Straight to the recipe A recipe from 1001 nights There are few Europeans who can read and understand Arabic, let alone medieval Arabic, and I am not one of them. That is why the translation in English of the tenth century Kitāb al-Ţabīkh of al-Warrāq from Nawal Nasrallah is so valuable (also literally, the book is quite…
lamb meat
Lamb-chops Pie
Straight to the recipe A Dutch recipe from the eighteenth century To serve lamb on Easter Sunday is an ancient custom. Although this recipe is not specifically intended for an Easter meal, this pie will be a great succes when served on the occasion. With a salad or mixed spring vegetables this is an excellent…
Arabian meatballs
Straight to the recipe Tasty tidbits The recipe on this page was prepared, together with Arabian pasties, clareit and medieval wafers, for the opening of an exhibition in the Utrecht University Museum on the medieval text Sidrac. The focus was on the Middle Dutch translation, Sidrac. There is also a late-medieval translation of this text, Sidrak…
La Varenne’s meat stock
This is the first ‘historical’ recipe for stock on my site. This meat stock is taken from Le cuisinier françois by François Pierre la Varenne, from 1651. It is the opening recipe in the book, a real basic recipe. The stock is made with a lot of meat, and all kinds of it: beef, mutton, fowl. From…
Concentrated veal stock and lamb stock
Concentrated veal stock or jus de veau is a staple in the classic French cuisine. It is used in sauces, seldom if ever as a base for soup. Veal bones are rich in gristle, which results in a stock that forms a jelly when it is cold. However, the resulting jelly is not firm enough…
Arab meatballs with aubergines
Straight to the recipe During the caliphate of the Abbasides (749-1258 AD) the Arab cuisine was at its prime. In its heydays the Caliphate spread from modern Tunesia to India. The culinary arts were highly regarded. Poets composed works on their favorite dishes, cookbooks were dedicated to the caliphs. There were also scientific works on the…