Thanks again to Crowd Cow for sponsoring! Get a $100 of FREE MEAT + Free Shipping when you sign up and order with my link at CrowdCow.com/TastingHistory Can't wait to try their boar and venison! It's so hard to find those meats around here.
Max you live in SoCal, Saddlepeak Lodge in Calabasas always has game on their menu. My friends & I go once a year because it's $$$$ but so worth it. Great place for your 1st Anniversary date with Jose!🥂😍
Persian Shalott is a wild-growing kind of garlic, which we in Germany call "Bergknoblauch" (mountain garlic). You can find it dried in certain Persian shops - I even got a fresh one brought over from Iran and managed to grow it on my balcony 😃
Fun fact: there is an Assyrologist named Dr. Stephanie Dalley who has researched the Hanging Gardens of Babylon since they are the only one of the 7 Ancient Wonders that no one has been able to locate. Her theory is that the Gardens didn't exist in Babylon proper but Nineveh (also called Babylon) and there is some evidence to support this. I wrote a research paper during my masters in this and I'm a believer now.
@@John77Doe Nineveh was a Babylonian city, Babylon (city) was the capital of Babylon the empire. Before Alexander the great, Babylon was the largest empire.
Nothing wrong with "ugly" foods, particularly as those tend to be lush, thick stews. As the British restaurant critic Jay Rayner once said, "long-cooked brown food is the best food". What I love is that the fundamental of stews has never changed over human history. You have a meat component, you have a veg component, you have a carb component, you have a fat component, put all in pot, throw in some roots and flavouring aromatics, boil until everything is soft and flavoured with each other's essence. It is the most efficient food and, because you maximise flavour extraction, often the richest-tasting.
@@bluesinsanityfantasy2683 Which is obviously important as cooked food is one of the reasons humans are where we are today. Wasting less time and energy on trying to digest food.
if anyone wants to try the modern-day equivalent, I highly recommend ordering Haleem from your local Indian/Pakistani restaurant. The ingredients are pretty much the same and the only difference is Haleem is slow-cooked until a paste-like consistency is achieved. It is delicious.
Actually, the first sheep herders were most likely hoarding sheep to make sure the wild herds were inside their hunting grounds and not the rivalling neighbors hunting grounds. Conflict among humans may have been the trigger to make sure you hoard all the valuable animals on your territory. Once they fenced the sheep they realized they could herd them and make them wealth of fur, wool, meat, milk, cheese, companionship, and knowledge. Human > Gathering > Hunting > Conflict > Gardering > Territory > Hoarding > Herding > Trade > Civilization
The Bronze Age was quite advanced, people did that a lot earlier. After all, look at the Old Testament, Abraham was born in the city of Ur about 1700 BC, and he herded domesticated sheep. The bronze age was about complex civilizations Trading with each other to create this hard, resistant alloy, called Bronze. During this time, most animals have already been successfully domesticated.
@@theburningman5047 or beyond that to the Sumerian debates on a number of subjects mentioned in this video (grain vs sheep, winter vs summer, etc.) 2500 BCE
It’s honestly so interesting when you think about when you are in the kitchen making soup, as you do, you are essentially doing to same thing as an ancient Babylonian farmer making his dinner for the night. The ingredients and some of the processes may change but people have always been making a good pot of stew for dinner.
@@ragnkja i think people would have started stewing food much longer ago than ceramics has been in use. ...probably. water and food in a vessel, cooking through heat or acid is easy to picture.
@@gabbonoo This has been confirmed in archeology. The first ceramics that could withstand direct flames weren't invented until about 6000 BC, but boiling has been around since at least 11,000 BC. The secret was a method called hot stone transfer, whereby rocks were heated in a firepit, and then transferred to a reed or wicker cooking container filled with water.
In Central Asia fat tailed sheep are still grown, and their tail fat still used widely in regional cuisines. It's interesting how many ingredients stay the same throughout millenia
Hey! "Persian Shallot" as you depict it, is actually wild-gr or "mountain garlic"mountain" garlic. If you are lucky, you might find it dried in some Persian food shops.
@@brucelee3388 Yes, I couldn't think of the name yesterday😃! Spelling varies from language to language (I am German). And sorry for my above rather garbled post - my edit and my delete button do not work somehow :-(
A. stipitatum is easily found in the US from flower bulb sellers - at Scheepers and Van Engelen. You may find some fresh at this time of year, because now is the time to plant for flowers for next spring. Bit pricey for an ingredient to cook with, though - about $3.50 per bulb retail. They are lovely and striking flowers for the garden, though!
@@NatsAstrea Brilliant idea! Never consciously saw it here in Germany, but shall be on the look-out now. Actually I once grew one on my balcony, when somebody from Iran brought some fresh bulbs over here. So you can plant them and harvest some for cooking next year 😃
Sheep’s tail fat, or kurdyuk, is very delicate, it doesn’t have that rough pungent mutton flavor, and when melted, it almost disappears, so the dishes are not greasy. Also it has multiple medicinal qualities, so it’s actually good for you. I live in New York and there are many Uzbecki shops and restaurants, so one can find tail fat in normal quantities, much less than a 100 lbs.
@@JuliaARubin Has there been any actual studies made, or is this more of a traditional medicine type of thing? Not trying to be mean, I'm genuinely curious.
@@tamaraandersson2532 you are very welcome! Yes, you can melt it and use it as a lip balm or on very dry skin, but keep in mind, it’s lamb fat, so it will have the smell ☺️
This is the first channel where I don't skip the ads. This guy's transition into ads is seamless. One is a little too long but you got to do what you got to do, and you did it in the least painful way possible. I hope sponsors recognize this level of marketing. Really good work.
Very excited about the Babylonian beer (even though I don't like beer): one of the earliest historical articles I ever read was about the discovery of a Sumerian carving with a beer recipe and a rather cute engraving of the beer goddess enjoying a glass, while drinking through a straw. The recipe was tried out and pronounced: fruity.
The thing I dislike about modern beer is that it’s always rather bitter (and I seem to be significantly more sensitive to bitters than average). I suspect that if I were to try a pre-Renaissance beer or ale it would be a different experience. Before the Golden Age of Sail, brews tended to be made as needed and be far less bitter because there was no need to add hops as a preservative.
@@ragnkja If you can get a hold of some Midas Touch from Dogfish Head brewery, you might like it. It was developed from chemical deposits found in a drinking vessel from time of King Midas. It's the only beer I can drink. It has just enough hops to be legally sold in this country.
@@jacquelyns9709 I’m in Norway, which I doubt is the country you’re referring to when you say “this country”. And “less hops than most beer” is still some hops, making it modern and not medieval or earlier.
I have been dying to try making this after watching the video of archeologists making ancient kamut beer based on analysis of the sediment found in amphora and ancient recipes, especially since they likened it more to cider than a modern style beer. I can't wait to see what comes of Max's research and experiments. We wants it, our precious!
That now makes two different Mesopotamian creation myths involving concepts getting absolutely hammered and getting into arguments, with the other being, fitting enough, enki and enlil arguing about their ability to make people better than the other.
I feel like you were probably supposed to use the starch from the grain/bread to create an emulsion with the fat. The result would've been a nice creamy, gravy-like soup.
