Scents and Flavors

A Syrian Cookbook

Charles Perry, Claudia Roden, Charles Perry

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781479800810
• eBook ISBN:
  9781479800827
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Delectable recipes from the medieval Middle East
This popular thirteenth-century Syrian cookbook is an ode to what its anonymous author calls the "greater part of the pleasure of this life," namely the consumption of food and drink, as well as the fragrances that garnish the meals and the diners who enjoy them.
Organized like a meal, Scents and Flavors opens with appetizers and juices and proceeds through main courses, side dishes, and desserts. Apricot beverages, stuffed eggplant, pistachio chicken, coriander stew, melon crepes, and almond pudding are seasoned with nutmeg, rose, cloves, saffron, and the occasional rare ingredient such as ambergris to delight and surprise the banqueter. Bookended by chapters on preparatory perfumes, incenses, medicinal oils, antiperspirant powders, and after-meal hand soaps, this comprehensive culinary journey is a feast for all the senses.
With the exception of a few extant Babylonian and Roman texts, cookbooks did not appear on the world literary scene until Arabic speakers began compiling their recipe collections in the tenth century, peaking in popularity in the thirteenth century. Scents and Flavors quickly became a bestseller during this golden age of cookbooks and remains today a delectable read for cultural historians and epicures alike.
An English-only edition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Letter from the General Editor
• About this Paperback
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• Scents and Flavors
• Chapter 1: Perfume
• Chapter 2: Beverages
• Chapter 3: How to Make Various Kinds of Fruit Juices and Treat Them, How to Distill Vinegar
• Chapter 4: How to Melt the Several Varieties of Tail Fat
• Chapter 5: Chicken Dishes—Sweet, Sour, and Other Varieties
• Chapter 6: Sautés and Related Dishes
• Chapter 7: The Many Kinds of Sweets, Baked Goods, and the Like
• Chapter 8: How to Make the Various Types of Sour and Salty Pickles
• Chapter 9: On Hand-washing Powders and Perfumed Soaps
• Chapter 10: On Distilling Waters and Perfuming the Breath
• Notes
• Glossary
• Weights and Measures
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• About the Translator
• The Library of Arabic Literature