4 ms·

What's enlightening is how astonishingly little salt is used, by our standards.

peri-cl 27d ago
The ingredient ratios are the Yale researchers' interpretation—they're not from the source text, https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ancient-mesopotamian-tablet-cookbook https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ancient-mesopota... > "Like most premodern cooking manuals, the Babylonian recipes rarely list the quantities of each ingredient, and so basic experimentation is needed to determine viable proportions for the assembly of a dough or the salting of a stew. The “experimental” approach likewise offers answers to questions that can only be addressed through trial and error. For example, many of the identifications of herbs proposed by modern scholars are based mainly on medical compendia, and some of the plants thus identified can produce an extremely bitter or perhaps pungent taste when used in food." Here's the recipes as literally translated (I used tesseract to OCR): > "Unwinding. Meat is not used. You prepare water. You add fat. (You add) kurrat, cilantro, salt as desired, leek, garlic. You pound up dried sourdough, you sift (it) and you scatter (it) over the pot before removing it." > "Stew of lamb. Meat is used. You prepare water. You add fat. You add fine-grained salt, dried barley cakes, onion, Persian shallot, and milk. [You crush] (and add) leek and garlic." > "Elamite broth. Meat is not used. You prepare water. You add fat. Dill, kurrat, cilantro, leek, and garlic bound with blood, a corresponding amount of sour milk, and (more) garlic. The (original) name (of this dish) is Zukanda." > "Tuh’u. Leg meat is used. You prepare water. You add fat. You sear. You fold in salt, beer, onion, arugula, cilantro, Persian shallot, cumin, and red’ beet, and [you crush] leek and garlic. You sprinkle coriander on top. [You add] kurrat and fresh cilantro."
- PeterHolzwarth 22d ago
  That's a great point, thanks - I didn't think about that angle.
adrian_b 27d ago
The original text linked by another poster says "salt as desired". So the quantity of salt is not specified in the original recipe, therefore it could be the same as any present cook would choose.
- PeterHolzwarth 22d ago
  Yeah, you're right - I didn't think about that. Thanks!

The ingredient ratios are the Yale researchers' interpretation—they're not from the source text, https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ancient-mesopotamian-tablet-cookbook https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ancient-mesopota... > "Like most premodern cooking manuals, the Babylonian recipes rarely list the quantities of each ingredient, and so basic experimentation is needed to determine viable proportions for the assembly of a dough or the salting of a stew. The “experimental” approach likewise offers answers to questions that can only be addressed through trial and error. For example, many of the identifications of herbs proposed by modern scholars are based mainly on medical compendia, and some of the plants thus identified can produce an extremely bitter or perhaps pungent taste when used in food." Here's the recipes as literally translated (I used tesseract to OCR): > "Unwinding. Meat is not used. You prepare water. You add fat. (You add) kurrat, cilantro, salt as desired, leek, garlic. You pound up dried sourdough, you sift (it) and you scatter (it) over the pot before removing it." > "Stew of lamb. Meat is used. You prepare water. You add fat. You add fine-grained salt, dried barley cakes, onion, Persian shallot, and milk. [You crush] (and add) leek and garlic." > "Elamite broth. Meat is not used. You prepare water. You add fat. Dill, kurrat, cilantro, leek, and garlic bound with blood, a corresponding amount of sour milk, and (more) garlic. The (original) name (of this dish) is Zukanda." > "Tuh’u. Leg meat is used. You prepare water. You add fat. You sear. You fold in salt, beer, onion, arugula, cilantro, Persian shallot, cumin, and red’ beet, and [you crush] leek and garlic. You sprinkle coriander on top. [You add] kurrat and fresh cilantro."

PeterHolzwarth 22d ago
That's a great point, thanks - I didn't think about that angle.

adrian_b 27d ago

The original text linked by another poster says "salt as desired". So the quantity of salt is not specified in the original recipe, therefore it could be the same as any present cook would choose.

PeterHolzwarth 22d ago
Yeah, you're right - I didn't think about that. Thanks!