A 4000 Year Old Recipe for the Babylonian New Year
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ธ.ค. 2020
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Editor: WarwicSN - / warwicsn
Subtitles: Jose Mendoza
DISH NAME
ORIGINAL c.1740BC RECIPE (From The Yale Babylonian Tablets)
Tuh’u sirum saqum izzaz me tukan lipia tanaddi tusammat tabatum sikara susikillum egegerum kisibirrum smidu kamunum alutum tukammas-ma karsum hazannum teterri kisibirrum ina muhhi sipki tusappah suhutinnu kisibirrum isarutu tanaddi.
Tuh’u. Lamb leg meat is used. Prepare water. Add fat. Sear. Add in salt, beer, onion, arugula, cilantro, samidu, cumin, and beets. Put the ingredients in the cooking vessel and add crushed leek and garlic. Sprinkle the cooked mixture with coriander on top. Add suhutinnu and fresh cilantro.
MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- 1lb (450g) Leg of Lamb Chopped into bite size pieces.
- 3-4 Tablespoon Oil or Rendered Fat
- 1 ½ teaspoons Salt
- 2 Cups (475ml) Water
- 12 oz (350ml) Beer - (A sour beer and German Weissbier are recommended, but any non-hoppy beer will suffice)
- 1 Large Onion Chopped
- 2 Cups Arugula Chopped
- 3/4 Cup Cilantro Chopped
- 2 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds crushed
- 2 Large Beets (approx. 4 cups) Chopped
- 1 Large Leek Minced
- 3 cloves Garlic,
- 1 Tablespoon Dry Coriander Seeds
- Additional Chopped Cilantro for garnish
- Samidu* (Something akin to 1 Persian Shallot)
- Suhutinnu* (Something akin to Egyptian Leek for garnish)
*These ingredients have no definite translation; the shallot and leek are the best guesses of scholars at Yale and Harvard Universities)
METHOD
1. Add the oil/fat to a large pot and set over high heat. Sear the lamb for several minutes in the oil until lightly browned.
2. Add the onions and let cook for 5 minutes, then add the beets and let cook for 5 minutes. Then add the salt, beer, arugula, cilantro, samidu (shallot) and cumin and bring to a boil. Mash the garlic into a paste and mix with the leek, then add to the pot.
3. Lower heat to medium and let simmer for approximately 1 hour, or until the beets and meat are cooked to your liking.
4. Once cooked, dish it into a bowl and sprinkle with coriander seeds. Garnish with fresh cilantro and suhutinnu (leek)
PHOTO CREDITS
Crocus: By Safa.daneshvar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, bit.ly/3hfNN7F
Statue of Nabu: By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, bit.ly/2KodVkV
Temple of Nabu at Borsippa: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Ishtar Gate: Joyofmuseums, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
King Marduk-zakir-shumi: By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)Throne Dais of Shalmaneser III at the Iraq Museum.jpg, CC BY 4.0, bit.ly/3nMw22j
#tastinghistory #babylon #akitu
For more Babylonian Recipes, check out www.academia.edu/40639453/Food_in_Ancient_Mesopotamia_Cooking_the_Yale_Babylonian_Culinary_Recipes
Awesome material. Always love the content. Does this link contain the recipe for the beer as well?. Hope you and your loved ones enjoy the new year!! An idea for future episodes maybe the alcoholic mongolian milk they would drink
Been amazing to see just how much this channel has grown over the past year. Hope your life is full to the brim of love and good health for the year ahead, and may the ever expanding Mini-Miller Massaive share the same.
on the site silkroadgourmet.com I found this about samidu: "Samidu = Semolina. Assyrian samidu, Syrian semida “fine meal”, Greek semidalis “the finest flour”. A fine flour called semida in the Talmud (Pesachim 74b, Shabbat 110b, Moed Katan 28a). Semida is the Targum Yonatan translation for solet - also meaning “fine flour”. Probably used in broths, soups and stews to thicken the liquid (much as corn starch is commonly used today), or could be used to form small “dumplings” as is done in Central Asian cooking today."
There's also a bit about Suhutinnu.
Now do some Sumerian dish or ancient Assyrian treats!!! Mesopotamian history is soo interesting, from their culture to their mythology which inspired the AC games and our world as well.
@@OneViolentGentleman nice they would have roux
In today's edition of "I can't believe i get to watch this for free"
Awe shucks.
@@TastingHistory just discovered your channel! loving it!
Oh someone pays...someone ALWAYS pays. Just not us bwahaha
Does anyone here know anything about Jainism? Lamb and beets would both be off the menu for religious belief about plant and animal sentience, and some of the plant sentience, zoonotic diseases and microbes is now backed up by science. When one considers ancient Iraqi and Jewish interaction, vis-a-vis the Babylonian Talmud and other histories, it’s easy to see why this ended up together as a dish while Egyptians ate grains.
@@katemorgan4690 ?????????
It would be funny if 4000 years from now someone is doing a similar cooking show for nachos or something.
"Today we are making a very culturally important dish, which was the central dish in all major celebrations. It is called the Big Mac and is the oldest recipe we know from the The McDonaldian texts"
@@akshaydalvi1534 this is an underrated comment
@@akshaydalvi1534 lol
Imagine if they discover the Philippine recipe Balut, what would the future humans think?
