The World That Was

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'm making some date-filled cookies described as being votive religious offerings to the Sumerian deity Inanna (also known as Ishtar - to the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians). It's unknown exactly how these cookies were prepared, being only described as "date-filled parcels of dough" - so I've reconstructed this based on modern Iraqi culinary traditions. In any case, let's now take a look, at the World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients (for approx. 8 qullupu ) 1 cup/150g dates, pitted honey water 1 cup white flour 1 tsp salt 2 tsp cardamom powder 2 tsp ground cumin 100g butter, melted milk sesame seeds (for decoration) Method 1 - Make the dough To begin with, we need to make a dough. Pour a cup of flour into a large mixing bowl, along with a pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of ground cumin, and a few tablespoons of cardamom powder - you can buy this pre-ground, or you can tak...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a bronze-age basil sauce - much like modern pesto! The origins of this recipe are pretty vague - contemporary accounts place it in "the North of Italy" - so we can guess this refers to an Etruscan recipe (as it was preserved as "moretum" in early Roman cuisine. While it's unknown if cheese was included in the original dish, the Romans would have included a hard cheese in their moretum. In any case, lets now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 100g Basil leaves 150ml or  1/2 cup Olive Oil 50g or 1/3 cup Pine Nuts 2-4 garlic cloves Method 1 - Prepare the Pine Nuts To begin with, we need to dry-toast our pine nuts. Toss 50g or a third of a cup of pine nuts into a frying pan, and place this over medium-high heat. Stir them around so they cook evenly, and turn a lovely golden colour. It's not known if this was done in antiquity, but it brings o...

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making some honey-stewed stuffed dates - as recorded by the Roman culinary artiste - Apicius. As with most of his recipes, it's a little vague in the ingredients and methodology, but I've tried to recreate this as faithfully as I could! Stuffed walnuts are still eaten around the world today, and they're extremely easy to make, so an excellent thing to make for that special someone this Valentine's Day! In any case, lets now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 12 dates (pitted) 1/4 cup walnuts 1 tbsp peppercorns honey red wine vinegar water Method 1 - Prepare Ingredients To begin with, we need to crush or chop our walnuts. Crush them as much as you like in a mortar and pestle. I prefer large chunks here, so that's what I did. Alternatively, you could just chop these with a knife - its up to you! Place the chopped nuts into a small bowl and leave it aside....

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at an Etruscan onion soup. It's the ancestor to a renaissance dish, "carabaccia" , from the same region as Etruscan society (Tuscany), so it shares similar taste profiles that have been transmitted through the populations of Tuscany for centuries! In any case, lets now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 500g onions (preferably red) 100g almonds (crushed) honey salt pepper 500ml water (or stock of your choice) Method 1 - Prepare the Onions To begin with, we need to peel and chop our onions. I'm using red onions here, because they're similar to the kind of onion found in Tuscany today, but really any onion works here. Cut each onion in half, and slice these halves into very thin pieces. Make sure they're all roughly the same size.  2 - Cook the Onions When you're done dealing with your onions, pour some olive oil into a large pot. T...