
[127]I
have no idea why HM persisted in seeing herb-ivy here; the recipe
calls for carrots and the other 13 century books all use carrots
in "narjisiyya." (CP)
[128]This
really is a recipe thickened with eggs. Note the difference in
terminology: It openly says "pour in enough eggs to bind" and later
refers to cutting the dish with a knife. The recipes using the verb
"yukhammar/yakhtamir" are not thickened, though they may refer
to the surface binding or becoming corrugated, and so they are always
ladled from the pot, not being of cuttable consistency. (CP)
[129]And
wife of the Abbasid Caliph, al-Ma'mun. (HM)
[130]Meaning
pertaining to or resembling hare; in Syria today there is a dish
called arnabiyya, which likewise contains no hare meat
[131]This
recipe is fairly clear in general outline but troublesome in details.
It is a stew called "Mahshi," literally the stuffed dish,
exactly parallel to the Mahshi of birds that appears on page
A-9 of our English translation. Just as in that dish, a main
ingredient (birds there, eggplant here) is first cooked (fried with
onions, spices and murri there, boiled here) and then removed from
the pot and set aside. Then a tajine is filled with breadcrumbs,
spices, oil and eggs, all beaten together, and then the reserved main
ingredient, together with (probably hardboiled) egg yolks, is buried
in the mixture. The whole thing is then baked until thickened and
browned.
However, there are two thorny problems. One is the word
"qatâmir," which I have translated as "seedy flesh."
Literally it means the pellicles or paper-thin coverings of date
seeds. Since these eggplants were peeled before the eggplant flesh
was boiled in salted water (to remove its bitterness)-which was long
before we are told to remove the "qatâmir"-the word
cannot refer to eggplant skin (furthermore, a later recipe that calls
for "qatâmir" refers to the skins by their usual name,
"qishr"). In any case, the parallel with the other
mahshi recipe requires "qatamir" to mean eggplant
flesh.
My theory is this: An overripe eggplant, or any eggplant belonging to
some varieties (note that this recipe and several that follow call
for either "sweet" eggplants or large eggplants; and that the recipe
for Arnabi above refers to "sweet eggplants of great size")
develops large seeds in cavities that seem lined with a sort of skin
or pellicle. I think "qatamir" has acquired the sense of the
seedy flesh, the loose, fissured center of an overripe (or perhaps
"sweet") eggplant. (Cf. the recipes that refer to eggplant flesh as
"little seeds.") The removal referred to is not removal from the
skin, of course, but removal from the cooking pot, as in the earlier
mahshi recipe.
The other difficulty is more vexing; it's the expression that was
previously translated "put hot (???) with the eggplants." The Arabic
is "tuj'alu mahmiyya lil-badhinjan fi tajin," literally,
"[a] heated [thing-feminine gender] is put/made for
the eggplants in a tajine" or "[something, feminine gender]
is put/made as a heated thing for the eggplants in a tajine." The
only feminine noun that has appeared in the recipe to this point is
"qatâmir," but the author cannot be asking to heat the
qatâmir in the tajine because it goes in later. On the
basis of the other mahshi recipe above, I assume with some
hesitation that mahmiyya was a standard basis of a saute, like
the present-day Spanish sofrito: a mixture of oil, onion,
spices (in the earlier recipe they were salt, pepper, coriander,
cinnamon, saffron) and murri naqî'. In the other
mahshi recipe, however, the birds are first fried in that
mixture until they make a broth; here the eggplant is simply boiled.
And I must admit that I have not found this usage of
"mahmiyya" elsewhere.
The only alternative is to assume that "make heated for the eggplants
in a tajine" is a term of art meaning to heat the tajine. This would
be a little easier to accept if "mahmiyya" were not a passive
participle but a verbal noun; then the reading would literally be
"make an act of heating for the eggplants in a tajine." As it
happens, there is a verbal noun "mahmiyya," which is properly
the verbal noun of "hamâ," to protect, but it is
possible that it has been appropriated by the homonymous verb
"hamâ," to heat. Of course, it's remotely possible that
"mahmiyya" does mean "protection," referring to some cooking
practice, I know not what.
NB: Here again a dish is thickened with raw eggs which is said to
"bind" (using the same verb that appears in pudding recipes). The
verb "yukhammar/yakhtamir" does not appear. (CP)
[132]Here
we have qatamir again, being reinserted into eggplant peel.