And now, an explanation as to why Grain doesn't speak anymore, as Sheep walked off to sulk, Enli held back her sister Grain, and parted unto her this, "Whilst your sister is very much nothing without you, remember this. You are to rise from the dirt and ground, to be golden grain to feed. You are to be grounded and slapped, to be rolled and baked. You are meant to be refined to become edible and delicious, to feed livestock and become refined beer. But all I see of you now is of the common grain and dirt from which you were born. Now, I ask of you, if you have something ill to speak of your sister, speak nothing at all. " and Grain slunk off and just sorta brewed on that.
It should be mandatory to watch Max and his take on food and history. All that work you put into it and I get to watch it for free, whilst learning about food and history - it's awesome!
I love you have so many quality sponsors. You deserve them all, and watching you refine your channel has been a delight. Along with the delish foods, puns, and great dry humor.
@@TastingHistory When are you going to become Marco Pierre White and tell us we need Knorr Beef stock pots? I make my own stock, but when I don't have any, Knorr concentrated stock was not a bad substitute, unfortunately they discontinued it in the US so while MPW promotes it, I'm just sad when I realize I can't get any. We need a US sponsor to make them bring it back here.
In Iraq till this day sheep's tail is incredibly important ingredient. I and many people also order pure barbequed sheep's tail pieces that are skewered along side the skewered lambs meat at restaurants. The two most common shops that you will see here are either barbecue resteraunts selling ONLY lamb and neighborhood bread shops. Shows the importance of grain and lamb till this day.
@@cthulpiss also, this person is from Iraq, not Iran (Persia). I guarantee we have almost all the same ingredients in our amazing food. But, we are still two very different countries and cultures.
@@najmajavidan3499 thank you for suggestions; I know of dried Moosir, but it is still difficult to get here - as easy as it is to get far-eastern spices, the treasures of Middle East are unknown in my part of Europe
I've made this dish, albeit with a few changes. I was unaware that Persian shallot was different from regular shallot so I've used that instead, and it still turns out quite good. I also use whole grain pita crisps in lieu of making my own. In this case making my own would probably lead to a better taste and texture overall, but I'm also lazy enough that I'm willing to cheat a bit. Far easier to save time and money on ingredients by just buying a substitute, especially since "risnatu" is in hot dispute and I'm overwhelmingly likely to be historically wrong no matter what I use. The biggest change I did over Max's recipe is that I used whole lamb shanks and I simmered them for roughly 3 hours rather than 1. I think this has two benefits: firstly, since you put the whole bone in the broth, the bone infuses the broth with extra lamb flavor. The meat also just slides off with no resistance whatsoever once you've simmered it that long, so it's just as easy to serve. Secondly, I've found that simmering it for a longer time makes the consistency a bit more consistent rather than the "half and half" feeling Max talked about. As an added bonus which I didn't think to do, you can also pull out the bone marrow and mix it into the soup. I just ate the marrow on its own (always delicious), but next time I cook it I will try mixing it in. Either way this is a delicious recipe. Not very pretty, as Max said, but food all looks the same in your stomach anyway. If you like lamb this is an excellent one.
It seem that regular shallot (Allium ascalonicum) is quite similar to Persian shallot (Allium stipitatum) - both are from Middle East, btw. I'm trying to source Persian one anyway.
@@collin8mcdermott It wasn't nearly as much marrow as if I had used a cleaver to split the bone itself open but there was a small hole in the base of a few of the bones. I used a chopstick to pull out as much marrow as I could and ate it. It wasn't much marrow; maybe 1/4 or 1/5 of what I could have gotten had a split the bones open, but I don't have a big meat cleaver like I would need to do so. It also wasn't every bone that had that opening, only a few did. However, I did get some marrow out and it was tasty. I'd recommend checking your bones after you cool them to see if you can get any out, though it's worth noting that the last time I made this dish none of the bones had that opening and I wasn't able to get any marrow out.
@@quintonhoffert6526 its nice to see someone else who enjoys bone marrow ^-^ I found out how good it was from breaking open the leg and thigh bones of chickens. But I especially love the bone marrow from the oxtail meat cut. Though it's super expensive to get them now and went from just a few dollars for a package of them to 28 dollars at the most expensive which makes me sad
With how he describes the taste of the persian shallot, one could assume that garlic could puss the stew into that direction, when the real deal isn't available.
I'm not a historian and this is just conjecture, but I wonder if Risnatu wasn't similar to some kind of pasta or Matzoh ball. Then this soup would be kind of like a lamb stroganoff! Also, when you're cooking the broth you should try to skim the grey bubbles that come up - then it'll look prettier. I'm not sure if they did that in Babylon but I wouldn't be surprised if they did!
i have seen the scum skimmed almost universally in most cultures, so it would not suprise me at all if they did. never know, and some cultures definitely skim it more aggressively than others (looking at you, chinese clear stocks) but it's widespread enough i imagine especially in higher class contexts where aesthetics were more valuable and waste was more justified, it would have been done
Literally just became obsessed. There has to be a better way of saying that you recently developed an intense fascination with with these ancient peoples. 🙃
I get what you mean; I totally got obsessed with Mesopotamia last year. Feels like I exhausted every source on the era that's easily available on TH-cam.
Angelcrab The Great Courses has a series of DVD's on Mesopotamia and its related cultures and civilizations. You may be able to find some of them at your local library. "Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia" by Professor Alexis Q. Castor "Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization" by Professor Amanda H. Podany "Ancient Empires before Alexander" by Professor Robert L. Dise
Before i found your channel i never knew i'd enjoy a historical cooking show now i'm fairly certain life wouldn't be the same without it thanks for putting all this effort into exploring history and the food that was eaten in the past it is always such a fun and educational time watching your videos Max you're a real gem here on TH-cam keep up the great work
Vey fun episode. It had it all: sappy Max, mythos, a ridiculous verbal brawl by Grain and Sheep (your narration made it even funnier), HARDTACK JOKE (never gets old... like hardtack), even that "diet starts tomorrow" part. And best of all, the tasting. You are such an expressive fellow, that when you take your first bite we know if it was a tasty success, or a gross failure. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to eat.
Hey Max, this is a little discovery I made. The word risnātu is possibly derived from the word, rasanu. Which means "to steep, or to soak". So, I think groats may be the correct way to make the risnātu. Because, you soak groats to use them. Pretty interesting.
I've found this superb channel by watching this exact video when I got curious about ancient cooking recipes. After a year and rewatching again it still shines with so much effort, care and history!
4 to 5 cloves of garlic 🧄 As a Filipino, I heard 45 cloves of garlic I didn't even blink. Then, I remembered this isn't Filipino cuisine so I did a double take lol.
No such thing as too much garlic! And I love Filipino food. My sister and her family (military) lived there for two years and she learned to make lumpia and chicken adobo and tapsilog. My mom, thankfully, learned to make these and it became a tradition to have lumpia as part of our Christmas Eve shindig.
"Vague but succinct, which is the exact opposite of me as I am specific yet long-winded" for some reason really got to me. Like I've got tears running down my face from laughing so hard!
I have to admit that defining the opposite of vague but succinct as "specific yet long winded" is one of the funniest things I've heard in quite some time. So spot on.
