The Pot Stew (savory mersu of the royal banquet)
Tuh'u — Lamb Stew with Beetroot, Leek, and Garlic
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A deep red stew of lamb simmered with beetroot (Sumerian red), leek, crushed garlic, spiced with coriander and cumin, and bound with fermented siqqu. Creamy, fragrant, royal.
The Pot Stew (savory mersu of the royal banquet)
A deep red stew of lamb simmered with beetroot (Sumerian red), leek, crushed garlic, spiced with coriander and cumin, and bound with fermented siqqu. Creamy, fragrant, royal.
Listen to the king who brought back the plant of youth from the depths of the waters: when the princes of neighboring cities came under my walls, tuh'u was set in the bronze pots. Throw in the meat of the fat lamb, water, fat; then comes the red of the earth, the leek and garlic crushed together, and fresh coriander at the last moment. The secret is siqqu, that fish brine that awakens everything — without it, a stew is only water and meat. We ate it with bread, never without beer.
Ingredients
- •Lamb meat (shoulder, leg) — a fine piece (base)
- •Sheep fat — a piece (richness)
- •Beetroot (red) — a few (color and sweetness)
- •Leek and onion — in abundance (aromatics)
- •Crushed garlic — generous (power)
- •Siqqu (fermented fish brine) — a dash (umami base)
- •Fresh coriander, cumin — to taste (fragrance)
- •Salt — according to siqqu (seasoning)
How it was made : The culinary tablets of the Babylonian Yale collection (circa 1750 BCE) contain about twenty stew recipes, including tuh'u. They list ingredients (meat, fat, onion, leek, garlic, herbs) without quantities, like memory aids for already expert cooks. Siqqu, a fermented brine, played the role of our soy sauce or fish sauce.
Sources : Yale Babylonian Collection, culinary tablets YBC 4644 / YBC 8958 / YBC 4648, circa 1750 BCE · Jean Bottéro, The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia, University of Chicago Press, 2004 · Gojko Barjamovic et al., 'Pots and Plays' / Ancient Mesopotamian recipes project, Harvard, 2019