(CP)
[133]Kind
of a mystery why these batter-fried eggplants are called
mu'affara, "dusted." Cf. the dusted fish on p. 51 of the
English translation. (CP)
[134]These
really are dusted (though a different verb is used,
"ghabara"). Perhaps this is the original recipe and the batter
version is an elaboration. (CP)
[135]Variant
of the recipe given at the beginning of the book. (HM)
[136]The
name of the dish is "Muzawwar," literally "counterfeit;" the
idea that a vegetarian dish is counterfeit is also found in the
Turkish term for grapeleaves stuffed with rice, "yalanci
dolma." NB: For this dish you heat a metal or ceramic lid, giving
a Dutch oven effect. (CP)
[137]Besides
the customs officer of the Almohade caliph Yusuf I, there was another
ibn Muthanna, a friend of Jahiz, by whom he is cited in his Book
of Misers. (HM corrected by CP)
[138]Note
that the recipe calls for two kinds of cucumber: "quththa,"
which is the slender, ribbed cucumber, often pointed at the end,
which is sold in Armenian markets as "ghoota," and
"khiyâr," the usual smooth-skinned salad cucumber.
(CP)
[139]The
Arabic word for shad is "shabal," borrowed from the Spanish
sabalo. (CP)
[140]"Qabtûn"
is a word borrowed from Spanish meaning a fish with a large head; it
may well be the Spanish "capitan," grey mullet. "Fahl" means a
stallion, clearly a large fish. (CP)
[141]The
material in brackets is found in Huici Miranda's Spanish translation
but not in his published edition of the Arabic text. (CP)
[142]Muslim
Spain, not the modern Spanish province of Andalucia. (EF)
[143]This
is the only time Huici Miranda recognizes a
bûrâniyya as such. It's because in the text of
recipe-though not in the title-it's correctly spelled with the long u
in the first syllable. (CP)
[144]Huici
Miranda very misleadingly translates "tharîd" (also
called "tharîda") as "torta." It is actually a dish of
meat or meat and gravy mixed with bread, or as nearly always in
Andalusia, with bread crumbs; sometimes "tharîd" simply
refers to the crumbs. (CP)
[145]The
couscous in this recipe has already been cooked, either by boiling or
steaming. Large-grained couscous varieties are still often steamed,
then rubbed with melted fat or butter and then cooked for a while in
broth. (CP)
[146]from
"fityâ n," youths: the name of a militia. (CP)
[147]"Mudhakkar"
means masculine. This may have something to do with the order of
serving dishes, where the first is always a dish called feminine.
(CP)
[148]Presumably
a fresh farmer's cheese or cottage cheese. (CP)
[149]A
"shâ shiyya" is a fez with a white tassel,
characteristic of southern Morocco in our times. (CP)
[150]literally,
unleavened bread; here as in the second sentence it seems to be the
name of a particular preparation of bread and meat much like
tharî d. (CP)
[151]"Fidaush"
is the word found in modern Spanish as "fideos." The etymology
is disputed; it has been traced to a diminutive of Latin
filum, "string," although that would have given a word
beginning with h instead of f in Spanish. The fact that this the
earliest recipe known is for little orzo-like soup noodles or thin
flat sheets weakens the theory further. Prof. Corominas in his
Diccionario Critico y Etimologico de la Lengua Castellana
derives the word from a medieval Spanish verb itself derived from an
Arabic verb meaning to swell, viz. in boiling. A joint
Spanish-Moorish origin does seem likely. (CP)
[152]Itriyya
is the pasta of Greek origin known to the Arabs since the 8th century
or so. (CP)
[153]The
Arabic text published by Huici Miranda misspells the word "matwi,"
folded, as "mutarrâ," moistened. The word translated
as "coarsely ground" is a guess. The only adjective spelled the same
way means "advanced in years," but there is a related adjective that
means coarse as opposed to fine, and one of the Arabic words for
flour literally means fine. Semolina, as a hard wheat, resists
grinding into fine flour and tends to look like fine sand when
ground. Elise has speculated that "thin bread" means something like
pita, but on the contrary, even raghîf, translated as
"flatbread," was usually thinner than pita, and ruqâq,
which I translate as "thin bread," was rolled as close to
paper-thinness as possible. Certain bakers in the Arab world still
specialize in it; it has to be eaten within a couple of hours because
it stales rapidly. (CP)
[154]The
Lamtuna were the main Almoravid tribe. More exactly, they were the
dominant tribe of the Sanhaja confederacy, the nomadic Berbers of
southern Morocco who were the basis of the Almoravid power, and
constituted the aristocracy of the Almoravid state. The MS has a
marginal notation explaining "iskalfâj" as
"isfanâkh," spinach, but we can recognize it as a
variation on the Romance word
"iskarfâj"/"iskanfâj," grater. (CP)
[155]A
gold coin. (DF)
[156]The
sticky or thick and the fried. (HM)
[157]What
these two dishes have in common is that they are both cooked in a
burma or earthenware pot. (CP)
[158]The
meaning of "mu'allak" is obscure; literally, it means
"chewed." It's the past participle of the verb translated as "blend"
in "blend with a spoon," which may refer to some technique of
stirring or beating. (CP)
[159]"Rikshâb"
is a scribal error for "dikshâb," the name of this
specialized mallet used for beating "harîsa" smooth.
