Recipes
Tenth Century
Find here a number of period recipes with redactions and historical discussions.
Redaction is the review of a period recipe, often without measurements or precise information, to adapt it for the modern cook and kitchen. It's the historian's version of "playing with your food".
Chicken salad with almond butter
aka: Creamy chicken hotdish.
Banana chicken dessert. Very well received at feast.
Thirteenth Century
Sanbusaj: meat filled pastries
We modernly might call them samosa or sanbusa.
Counterfeit (Vegetarian) Isfîriyâ of Garbanzos
Chickpea crepes, dipped in sauces. From al-Andalus.
A bread cooked in layers with cheese, honey and spices. From al-Andalus.
Adapted from Recipe for Thûmiyya, a Garlicky Dish. From al-Andalus.
Maqluba al Tirrikh: Fish cakes
Like modern crab cakes. From Baghdad.
Dressed eggplant by ibn al-Mahdi, second recipe
Eggplant relish for dipping pita.
Isfîriyâ :lamb and walnut "burgers"
In the Middle Ages, patties like these were not served on buns, but the word give you an expectation of the meat item produced.
Small cookies.
A honey-based relish for breads or meats. Egypt.
Modernly we might compare this to hummus, but tahini (sesame paste) was not one of the ingredients included in the Middle Ages. Egypt.
Concentrated drink mix keeps well without spoiling quickly in warm climates. Quince are fruit related to apples.
Beef with quince and jujubes. Served hot over pita. From Syria.
Fourteenth Century
Recipe of Sanbūsaq: Pastries filled with meat
Different versions of this recipe appear in several places. Egypt.
Food and food culture in the Middle East during the Middle Ages were influenced by a variety of factors. The choices and availability of foodstuffs differs from Europe, and changes throughout the time period.
Griffin embroidery. Based on Fatimid-period luster-painted bowl, signed by Muslim. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, item 14930.