@@DanielRodriguez-bu8du 🤮
As an iraqi from Hilah (babylon province) we still cook a variant of this, we do not add beats, we add chickpeas, and we used bread crumbs when we were under sanctions but now we use regular flour to add thickness
Maybe samidu is semolina flour or flour donu i m Lebanese we say smid to refer to semolina flour
@@elieelias4928 That is exactly what I thought when I saw samidu, it could be that flour was used to thicken the sauce to make it more hearty
Same I immediately thought of semolina (we call it sameed in Saudi)
I totally messed up on this. My turned into a stew of sorts. I didn't have all the ingredients, though. It still tastes amazing, but... it's more a variation of this.
I like chickpeas better than beets, so that’s good to know.
As an Assyrian I found this video touching. We Assyrians still celebrate Akitu to this day, in Sydney we have a big community and celebrate it.
Yes us too here in California we are alive and growing 🥰
Chaldeans.
I thought the Assyrians died out?
@Avery S they're "Neo Assyrians".
@@averykleon you thought wrong.
The Assyrian empire is long gone, but the ethnic group is not.
There're a couple of millions all over the world with quite direct ancestry, and tens of millions in the middle East have some genetic connection.
Last time I was this early, Ea-nasir didn't owe me money for selling me crap copper ingots.
🤣
Perfect! Demand quality copper!
That absolute fucker Ea-nasir!!
Reminder Ea-Nasir did nothing wrong and that Nanni should've just paid the damn debt
I have had enough of this man who should treat a messenger so rudely.
I have called upon Arbituram and Imgur-sin that we should head for the temple and give sacrifice that Marduk may punish one so evil.
I love that you’re reaching the point of literally speaking to Harvard professors for your videos! You’re in the big leagues now
It was surreal.
@@TastingHistory It would be interesting to run this by Irving Finkel over at the British Museum to see what he thinks of it too.
@@TastingHistory you will be soon reach the level of Alex the French guy, who's meeting 3 star michelin chefs ;)
I imagine that Havard prof was very exited to help, I mean your content, it's really really wonderful :)
@@nopenope1 oh Alex the frenchie. *swoon not as good as the sweet Sally Lunn bun that is our gorgous Max (cinnamon roll seems too pedestrian for the lovely max)
and all since covid started. :)
Academians are nearly universally excited to talk about their fields. It's kind of awesome to just drop a quarter in that jukebox and let it play.
Even more when it’s Assyriology! I study ancient Middle Eastern history and Assyriology is way overshadowed by Egyptology.
@@MegaCatGirl13 Consider the quarter dropped. Go for it.
@@ericthompson3982
I second this!
My wife starting her master's on Ancient Rome, and yes, yes she is
@@MegaCatGirl13 dropping a quarter as well.
One of the most low-key impressive parts of this show is how Max can flawlessly pronounce words and names from any language from any culture from any era in human history.
Same as Paul Cooper.... I don't know how they do it
its definately his superpower
@@jrmckim Respect and dedication
Somewhere in time there is a babylonian screaming: "Tuh'u with no samidu!!?? IN DECEMBER?!!?!? Oh gods!"
Another Babylonian leans over and whispers to the guy next to him “What’s December?”
“Araḫ Ṭebētum”
“Oh, why didn’t he just say that?”
“Beats me.”
@@Matrim42* "beets me" *
Babylonian gatekeeping
Ye gads, my Tuh'u is ruined!
But what if...
I were to grab a bowl from the temple and disguise it as my own?
Oh ho... delightfully Tiamatish, Max.
@@41rmartin I hope at least several others get that reference as well
Secret to a successful TH-cam channel, a host who is truly passionate about their subject.
☺️
Yes! Passionate and charming. Think Bernadette Banner, John Townsend, Jason Kingsley from Modern History, Red and Blue from OSP etc.
Not just that though! Great editing and amazing topics to boot
Passionate and deranged enough to let the TH-cam comments decide on what saus- things to make.
Absolutely agree! :D
Sammidu is Samid in Mesopotamian Arabic I’m from Iraq and we still use the same word till this day with a little bit of different pronunciation in English is called Semolina it’s a coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, pasta, and sweet puddings.
Thank you for your comment. It's surprising to me how somebody from Harvard could be a proclaimed expert/linguist, yet miss this.. I suppose because he is not a native speaker of the descendent language Arabic.
Semolina is derived from the Italian word semolino,[2] 1790-1800; alteration of Italian semolino, equivalent to semol(a) "bran" (Latin: simila, lit. 'flour') + -ino diminutive suffix. In the Lithuanian language sumalta means something that is milled, miltai means "flour" and malti means "to mill", while semolina in Lithuanian language is manai.[citation needed] The words simila, semidalis, groat, and grain may all have similar proto-Indo-European origins as two Sanskrit terms for wheat, samita and godhuma, or may be loan words from the Semitic root smd "to grind into groats" (cf. Arabic: سميد samīd)
@@yousifal-karawi9944Godhuma is still used in multiple Indian languages...
@Layla-df7hp one thing I learned after entering college is that most academics are experts in their study areas but just knowledgeable at a reading level just outside of it - which is still good, but makes it hard to talk to someone who really actually knows about some very specific topic because there might be maybe 10 or 20 people in the world who know it, and maybe a hundred or so that heard about it.
@@Layla-df7hpYou can read the original 1985 article on Google Scholar, they talk about samidu. Other recipes from the tablet rely heavily on it, and a beef broth specifies adding "raw, chopped samidu". In context a flour doesn't make sense, for cooking you would need an onion-like fresh veg.
You know what I like about this channel? If it's good, he lets you know and tells you why. If it's gross, he lets you know and tells you why. That's huge for me, since I love trying ancient recipes and want to know if they're worth my time.
And $.