(CP)
[160]In
the text it is "lahm," which should be corrected to
"milh." (HM)
[161]Huici
Miranda's text refers to "hasu;" in this recipe, as it
happens, the word is "hasa'." In any case, both words derive
from the verb to sip, and mean a variety of things that can be sipped
such as soup, not necessarily the sweet almond paste HM mentions.
(CP)
[162]Al-Bagdadi,
p. 82 points it out as a synonym of "kabula" and gives its
recipe. (HM)
[163]"Mother
of joy." Al-Bagdadi gives five recipes, p. 70-72. (HM)
[164]The
"Indian mirror" called for is also referred to as a tray in some
recipes. It was a special flat metal utensil for cooking ultra-thin
crepes, which is what these ruqâqs really are. I'm
guessing that what I translate as the "moistener" is what they call
the cup that they pour the batter onto the mirror with. In the
passage about how long to leave in the oven, I am reading
"lahm" ("meat") for "milh" ("salt"), as Huici Miranda
does on a couple of occasions elsewhere; evidently a characteristic
error of this scribe. (CP)
[165]The
word translated "fine flour" is "sawiq," which can also mean
porridge of parched grain. I assume Huici Miranda is right, the
instruction means to indicate a degree of pounding, but it may
possibly mean to indicate the texture of the contents of the mortar.
(CP)
[166]Fascinating
recipe. Today kunafa is the baked Arab pastry that looks like
shredded wheat; in the Middle Ages it was a thin crepe, here cut in
small pieces and fried rather than baked. (CP)
[167]I'm
not sure whether beating the cooked breads between the palms is
intended to loosen the flaky layers or to crumble the breads.
(CP)
[168]Almohad
Vizier. (HM)
[169]Great
architect in the times of Abd al-Mu'min and his son Yusuf I. (HM)
[170]Obviously,
these are simply pancakes, cooked only on one side. The stoneware
plate is used as a lid on the frying pan. The surface is
pocked-"pierced"-because of the bubbles. Interestingly, some careful
cooks in North Africa still make pancakes-which are called "khubz
rgig" in Arabic and "elfetat or harhayet" in Berber-not by
adding lots of liquid to flour but by kneading dough hard and then
diluting it. (CP)
[171]Huici
Miranda read the name of this dish as "markaba," boat, but it
is clearly "murakkaba," composed, because of the method of
making it. Constantine is a city in Algeria; the name
"Kutâmiyya" refers to the Berber tribe Kutama, centered
in the area around Sitif in Algeria, who were prominent during the
ascendancy of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa during the 9th and
10th centuries. One notices in the course of the recipe that the clay
frying pan becomes a tajine; as a tajine is a clay casserole, it can
serve for frying. (CP)
[172]The
word "rafî s" comes from a verb which literally means
"to kick," but the dictionaries report that in cooking (specifically
in preparing meat) it means "to pound." That verb is found in the
passage "if you pound it until the rafîs is soft and
moist." (CP)
[173]The
meaning seems to be to make a domed loaf resembling a sugar loaf
("sugar cup" in Arabic). (CP)
[174]Shaddâkh
is a recognized variety of dates. Nevertheless, the first time the
word appears in this recipe, Huici Miranda translated it as
"pounded," apparently thinking of the word "mushaddakh," which
means "unripe dates, squeezed and pressed." This is grammatically
impossible; the syntax of the word shows it to be a proper noun in
apposition and not an adjective. (CP)
[175]The
"aromatic" clarified butter (mistranslated by Huici Miranda as
"boiling") might be spiced, but it is more likely smen, the rancid
aged clarified butter so valued in Morocco today. (CP)
[176]I
don't know how big the mudd of Abu Hafs's measure was. This
recipe skips the process of baking but of course ka'k was
baked, and baked very hard; then as now it was a slightly sweet
version of hardtack, like Italian biscotti. It evidently had some
classic shape in al-Andalus, probably a ring. Jauzinaq was a
confection made of ground walnuts mixed with sugar syrup; it seems to
have been at least as popular in al-Andalus as the more familiar
almond marzipan, lauzinaq. (CP)
[177]Here
we seem to have a recipe from a source that doesn't like rancid
clarified butter. Khushkalân is called
"khushkanân" in the Syrian and Iraqi cookbooks, a form
closer to the original Farsi "khoshknân," literally "dry
bread."(CP)