I’m not a fan of lamb but I love how you cover so many different tastes, ingredients, eras and information. You also make alternate suggestions to try to reach everyone’s preferences or abilities to obtain ingredients. Great job 👏🏻
@@nickim6571 you should look into buying lamb that is sold in butcher shop's and even possibly the kind that has been shipped over seas here from New Zealand and or Australia I heard those lambs are the best kind sold here in America🤗 -Mercy(sorry for the name confusion I am on my dad's phone at the moment)
"The diet starts tomorrow, I promise" would make good merch. Especially if you've got like 4 different comic panels with 4 different historical periods represented & all 4 with the same speech bubble
regarding the unknown factor of the specific foods like risnatu, wouldn't there be a huge regional and time dependent variety of what that would mean? so in a sense you're likely to get it at least somewhat comparable to how it was made in a specific region at a specific time.
Got any mild goat meat? It's what the premade American taco seasoning packs are designed for . I promise. I ate goat premade seasoning packs tacos, and now I don't think beef tastes right. At all.
@@FleaChristenson the lambs get born around march, april and we kill them now so their not even over a year old. But the males grow bigger than their moms at that short time. Not sure what weathering means but we move them between small islands on the Swedish west coast during the summer. And since its an old kind of sheep (Gute sheep) they don't need to ever be indoors even during winter in the snow.
Damn bro, your channel really blew up. I remember stumbling across one of your vids lioke 6-8months ago or so around when you were celebrating 100k. Grats on 1mil you definitely earned it.
Spoiler alert: my whole week has been made just because we got the hardtack clack for the holidays....it will never get old! NEVER! Love you guys! Have a blessed Turkey day
OMG. Riddle, Oregon is a real podunk town and they were my highschool's arch enemy. My town wouldn't even qualify as podunk. We had 6 bars, 7 churches, 2 stores, all on 1 side 'of the tracks'. Literally, the train ran through the town. Everything closed at 6pm. Except 2 of the bars--Slim Pickins and The Village Inn, open (I quote) 7 Roaring Days A Week!.
I missed this one when it came out, but want to say thanks for the shout-out for our local Bristol Seafood from Portland, Maine! Also, "specific and long-winded" -- Me too, Max. Me, too. LOL
Hi Max! For the holidays, could you do a video either for horehound candy or peppermint candy? Horehound is an old-fashioned candy that kind of tastes like molasses, and it was super popular in America about 150 years ago. I read about it in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and was able to try some a few years ago, but I'd love to know the history of it and how it's made! This was a super awesome video, I love Ancient Mesopotamia!
@@naamadossantossilva4736 yea but like he says in most older recipes they aren’t too exact in measurement either. But for grains the taste can change quite a bit between like barley and wheat.
Max late at night with wine and hair in rollers talking babylonian mythlogy: "So get this. Grain was offended even though SHE started it! Like go off i guess."
I look at those inscriptions in Babylonian clay and I can't help being in awe at the experts who are able to understand them. Everything looks quite the same to my untrained eye. I don't do lamb, but maybe this recipe might be tried with regular, grown up sheep (which is quite common here in Italy). It might turn out less tender and less delicate, but I think it's worth a tasting. If I can ever find Persian shallot.
Out of curiousity, why will you eat mutton but not lamb? Here in the states the "lambs" are usually anywhere from 6-12 months old at butchering, so they are not nursing anymore like veal calves. I usually butcher my lambs around 9 months. Is it different in italy?
@@rebeccaburrow7199 Hi Rebecca. It bothers me to have young animals killed. It applies to veal, lamb, piglet alike. I know it is not an easily quantifiable concept, it is just my personal feeling.
@@fedra76it understand completely, but thats kind of my point that "lamb" is a designation of a "younger than one year old" sheep. They are never butchered when suckling, like veal or piglets. I have never seen a suckling lamb. They are butchered like regular pigs are, usually around 100lbs (6-9 months) and are almost as big as their parents. Pigs are usually butchered around the same time frame at 250 pounds. If you eat regular pork, there is no reason to not eat regular lamb. They are equivalent.
@@rebeccaburrow7199 I'm afraid the lambs I've seen on the butcher's counter, around here, weigh visibly less than 100 lbs. I don't know the normative boundaries or other details, honestly. But they can be way smaller than that.
@@fedra76it for some ethnic markets they may weight 40-60 pounds, being 4-6 months old. But lambs are weaned at 6-8 weeks, so even the smallest butcher weights are still not babies. Most breeds of meat sheep are sexually mature at 6-10 months old and are bred to lamb by 14-16 months of age. All i am saying is that the lambs you see, unless they really are 10-20 pounds at butcher (5-10 pounds butchered whole, the size of a cat) are not babies. They are "lamb" because they are less than a year old and they command higher prices than mutton (1+ years), but they are not suckling babies. You do not have to have the same conviction with lamb as veal or suckling pigs, which i understand completely. Also, one last thing (sorry for the length), but a 100 lamb walking will weigh around 65 whole once butchered (hanging weight), and yield 40-50 of meat cuts. So a big animal looks a lot smaller in the butchers cabinet.
Fun fact: The fat tail of a sheep (known as Li'yah in Arabic) is still prized today in the Middle east. One of the biggest letdowns I had when I moved to the US is the seeming Lack of such tail on Sheep in the US which apparently is not a thing here. Sad.
@@annbrookens945 You have not lived until you have had some chunks cooked in a Yogurt stew in Jordan (called Mansaf) or stacked under a few layers of stuffed rolled grape leaves in Lebanon. Sooo good.
@@jonjohns8145 I've had it layered with sliced potato on skewers and grilled. This was in an Azeri restaurant. It's simple but tasty. Where I am in Russia, there are plenty of people from the Caucasus and central Asia, so бурдюк (burdyuk) is easy to get hold of in the markets.
I was in Baghdad, Iraq from 2007-2009 and there are still fat tailed sheep there to this day! Strange looking beasts, indeed. I've never seen them anywhere else except along the Tigris River.
The story of Sheep and Grain having a rivalry and Grain being chosen as best sounds to me a lot like the rivalry between Cain (the herder) and Abel (the farmer), and Abel was chosen the superior sacrifice and we all know how that turned out. Maybe Sheep wasn't always so meek and mild!
@@BrokensoulRider They mesh better when they are from the same region, but my point here was that Babilonia was a mesh of Mesopotamia and Sumer, with Mesopotamia and Canaan mostly sharing a pantheon, and Jewish religion being from the canaanite region while canonically stemming from the Meopotamian area of influence.
@@tamlandipper29 The guy who introduced you to "The Epic Of Gilgamesh," I'll wager. I actually became a fan of that particular myth thanks to the "Final Fantasy" franchise.
Sad to say it but I studied that in depth in highschool and college lol I wish I would have Learned of it much sooner almost makes you think of the wealth of knowledge just waiting to be taught and learned humans are amazing and parasitic all in the same instance
Fat tail sheep are still well known in Iran, my mom's nickname for me as a toddler was "doombuli" which means "lamb's fat-tail" 😂 it's considered endearing and cute Iranians still eat something similar to this called haleem which is made with barley and lamb- but it's slow cooked and the meat shreds, also seems similar to some thick Iranian soups called Aash. Max I think you should start shopping at Iranian and other middle eastern grocery stores for the Babylonian/parthian/middle eastern recipes, Persian shallot (called mu-seer) is readily available at any Persian grocery- and u live in LA where there are tons of them!
Love these ancient recipes! Growing up my mother made a Mutton broth with barley. Definitely not an ancient recipe but pretty good. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving 😊 🦃🙏 love your channel ❤
I just saw this video on a sugggestion from TH-cam and it's so great. I love learning about how people used to eat. And as a retired professional baker, learning about any kind of bread products at all.