Very few cooking channels I follow have the same "I need to make that" rate as this one has since I discovered it earlier this year.
The balls on that first priest who convinced his king that he, the king, had to submit to a good slap for the good of his kingdom...
I love it.
I imagine him getting back to his fellow priests and exclaim: "You will not believe this... The king fell for it! We're gonna have some good fun, at least once a year". And from that moment, the most muscular priest was always elected to be the high priest.
Never underestimate the gaslighting power of religion.
A king may make an edict, and most people will follow in fear of prosecution, a priest only need say that a god said something and people would fear terrible wrath in life and/or eternal damnation in death.
Can we institute this in modern governments? You know, just to respect history.
It was probably involuntary because the King was being a moron, then he went like "Uhmm.... CONFESS YOUR SINS TO MARDUK!"
Oh, to have the power to slap a king until he cries
I love how these ancient recipes always sound a bit like grandma's recipes: a list of ingredients with no quantities, some mystery ingredients, and hope and pray for the best xD
And yet they are somehow always the best :) (atleast when you are able to decrypt them hahaha, including the sometimes legitimate errors/typos in the written recipe themselves)
@@ColdSword816P totally! Decrypting grandma's recipes is a life skill to be perfected!!
(although I find there's that special Grandma factor that is always missing in my attempts)
@@lemondrizzlecake7766 thats why you have to learn with them :)
Lmaooo
Yep. That’s how I learned to cook! Everything is by feel, sight, smell & taste. Ive tried writing down some of the recipes I was taught & had someone else cook them from those recipes but they never turn out quite right.😕🤷🏻♀️ I was taught many such recipes by my two Southern grandmas & my Cajun grandpa’s 14 brothers & sisters. As well as a few more Cajun cousins’ grandmas during summer trips to New Orleans.
Samidu means "fine meal" or today it's semolina.
suhutinnu just means root vegetable, they used either parsnip, turnip or carrot, depending on what was available.
Ahh thanks for the clarification, always nice to see folks continuing such a history, intentionally or not! Maybe we'll see a bona-fide version of the dish!
Source?
@@origami_dream Source? I made it up bro
I'm surprised this Harvard expert of his couldn't figure out the most basic of words lol. Anyone who speaks closely-related languages to that can figure that out.
The translation as "semolina" also explains the use of water in the recipe, which seems to have baffled Max. It would be a thickened stew similar to many other stews with lentils or pulses in this area's cuisine.
I'm Chaldean, which originates from Babylon. There is a half million of us in the United States. I appreciate this helpful information about my heritage.
Thank you
Had to share-My husband coined this “Babylambian” stew.
That man has the makings of a great dad.
Read it as Bambi-lambian
omg fabulous
I laughed so hard at this I almost had to call a bambulance!
Babylambiyum stew!
One of my favourite Sumerian texts was from a diary of a wealthy teen who detailed his morning breakfast as "honey cakes". He was going to ask his father to petition (read: bribe) his teacher to give him higher marks. Nothing every changes. :)
Lmaoo 😂 what is this Sumerian text called? I would like to read it too
If i were the dad, you would get a slap. Fawking study, you think honey cakes are cheap??!!
Oldest joke recorded was sumerian as well. "She isn't your wife until she farts on your lap."
Man, those sumerians were jokesters.
@@athenahepler4030 Wait, I thought the earliest written joke was written during the Viking era (for lack of a better word lol)? RIP
@@GOFFBITZH666 I want to hear Viking jokes RIGHT NOW!!! :D I don't know any! Plenty of Roman/Grecian/Persian ones though
My wife is Assyrian. Since we were married nearly 20 years ago, I’ve tasted a wide variety of dishes I might never have experienced. I’ll have to ask my mother-in-law if she’s heard of this stew. It looks terrific! Thanks for sharing this.
I was going to check with my friends too! Please let us know! I am Lebanese and my grandparents were in the Armenian genocide, so we do cook a wide range following all the cultures that we were in contact with! We make a stew from Turnips, very similar to the steps of "Tuhu" but I have never heard of Beet Stew!
@@mahahanna2417 Did either of you get to talking to your families about this?
I'd love to know if this is still known, or analogous to something still done :D
In Ukrainian cuisine we have the same dish. It's called a "shpundra". This dish is made with fatty meat, lots of beets, onions, garlic, spices roots and a secret ingredient that is also product of fermentation. We prepare it for the holidays, especially for Christmas.
Sounds like Ukrainian vereshchaka (верещака) to me, which is like the same thing but in different region I guess. My take is that it's an extremely archaic recipe found in most Indo-European cultures. People just forgot about it probably, since beets are not really eaten by anyone nowadays, except for us and maybe a couple of other cultures around the area.
This reminds me,its hughly possible that our original slavic homeland was a tributary kingdom to akkadia
@@kristiankonev5190 it's sort of funny to hear, giving me flashback (and still "flash-present"?.. haha 🤔), because one of famous myths of Muscovian propaganda claims that Ukrainians "believe and study in school being the descendents of ancient Sumerians" (also as like we study that "dug out the Black Sea" on our own) 🤣
Ah, sweet times.
@dejuren 1000 years ago there was no such country at all, only woods and swamps, where it appeared couple centuries later.
What's your point anyway?
@dejuren lmao, what are you talking about?
Where is politics in history and how in the world did you conclude thing about similarity? Like, what do you know about it at all? 😂
I won't even write about your particularly ridiculous and childish complain regarding matter of lives and death of humans, while sitting in comfort at your home and doing nothing.
I feel that garum has become this channel's answer to Townsend's nutmeg.