[178]The
huevo/egg is mysterious; literally the text says "an egg is beaten on
all sides until it forms crumbs." Some other word probably occupied
this space in the original text, but the scribe saw the word "beat"
and absent-mindedly wrote "an egg" after it. Huici Miranda read
"baida" as "bi-baida" (with an egg); I diffidently
propose "yabyadda" (it whitens), but I fear we will never
really know exactly what was meant here. The MS does not mention the
fried cheese after taking it out of the oil, but I propose that the
word "samn" (clarified butter) is a scribal error for
"jubn" (cheese). The word has also been transposed out of
order in the sentence. Maybe the scribe had a chance to catch a nap
after copying this recipe! (CP)
[179]In
15th century Iran, Mishash was the name of a sweetmeat made
from sesame seeds. (CP)
[180]Not
sure what foliation refers to here. The previous recipe suggests a
product with layers; maybe this rather perfunctory recipe presumes
the reader will know to make something of the sort, and the
honey/sugar/walnut mixture enters between the layers.
Mashshash must have been a common preparation, because none of
the three recipes given calls for spices but both this recipe and the
next presume that the reader will be familiar with a spiced version.
(CP)
[181]The
"strainer like a palm," or "iron hand," was clearly the utensil for
scooping things out of frying oil. (CP)
[182]"from
Cairo." (HM)
[183]The
verb "to milk" has some technical sense here; see the sambusak recipe
below. (CP)
[184]a
Persian name, cited by Rodinson, and appearing also in al-Bagdadi
under the name "sanbusaj." (HM)
[185]A
very uncharacteristic sanbûsak, made without flour.
"Sanbûsak" is the same word as samosa. (CP)
[186]another
Persian name, interpreted in al-Andalus as "Slaves' Stew" according
to al-Shaquri, fol 59r. (HM)
[187]Huici
Miranda's derivation of qataif from a verb meaning to sift
flour is wrong. "Qataif" is simply the plural of the noun
meaning "plush, velvet;" the texture is more fabric-like than bread.
This basic recipe-crepes (the crepes themselves were called
"mushahhada" in al-Andalus) folded over around a filling and
deepfried-is what the word "qatâif" still means in
Lebanon and Syria. The "qataif" can be removed from the
cooking oil immediately, because the crepe ("flatbread") is already
cooked. The last sentence suggests instead of folding over one
mushahhada you could glue two together and make a fully round,
rather than a half-round, version, so that you can serve both circles
and half-circles. (CP)
[188]al-Shaquri
identifies this with the pastry isfunj. (HM)
[189]Lac
or gum-lac; also lake; a red brittle resinous substance brought from
India, used for dyeing and making sealing wax. (EF)
[190]Brazilwood,
Caesalpinia sappan, is not a New World plant but an East
Indian dyewood well known in the Middle Ages. When campeachy wood or
logwood, Haematoxylon campeachianum, was discovered in what is
now Brazil, it was at first called brazilwood. Since it was Brazil's
first big export, the country took its name from it. NB: The "crossed
woods" referred to must be a wooden equivalent of the "iron
hand."(CP)
[191]Al-Bagdadi
gives two recipes, pp 48 and 72. (HM)
[192]Gum
Arabic is the gum of an acacia that is used to thicken gumdrops,
pastilles and so on. (CP)
[193]Huici
Miranda failed to note where the name "qabît" comes
from. It is a metathesized form of "qatîb"-or to be
precise, its North African colloquial pronunciation, "qtib."
This comes from the Classical Arabic word "qadîb,"
meaning "twig." The "d" was devoiced when the short vowel was dropped
in the first syllable, and North African dialects are still wobbly
about whether the word has a "d" or a "t"; today "qdib/qtib"
means a skewer of meat, and the plural "qutban" is written
both "kotban" and "kodban" on menus. At any rate,
"qutban," twigs, are what the recipe says this candy
resembles. (CP)
[194]As
a result of the heating in the pan, the flour is probably parched so
that it is digestible. Its purpose is probably the same as that of
dusting marshmallows with starch, to keep everything on earth from
sticking to it. (CP)
[195]I
don't know whether the name of the dish refers to a marbled texture
or to its being made on a pastry marble, so I chose an ambiguous
name. (CP)
[196]Pulled
honey sweet is evidently a variety of taffy made with honey.
