Dinner is Ruined
New York City is a wonderland for globe-trotting palates, from Egyptian fare in Astoria to Austrian vittles in Ft. Greene. But, what if our palates yearn not for a trip around the world - but a trip back in time?
Julie Powell of The Julie/Julia Project fame comes to the rescue with her article in Archaeology Magazine about ancient cookery - including dishes from the Mesopotamians, Mongolians, and Mayans. The decidedly urbane LIC-resident unearthed an astounding array of recipes from sources as obscure as Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets and records from the eleventh-century court of Kublai Khan. But, actually uncovering the recipes wasn’t the least of Powell’s challenges in putting together her Archaeology story:
The first difficulty a twenty-first-century home cook runs into when attempting to explore cuisines hundreds or thousands of years old is in establishing the ground rules. Does one make use of refrigeration? (The answer, after a brief but definitive analysis of logistics: an emphatic yes.) What about mutton, one of the most common meats throughout the Old World but now almost impossible for the common consumer to obtain in this country? Would I be cheating if I settled for lamb? (In America today, sheep are slaughtered almost exclusively before the end of their first year, making them technically lamb. Anything older is very, very tough–to buy, I mean, although I presume it also presents a challenge to the incisors.) And what about all those archaic food-preparation methods? I possess neither a horse under whose saddle I can shove meat for tenderizing, as the Mongols did, nor a yard into which I can dig a six-foot-deep hole to cook my turkey Maya-style. And then there are the Sumerian recipes that call for blood. Is it safe to cook with blood? Is it even legal?
That said, in the name of full disclosure, I’ve worked with the magazine and Julie in my day-job capacity - and actually had the pleasure of dining on some of these ancient culinary treasures. The Mongolian Eggplant Manta is particularly lovely (pictured to the far left above). But, I just can’t get behind the Lamb Liquor.