Babish’s kosher salt and Adam Ragusea’s white wine.
@@parkchimmin7913 "Why I season my cutting stone slab , NOT my sea serpent/dragon steak".
P.S. - You know you have damned us all by evoking THAT particular latter name, right?😒
@@SeymoreSparda MUHAHAHAHA
YSAC’s “Pepper pepper pepper” and HowToBasic’s “A AG UAH **Throws eggs** “
@@parkchimmin7913 and Food Wishes cayenne, Sam the Cooking Guys Avacado Oil, Not Another Cooking Show's cutting board.
McMarduk's - “Two all lamb patties, special garum sauce, lettuce, goat cheese, pickles, onions, on a še-giš-ì-seed flatbread bun.”
You're old (which is a good thing).
Yummy 😋
That... actually sounds pretty friggin boss right now, ngl
Yes, please
😆😍😍
We happened to have some fresh lamb on hand and decided to give this a try. The only primary change we made was to omit the cilantro (no one else in the house likes it but me). As an alternative, I added some dill weed and fennel seed. Everyone LOVED it! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
I went to that museum after being obsessed with babylon for years as a teen, didn't disappoint. It is extraordinary. To think that this was only the front gate, and there was an even bigger one behind this one.
“Oh excuse me, I just dropped a name.”
I will be using this, tyvm.
🤣
I'm sure pretty much everybody here will be.
That line had me laughing so much I needed to rewind the video to hear the part I was laughing over.
@@TastingHistory "I got that joke from my very good friend Max Miller... hang on a sec, I just dropped another name..."
@@sid2112 Lol, same here. :D
I think we need to bring back the ritual yearly slap for all our world leaders.
I wonder what Ritual Humiliation would do to them in our culture.
@@jasonbelstone3427 made me think about stuff like the correspondants dinner in the white house
@@McDonaldsCalifornia Words, especially from comedians, don't hurt *that* much.
I'd just be disappointed it only happened once a year. Now every week, that I could really get behind, because you know they've done something to deserve it.
Yaaassss!!!
as someone who studies classical languages, I can confirm that it is basically a very long game of telephone
Assyrians we still exist
I made it and it's amazing. Word of advice though, remember you ate this. The next day I went to the bathroom and saw the water turn red. I thought it was blood and got pretty scared until I remembered I ate like 5 beets the day prior.
My cousin and boyfriend did the same thing except with red velvet cupcakes I had made. Between the two they ate like 30 of them. I was pissed because they were for a coworkers going away party, so I had to make more. The next day at while I was at work they called me freaking out thinking they were dying because of the bathroom troubles. I asked my cousin what happens when he eats too much borscht and he goes oh ok we will be fine then. They learned that day that boxed cupcake mix uses beet dye and pigging out isn't cool either
@@levoices should've told them "ya ur going to die, because i poisoned them" so that they learn their lesson into not stealing things that aren't for them :)
@@levoices Holy smokes how much red food dye did you use?!?! I’ve never seen a red velvet cake, (which is actually just a chocolate cake) SO RED that it would cause someone to pee red! You would have thought that their teeth and mouth turning red would have been a clue! 😂
@@meanhe8702 lol, it was one of the box cake mixes like Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker. I make cupcakes and cakes from scratch now though because it tastes way better and is not as sugar laden (box mix angel food cake tastes like pure sugar)
@@levoices ngl that sounds kinda douchie to just eat something that isn't yours not to mention 30 cupcakes
"Who else is so generous with their time and their knowledge".
Well you are, mate. Thank you for that.
Good point!
As an Assyrian I thank you for this video. It’s not everyday we find ourselves talked about in history based videos.
Being from the Middle East myself this word Samidu is a word that we use in Arabic and Syriac daily and it means flour( the coarse granular one)
I cooked a couple of Tasting History recipes as a meal for for my family this evening. I'm not a very skilled cook, but they turned out really well and everybody enjoyed them. I managed to feed my mum and dad, who are in their 60's and have tried all sorts or cuisines, as well as my son who's 13 and a fussy eater, and all of them got to try something new and different, and a learn a little about food history at the same time. It was a really fun thing to do, and I just want to say thank you to Max for making these videos, which allowed me to share that experience with them.
Which ones? No spartan blood smoothie I assume?
Which meals did you make them?
@@morganblackpowder1724 I made a mix of medieval and Tudor meals, as I had to try to make something of a variety of people, but I called it a 'medieval feast' anyway. I made the 'Farts of Poirtingale' meatballs, as they seemed a bit Christmassy, and served them with the medieval 'Loseyns' and the 'Galingale' sauce. The meatballs were fantastic, the Loseyns were really good. The Galingale sauce was a bit sour, but Max specifically said to be careful with the vinegar, and I just sloshed a bunch in anyway at the last minute as it looked dry, and I usually like vinegary dishes- so probably my fault that one didn't turn out great.
My advice for other viewers would be: a) make the 'Farts'- they're really good. b) maybe put the 'Loseyns' in the oven for 10 minutes after assembly to make sure the cheese melts through. c) Listen to Max about the vinegar in the 'Galingale' sauce- even if you really like vinegar, you don't want too much of it in that sauce, as it doesn't complement the rest of the ingredients if you use too much.
I cheated on the lasagne sheets for the 'Loseyns' and just used commercial noodles. The standard ones were fine, but I also did a few gluten-free sheets for one diner, and they really stuck together whilst cooking, and broke apart when I tried to retrieve them. GF lasagne needs to be treated carefully if you're going to boil them in broth.