Maftuna is not explained, but it means "enamored, mad with
love," clearly the name of a sweet. Huici Miranda indicates missing
words after "excellently," but exceptionally doesn't footnote this.
The sense doesn't suffer. (CP)
[197]Yes,
the clay jug is actually broken and sacrificed to make this sweet.
The writer has neglected to mention putting the dough in the jug.
Huici Miranda had the bread in the middle, rather than the jug in the
middle. (CP)
[198]This
dish must come from a Syrian or Iraqi book, because it's about the
only place in the book where he calls white flour "huwwari"
rather than "darmak." It's also one of the few recipes where
the verbs are in the active imperative mood, as is usual in English
cookbooks, rather than in the passive indicative. (CP)
[199]This
kind of stumps me. Obviously we have a kind of rich leavened bread
cooked in the Spanish utensil called a cazuela. You make a big cut in
it and you let it soak up a honey and butter syrup with spices and
nuts. You put back a lid, which you evidently created with the big
cut. But what of those tubes and embattlements? The only idea that
comes to me is that you form a handle out of reeds to assist you in
removing the crust lid. (CP)
[200]Plural
of "qanut"--canes or cylinders. (HM)
[201]The
scribe is dropping things again. The general discussion in the
beginning, which is the only place where the stuffing is described,
must have dropped the word sugar, as the recipe section omitted the
instruction to fry the tubes. (CP)
[202]Evidently
the little lumps of breadcrumbs, honey and spices looked like locusts
to people. (CP)
[203]The
"eyebrow" and the "eye" may be technical terms for parts of a mould.
The gilding referred to is also ambiguous in the Arabic; both gold
leaf and egg-yolk endoring were practiced in the Islamic world.
(CP)
[204]From
"fustaq"--pistachio. (HM)
[205]The
Wusla, according to Rodinson, gives two recipes of
kishk and one of kishkat, the three based on wheat.
Dozy derives it from "kashk"--Arabic, and
"ab"--Persian. (HM)
[206]The
date given is for the copying of the manuscript; the original is 13th
century. (CP)
[207]Andropogon
schoenanthus, reading "tibn" for "tin" in the ms.
(HM)
[208]Pedro
de Alcalá translates this as ciridueñ a, and the
Vocabulist translates it as mint. See Dozy, II, 13, and pronunciation
variants. (HM)
I cannot translate ciridueñ a, but there is a plant called
ciridona, in the poppy family, whose juice is used as a folk remedy
for warts. (SB)
[209]The
word "´urûq" can mean roots or stems/stalks. I've
translated it according to what seemed to make sense. (CP)
[210]Eupatorbium,
of the rose family. (HM)
[211]"tâ
ghandast;" a Berber word, I guess we take HM's authority on its
meaning. (CP)
[212]tabâshî
r; manna, a sugary substance that appears at the joints of
bamboo, or apparently in this case of cane. (CP)
[213]literally,
"constipates", without the negative connotation. (SB)
[214]"harîr"
means silk; is this a recipe for seeds of the mulberry, on whose
leaves silkworms feed?(CP)
[215]"prevents
matter from coming down from the brain."(CP)
[216]cited
by al-Shaquri, p. 49r. (HM)
[217]possibly
isfinar --white mustard. (HM)
[218]Kembra
fern. (HM)
[219]this
word does not have the definite article and is not proceeded by
"and;" it seems to indicate a kind of lavender, but the following
recipe puts this in doubt. (CP)
[220]wild
spikenard. (HM)
[221]Pellitory.
Dozy reads "tagandast," a Berber word. (HM)
Pellitory: "an asteraceous plant (Anacyclus Pyrethrum) of
Southern Europe, whose root is used as a local irritant."
(Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, 1989)
[222]Thistle
or Jewish greens. (HM)
[223]I
have no idea how Huici Miranda decided that "cold poisons" were
"colds in the nose." (CP)
[224]In
this gap must be the title of the third chapter. (HM)
[225]Juwârish
is an electuary, a medicine made to be licked. (CP)
[226]literally,
Moon Wood; sometimes HM translates this as aloes. (CP)