Hay Max, love the show. In Iraq, the stew is still used daily. The variation was to replace croutons with cut-up KHUBAZ. The usage of the tail is not by itself but with lamb meat as well in the stew. Minor changes to a dish that is 3000 years old. The oldest maybe is Masguf which is 4500 years old.
I want to see some Native American recipes. I think it would be interesting. I saw one called Poyha it is an old recipe. I think the Native American people were the first to make fried dough. Native Fry Bread as its called. Three Sisters Soup would be facincating as why it called that and it looks delicious.
That would be so cool! I'm from New Mexico and we have fry bread all the time! It's a big thing on the reservation to make Navajo Tacos (fry bread stuffed with meat and veggies) and I would love to see an episode on that!
Fry bread was something they learned from colonists, probably the dutch ones. I had a cookbook once that was a diary and recipes from a dutch settler 1600s near new York. There were a lot of entries about how the natives loved the deep fried pastries.
This looks like it'll make you smell of alliums for days, I must have it! Could raw garlic added at the end sub for Persian shallot? That seems to have the effect you described, and it's always a great addition to stews and soups since the garlic added during the braising becomes sweet and loses that kick.
Never stop being precise and long-winded Max [ADDED] Got the cookbook today and it's beautifully laid out and I'm so excited about cooking some of the recipes with my daughter and wife! Thank you Max!
Thanks again to Crowd Cow for sponsoring! Get a $100 of FREE MEAT + Free Shipping when you sign up and order with my link at CrowdCow.com/TastingHistory
Can't wait to try their boar and venison! It's so hard to find those meats around here.
Max you live in SoCal, Saddlepeak Lodge in Calabasas always has game on their menu. My friends & I go once a year because it's $$$$ but so worth it. Great place for your 1st Anniversary date with Jose!🥂😍
$100 of FREE MEAT. 😍😍😍
Persian Shalott is a wild-growing kind of garlic, which we in Germany call "Bergknoblauch" (mountain garlic). You can find it dried in certain Persian shops - I even got a fresh one brought over from Iran and managed to grow it on my balcony 😃
@@danihesslinger7968 The garlic family and the onion family are related?? 😐😐
It looks like you were boiling it and not simmering, which would account for the mik's separation.
Max: "how can I sneak the hardtack joke into the script this time?" *CLACK CLACK*
It’s always on my mind 🤣
@@TastingHistory We couldn’t tell. And now, it’s constantly on ours 🤣🤣
@@TastingHistory always 🤣 I have conversations in real life about that *clack* 🤣
And I still love it every time :)
@@TastingHistory Then you will find this delicious: th-cam.com/video/qkyYB_4X70c/w-d-xo.html I am reminded of it each time you 'clack' for us.
Fun fact: there is an Assyrologist named Dr. Stephanie Dalley who has researched the Hanging Gardens of Babylon since they are the only one of the 7 Ancient Wonders that no one has been able to locate. Her theory is that the Gardens didn't exist in Babylon proper but Nineveh (also called Babylon) and there is some evidence to support this. I wrote a research paper during my masters in this and I'm a believer now.
She is amazing! Also did great stuff on Roman cookery.
@@TastingHistory I didn't know that! Welp, now I know what I'm researching for fun once the semester is over.
Nineveh is a city like Babylon?? 😐😐😐
@@John77Doe Nineveh was a Babylonian city, Babylon (city) was the capital of Babylon the empire. Before Alexander the great, Babylon was the largest empire.
@@iwontliveinfear You mean the Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus, right?
Nothing wrong with "ugly" foods, particularly as those tend to be lush, thick stews. As the British restaurant critic Jay Rayner once said, "long-cooked brown food is the best food". What I love is that the fundamental of stews has never changed over human history. You have a meat component, you have a veg component, you have a carb component, you have a fat component, put all in pot, throw in some roots and flavouring aromatics, boil until everything is soft and flavoured with each other's essence. It is the most efficient food and, because you maximise flavour extraction, often the richest-tasting.
And stewing tears apart the cellular structure of your food making digestion faster and as such you get more out of it
@@bluesinsanityfantasy2683 Which is obviously important as cooked food is one of the reasons humans are where we are today. Wasting less time and energy on trying to digest food.
I am stew, for I am made of it. I grew up eating stews more than any other dish.
*Well said!*
Nicely said
if anyone wants to try the modern-day equivalent, I highly recommend ordering Haleem from your local Indian/Pakistani restaurant. The ingredients are pretty much the same and the only difference is Haleem is slow-cooked until a paste-like consistency is achieved. It is delicious.
Haleem is quite different because a lot of lentils, spices and grains are used in it and there's no milk.
It's my favorite dish tbh
Haleem is the best, it's a very popular dish in Bangladesh where I am from.
Actually, the first sheep herders were most likely hoarding sheep to make sure the wild herds were inside their hunting grounds and not the rivalling neighbors hunting grounds. Conflict among humans may have been the trigger to make sure you hoard all the valuable animals on your territory. Once they fenced the sheep they realized they could herd them and make them wealth of fur, wool, meat, milk, cheese, companionship, and knowledge.
Human > Gathering > Hunting > Conflict > Gardering > Territory > Hoarding > Herding > Trade > Civilization
You left out "dakka"....
Def needs moar dakka.
Corral is a Hutu word that US soldiers brought back. So, shootout at the OK Corral was interesting.
The Bronze Age was quite advanced, people did that a lot earlier. After all, look at the Old Testament, Abraham was born in the city of Ur about 1700 BC, and he herded domesticated sheep. The bronze age was about complex civilizations Trading with each other to create this hard, resistant alloy, called Bronze. During this time, most animals have already been successfully domesticated.
@@theburningman5047 or beyond that to the Sumerian debates on a number of subjects mentioned in this video (grain vs sheep, winter vs summer, etc.) 2500 BCE
I love it when you make bronze age foods, they're so interesting
It’s honestly so interesting when you think about when you are in the kitchen making soup, as you do, you are essentially doing to same thing as an ancient Babylonian farmer making his dinner for the night. The ingredients and some of the processes may change but people have always been making a good pot of stew for dinner.
@@knightofendor8384
The art of making a good stew must be very nearly as old as the art of making pots to cook food in.
After a million years of BBQ finally there are pans, oils, milks and cheeses! 🤤
@@ragnkja i think people would have started stewing food much longer ago than ceramics has been in use. ...probably. water and food in a vessel, cooking through heat or acid is easy to picture.
@@gabbonoo This has been confirmed in archeology. The first ceramics that could withstand direct flames weren't invented until about 6000 BC, but boiling has been around since at least 11,000 BC. The secret was a method called hot stone transfer, whereby rocks were heated in a firepit, and then transferred to a reed or wicker cooking container filled with water.
In Central Asia fat tailed sheep are still grown, and their tail fat still used widely in regional cuisines. It's interesting how many ingredients stay the same throughout millenia
Hey, if you've got a good thing, why mess with it?
I've read about fat from lamb tails used in Turkish and Central Asian cooking. Is it all from this specific breed or just any sheep?
I just mentioned that! We use it in Azerbaijan.
@@TheStevewilder it’s a specific breed that stores far under its tail. Me and my daughter call them “big booty sheep.”
