Bill Sutherland from Cambridge, UK, a popular netizen surprised the audience with his tweet, wherein, he presented an authentic Babylonian recipe- almost a 4000-year-old cuisine! Making it as one of the rarest Mesopotamian cuisine you can ever find.
Bill claims that the recipe is inscribed on a piece of a tablet that dates to 1750 BCE.
I blame lockdown but for some reason decided to cook Babylonian meal from the recipe tablet on the right; at 1750 BCE are the oldest recipes existing. Seemed to go down OK "Best Mesopotamian meal I have eaten".
A thread 1/6 pic.twitter.com/gqYMJopbxM— Bill Sutherland (@Bill_Sutherland) June 28, 2020
This ancient Mesopotamian masterpiece consists of, ‘stew of the lamb’ a dish made of barley cakes and seasoned with crushed garlic toppings was cooked by his daughter Tessa. It is further accompanied by one of the oldest stew considered in the world known as ‘Tuh’u’, ‘ Saute leek’, and the delicious yet weird ‘Elamite Broth’ (cooked with the sheep’s blood).
Stew of lamb. This was simple and delicious. Crumbled in a couple of barley cakes (made by daughter Tessa), which made a rich unctuous sauce. Crushed leek and garlic topping gave it an sharp edge 2/6 pic.twitter.com/5UlPUc2plF
— Bill Sutherland (@Bill_Sutherland) June 28, 2020
Unwinding. Saute leek and spring onion then baked with sourdough crumbs. Looks good but bit boring. 4/6 pic.twitter.com/526GzPT4Rf
— Bill Sutherland (@Bill_Sutherland) June 28, 2020
Bill shared the source of these peculiar recipes- the book Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights of the Yale Babylonian Collection, edited by Angele W Lassen, Eckart Frahm, and Klaus Wagensonner.
There is a serious and fascinating research area of experimental archaeology, but this wasn't that and just for fun.
All the recipes from this wonderful book on the extraordinary Yale Babylonian Collection.
Heard about the book from a tweet by Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid @Moudhy 6/6 pic.twitter.com/3MSq4Rs9do— Bill Sutherland (@Bill_Sutherland) June 28, 2020
Perhaps, you can certainly try your chef skills on this recipe during this lockdown and immerse yourself in the ancient Mesopotamian culture. Indeed, a bon appetit!
