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This Babylonian recipe is one of the oldest recipes in the world. It was imprinted on cuneaoiform tablets 3,700 years ago and it is a recipe for creamy lamb stew. Now, most of the ingredients are things that you can get today, including meat, milk, garlic, leak, and Persian shallot, though regular shallots will do in a pinch. But one ingredient that you won’t find is called risatu. And scholars still aren’t even exactly sure what it is. It’s likely that it was a grain, probably barley, that was mixed with a liquid to make a sort of unleavened bread. What that liquid was or if there were any other flavorings added, that’s unknown. Now, I’ve tried a few different ways of making it, and I think that the best one is a simple mix of barley flour, salt, and olive oil that’s stirred together, formed into thin cakes, and then baked until they’re dry enough to crumble. You want to leave just a few pieces of the risatu, big enough to serve as croutons later on, but the rest gets crushed up and added to the stew as a thickener. Now, lamb or mutton was common in ancient Babylonian cooking, though the shape that they used was very different from what you’ll find at most stores today because they use something called the fat tail sheep, which had well, a fat tail. And that’s the fat that would have been used in this recipe. They’re really hard to find these days where I live, but they are still around in the Middle East, and their fat is prized for its rich flavor and buttery soft texture. The milk used was also probably sheep’s milk, but cows or goats milk, which is what I used, would have also been available. I’m garnishing my finished stew with those risatu croutons and some chopped leak. The flavor of this stew is wonderfully rich without being too heavy. Now, it’s hard to know if this is even close to the original version because recipe writing 3,700 years ago was little more than a list of ingredients with no quantities and very little cooking instruction and some of the words have never actually even been translated. But if this is even a little bit like it, then it is clear that those Babylonian cooks knew exactly what they were doing. The full recipe is up on YouTube or in the Tasting History cookbook.
28 Comments
Fat tail sheep are still common in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
dont give me ideas
Well it’s good to know we haven’t eaten this sheep to extinction (Yet), like so many others.
BUTTery soft texture heh
Can you find something Phoenician?
Persian shallots is way diffrent with regular shallots,
Basically if you mix it with sour yogurt + salt and thyme you made a dip for chips
Risnatu = WHOLE floure & barly + wheat bran + salt + sour dough agent(yeast)
The way you baked it is almost right it has to be slightly thinner.
If you saw it leave a " like" or sth
Cheers
Chef Dude
You can use Sheep milk / buffalo milk was common or normal milk ( but not the milk you buy from store way more thicker than normal milk}) or goat.
Depending to life quality you made it diffrent but buffalo+some sheep milk milk get you there
I noticed that in your shot of pouring the milk, it was dribbling down the jug a little. Try putting a little bit of butter around the spout, it’s hydrophobic so should prevent the water from running down like that
Sheep tail fat is prized in Turkey, especially in the rural areas because of its richness in taste. Yet those in urban centres don't want to even taste it, because of prejudice.
Mark my word, Americans: You don't know what you're missing if you never ate a shish kebap garnished with tiny bits of sheep tail fat.
👍🗣️🦻🏻
Lol how can anyone read that
Did you use full fat milk or modern whole milk? Half and half would be closer than modern whole milk.
I too want to eat a sheep's fat butt
Bring back the fat tail sheep!!!! It's just a little guy!!!!!
A valiant attempt and a most delicious interpretation. Although risnatu is not breadcrumbs, but a fermented & brined prepared ingredient; crushed millet and/or barley berries, yeast, mashed dates and/or figs, with wine vinegar and salt. Some regional variations exempted the dates and figs in lieu of honey and beans — even juniper berries; in many parts of Anatolia, fermented fish (similar to garum) was used instead. Often times risnatu was created from otherwise discarded ingredients, and thus was a way to reduce wastage.
Best to think of the ingredient as being similar to Chinese fermented broadbean. The flavor profile should be umami, sweet, somewhat smoky, slightly piquant, and usually incorporates notes of wood.
Thats correct we have sheep like that in Central asia
Are those the lambs muslims use to bang? 🤢
Fat-tailed sheep got that ba-donka-donk
In Pakistan, we call this sheep “Dumba” and it is still eaten all over Pakistan, especially the northern areas, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The word “dumba” comes from the word “Dum” pronounced “Dooum” which means tail. In the northern areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian countries the the tail of the animal is called “Dumba” but in Pakistan we call the whole animal “Dumba” 😊
i wonder if this was the same dish Jacob gave to Isaac in the book of Genesis.
Why would a cook book not have the amounts? There must have been logic to this practice that was used until recently
am waiting for my cookbook, so excited to get it
Babylon is modern Iraq. 🇮🇶
Fascinating it didn't go rancid after all that time.
Risnatu is believed to be a type of dried barley cake used in ancient recipes. Its exact definition is not clear, but it is commonly accepted among historians and culinary experts.
Imagine that ingredient was marijuana and we've been making bland bread..
3700 soup seasons later, here we still are❤