Anyway, thanks again to Max for all the recipes, and for liking my comment, so that others got to read this. 'Tasting History' is a truly wonderful TH-cam channel, and a wonderful community. I'm really looking forward to planning another historical meal using these videos.
"I'm sorry, I just dropped a name" is a good joke. 10/10
I actually looked for half a second to see the dropped name, until I got the joke. 🤣
I dont understand
Teenytiny correction: Tiamat wasn’t an evil being, she was just Marduks opponent. She was just a regular goddess that happened to be on the losing side.
She tried to kill her children
@@davefletch3063 and so did zeus, and odin only difference being they succeeded.
Not to mention the judaic god, who if the Old Testament is to be taken at face value, literally killed every human other than one family.
I could keep going on and describe every pantheon to you if i wanted to but, i think you get the point.
@@cyruskhalvati the Judaic God is the same as the Summerians God. So is Zeus and Odin. It's the same exact story with differing embellishments. Particularly the Greek and Roman Gods. Mars is Marduk
She was effectively female scaly Kronos. To proclaim that she wasn't slightly evil is akin to saying rocks aren't hard.
@@cyruskhalvati
Tbf, no one said These deities weren't morally Reprehensible, the dude only said Tiamat was a monster.
As a history major in college I had to make this recipe. It was so good and liked by my boys that it's become a repeat dish. Also pairs well with Dogfish Head's Midas Touch (from their ancient ales series.) Thanks Max for the excellent recipe, history lesson, and entertainment.
I'm an Assyrian Babylonian. I came out with all this information in my cook book, Authentic Assyrian Recipes Cookbook, in November 2019. Since then, I'm glad to see many chefs interested in this information, making youtube clips about it, and actually cooking from these tablets. I'm not mad at you for making it for Western New Years Eve. I'm proud you made it. Thank you. We're a dying breed but you'll enable us to live on. I had a TV show talking about these things for the last 25 years on AssyriaSat. I'm glad someone like you has come to replace us as we get old and die out. BRAVO
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked the episode. I'd love to check out your cookbook. It sounds quite unique.
Thank you for your work in spreading and curating this information!
Thank you for preserving culture and food. Can you imagine if one day, as we spread out among the stars, this dish is eaten under the light of a new sun because you took the time to record history?
Is there really a link between the people who are now called "Assyrians" and the ancient Assyrians? And are today's Babylonians actually descended from the ancient Babylonians? Anyway, thank you for releasing my king; I'm Jewish.
Mr Hayat, it would be the same thing only changed. Everyone knows who the Armenians are. Everyone knows about the Greek people. We also are aware of ashkenazim and sefardim. Why would we deny the assyrian people? It really has been a long couple thousand years
Me and my mates are throwing a Tasting History themed NYE party with all your recipes!
Hope it goes well!
Sounds like a great idea! May I join? I take the Victoria Punch :D
I want pictures of that.
@@TastingHistory we all do! Videos of the actual tasting along with a menu type program to follow. You know, nothing *too* fancy! 😉
There better be lots of shouts of "SATURNALIA!"
The Samidu in Arabic we call it Sameed and in English Semolina. they mentioned water because it needs water while cooking you need to add water slowly because it absorbs water very fast.
We made this last night, or a version of this, and it was pretty amazing. We just used contemporarily sourced beets and threw in some other veggies. We also used beef stock instead of water, and I added alot of pepper. But amazing lamb stew, "based" on this recipie.
This is one of the few ancient recipes that seems like it would completely suit modern pallets. It's well seasoned, with seasonings we still use, in combinations we still use, and no weird ingredients. I feel like I could see someone's mom making this on Sunday.
"No no no no! You simply cannot eat this without adding half a pint of Garum first!"
-Ancient dude
Up to but not including garum...
There may not be a lot of Babylonians around these days, but many people still celebrate the new year in the spring. Just ask your Iranian neighbors.
Babylonia is today’s Iraq. Persia is today’s Iran. The Hebrew calendar also celebrates New Year in Spring! The month of Nissan.
Makes more sense to celebrate New Years in the spring, too. Spring is the beginning of new life 🌸 In winter everything is still dead 💀
I think we all know in our bones that the new year actually begins with Spring. Jan-April is just the drag ass of the old year.
This is so incredible! I just discovered you channel, I love the mic of cooking and history, and the way you tell the story is so compelling! You have a new subscriber!
I don’t know how I ended up finding this channel… but now I’m HOOKED! Thank you for all your hard work 😍👏🙌
Imagine being a priest and you accidentally knock the king out cold with one slap
King: (wakes up... breaks out into tears, sobbing and blubbering)
Priest: (sighs in relief)
Marduk likey.
Marduk: "I approve"
Marduk: "... Get up, you lil' bitch. You're supposed to cry for me, not bleed all over my temple. "
"hehe... *accidentally*... of course..."
The book A Brief History of Vice has a whole chapter on making that very Babylonian beer if you're looking for a handy resource.
I’ll check it out!
Robert is a king. Check out his podcast Behind the Bastards
@@photonman63 damn straight. All his projects have been gold.
This is such a great channel. The history of an area with a dish made the proper way. Thanks for this!
What I love about your videos is that you are usually (if not always) tasting the finished dish yourself for the first time, and that really makes the idea of trying the dishes that much more appealing.
Im Assyrian, my grandmother was born near modern Mesopotamia. Its so cool to see our culture represented!!!
Your ancestors probably ate this and now you can make it today so many years later, it's crazy!
Do you still eat this? Or something similar on the new year?
So, Iraq.
