Akkadian (from the Epic of Gilgamesh)
While some might call the translated passages “recipes,” working recipes they were not. Neither cooking times nor quantities of ingredients are given. Cooking procedures are either not instructional or not precise. To complicate matters further, many of the dishes call for ingredients that are either still completely unknown to us or, although identified, have passed from modern use. — Dr. Alice Slotsky
This week, I introduced my students to some “baby” Akkadian–and one of our first Akkadian words was “kabābu”–since we were discussing cooking in Mesopotamia. In a city where kebabs can be found on almost every corner, the connection between this ancient word, which means “burning,” and the Arabic word “kebab” was clear.
One of the most exciting moments in my doctoral studies was when my Akkadian professor, Dr. Alice Slotsky, cooked up “cuneiform cuisine” for over 100 people–using ancient recipes found on cuneiform tablets in the Yale Library. Now, my students here in Beirut want to try cooking up our own version of “cuneiform cuisine.” If you would like how to learn how to cook “Meat Assyrian Style” (ashshuriâtum shirum) you can follow the recipe that she translated below. To read more about “Cuneiform Cuisine: Culinary History Reborn at Brown University,” please go here.
MEAT ASSYRIAN STYLE
Akkadian:
me-e shirim shi-rum iz-za-az me-e tu-ka-an li-pi-a-am ta-na-ad-di [break in tablet] karsum ha-za-nu-um te-te-er-ri me-eh-rum shuhut innu i-sha-ru-tum ash-shu-ri-a-tum shi-rum iz-za-az me-e tu-ka-an li-pi-a-am ta-na-di [break in tablet] ha-za-nu-um zu-ru-mu da-ma sha du-qa-tim tu-ma-la kar-shum ha-za-nu-um te-te-er-ri me-he-er na-ag-la-bi
English Translation:
Meat (cooked in) Water. Meat is used. Prepare water; add fat, [break in tablet], mashed leek and garlic, and a corresponding amount of raw shuhutinnû. Assyrian style. Meat is used. Prepare water; add fat [break in tablet], garlic and zurumu with [break in tablet], blood, and mashed leek and garlic. Carve and serve.
Working Recipe:
Chop/slice/dice: (many) onions, shallots, garlic, chives, leeks, scallions. Fry in oil until soft. Brown all sides of an eye round pot roast in this mixture, add salt to meat and onion mixture. Turn down heat, and simmer until done in a small amount of water to which a quarter to a half bottle of Guiness stout has been added, turning once or twice during cooking. Remove meat. Boil down onion-beer mixtures until it is reduced to a thick vegetable-rich gravy. Carve and serve.