Do they still use the carts so that their tails don't get all banged up?
Hey! "Persian Shallot" as you depict it, is actually wild-gr or "mountain garlic"mountain" garlic. If you are lucky, you might find it dried in some Persian food shops.
Moosir (sp?) Persian shallot/wild garlic (Allium stipitatum) with yoghurt. Eaten with flat bread as a dip.
@@brucelee3388 Yes, I couldn't think of the name yesterday😃! Spelling varies from language to language (I am German). And sorry for my above rather garbled post - my edit and my delete button do not work somehow :-(
A. stipitatum is easily found in the US from flower bulb sellers - at Scheepers and Van Engelen. You may find some fresh at this time of year, because now is the time to plant for flowers for next spring. Bit pricey for an ingredient to cook with, though - about $3.50 per bulb retail. They are lovely and striking flowers for the garden, though!
@@NatsAstrea Brilliant idea! Never consciously saw it here in Germany, but shall be on the look-out now.
Actually I once grew one on my balcony, when somebody from Iran brought some fresh bulbs over here. So you can plant them and harvest some for cooking next year 😃
Sheep’s tail fat, or kurdyuk, is very delicate, it doesn’t have that rough pungent mutton flavor, and when melted, it almost disappears, so the dishes are not greasy. Also it has multiple medicinal qualities, so it’s actually good for you. I live in New York and there are many Uzbecki shops and restaurants, so one can find tail fat in normal quantities, much less than a 100 lbs.
@@allenfenwick6257 it’s anti inflammatory, helps with coughs and good for anemia
@@JuliaARubin Has there been any actual studies made, or is this more of a traditional medicine type of thing? Not trying to be mean, I'm genuinely curious.
@@tamaraandersson2532 I’m not aware of any studies, but it’s definitely traditional folk remedy. My mom and grandma swore by it.
@@JuliaARubin Thank you! That's really interesting. Is it used externally too?
@@tamaraandersson2532 you are very welcome! Yes, you can melt it and use it as a lip balm or on very dry skin, but keep in mind, it’s lamb fat, so it will have the smell ☺️
This is the first channel where I don't skip the ads. This guy's transition into ads is seamless. One is a little too long but you got to do what you got to do, and you did it in the least painful way possible. I hope sponsors recognize this level of marketing. Really good work.
Thanks Allen!
As I watched this, I reflected on the same thing talking with my wife. Max has absolutely mastered promoting his sponsors.
@@threeqtrthrottle As well as his manner, I appreciate how his sponsors are all high quality andrelevant to the channel. No B*tterhelp anywhere👏🏻
Very excited about the Babylonian beer (even though I don't like beer): one of the earliest historical articles I ever read was about the discovery of a Sumerian carving with a beer recipe and a rather cute engraving of the beer goddess enjoying a glass, while drinking through a straw. The recipe was tried out and pronounced: fruity.
The thing I dislike about modern beer is that it’s always rather bitter (and I seem to be significantly more sensitive to bitters than average). I suspect that if I were to try a pre-Renaissance beer or ale it would be a different experience. Before the Golden Age of Sail, brews tended to be made as needed and be far less bitter because there was no need to add hops as a preservative.
@@ragnkja If you can get a hold of some Midas Touch from Dogfish Head brewery, you might like it. It was developed from chemical deposits found in a drinking vessel from time of King Midas. It's the only beer I can drink. It has just enough hops to be legally sold in this country.
@@jacquelyns9709
I’m in Norway, which I doubt is the country you’re referring to when you say “this country”. And “less hops than most beer” is still some hops, making it modern and not medieval or earlier.
@@ragnkja Yes, Dogfish Head is made in the US, but I'm interested to hear about the Midas Touch beer.
I have been dying to try making this after watching the video of archeologists making ancient kamut beer based on analysis of the sediment found in amphora and ancient recipes, especially since they likened it more to cider than a modern style beer. I can't wait to see what comes of Max's research and experiments. We wants it, our precious!
I love that you left the “sheep hoarders” blooper in there. Definitely made me lol 😂
I don’t know if it was completely accidental or if he thought about it, but South Park did a joke about this many years ago.
Yes, we know you're hurting sheep by hoarding them.
That now makes two different Mesopotamian creation myths involving concepts getting absolutely hammered and getting into arguments, with the other being, fitting enough, enki and enlil arguing about their ability to make people better than the other.
There are 5 or 6 of them actually 🤣
@@TastingHistory ah yes, the time honored tradition of drunk, dumb arguments
I feel like you were probably supposed to use the starch from the grain/bread to create an emulsion with the fat. The result would've been a nice creamy, gravy-like soup.
Agreed. I came to add this but you beat me to it!
And now, an explanation as to why Grain doesn't speak anymore, as Sheep walked off to sulk, Enli held back her sister Grain, and parted unto her this, "Whilst your sister is very much nothing without you, remember this. You are to rise from the dirt and ground, to be golden grain to feed. You are to be grounded and slapped, to be rolled and baked. You are meant to be refined to become edible and delicious, to feed livestock and become refined beer. But all I see of you now is of the common grain and dirt from which you were born. Now, I ask of you, if you have something ill to speak of your sister, speak nothing at all. " and Grain slunk off and just sorta brewed on that.
It should be mandatory to watch Max and his take on food and history.
All that work you put into it and I get to watch it for free, whilst learning about food and history - it's awesome!
I love you have so many quality sponsors. You deserve them all, and watching you refine your channel has been a delight. Along with the delish foods, puns, and great dry humor.
Thank you, Barbara
@@TastingHistory When are you going to become Marco Pierre White and tell us we need Knorr Beef stock pots? I make my own stock, but when I don't have any, Knorr concentrated stock was not a bad substitute, unfortunately they discontinued it in the US so while MPW promotes it, I'm just sad when I realize I can't get any. We need a US sponsor to make them bring it back here.
Please never stop with the hard tack "tock tock" cutaway whenever you mention it. It always brings a smile to my face.
In Iraq till this day sheep's tail is incredibly important ingredient. I and many people also order pure barbequed sheep's tail pieces that are skewered along side the skewered lambs meat at restaurants. The two most common shops that you will see here are either barbecue resteraunts selling ONLY lamb and neighborhood bread shops. Shows the importance of grain and lamb till this day.
Could you please elaborate on Persian shallot than? Is it really that different shallot aka Allium ascalonicum ?
The best lamb I've ever had was a leg from a whole animal we bought at the local halal slaughterhouse market, cooked outside on our charcoal grill.
@@cthulpiss it's very different. If you look online at Persian markets you can find it. We call it Moosir/Musir.
@@cthulpiss also, this person is from Iraq, not Iran (Persia). I guarantee we have almost all the same ingredients in our amazing food. But, we are still two very different countries and cultures.
@@najmajavidan3499 thank you for suggestions;
I know of dried Moosir, but it is still difficult to get here - as easy as it is to get far-eastern spices, the treasures of Middle East are unknown in my part of Europe
I've made this dish, albeit with a few changes. I was unaware that Persian shallot was different from regular shallot so I've used that instead, and it still turns out quite good. I also use whole grain pita crisps in lieu of making my own. In this case making my own would probably lead to a better taste and texture overall, but I'm also lazy enough that I'm willing to cheat a bit. Far easier to save time and money on ingredients by just buying a substitute, especially since "risnatu" is in hot dispute and I'm overwhelmingly likely to be historically wrong no matter what I use.