You can no longer be Assyrian, the land has long been divided into other countries. Like, ottoman empire long. Wtf
@@Popetdoodle Assyrian people are still a group, just because they don't have a country doesn't mean they don't exit, the Basque don't have a country but they still exist, there are thousand of other group in the same situation
🎶 Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1740 B.C.E. 🎶
Let’s move some statues!
@@TastingHistory You think that they didn't just walk around, but had them groovin' to some sick lyre and drum beats?
B.C.E mean Before Christ Calendar. So what is year 0 in Babylonian Calendar?
BCE= before common era, based on Gregorian calendar.
The Babylonians used a lunar solar calendar, so it would be interesting to see what they use as their “year zero.”
@@JohnSmith-ch9sm They might have just thrown some cheap beads over the statue and had them in the middle of everything, that's what happened last time I went to my local witches ball for Halloween XD
I finally cooked this today and it was delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe. It is definitely one that I will be making again.
I would have made it at the start of the month for the Akitu festival timing but I had Uni application stuff. Still, Happy New Year!
I hope that we get to see more Bronze Age recipes in future. I look forward to seeing what comes up.
I love this content! It fuses together two of my favorite subjects. Food and history. I adore your commitment to saying all names properly too. It makes it all the more interesting.
The “one second, I just dropped a name” statement and action warranted a like and a comment.
i didnt get it, what does it mean?
“Dropping a Name” or “Name Dropping” is a very common English expression for when someone refers to a person (usually a famous person) in a conversation. At 1:25 in the video, he uses the expression and pretends like he physically dropped something and was reaching down to pick it up.
Passion, history, respect for cultures, bad puns... This channel has everything!
And cooking, don't forget the lovely cooking
He really expresses his love for the topic, and his storytelling draws one in. That he delivers on the plate just makes it perfect.
It's funny how me as a Babilonian is learning from him🤣.
These are the names of some Babilonian villages still standing (kinda, isis fucked us)
Tellsqof
Alqosh
Batnaia
Don't forgett the host...
I know I’m new to the channel, but your series is better than anything on history channel. I’m so grateful for your work
I just discovered this channel and I absolutely love it, dude. Keep up the good work
I would not be opposed to more super ancient dishes, never thought you’d go this far back. Still hoping for an Eastern Roman “Byzantine” dish but Damn this is cool!
I'd second that, since Byzantine culture was something of a crossroads between Europe and Asia, so I imagine the cuisine served in the Eastern Roman Empire would be facinating
I would love to know how Alexios Komnenos had his Gyro made.
The Hittites wrote a lot of their recipes down. I'd love to see more recipes from the Bronze age.
@@numb3r5ev3n Oooh good idea!
@@weldonwin Thats what I would think as well. I don’t know anything about their foods but I imagine they’re good.
it makes me really happy to see that Max makes every effort to pronounce names of people accurately, which is harder than one might anticipate as he's trying to master the nuances of many different languages across many families of languages. still, very refreshing to see. And thank you for taking that extra effort, Max.
It’s really amazing! Whenever he (for example) speaks German it sounds really on point. So much, that most of the time l don’t even notice that he switched languages.
A lot of people mangle other languages and I really love that he tries so hard. I mean, that what’s a good content creator is about and that’s why we all love him rambling about historical foods, isn’t it? :D
This reminds me of one of my favorite Persian dishes, lamb and rhubarb stew with pomegranate molasses. Lamb with more robust/strongly flavored produce seems to go so well together!
OMG that sounds amazinggg
Fascinating! I was unaware of this recipe entirely. Thank you all involved for bringing us this amazing dish!
Fun fact: the way they pronounce cumin " kamunum" is almost identical to the way we pronounce cumin in arabic "kamun"
Yeah exactly! Not much has changed
in spanish it is even more similar as it is comino, all the same consonants but different vowels.
@@ernstschmidt4725 i speak both spanish and arabic, and while i agree it's similar in spanish, it's definitely more similar in arabic, if not identical if it wasn't for the final "un"
@@HarunaMaurer tbh that's no wonder, lots of spanish words do come from arabic due the al-andaluz period, and kamun and comino is probably the same. as algodon and naranjas
Assyrian had a huge influence on arabic in general, with the arabic script even originally being derived from a script originally used for aramaic and the languages being in close contact for most of recorded history. So that makes sense and is really cool.
"One second I just dropped a name"😂😂😂
I knooooow!!😄😄
Hope it didn't get dirty 😂
I love this channel. I find it so amazing that a lot of these ancient recipes can be made from my (home dwelling covid 19) pantry.
I tried making this today following your recipe. It turned out really well!!!! Super cool to be eating from this ancient a recipe, thank you for sharing it with us
Also, I just can‘t stop thinking about the priest of Marduk running montage music, doing pushups and hip thrusters, practicing his form and slapping melons or pumpkins until he finally manages to smash one the day before the festival, then going to sleep with a wide grin on his face...
I pity the fool who will be smacked by him
"Do whatever you want" is almost verbatim what my great grandma would say when passing on some of her recipes.
"Was it pecans or walnuts in the fudge?"
"Whichever you like."
"No, I mean when you made it."
"Oh, neither."
🤦
LOL
Or the classic "add whatever you like" and then you ask what they used to use and they respond with "oh, whatever I have at hand" 🤦♀️
@@danadomino Those aren't incorrect answers.
Ask what her favorite nuts are, or pay attention to what's around the house most often
Yes, that is so typical :))))))
Tried making this and was very pleased with the results. Very happy to have found this.
