Making Mustard [Condiments], Mild and Pungent Hot1

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CHAPTER 15

(468) [Recipe for making khardal (condiment)]2 Take mustard seeds, pick them over to remove any small wood chips (diqq), any with insect damage (musawwas),3 twigs (ʿīdān), and any other impurities. Put the seeds in a hāwan (mortar), and pound them finely. If this proves dif- ficult, add a piece of cotton to the seeds and they will crush quickly. Once you finish pounding, add an equal amount of walnuts to the seeds, and continue pounding. Then pour as much vinegar as you like and strain the mixture in a fine sieve. You will get mustard that is like white sea foam (zabad). Take the foam only, and add to it a little salt and serve it. With what’s left, make ṣināb sauce with pounded raisins.4 If you prefer, (120v) sweeten it with sugar. If you wish, pound the mustard seeds first, put them in a small tub (ijjāna), and pour in enough water to knead them. With the tub facing the wind, whip the mustard mix continuously by hand until it becomes white.5 Next, knead together [pounded] walnuts, salt, and pleasant-tasting vinegar (khall ṭayyib). Add this mixture to the whipped mustard. [Continue whipping, and] skim any

1 Besides mustard condiment, often referred to as khardal maʿmūl ‘prepared mustard,’ this chapter also includes dipping sauces, collectively called ṣibāgh; these may or may not contain mustard. They were poured on fish and poultry dishes and were intended to aid in digestion. 2 This detailed recipe for mustard condiment is found in al-Warrāq, chapter 38, where it is titled ṣifat al-khardal. Here I used it to amend the edited text. Interestingly, while both com- pilers must have used a similar source for sauces and condiments, al-Warrāq took one recipe and moved on to other chapters, whereas the compiler of the Kanz went on and copied 17 recipes from it. as in ,سوس and not مسوس Here I used al-Warrāq’s version, which copies the word correctly as 3 the edited text. 4 The edited text replaces the word ṣināb ‘mustard-raisin sauce’ with the non-specific shayʾ ‘something.’ Quite likely, the name ṣināb was not a familiar word at the time the Kanz was written. 5 It is my guess that the person whipping the mustard mixture is advised to face the wind to protect him from inhaling the rising fumes of the mix. See, for instance, recipe 518 below, where the person working on chopped green mustard leaves is advised to mask his face.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��8 | doi ��.��63/9789004349919_018 306 CHAPTER 15 foam that rises to the surface and transfer it to another container. [This will be your mustard condiment]. Make ṣināb sauce with the remaining mustard mix by adding raisins,6 sugar, and other ingredients [as above]. If you wish, knead the pounded mustard [with some water] and form it into a disc (qurṣ), which you stick into a bowl (ṭayfūr). Sprinkle ashes on it and rinse it in water several times until it is clean. Some dirty-looking bitter water will come out [of the mustard disc]. Repeat with the other side of the mustard disc. Then add pounded walnuts and beat the mix hard by hand. Skim whatever froth rises, [this will be your mustard condiment]. The amount of foam depends on how long you beat it, and how many walnuts you use. Make ṣināb7 with the remaining mustard mix using raisins, sugar, pomegranate juice; or whatever you like.

(469) Another recipe [for mustard condiment] Sift the pounded mustard [seeds]—½ raṭl (½ pound) of it. Put it in a qaṣʿa (large wide bowl), sprinkle it with a bit of water, knead it so that it releases its oil, and loses its bitterness. Put it in a bowl (zibdiyya), and add to it ½ raṭl (1 cup) vinegar, ½ raṭl (½ pound) bee honey, 1½ dirhams (¾ teaspoon) gin- ger, and 2½ dirhams (1¼ teaspoons) salt. [Mix the ingredients well], strain the mustard sauce, and put it in a sukurruja (small bowl for dips).

[The following recipes, to recipe 480, deal with ṣibāgh (dipping sauces, see n. 1 above)]

(470) Recipe for a dipping sauce (ṣibāgh) to be eaten with [cooked] fresh fish (samak ṭarī)8 Take the extracted juices of onion, kurrāth (leaf leaks), and cilantro (kuzba- ra raṭba); and take as much wine vinegar, fresh water (māʾ ʿadhb), and salt as needed. (121r) Also take olive oil.9

6 Once again ṣināb is referred to as shayʾ, see n. 4 above. 7 See n. 4 above. 8 This recipe and the following two (471, 472) are also found in al-Warrāq Istanbul MS, fols. 111r–v, with some stylistic differences and textual variants. Apparently, both drew on a similar source, a pamphlet that perhaps specialized in cold dishes and accompanying sauces. In addition, by examining the sauce recipes in al-Warrāq Istanbul MS, I have discovered that in this recipe our copyist unknowingly combined two recipes; this explains the absence of instructions on what to do with the reduced sauce in the pot. Here I amended the text based on Istanbul recipes. 9 In al-Warrāq Istanbul MS version, the amounts used should be 1 raṭl (2 cups) each, of juices of onion, leaf leeks, and cilantro; 1½ raṭls each, of vinegar and water; ¼ raṭl of olive oil.