The biggest change I did over Max's recipe is that I used whole lamb shanks and I simmered them for roughly 3 hours rather than 1. I think this has two benefits: firstly, since you put the whole bone in the broth, the bone infuses the broth with extra lamb flavor. The meat also just slides off with no resistance whatsoever once you've simmered it that long, so it's just as easy to serve. Secondly, I've found that simmering it for a longer time makes the consistency a bit more consistent rather than the "half and half" feeling Max talked about. As an added bonus which I didn't think to do, you can also pull out the bone marrow and mix it into the soup. I just ate the marrow on its own (always delicious), but next time I cook it I will try mixing it in.
Either way this is a delicious recipe. Not very pretty, as Max said, but food all looks the same in your stomach anyway. If you like lamb this is an excellent one.
It seem that regular shallot (Allium ascalonicum) is quite similar to Persian shallot (Allium stipitatum) - both are from Middle East, btw.
I'm trying to source Persian one anyway.
How do you get to the marrow in the bone?
@@collin8mcdermott It wasn't nearly as much marrow as if I had used a cleaver to split the bone itself open but there was a small hole in the base of a few of the bones. I used a chopstick to pull out as much marrow as I could and ate it. It wasn't much marrow; maybe 1/4 or 1/5 of what I could have gotten had a split the bones open, but I don't have a big meat cleaver like I would need to do so. It also wasn't every bone that had that opening, only a few did. However, I did get some marrow out and it was tasty. I'd recommend checking your bones after you cool them to see if you can get any out, though it's worth noting that the last time I made this dish none of the bones had that opening and I wasn't able to get any marrow out.
@@quintonhoffert6526 its nice to see someone else who enjoys bone marrow ^-^ I found out how good it was from breaking open the leg and thigh bones of chickens. But I especially love the bone marrow from the oxtail meat cut. Though it's super expensive to get them now and went from just a few dollars for a package of them to 28 dollars at the most expensive which makes me sad
With how he describes the taste of the persian shallot, one could assume that garlic could puss the stew into that direction, when the real deal isn't available.
I'm not a historian and this is just conjecture, but I wonder if Risnatu wasn't similar to some kind of pasta or Matzoh ball. Then this soup would be kind of like a lamb stroganoff! Also, when you're cooking the broth you should try to skim the grey bubbles that come up - then it'll look prettier. I'm not sure if they did that in Babylon but I wouldn't be surprised if they did!
Right, I heard the description of risnatu and thought "dumplings??"
i thought of matzah balls too, or maybe a variation of them
i have seen the scum skimmed almost universally in most cultures, so it would not suprise me at all if they did. never know, and some cultures definitely skim it more aggressively than others (looking at you, chinese clear stocks) but it's widespread enough i imagine especially in higher class contexts where aesthetics were more valuable and waste was more justified, it would have been done
First thing I thought when he added the last ingredients. Aren't you going to skim the scum?
Sounds more like Rusk which was twice baked bread crumbs used as a thickener In soups.
Every time Max makes a hardtack reference and cuts really quickly to him smacking the two pieces together, i laugh so hard!
I literally just became obsessed with the history of the Sumer and Babylonian cultures, so this was so perfectly timed for me! Can’t thank you enough!
Literally just became obsessed. There has to be a better way of saying that you recently developed an intense fascination with with these ancient peoples. 🙃
@@Vykk_Draygo Hyperfixation would be the word
I get what you mean; I totally got obsessed with Mesopotamia last year. Feels like I exhausted every source on the era that's easily available on TH-cam.
Angelcrab
The Great Courses has a series of DVD's on Mesopotamia and its related cultures and civilizations. You may be able to find some of them at your local library.
"Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia" by Professor Alexis Q. Castor
"Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization" by Professor Amanda H. Podany
"Ancient Empires before Alexander" by Professor Robert L. Dise
@@Vykk_Draygo How is saying "literally became obsessed" even wrong?
Little known fact - The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was all herbs. It was an early civilization form of Whole Foods.
@Dennis Fahey - .^_^.
So not unlike the oregano and lavender and basil bushes on balconies
Before i found your channel i never knew i'd enjoy a historical cooking show now i'm fairly certain life wouldn't be the same without it thanks for putting all this effort into exploring history and the food that was eaten in the past it is always such a fun and educational time watching your videos Max you're a real gem here on TH-cam keep up the great work
As the Ancient Babylonian proverb says: "Fat-tail sheep make the world go round."
Yes! "Fat-tail sheep, you made the ancient world go round! [guitar riff]!!!!"
LOL!!!
Of course, at the time, they said "make the sun go round the world."
Get on your sheep and ride!
...umm....sorry, that didn't sound as dirty in my head as it does here...
Enjoy!😁
Baaahby got bhaaack
Vey fun episode. It had it all: sappy Max, mythos, a ridiculous verbal brawl by Grain and Sheep (your narration made it even funnier), HARDTACK JOKE (never gets old... like hardtack), even that "diet starts tomorrow" part. And best of all, the tasting. You are such an expressive fellow, that when you take your first bite we know if it was a tasty success, or a gross failure.
Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to eat.
Hey Max, this is a little discovery I made.
The word risnātu is possibly derived from the word, rasanu.
Which means "to steep, or to soak".
So, I think groats may be the correct way to make the risnātu.
Because, you soak groats to use them.
Pretty interesting.
oh this rules!
Awesome!
I was thinking groats, too. Still a standard addition to soup in Eastern Europe.
Quite possible. Also sounds like the modern work for rice "Riza"
You know, I was thinking that they seemed a lot like a primitive ras malai, and given the etymological journey of works, your theory might check out
I've found this superb channel by watching this exact video when I got curious about ancient cooking recipes. After a year and rewatching again it still shines with so much effort, care and history!
Thank you so much 🙂
I've been waiting for another ancient Mesopotamian dish, its so amazing that we can recreate dishes that were eaten soooo long ago
Oh boy do I love such ancient recipes! Love the videos max!
Thank you 😊
4 to 5 cloves of garlic 🧄
As a Filipino, I heard 45 cloves of garlic I didn't even blink. Then, I remembered this isn't Filipino cuisine so I did a double take lol.
My Filipino aunt’s adobo agrees with you completely!
My family are clearly conservative when adding garlic then.
Eh, ayaw nila masyado mabawang lasa.
For some people, 45 cloves is too much, but for people like us, 45 cloves is not enough.
No such thing as too much garlic! And I love Filipino food. My sister and her family (military) lived there for two years and she learned to make lumpia and chicken adobo and tapsilog. My mom, thankfully, learned to make these and it became a tradition to have lumpia as part of our Christmas Eve shindig.
@@kck9742 "No such thing as too much garlic!"
That's a philosophy to live by, brother.
I love how he specifically has that hard tack clip edited so that he can use it whenever he needs.
"Vague but succinct, which is the exact opposite of me as I am specific yet long-winded" for some reason really got to me. Like I've got tears running down my face from laughing so hard!
I have to admit that defining the opposite of vague but succinct as "specific yet long winded" is one of the funniest things I've heard in quite some time. So spot on.
I absolutely love that the captioning added a shrug emoji at 2:07
Max, your channel is one of my favorites! I love both history and cooking, I love the preparation you put into every video.