There are so many things I like about Max's videos. I won't be so ambitious as to try to list all of them. A couple of things stand out. His enthusiasm for the food and the historical context is infectious. It is grounded in research and facts and Educated Guesses. Beyond that, his encouragement to viewers who will actually try to make the dishes is wonderfully forgiving. Make any changes you want to suit your taste, he says. You may make mistakes--go back and try again. Literally "hands on" history to connect us to people and places we will never meet but can share some experiences with them. Realistic advice. Thanks again, Max.
the respect and dedication max has for trying to get pronunciation down is always so nice to see, even when the language isn't spoken anymore.
"Pretty good for basically being a 4000 years old game of telephone" it's so true it had me laughing 😂
What if the actual recipe was something completely different but equally awesome?
Poor Amel-Marduk got the short end of the game
@@joshjames582 we'll never know
I made this recipe in the crock pot today, it turned out great! Thank you for putting all this effort in, it really is appreciated.
It is interesting to watch someone, such as yourself, develop their craft where you are much better in later episodes. Watching the contiual improvements is cool.
This channel probably has the most chill comment section (and host for that matter) anywhere on TH-cam
We try to keep it civil 😁
While Max's comment section is classy, I've found that to be the case with a few other channels. Townsends, Tribal People Try,
Steve1989MREInfo, Glen & Friends, Squirmy and Grubs (though there are a few really trollish people at that last one, the vast majority are great). It really has to do with the wholesomeness of the channel and how much people connect with them.
@@mahna_mahna You and I have almost the exact same channels we watch! Though I've never heard of Squirmy and Grubs, are they like the others?
Its nice to know that not all comment sections are cesspools :)
@@mahna_mahna Bernadette Banner's comment section is also fantastically friendly.
The recipe could be referring to lamb tail as "Fat". Lamb tail when seared produces an almost oil like substance and is often used in place of oil, butter and other forms of animal fat. There are also a number of lamb stews from northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Caucasus that have similarities to Tuh'u. The meat of the lamb leg and the bones are cooked in water until it is boiled and then simmered until the water becomes bouillon. The other ingredients that are to be seared until cooked in a separate pot . When both the meat, bouillon, and the vegetables are cooked they are then transferred into clay or earthen cooking vessels. Meat is placed into the vessels first, then the vegetables, followed by the bouillon. It's at this point that often dried fruits, nuts or other ingredients are added to the stew. Then vessels are then moved onto a heated plate or coals(as you prefer) which heats and simmers the stew for an hour or more. just an interesting coincidence
this is a much older recipe than babylonian, it's referenced in sumarian tablets too.
oddly in a medical tablet that I studied in the british museum in bloomsbury.
one wonders if medicinal preparations were considered 'specialist foods'.
it's no wonder people are still eating lamb in the same way in the region millennia later.
the vast majority of people's staple diet was barley and onions in the sumarian world.
we forget that recipes recorded so long ago would have been the food of the elites.
Cooking in a clay pot is a real joy. It takes some getting used to, but once you figure out the temperatures and the timing it is just awesome!
@@michelguevara151 The Sumarians were pre-babylonian Babylonians...
@@crazysilly2914 well, they lived in a region that later belonged to the Babylonian empire, but the languages are vastly different, so they were probably a different "people". Their culture did have a heavy influence on the later Babylonians, though...
@@JeiFaeKlubs Kinda like the greeks influencing the romans?
Just love your videos! The recipes, the history, the food details. Your comment about the trio of condiments that would be on the Babylonian table (date vinegar, sesame oil & garum) reminded me of the typical condiments on the table in any Thai eatery (restaurant or street hawker) - fish sauce, vinegar with chilis, sugar & dried ground chili. Also interesting to note the use of coriander seeds as a condiment on the stew. Reminded me of fantastic falafel in Kuwait, which is super green with herbs (rather than our tan falafel) and also has coriander seeds in it that you crunch down on. Delectable!
Very interesting recipe. Made it tonight with a little naan and it was awesome. Loved the history behind the dish in the video and all the info. Found my way to Jean Bottero's book on the other recipes from the Yale tablets. Fascinating how these recipes still exist (even if they're not complete recipes like we would see today).
The dislikes are ancient Babylonians who got mad at him over the wrong timing of eating this dish
and they're very, very angry ...
the dislikes are him talking/explaining for 4 hrs before cooking said recipe...
@@endlessrskies1 Well, this channel isn't' exactly about fast food so ...
@@pinkponyofprey1965 it shouldnt be a documentary is all i meant, i wanted to make this lol
Maybe one of the dislikes is Gilgamesh, accusing him of being a mongrel for serving this at the wrong timing, about tradition, etc. ._.
Tasting History Rules of Decorum, #1: Always try your food “sans garum” first. The cook put far too much work into that dish just to have you drown it in 5th century ketchup before you even taste it!
LOL
"5th century ketchup" made me snort. 🤣
🤣🤣🤣 brilliant!
New to your channel as of yesterday. You are an exceptionally gifted presenter. Great content. 10/10
I recently discovered your channel max, it’s phenomenal! I’m moving soon and will have my own kitchen again, and I am looking forward to trying so many of these.
This one is so cool!
Note to self: if i ever become a shcolar or end up writing history, make sure to mention the exact quantities and context. Also no prejudice, except for Carthage
Who, as I am wont to say, ought to be destroyed.
@@MrHodoAstartes Based and Catopilled.
Fun fact: "1 shekel ~ 100 loaves of bread ~ 1 lamb", is about the same conversion rate as now; lambs go for about $1.13/lb (as of 29 Dec 2020), and they tend to weigh 80 lbs at 3-5 months.
sadly now bread is about 7 shekel, and that's not even whole wheat...
