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A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-Andalus

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-Andalus

#7
post #6

> I mean, it’s ridiculous the number of eggs that they used. I often joke that an Andalusian would not have been able to get through a meal without eggs. I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy deserts in Portugal.

> I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy deserts in Portugal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventual_sweets

Egg whites were used to make communion wafers and starch habits so they had a lot of yolks going around.

Re: A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-Andalus

#9

Looks pretty well done but confused why they used art from the Safavids as the cover art. Entirely different cuisine and time period of the contents of the book. Surely they could’ve celebrated art from the region?

What I found "odd" was that an Iraqi author was the first to translate the manuscript and publish the English version - https://www.amazon.com/Delectable-Foods-Dishes-al-Andalus-al... - and yet, while they make a one line mention of this, the whole article is about a British cook and author, and his book.

Re: A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-Andalus

#10
post #6

> I mean, it’s ridiculous the number of eggs that they used. I often joke that an Andalusian would not have been able to get through a meal without eggs. I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy deserts in Portugal.

> I wonder if this is also the origin of so many egg heavy deserts in Portugal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventual_sweets Egg whites were used to make communion wafers and starch habits so they had a lot of yolks going around.

Kind of like how liquid N2 is dirt cheap because people pay a lot for all the other liquified fractionations but air is mostly nitrogen, or veal is in supply because dairy cows have both male and female offspring?

(Have you heard the new rules about dating the novice nuns? They'll allow it on a casual basis — but you're not supposed to get into the habit)

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