Thank you 🙏
I’m not a fan of lamb but I love how you cover so many different tastes, ingredients, eras and information. You also make alternate suggestions to try to reach everyone’s preferences or abilities to obtain ingredients. Great job 👏🏻
I'm not a big fan of the lamb we get in America, but the lamb I had in Greece was some of the best tasting meat I've ever eaten.
@@nickim6571 you should look into buying lamb that is sold in butcher shop's and even possibly the kind that has been shipped over seas here from New Zealand and or Australia I heard those lambs are the best kind sold here in America🤗 -Mercy(sorry for the name confusion I am on my dad's phone at the moment)
"The diet starts tomorrow, I promise" would make good merch. Especially if you've got like 4 different comic panels with 4 different historical periods represented & all 4 with the same speech bubble
Thanks Max, for cutting the Kevin chili disaster video before the traumatic event. The saddest, saddest scene in all of television.
regarding the unknown factor of the specific foods like risnatu, wouldn't there be a huge regional and time dependent variety of what that would mean? so in a sense you're likely to get it at least somewhat comparable to how it was made in a specific region at a specific time.
it must have been commoneer's food, so using any leftover dried bread should be in the spirit of the recipe
Might be the case. In Iraq they still put pita bread in stews when you are about to eat sometimes.
I like that thought!
Almost like the word "noodle"
So many variations around the world
just got done butchering and cutting up my lambs of the year, great timing dude gotta try this
Hope you got them sheared too
Got any mild goat meat? It's what the premade American taco seasoning packs are designed for . I promise. I ate goat premade seasoning packs tacos, and now I don't think beef tastes right. At all.
At what age do you butcher your lambs? Do you wether the males you plan to butcher?
@@coreymerrill3257 no we only have chicken and sheep, Gute sheep to be precise i have no idea what goat tastes like.
@@FleaChristenson the lambs get born around march, april and we kill them now so their not even over a year old. But the males grow bigger than their moms at that short time. Not sure what weathering means but we move them between small islands on the Swedish west coast during the summer. And since its an old kind of sheep (Gute sheep) they don't need to ever be indoors even during winter in the snow.
I'm glad Max is keeping up with the Pokemon theme in the background depending on the food. Good ole Flaaffy!
Wont always work, but I try
Damn bro, your channel really blew up. I remember stumbling across one of your vids lioke 6-8months ago or so around when you were celebrating 100k. Grats on 1mil you definitely earned it.
Please never stop the hard tack bit it's so good
The hard tack bit will never get old. Lovely as always.
I think that was the actual point of hard tack wasn't it? lol not getting old... lol
Spoiler alert:
my whole week has been made just because we got the hardtack clack for the holidays....it will never get old! NEVER! Love you guys! Have a blessed Turkey day
So funny that you said it will never get old; I said that when he did it. It really doesn’t get old. In fact, let me go back and watch that episode 😂
Gotta agree: I smile every time he cracks that hardtack!
I love the name you gave it 😂😂😂
it brings me joy every time
Click-clack, click-clack-- why that's the sound of a hardtack!
OMG. Riddle, Oregon is a real podunk town and they were my highschool's arch enemy. My town wouldn't even qualify as podunk. We had 6 bars, 7 churches, 2 stores, all on 1 side 'of the tracks'. Literally, the train ran through the town. Everything closed at 6pm. Except 2 of the bars--Slim Pickins and The Village Inn, open (I quote) 7 Roaring Days A Week!.
Specific yet long winded.... love it
I missed this one when it came out, but want to say thanks for the shout-out for our local Bristol Seafood from Portland, Maine! Also, "specific and long-winded" -- Me too, Max. Me, too. LOL
Hi Max! For the holidays, could you do a video either for horehound candy or peppermint candy? Horehound is an old-fashioned candy that kind of tastes like molasses, and it was super popular in America about 150 years ago. I read about it in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and was able to try some a few years ago, but I'd love to know the history of it and how it's made! This was a super awesome video, I love Ancient Mesopotamia!
It’s great how even when you don’t know the exact ingredients you seem to make a tasty dish every time
The recipes are mostly complete,changing 1 or 2 ingredients won't make a huge difference.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 yea but like he says in most older recipes they aren’t too exact in measurement either. But for grains the taste can change quite a bit between like barley and wheat.
I can hear the "Hard Tack Tap" coming at this point 🤣❤ another fine recipe
That is never not hilarious.
Max late at night with wine and hair in rollers talking babylonian mythlogy: "So get this. Grain was offended even though SHE started it! Like go off i guess."
I admit every time I click on a new vid of yours, I look first at what’s the Pokémon you have on display.
And I laugh every time. You’re awesome Max
Sounds a lot like Irish stew with risnatu (substituting for pearl barley) yum yum
One of these days, someone will need to make a compilation video of all the Pokémon plushies in the background.
Max said: "Syriologist"
I heard: "Cereaologist" and wondered if I should go back to school for a PhD in studying cereal and grains.
The actual word is Assyriologist though.
You probably can! The breakfast cereal industry is huge and they love to hire one more specialist.
your voice is very comforting. you make a fantastic narrator.
-Knew the hardtack clip was coming
-Was surprised and delighted anyway
-Rewatched that section five more times
I look at those inscriptions in Babylonian clay and I can't help being in awe at the experts who are able to understand them. Everything looks quite the same to my untrained eye.
I don't do lamb, but maybe this recipe might be tried with regular, grown up sheep (which is quite common here in Italy). It might turn out less tender and less delicate, but I think it's worth a tasting. If I can ever find Persian shallot.
Out of curiousity, why will you eat mutton but not lamb? Here in the states the "lambs" are usually anywhere from 6-12 months old at butchering, so they are not nursing anymore like veal calves. I usually butcher my lambs around 9 months. Is it different in italy?
@@rebeccaburrow7199 Hi Rebecca. It bothers me to have young animals killed. It applies to veal, lamb, piglet alike. I know it is not an easily quantifiable concept, it is just my personal feeling.
@@fedra76it understand completely, but thats kind of my point that "lamb" is a designation of a "younger than one year old" sheep. They are never butchered when suckling, like veal or piglets. I have never seen a suckling lamb. They are butchered like regular pigs are, usually around 100lbs (6-9 months) and are almost as big as their parents. Pigs are usually butchered around the same time frame at 250 pounds. If you eat regular pork, there is no reason to not eat regular lamb. They are equivalent.
@@rebeccaburrow7199 I'm afraid the lambs I've seen on the butcher's counter, around here, weigh visibly less than 100 lbs. I don't know the normative boundaries or other details, honestly. But they can be way smaller than that.
@@fedra76it for some ethnic markets they may weight 40-60 pounds, being 4-6 months old. But lambs are weaned at 6-8 weeks, so even the smallest butcher weights are still not babies. Most breeds of meat sheep are sexually mature at 6-10 months old and are bred to lamb by 14-16 months of age. All i am saying is that the lambs you see, unless they really are 10-20 pounds at butcher (5-10 pounds butchered whole, the size of a cat) are not babies. They are "lamb" because they are less than a year old and they command higher prices than mutton (1+ years), but they are not suckling babies. You do not have to have the same conviction with lamb as veal or suckling pigs, which i understand completely.
Also, one last thing (sorry for the length), but a 100 lamb walking will weigh around 65 whole once butchered (hanging weight), and yield 40-50 of meat cuts. So a big animal looks a lot smaller in the butchers cabinet.
