antipinkkitten 
Before we start in on Mesopotamia, with this being our first blog post, we wanted to give a guide to what we are doing and how we’ll produce going forward.
To introduce everyone to this blog, I want to give a bit of a guide of how it’s going to work. Brad and I discuss the dish plan, I put together the recipe, then, he and I have spirited conversations on what I found, giving his archaeologist view into the accuracy of things. Brad’s feedback and written areas are reserved for historical sections. If you are interested in learning more about us, check out our About Us page.
Mesopotamia, what a place!
While discussing what our first dish would be, we landed on the oldest recorded recipes in history, dating from 1750 B.C.E. Even though the recipes were a bit light on ingredients, I used some other references for spices.
Brad: I don’t trust those references. McCormick is a spice company, not an academic journal.
These recipes were adapted by researchers at Yale and Harvard in 2018, and AtlasObscura wrote an article in 2020, taking some of the other recipes provided and broke down the history and other tidbits.
So with this, here are the recipes, how I did it, our ratings and feedback from the Archaeologist in the room to let me know if the history is right.
We made two dishes – One that’s really just highlighted as a “Mesopotamian Soup”, which is really an onion soup with meat, and “Mersu”, a dessert made from dates, butter and pistachios! Both had unique challenges, but the difficulty overall would be a 2 out 5. The hardest part was getting enough of the ingredients needed without blowing the budget. It made a 4 person serving of both for about $35. Raw, unroasted pistachios in bulk, don’t come cheap!
Historical background of the ingredients
To make sure everyone is aware: Brad’s area of expertise is not Mesopotamian. However, he has completed extensive research into these recipes.
Mesopotamian Soup
Spices – While assisting in research for this one, the spices used seem to be accurate for the region/time period, based on the white paper “STUDY OF DIET IN MESOPOTAMIA (c.3000 – 600 BC) AND ASSOCIATED AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES AND METHODS OF FOOD PREPARATION“. The use of Asfoetida is quite appropriate, due to its origin in Iran and the Middle East, in general.
Ingredients – I may be bias on this one due to my love of lamb, I agree with Meghan’s view on cutting the lamb up. The recipe could be done with beef as well, but I highly recommend with the lamb. Both carrots and leeks are accurate for the region as well.
Mersu
Ingredients – This was possibly issued for a “King’s Meal”, and was a more important dish. This is a broad term, which uses different ingredients in historical context, whereas we made one of them, which is more dessert-based. All of the ingredients were accurate for the time period/region. If you would like more information on Mersu, see white paper above.
Mesopotamian Soup
Ingredients
- Boneless or Bone-in Lamb Shoulder (2lb)
- 1 Leek (thin slices)
- 3 Carrots (Roughly cut into 1″ chunks)
- 2 cups of water
- Garlic Powder
- Black Pepper
- Cumin
- Vandevi Asafoetida
- Pinch of Salt
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Season the lamb shoulder with garlic powder, cumin, Vandevi Asafoetida, black pepper and salt; rubbing into all sections.
- Braise lamb shoulder in warmed olive oil until brown on all sides.
- Once browned on all sides, place lamb shoulder into crockpot.
- Chop up peeled carrots into 1″ chunks.
- Slice the leek’s stalk into about 2cm slices, up to the leaves.
- Place all vegetables into the crockpot with the lamb, topping with 2 cups of water.
- Turn the crockpot on high for 2 hours.
- Once completed, skim fat out of the broth, and serve in bowls with broth, meat and vegetables.
Notes
After cooking this meal, I wish I would have chop it into chunks for a couple of reasons – first off, it would have been easier to eat. Also though, it would have taken less time to cook in general. But, keep in mind, the broth would be less broth-like, if you do that.
Mersu
Ingredients
- 1 cup of dates
- 2 cups of raw, unroasted pistachios
- 1 tbsp of butter
Instructions
- Deshell 2 cups of pistachios.
- Finely grind pistachios until it has the consistency of a rough powder.
- Place 1 cup of dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let it sit for 30 minutes covered.
- Once the dates are completed, mash them into a paste-like texture.
- Add pistachios to the dates, with the tbsp of butter. Mix together until it has a cookie dough-like consistency.
- Form mixture into balls, placing on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.
Reviews
Meghan’s Review:
4 out of 5 stars
Dessert was a bit too sweet and the soup filled me up quickly. It’s not bad, just a larger serving than expected.
Brad’s Review:
4 out of 5 stars
Dessert was amazing, soup was a bit bland.
An interesting idea! Look forward to more offerings!