The World That Was

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I’ll be taking a look at a recipe from the Yale Cuneiform Collection, a recipe that was possibly intended for the poorer members of Babylonian society, or indeed something that was eaten during times of famine or war - a turnip and onion stew! Turnips do not appear to be eaten frequently in Babylonian cuisine, and seemingly were seen as a "last resort" to them. In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 1 turnip (shredded) 1 onion (thinly sliced) 1/2 cup rocket/arugula (minced) 1/4 cup parsley/cilantro (minced) 500ml / 2 cups water (or stock) 1 tbsp ground coriander coriander seeds (for decoration) 1 tbsp olive oil (or butter) Method 1 - Prepare the Pot Pour about a tablespoon's amount of olive oil or butter into a pot, and put this over a medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. 2 - Chop Onion Thinly slice an onion - or dice it into small pieces. I...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was Today, I'll be making a recipe based on fragmentary records of Hittite banquets. The Hittites were a population (and empire) located in Turkey, Syria, and Northern Mesopotamia, around the 14th millennium BC! This is a savoury applesauce, in contrast to sweet applesauce that is common today. As the recipe is based on only a few fragmentary ingredients, we'll have to take a few educated guesses. Let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube recipe above! Ingredients: 1 onion (finely sliced) 3 apples (peeled, cored, and chopped) 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon marjoram/oregano (or za'atar, if you have it) 120ml / 1/2 cup water  Method 1 - Prepare the Apples To begin making this applesauce, we need to start with apples. I'd recommend using some green cooking apples - like Granny Smith, or Bramley - but any apple that isn't overly sweet or too bitter would work fine. Peel the skin from about three of the...

Hello and welcome to The World That Was!  Today, we'll be making a lentil and parsnip soup. Lentils and root vegetables - like carrots and parsnips - are some of the oldest ingredients in the kitchens of the past, and would have formed a staple for the diets of people in the Levant! This is a recipe that is not explicitly recorded, but is based on Hellenistic-period accounts of food people ate, such as "a broth of legumes and tubers" In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 carrots (chopped) 2 parsnips (chopped) 1 onion (chopped/diced) 1 clove garlic (crushed) 750ml / 3 cups water (or stock) 1/2 cup parsley/cilantro (minced) 3 sprigs fresh thyme cumin ground coriander Method 1 - Prepare your Pot To begin with, pour some olive oil into a pot. Olives would have been cultivated along the Mediterranean coast of the Levant in antiquity, thanks to the climate, but not much further inland....

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, we'll be taking a step West of Mesopotamia - over to the Levant! I'll be making some ashishim - a savoury lentil dish eaten by the populations present in Israel and Judah in antiquity. There’s no explicit source for this, other than passing references and the word ashishim , so I’ll be attempting to reconstruct what these dishes may have been like! Follow along with my YouTube recipe above, and let's take a look at The World That Was! Ingredients 2 cups red split lentils 1 cup flour 2 eggs 1 cup sesame seeds olive oil for frying honey (optional) Method 1 - Prepare the Lentils To begin with, we need to rinse our red split lentils until the water runs clear. When it's clear, go toss them into a pot. Pour about four cups of water (or chicken stock) into this, so the lentils are covered by water. Place this onto medium-high heat and let them cook them for about 15-20 minutes. Stir this periodically, so nothing gets stuck on th...