I love how the hardtack clip is a running joke on this channel. It's gets funnier every time he uses it.
Fun fact: The fat tail of a sheep (known as Li'yah in Arabic) is still prized today in the Middle east. One of the biggest letdowns I had when I moved to the US is the seeming Lack of such tail on Sheep in the US which apparently is not a thing here. Sad.
I grew up raising ...skinny-tailed sheep? I was very surprised by the existence of fat tailed sheep!
@@annbrookens945 You have not lived until you have had some chunks cooked in a Yogurt stew in Jordan (called Mansaf) or stacked under a few layers of stuffed rolled grape leaves in Lebanon. Sooo good.
@@jonjohns8145 You make this sound so delicious. I wish I could taste it!
@@jonjohns8145 I've had it layered with sliced potato on skewers and grilled. This was in an Azeri restaurant. It's simple but tasty. Where I am in Russia, there are plenty of people from the Caucasus and central Asia, so бурдюк (burdyuk) is easy to get hold of in the markets.
Is it true that fat from sheep tail gives very strong, almost toxic smell when it's cooked?
I love all your videos and am genuinely impressed at how well they’re curated. I hope to see a cookbook in the near future 🤗
Working hard on it for next year
@@TastingHistory YaY!
I was in Baghdad, Iraq from 2007-2009 and there are still fat tailed sheep there to this day! Strange looking beasts, indeed. I've never seen them anywhere else except along the Tigris River.
The story of Sheep and Grain having a rivalry and Grain being chosen as best sounds to me a lot like the rivalry between Cain (the herder) and Abel (the farmer), and Abel was chosen the superior sacrifice and we all know how that turned out. Maybe Sheep wasn't always so meek and mild!
That is an interesting comparison.
Love it!
Their mythologies are related so no surprise there.
@@jorgelotr3752 A lot of the early myths, especially early Christianity, tend to mingle together.
@@BrokensoulRider They mesh better when they are from the same region, but my point here was that Babilonia was a mesh of Mesopotamia and Sumer, with Mesopotamia and Canaan mostly sharing a pantheon, and Jewish religion being from the canaanite region while canonically stemming from the Meopotamian area of influence.
These Babylonians sure do take their faith Assyriously. Hah. Great episode as always btw, Max!
"whatever we do, we're most undoubtedly wrong" that's my life motto
That "baaaaad" gag was just [chef's kiss] mxxwaah!
Thank you for not editing out “sheep hoarders”! Loved the natural laugh and moment!
I can imagine Gilgamesh and Enkidu sitting down to a meal of this stew before setting off to the Forest Of Cedars. Yay for being a mythology-geek.
Thanks to Prof Irving Finkel I actually know what you mean.
@@tamlandipper29 The guy who introduced you to "The Epic Of Gilgamesh," I'll wager. I actually became a fan of that particular myth thanks to the "Final Fantasy" franchise.
@@thetribunaloftheimaginatio5247 for me it was fate:stay night
Sad to say it but I studied that in depth in highschool and college lol I wish I would have Learned of it much sooner almost makes you think of the wealth of knowledge just waiting to be taught and learned humans are amazing and parasitic all in the same instance
@@s_c_u_m3172 Ah a fellow man of culture. Touche mongrel.
Thank you for being a bright spot in my sometimes not so bright week !
Max, I loved this episode! Two of my favorite things in one; bronze age history, and cooking. Keep it up!
I literally adore the hard tack flash backs so much every time it makes my day!
Fat tail sheep are still well known in Iran, my mom's nickname for me as a toddler was "doombuli" which means "lamb's fat-tail" 😂 it's considered endearing and cute
Iranians still eat something similar to this called haleem which is made with barley and lamb- but it's slow cooked and the meat shreds, also seems similar to some thick Iranian soups called Aash. Max I think you should start shopping at Iranian and other middle eastern grocery stores for the Babylonian/parthian/middle eastern recipes, Persian shallot (called mu-seer) is readily available at any Persian grocery- and u live in LA where there are tons of them!
Sheep's tail fat used for cooking is called donbeh in Persian (little "of the tail") and is a prized ingredient used in kabobs
interesting 😮😊
First glance looks fantastic.
Love these ancient recipes! Growing up my mother made a Mutton broth with barley. Definitely not an ancient recipe but pretty good. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving 😊 🦃🙏 love your channel ❤
Amazing max I’m really proud of you and how you built this channel
Thank you, Brian!
I just saw this video on a sugggestion from TH-cam and it's so great. I love learning about how people used to eat. And as a retired professional baker, learning about any kind of bread products at all.
Hay Max, love the show. In Iraq, the stew is still used daily. The variation was to replace croutons with cut-up KHUBAZ. The usage of the tail is not by itself but with lamb meat as well in the stew. Minor changes to a dish that is 3000 years old. The oldest maybe is Masguf which is 4500 years old.
I want to see some Native American recipes. I think it would be interesting. I saw one called Poyha it is an old recipe. I think the Native American people were the first to make fried dough. Native Fry Bread as its called. Three Sisters Soup would be facincating as why it called that and it looks delicious.
Yes, the US and Mexico. I found out some of my ancestors came from Michoacan. I would love that
That would be so cool! I'm from New Mexico and we have fry bread all the time! It's a big thing on the reservation to make Navajo Tacos (fry bread stuffed with meat and veggies) and I would love to see an episode on that!
Fry bread! It's been years since I've had any, but I remember how good it is! 😋
Fry bread was something they learned from colonists, probably the dutch ones. I had a cookbook once that was a diary and recipes from a dutch settler 1600s near new York. There were a lot of entries about how the natives loved the deep fried pastries.
@@lenabreijer1311 everybody loves good food! 👍🏻
This looks like it'll make you smell of alliums for days, I must have it!
Could raw garlic added at the end sub for Persian shallot? That seems to have the effect you described, and it's always a great addition to stews and soups since the garlic added during the braising becomes sweet and loses that kick.
This is exactly what I needed!
I really appreciate this banter, it's quality banter this is mate :D
I laughed out loud at "as I am specific, yet long-winded." 🤣
Fascinating and I admire your pronunciation - Thank you
That hardtack meme nevers get old lmao
As someone who was born in Iraq, I appreciate this video very much and might try this recipe myself. Well done!
Never stop being precise and long-winded Max [ADDED] Got the cookbook today and it's beautifully laid out and I'm so excited about cooking some of the recipes with my daughter and wife! Thank you Max!
Every episode where hardtack makes guest appearance needs to be in its own special playlist😂
Wedged in clay….love it
I make myself laugh 😂
Excellent video on Babylonian cuisine 🥰, hope you do another video on indian cuisine, really enjoyed your Payasam video.
I have something scheduled for January
@@TastingHistory awesome to hear 👂
As they would say in Akkadian:
Babbanû
Which means wonderful.
Thank you max for these videos. Whenever I’m having a hard day I look forward to watching your videos as they are so interesting and comforting.
That hardtack clip kills me every time
This was both informative and rather hysterical at the same time. You're smashing it bro! Well done.....as always! 😊
Every time Max says: "...but not as dry as hardtack", I just wait for the clip where he hits them with one another and can´t help but laugh.
I sooooo want a cookbook of all the collected recipes from this channel.
Max, your hard tac bit always kills me. Never fails to cheer me up.