The World That Was

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making an Etruscan dish - which is preserved through Roman cuisine through to modernity! The simple testaroli - a rudimentary ancestor to the pasta that we know and love today! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1/2 cup plain flour 1/2 cup wholemeal flour 1 cup water pesto Method 1 - Prepare the Batter To begin with, we need to make the batter. To do this, toss a half a cup of plain white flour into a bowl, along with some wholemeal flour. Mix in an equal amount of water, to form a thin slurry. 2 - Oil the Pan and Make the testaroli When the batter is ready, pour a ladleful into a pan that's been oiled with olive oil. Spread this into a very thin layer, by tilting the pan around. Cook the thin layer of batter for a minute or two over a high heat, or until the edges start to firm up. Don't cook it all the way through! Flip it over and let ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'm recreating some Akkadian bread, as seen in some cuneiform inscriptions, as well as visual representations in carved panels in Akkadian palaces. The original bread has a striking similarity to modern Iraqi samoon - from it's shape to it's description in Akkadian! In any case, let's now take a look at the world that was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1 cup wholemeal flour 2 cups plain flour salt water active dry yeast (or 1/3 cup sourdough starter) milk sesame seeds Method 1 - Preparing the Dough and letting it Rest To begin with, we need to make a starter. The easiest way to do this today is to use some dry active yeast, opening a sachet, and placing it in a bowl with a bit of warm water. But if you have some sourdough starter, you can use 1/3rd of a cup of that instead! But keep in mind that the sourdough starter will affect how hydrated your dough is later on. Pour in 1 cup of wholemeal fl...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a medieval drink from 13th century Egypt - and is still drunk today! A simple, refreshing drink called subiyah/ It was originally made to drink during Ramadan - a holy month of fasting in the Islamic calendar - but this is able to be enjoyed around the year! It's simple to make, and has a very nice crispness to it! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 3-4 slices of sourdough bread (crusts removed) 3-4 cups water 1 tsp cardamom pods fresh mint fresh parsley Method 1 - Soak and Strain Bread To begin with, de-crust three slices of sourdough bread and tear the bread into small chunks, before placing them in a bowl. The original recipe requires "bread" and gives no elaboration - so I went for sourdough because it has a more distinct taste than a regular slice of white bread. In any case, pour in three cups of water into your bowl to ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at a staple of Irish medieval cuisine: the humble nettle soup. Late spring and early Summer is the ideal time to make this dish, as the nettle leaves used here won't have matured fully, and retain a soft, lighter texture than older woodier leaves. Plus they won't sting your hands as badly as mature nettles. Plenty of Irish families have their own takes on this recipe, and this is influenced by my family's take on the tradition! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 2-3 cups nettle leaves 1 onion, minced 2 cloves garlic (or two bulbs of wild garlic, minced) chives (for decoration) butter 1/2 cup milk/double cream 500ml water or stock salt pepper Method 1 - Chop and cook the Garlic and Onion To begin with, we need to peel and chop a whole onion, before tossing this into a pot with some melted butter. You can of course use oil...

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making an Egyptian dish that dates to the pre-Dynastic period (the bronze age) - a simple herb and egg omelette that's still eaten today: "eggah" (in modern Egyptian Arabic). The first records of this dish come from early Arab writers, discussing a much older dish! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above!  Ingredients 6 eggs 1 onion fresh parsley or cilantro ground cumin ground coriander salt pepper olive oil Method 1 - Chop and cook onion To begin with, chop a single onion in half, and peel off it's outer skin. Then slice and dice the onion into small pieces, making sure they're all the same size. Then, pour some olive oil into a pot, and place it over a medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, toss your onion into it and let it sauté away while you mince your parsley. Or coriander, if it doesn't taste like soap to you. When your o...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was This week, I'm recreating some Akkadian Kukku - or "butter-cakes" - which would have been offered to deities, much like the qullupu I made a while ago, which were used in the worship of Inanna! However this dish seems to have been eaten by Akkadian rulers, rather than offered to deities. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1 cup flour 1/2 cup hazelnuts 1/2 cup walnuts 1/3 cup honey 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup raisins (or sultanas) 1 egg dates (for decoration) Method 1 - Grind the Nuts To begin with, we need to crush our hazelnuts and walnuts in a mortar and pestle until they take on a sandy consistency. I left a few chunks in my batch - as you can see here - but I cannot recommend you do this, as it makes it rather difficult to take out of your baking tin later on! So, do as I say, not as I do in this case. In any case, hazelnuts and walnuts would have been ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'll be taking a look at a Byzantine baked cheesecake - that's quick, simple, and very tasty! It seems to be based on an earlier Greek recipe for a baked cheesecake, but was adapted to suit the tastes of Medieval Byzantine elite cuisine! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 500g ricotta cheese (or myzithra, anthotyro cheese) 150g honey 3 eggs flour cinnamon butter (to grease baking tin) Method 1 - Whisk Ingredients To begin with, we need to place our cheese in a bowl. I used ricotta here, because it has a good texture and is widely available, but other soft Greek cheeses would work well - such as myzithra or anthotyro. Into this, pour 150g of honey, and whisk it well. Crack an egg one at a time into the bowl, whisking it until it's well combined before adding two more. Chicken eggs would have been used in this period, along with wildfowl and pi...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'll be taking a quick look at a dish from the Hittites - a stew known from Assyrian sources as "a broth of pulses". Since this is a very vague description (even by bronze age source standards), I'll be basing my version off of with what we know about Hittite eating habits! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1 onion, minced ½ cup broad beans (also known as broad beans or butter beans) ½ cup chickpeas, soaked overnight ½ cup lentils ½ cup yellow split peas ½ cup bulgur wheat ½ cup pearl barley 2 tbsp butter 1 tbsp cumin cumin fresh Rosemary or Thyme 4 cups water or stock Method 1 - Chop and Cook Onion To begin with, toss two tablespoons of butter into a large pot, before placing it over a medium heat. While this is melting, finely mince an onion, before tossing this into the butter when it's melted. Let this cook away for a couple of...