Where the heck is lamb only $1.13/lb? Here it's more like $8-10/pound.
@@beth8775 That's the commodity price for a live animal (the type of thing they'd sell in Babylon), hence why its meat is 8x the price.
@@jansenart0 Ahh, the clarification helps.
Max, thanks for your entertaining and educational videos. I truly appreciate your great presentation. Keep up the good work.
I was looking for a channel with ancient recipies. This whole channel is a gold mine!
This episode really makes you think, doesn't it? Yeah sure, most of these ingredients were a slightly different cultivar and brought a slightly different flavor to the dish, but all in all, we're still using much of the same ingredients interpreted in different ways. It really opens up your perspective that throughout all our 10,000 years of this fun little project we call "society", it's all just been regular people doing regular people things, just in different cultural and situational contexts. In many ways that can be interpreted as a criticism of our intelligence as a species, in that we ultimately make very similar mistakes, but I think it's rather quaint. So here's to another year of regular people doing regular people things!
but we have iPhones nowadays
Yep, stew and soup from whatever’s in the kitchen has fed us for eons. Delicious in any age. 😀
Mr. Barjamovicwas was probably quite pleased to have someone who wasn't an ancient Babylonian scholar be interested in the culture. Hopefully you made his day. Anyway, looks tasty, thanks for the recipe. Happy New Year, everyone!
He made mine.
Such an interesting recipe, thank you, as always. The battle story was awesome, such clarity and directness in the writing, more authors should write like that. I love your videos, there’s so much stuff in them, I look forward to each one. Have a great day.
This recipe isn't bad, but momma Ur-Abtu-Batuqtū used to use more samidu and would add a sprig of silphium and it really balanced out the savory nature of the fat and lamb, with the sweetness of the kâs sīkāru.
“Who’s that Pokémon!”
Looks behind Max...
“It’s Aerodactyl!”
*Screech*
@@joeldodenhoff Tiamat is a dragon hydra (7 heads), isn't she ?
@@tomf3150 As far as I know, she is depicted as a serpent dragon of the sea.
the ancient pokemon
@@tomf3150 or a sick axe from league of legends
I think this is interesting. I feel like modern people tend to unconsciously have the conceit that we are more intelligent or enlightened than people four thousand years ago just because we have germ theory and spaceships, but we stand on the shoulders of everyone to come before us. Kind of humbling to think about.
Who says they didn't have "spaceships" ...
@@susmith6380 Ah, a fellow mongrel of culture
Yup the ancient invented beer and figured out how to build pretty impressive monuments. And we have the Tide pod challenge lol
Oh totally. I mean, I’m writing this comment on a smartphone, a nearly ubiquitous item in developed countries, but hell if I know how it works. If most of us were thrown back in time (and not immediately killed as a demon/sorcerer and could magically communicate with the locals), we’d be hard pressed to explain the most basic technologies like, say, producing/harnessing electricity. In terms of physiology, motivators, and brain structure, there’s really no significant differences between us and the humans of tens of thousands of years ago (in fact, they were probably smarter than we are on average because they had to use their intellect and cleverness to survive on a day to day basis whereas we have technology to do this for us).
@@Mayakran The only thing that has changed is modern man can process a lot more information on a daily basis than our ancestors needed to. If that is an advantage or disadvantage, I really dont know.
I love how you describe flavors, it's so vivid I can almost taste it myself
Getting the pronunciation correct on ancient Babylonian is a serious flex Max! Amazing all the places this culinary show has taken you!
These Archeologists dug up a Fast Food Stand in Pompei, are there any recipies about roman Fast Food?
As a matter of fact, there are some mentions of wath they could find beying sold in the streets. It's usually bread, plus some tipe of dried meat (very often fish), some vegetables and fruit (dates, olives and such).
Cheese was popular too, and some types of porridge were also avaliable, and to drink, "poshka" (water with vinegar, no idea how to write the name).
It was very common to eat take-out food, because most of the city dwellers did not have any way to cook meals.
Stoves, fireplaces and ovens were quite expensive to build, and were a serious fire-hazzards in cityes.
Roast Dormice on a stick. Get III for a Serstertius, Citizens!
I heard that some of the vessels still had bits of food in them so we probably find out in the near future.
I believe they invented the hamburger.
Yes! Max, please make some Roman street food, that would be awesome.
"and... Garum."
*Shows shirt*
Incredible advertisement.
Again, an amazing recipe! Got all the ingredients, will start cooking soon, thank you Max!
There is a beer company in Oregon called Ninkasi. You could use their beer. I probably will at my restaurant next NYE. What cool stories you are resurfacing Max, this is INCREDIBLE.
man I'm telling ya Max I'm 38 and I've been watching food programming since I was 16. This should not be a side project. This channel just never dissapoints. PLEASE pitch this to food network.
Thank you! I should 😁
@@TastingHistory best of luck if you do!
Every time I hear “Babylonian”, I look over my shoulder for Irving Finkel.
That sneaky wizard! You never know when he'll aparate behind you and play the Royal Game of Ur!
I have a copy of the Game of Ur that the British Museum's Finkel reconstructed. He's a great cuneiform expert too.
That man is a legend.
@@furrymessiah lol
Irving is my spirit finkel.
That was a rather remarkable mix of cooking show and history in detail. This guy is not so boring as my first impression, and he speaks quite clearly and eloquently. I think I'll watch more of his stuff. And I think I will take a shot at that recipe.