The World That Was

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'm going to be making a simple party dish - recorded by a Syrian writer in the 13th century! Though the dish is described very literally as "gourd dish", it is, in fact, a delightfully savoury and crunchy snack that can be served at parties alongside a simple yet nutty dipping sauce! Thanks again to Charles Perry for the translation of the original Arabic! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like my recipes, consider checking out my Patreon! Ingredients (serves 4) 1 - 2 courgettes / zucchinis (or 1 bottle gourd / calabash) 1/2 cup walnuts (finely ground) 1/2 cup tahini paste bunch of finely chopped mint 1 tbsp ground coriander 1 tbsp ground cumin lemon juice (to taste) honey (to taste) olive oil / sesame oil (for frying) Method 1 - Prepare Ingredients To begin making this dish, we need to grind up about a half a cup of walnuts into a fine powder...

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'll be taking a look at another medieval Syrian dish - this time, a simple pistachio sauce chicken bake! It's a sweet and savoury take on a staple of near eastern cuisine at the time - fitting for most people in the medieval period to be able to make! As with a few other recipes like this, many thanks to Charles Perry's translations from the original Arabic textbooks! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like what I make, please consider supporting me over on Patreon! Ingredients 250g chicken (any cut) 300g pistachios salt pepper ground cumin ground coriander honey Method 1 - Season Chicken and Bake To begin with, we need to prepare our chicken. Do this by cutting your cuts of meat with a knife, before seasoning your cuts with equal amounts of salt, pepper, ground cumin, and ground coriander. The original recipe doesn't make note of any spices...

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at medieval Ottoman cuisine - specifically the food seen in ottoman courts! The recipe in question is cılbır, or poached eggs with herbal yoghurt. This is a simple yet tasty recipe that is still eaten today in Turkey! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Consider checking out my Patreon if you like these recipes! Ingredients (for 3 portions) 3 eggs 150g greek yoghurt freshly chopped parsley (or dill, or cilantro) 2 cloves garlic ground coriander Method 1 - Make the Yoghurt To begin with, we need to make a simple yoghurt for the eggs to sit on. Start this by finely chopping some fresh parsley - dill or cilantro would have also been used! Toss this into your yoghurt, along with a clove or two of crushed garlic. Mix all of this together, until it's very well combined. Leave it to sit aside while you poach your eggs. 2 - Poach the eggs Place a p...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'm making some hard-boiled eggs in a pine nut sauce, as recorded by Apicius. This is a quick and easy recipe that would have served as a cheap but filling meal for many Romans in antiquity - requiring at least eggs, pine nuts, and garum. However, the recipe recorded by Apicius gives us a glimpse at a more middle-class meal! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like what you see, consider supporting me on Patreon! Ingredients 200g pine nuts (soaked overnight in water) 4 eggs 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp vinegar 1 tbsp garum (or fish sauce) pepper salt dried lovage (or celery seeds, ground) Method 1 - Prepare the Sauce To begin making this recipe, we need to soak our pine nuts in some water overnight. So start making this the day before you want to eat it! Place the soaked pine nuts into a mortar and pestle, and get to grinding. They should break down fairly easily. ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, we'll be taking a recipe from Le Ménagier de Paris - The Goodman of Paris - and recreating some grilled steaks from the 14th century. This book isn't explicitly a cookbook, but moreso a glimpse at everyday life in Paris in the 1300s - including descriptions of social norms - a relative rarity for medieval literature! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! If you like my recipes, consider supporting me on Patreon! Ingredients (for two steaks) 2x cuts of beef (I used striploin, but other cuts work just as well. Adjust cooking time as necessary) 3tbsp red wine vinegar 2tbsp Seville orange juice (or 2tbsp orange juice + 1 tsp lime juice) pepper salt cinnamon oil or fat (for cooking) Method 1 - Prepare the Meat To begin with, we need to deal with our meat. Start by seasoning each side with some salt and freshly-ground black pepper. The original recipe claims that venison...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a quick side-dish from Rome, as recorded by Apicius! He has a few ways of preparing mushrooms, but this is one of the more flavourful methods he shows us! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 500g mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms) 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (or malt vinegar) 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp pepper fresh coriander or parsley Method 1 - Chop the Mushrooms This is a rather simple recipe, but to begin with, we need to prepare our mushrooms. I used chestnut mushrooms, sliced into thin segments, but button or Portobello mushrooms may also be similar to what was available in antiquity, along with edible morels. If you have smaller mushrooms, you can skip slicing these, and proceed with cooking them as is! 2 - Sautee Mushrooms Into a hot pot, pour a generous amount of olive oil - enough to coat the base. On top of this, toss your mushrooms. Spri...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a simple cherry pudding recorded in the 14th century AD - from the region of the Holy Roman Empire! Cherries were (and still are) a very popular fruit to eat, given the extensive range at which they can be grown. The original recipe is recorded in The Forme of Cury - a 14th century English manuscript - but the origin of this recipe likely comes from a central European source, given the variety of recipes recorded here. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above. Consider supporting me on Patreon if you like my recipes! Ingredients 500g fresh ripe red cherries 200ml red wine 100g white sugar 1 tbsp unsalted butter 100g soft white breadcrumbs salt Edible flowers (e.g. clover, lavender, etc) Method 1 - Prepare the Cherries To begin with, we need to wash, de-stem, and stone the cherries. Do this by cutting into them carefully with a knife, before using your thumb ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at another recipe from 13th century Syria - and the anonymously written Scents and Flavours Arabic cookbook - the creamy chicken Jurjaniyyah! The name Jurjaniyyah is derived from an Iranian region - Gorgan - which suggests that this was an imported culinary style, rather than a local recipe! Either way, it's a fairly simple and tasty dish! In any case, lets now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients (Serves 4) 500g yoghurt 1/2 tablespoon flour dissolved in 1 tablespoon water 1/2 tablespoon honey 2 tablespoons mustard seeds ground cumin 250g chicken thighs (or cut of your choice) Method 1 - Bake the Chicken To begin with, we need to cook our chicken. To do this, season a few thighs of chicken with salt, pepper, and freshly-ground cumin. I'm cooking the meat separately to the sauce, which is unusual for meat-based recipes in this time period - but this is s...

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! I hope you all had a great New Year, and are keeping safe and well in these trying times. Today, I'll be making some chicken in a blackberry sauce - as recorded in the “Kitab al-Wuslah ila l-Habib” - a collection of Syrian recipes from the 13th century AD! It's a fairly simple tarty sauce that can be made inside a half an hour, and is a delightful addition to any dish! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 250g blackberries - washed 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp fresh mint (minced) 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp cloves Salt (to taste) Pepper (to taste) 500g chicken (but the cut of meat is up to you) Method 1 - Cook the chicken To begin with, we need to cook our chicken. This recipe claims that the sauce is to be added to the chicken when the meat is finished cooking, so they'll need to be prepared separately. Make a couple of cuts into the chicken, to increase the surfa...

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...