The sweet and the savoury

As Ramadan approaches, Fayza Hassan revisits the elaborate gastronomic traditions of the Middle East
Sweet jewelled rice: This Iranian recipe is hardly as sumptuous as the dishes of old, but is exotic enough to give us an idea of what pleased the delicate palates of the caliphs. It includes basmati rice, sour cherries, different kinds of berries and nuts, as well as saffron and lots of candied fruit
(From Claudia Roden's Tamarind and Saffron, Favorite Recipes from the Middle East, Viking, 1999)
Until quite recently, when economic conditions forced women to join the remunerated work force, the kitchen was the wife's exclusive domain, whether or not she had the benefit of hired help. In the Middle East, however, men from the upper classes, who considered that a well-rounded education was not complete without knowledge of gastronomy and the culinary arts, were traditionally the authors of cookbooks.
During the Abbasid period, a refined culinary literature began to flourish; descriptions of various dishes appeared in poetry and medical treatises as well as regular recipe books. In a little- known article titled "Recherches sur les documents arabes relatifs a la cuisine" (research on Arab documents related to cooking) and published in the Revue des études islamiques (1949), Maxime Rodinson attributes the fashion for displaying a keen interest in cooking and practicing the art as a hobby to the appearance of small cliques whose members lived in incredible luxury and were bound together by a code of excellence. Among these elitist groups, a passionate desire for the good life naturally developed, and members of the group were judged by their exquisite refinement (or lack thereof) in the ways they were able to use the rarest luxury goods. The more ostentatious the consumption, the better it reflected the wealth and culture of a man of leisure. Ultimately, he was required to become a connoisseur of the best meats, the best liquor, the best potions, the best furniture -- of anything, in other words, which might contribute to making life easy and enjoyable.
In this respect, Abbasid civilisation found its model in Graeco-Roman culture, in which cooks had come to occupy such a prominent place. Under the Greeks and Romans, the perfect cook was required to be versed in literature, philosophy, medicine, and the writings of Democritus and Epicure. In Rome, it was customary to spend lavishly on banquets and on the cooks who prepared them. The discovery of a new recipe was an event of infinite magnitude, and was discussed for days on end, especially if the ingredients used in its preparation were rare and extremely expensive.
Rodinson mentions a Pahlevi text indicating that similar preoccupations were common in the Sasanid court. It relates the tale of King Khusrow-i Kavatan who, before hiring a young page to his court, endeavoured to test him personally on his knowledge, asking the young man to list the most palatable dishes in the world, the most extraordinary birds, the most digestible meats, the most savoury broths, the most delicious fruits, the healthiest grains, the oldest wines, the seven best ingredients for soup, the flowers with the sweetest perfumes, the most beautiful women and the fastest steeds.
It is by and for such a frivolous and immensely rich public that culinary treatises were produced. Unfortunately many of these works have been lost, but a few, often incomplete, opuses have been preserved, while others are mentioned in indexes or referred to in various ancient texts. These traces, at any rate, suffice to inform us that their authors were important people, often guests at the caliphs' table, courtiers partaking of the brilliant life at the court of Baghdad and generally sharing in the elite's leisure and pleasure. One such author is the general and prefect Al- Harith Ibn Bashir, who lived in the time of Haroun Al-Rashid; and later, in the ninth century, others included the astronomer Yehia Ibn Abi Mansour Al-Mawsili; Prince Ibrahim Ibn Al-Mahdi and renowned poet Ibrahim Ibn Abbas Al-Souli.
In 1009, the Egyptian historian Mohamed Ibn Ubaydallah Al-Mussabihi wrote a culinary treatise comprising 1,500 pages and a few years later, the Baghdadi physician Yehia Ibn Eissa Jazla wrote his Risala fil-Sukkar (treatise on sugar), which aimed at instructing its readers on the preparation of honey, milk, musk, vinegar, amber and camphor.
Around a hundred years later, a cookery book titled Kitab Al-Wusla ilal-Habib fi Wasfi Al-Tayibati wal-Tib (book of the bond with the friend, or the description of good dishes and perfumes) appeared. According to cookery scholar Claudia Roden, it "exists in at least ten handwritten copies, each with minor variations and additions. One manuscript is in the British Library... Others are in Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo, Bursa, Mosul, Paris and Bankipore in India... The true origin, date and authorship are uncertain; but it is very likely that it dates [from] the Ayyoubid period in Syria and that it was written by someone close to the courts because of the many references to the Sultan, his cooks and the royal kitchens. It may have been a Prince or a grandson of Safadin and great-nephew of Saladin, or the historian Kamal ad-din ibn al- Adim, or the poet and historian Ibn al- Jazzar."
This book, which is in the process of being translated for the first time, "is in two parts, one of which is on table manners, while the other contains the recipes. A chapter is devoted to perfumes and incense, another to drinks and juices. There are seventy-four recipes for cooking chicken and recipes for fried and roast meats as well as omelettes and stews. Vegetables, rice, wheat, fruit and yoghourt dishes are featured and there is a chapter on desserts and pastries."
The first Middle Eastern recipe book to be published and translated, according to Rodinson, is a work by Shamseddin Ibn Al-Hassan Al- Baghdadi, a savant who wrote his Kitab Al-Tabikh (Cookery-book) around 1226. This work has been edited by Dawoud Celebi and translated by A J Arberry. Little is known about the author, except that he was a staunch partisan of gastronomic pleasures, judging them far superior to those provided by rich clothes, good music, sex, and wine. It appears that he wrote the book for himself, noting briefly his favourite recipes.
In the preface, after the customary thanks to God and his Prophet Mohamed, the author gives general advice to the cook, enjoining him to keep his nails short and his pots clean. He describes the utensils that are necessary, the wood to be used to fire the oven, the ways to clean meat and fish and how to ensure that the spices are fresh. The body of the work is divided into 10 chapters:
1. Sour dishes: the author notes that some of these dishes require sugar, honey, sweet grape juice, or syrup while others are preferred in their natural acidic state. Twenty-two recipes are provided, with a special section giving six recipes for milk dishes.
2. Simple dishes: 18 different recipes.
3. Fried and dry dishes: eight recipes, followed by 22 recipes for sweet dishes and a section on the preparation of poultry.
4. Harisa (a dish made of meat and flour) and tannour (dishes cooked in the oven): 19 recipes.
5. Fried dishes: 10 recipes, including fried marinated vegetables and maqlouba (a dish including fried ingredients, usually meat vegetables and rice, that is turned upside down onto the serving dish after cooking).
6. Fish dishes: five recipes for fresh fish, five for salted, and three for herring.
7. Pickled vegetables: four recipes; five recipes for small hors d'oeuvre consisting of vegetables cooked in milk, and five dessert recipes.
8. Jawadib: sweets made of crushed almonds and walnuts (eight recipes) and ahbisa, a sort of sweet jelly made with syrup and sesame oil (six recipes).
9. Desserts: nine recipes.
10. Biscuits, cakes, pastries, etc: 14 recipes.
In total, the book includes 159 recipes, undoubtedly the author's favourites; all are written clearly and precisely, indicating personal knowledge (and probably great practice) of the art of cooking.
With the dimming of life in the brilliant Middle Eastern courts, culinary treatises written by men of leisure for their own enjoyment and that of their peers began to disappear. Epicureans of lesser nobility, who tended to note the recipes that attracted their attention for their private use, kept the art of cooking alive. Few of these have survived.
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