Babylonian Meat Stew

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless stewing lamb or beef round steak, well trimmed

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 whole leek, rinsed and coarsely chopped (geen part only)

2 cloves garlic, peeled

4 cups water

1 tablespoon shortening or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation

Wash the meat under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the onion, leek, and garlic into a mortar and crush everything together. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can put the ingredients in a heavy bowl or saucepan and crush with a potato masher or the back of a spatula or large spoon.

Place the meat in a Dutch oven or heavy kettle, add water, shortening, plus the onion mixture. Bring to a rapid boil, while stirring. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour.

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About

This recipe is from my second cookbook, "The Pharaoh's Feast." The book details the history of cooking throughout the ages, from day one to the present. The recipe is from three Akkhadian tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection. The tablets contain a collection of recipes from the old Babylonian Empire, circa 1700 B.C.E. This recipe (from Tablet 4644) states: "Take some meat. Prepare water. Throw fat in it. Then add [the word is lost], leeks, garlic, all crushed together, and some plain "suhutinnu" (onion). The ancient Mesopotamians had an affinity for every member of the onion family, and foods soaked in fats and oils. Yet, oddly, they weren't as partial to salt as we are.

So, enyoy a dish over 7,000 years old, and still tasty.