Roasted Leg of Lamb with Dates, Cardamom and Cinnamon
A melting roasted lamb, glazed with honey and date juice, perfumed with cardamom and cinnamon: the marriage of Greek roast and Mesopotamian spiced sweetness, a prestige dish of a court between two worlds.
A melting roasted lamb, glazed with honey and date juice, perfumed with cardamom and cinnamon: the marriage of Greek roast and Mesopotamian spiced sweetness, a prestige dish of a court between two worlds.
When I received envoys from the Ionian cities or the princes of the East, I wanted them to understand from a single dish the extent of my kingdom. See: the meat is roasted in the Greek manner, as among my Macedonian fathers, but it is glazed with the dates of Babylon and perfumed with the cardamom my caravans bring from the borders of India. My cooks pierce it with aromatics and turn it long over the embers, until the fat sings. They call me the Great — it is because at my table the whole world is held, from the Aegean to the mountains of Bactria.
- •Lamb shoulder or leg — a fine piece (banquet meat)
- •Dates — a good handful (Oriental sweetness)
- •Honey — a generous drizzle (glaze)
- •Cardamom — a few capsules (signature spice)
- •Cinnamon (cassia bark) — one stick (warm perfume)
- •Coriander seeds — a pinch (aromatic)
- •Grape wine — a cup (deglazing and tenderness)
- •Olive oil and salt — to discretion (seasoning)
Roasted Leg of Lamb with Dates, Cardamom and Cinnamon
A melting roasted lamb, glazed with honey and date juice, perfumed with cardamom and cinnamon: the marriage of Greek roast and Mesopotamian spiced sweetness, a prestige dish of a court between two worlds.
Why this dish? Antioch, the capital founded by his dynasty, was the table where the king received ambassadors and generals. Roasted lamb, the noble meat of Hellenistic banquets, was there adorned in Oriental fashion — with Babylonian dates, cinnamon and cardamom from the caravan routes — to display the extent of an empire that touched India.
When I received envoys from the Ionian cities or the princes of the East, I wanted them to understand from a single dish the extent of my kingdom. See: the meat is roasted in the Greek manner, as among my Macedonian fathers, but it is glazed with the dates of Babylon and perfumed with the cardamom my caravans bring from the borders of India. My cooks pierce it with aromatics and turn it long over the embers, until the fat sings. They call me the Great — it is because at my table the whole world is held, from the Aegean to the mountains of Bactria.
Ingredients (period version)
- Lamb shoulder or leg — a fine piece (banquet meat)
- Dates — a good handful (Oriental sweetness)
- Honey — a generous drizzle (glaze)
- Cardamom — a few capsules (signature spice)
- Cinnamon (cassia bark) — one stick (warm perfume)
- Coriander seeds — a pinch (aromatic)
- Grape wine — a cup (deglazing and tenderness)
- Olive oil and salt — to discretion (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Leg or shoulder of lamb — 1.5 kg (banquet meat)
- Pitted dates — 150 g (Oriental sweetness)
- Honey — 3 tbsp (glaze)
- Green cardamom (seeds) — 1 tsp (signature spice)
- Cinnamon — 1 stick or 1 tsp ground (warm perfume)
- Ground coriander — 1 tsp (aromatic)
- Dry white wine — 200 ml (deglazing)
- Olive oil — 3 tbsp (searing)
- Salt — to discretion (seasoning)
Method
- Pound together cardamom, coriander and cinnamon. Mix with olive oil, salt and half the honey to make an aromatic paste.
- Coat the meat with this paste, make incisions and insert a few pieces of date. Marinate 1-2 hours.
- Sear the meat on all sides in a casserole, then deglaze with wine.
- Add the remaining dates and a little water, cover and roast in the oven at 160°C for 2h30 to 3h, basting regularly.
- At the end of cooking, crush the dates in the juice, add the rest of the honey and reduce to a syrupy glaze.
- Uncover, raise to 200°C for 10 minutes to glaze the surface, then nap with the date juice at serving.
How it was made : Hellenistic court banquets vied in splendor; the Seleucids, heirs to both Macedonia and the Achaemenid satrapies, adopted the Oriental taste for sweet-and-savory and long-perfumed meats. Cinnamon (cassia) and cardamom, very costly commodities, passed through the ports and roads that Antiochus's wars sought to control.
The contemporary twist : Served sliced on the barley maza as a base, the date juice poured at table like a libation.
Antiochus III · Charactorium
