How the Service of Dishes is Ordered, and Which is Fitting to be First, and Which Last

The first dish to be presented is a feminine one, such as baqliyya mukarrara and the various kinds of tafâ yâ s; after this the dish jimli; then muthallath (meat cooked with vegetables, vinegar and saffron); then the dish of murri; then mukhallal (a vinegared dish); then mu'assal (a honeyed dish); then fartun; then another mu'assal. This is the succession of the seven dishes and the order in which they are eaten. Many of the great figures and their companions order [p. 25, recto] that the separate dishes be placed on each table before the diners, one after another; and by my life, this is more beautiful than putting an uneaten mound all on the table, and it is more elegant, better-bred, and modern; this has been the practice of the people of al-Andalus and the West, of their rulers, great figures, and men of merit from the days of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz[55] and the Banu Umayya to the present.[56]

And now I begin to describe the simplest dishes; I proceed first to discuss the various kinds of tafaya, because it is one of the most noble dishes, the most balanced for the stomach, and the best adapted to every humor, particularly the melancholic and phlegmatic.

[57]Simple White Tafâ yâ, Called Isfî dhbâ ja

This is a dish of moderate nutrition, suitable for weak stomachs, much praised for increasing the blood, good for the healthy and the scrawny; it is material and substance for all kinds of dishes.

Its Recipe:

Take the meat of a young, plump lamb. Cut it in little pieces and put it in a clean pot with salt, pepper, coriander, a little juice of pounded onion, a spoonful of fresh oil and a sufficient amount of water. Put it over a gentle fire and be careful to stir it; put in meatballs and some peeled, split almonds. When the meat is done and has finished cooking, set the pot on the ashes until it is cooled. He who wants this tafaya green can give it this color with cilantro juice alone or with a little mint juice.

Recipe for White Tafâ yâ: Another Kind

Take the meat of a young, tender lamb, cut it in little pieces and put it in the pot with salt, coriander, pepper, a little onion juice, and what oil is necessary. Put it on a gentle fire and fry it with its oil and spices; then add enough water. Take the fat intestine and offal [reading q.mâ as qumâ sh] from the intestines, remove them and tie their lower part and put a peeled, boiled egg in the tied intestine, and put over this balls of ground meat, improved with spices. Then put on top of this another egg, and a morsel of the said meat, until it is full to the top. Tie the mouth and put it in the pot, and finish cooking the tafâ yâ , and when it is done, take out the fat intestine and brown it in a frying pan with fresh oil. Then ladle out the tafâ yâ , if you like it covered with beaten eggs or plain, and cut up the offal [the egg-stuffed sausage] with a sharp knife and dot the tafâ yâ with the pieces. It must have meatballs and split almonds. Sprinkle it with cinnamon and lavender and present it; and if you wish, make it green with cilantro juice alone [p. 25, verso] or with a bit of mint juice.

Recipe for White Tafâ yâ with Almonds

Cook a white tafâ yâ with the meat of a fat lamb, as above, and when the meat is done, take peeled, pounded almonds and put them with rosewater, thicken the cooked tafâ yâ with this and it makes it whiter. It is necessary to have meatballs, and this is magnificent and regal.

Recipe for Fried Tafâ yâ, Which Was Known in Morocco as Tâ hashast

Get young, fat meat and cut it in little pieces. Fry it in a clean pot with salt, pepper, coriander, a little onion, a spoonful of oil and a little water. Stir it until the water is gone, the oil hot, the meat done and browned. This is similar to the preceding.

Another Kind of Tafâ yâ: the Eastern Style

Take the belly, small intestine, peritoneum, the meat of the chest and the tail and the fatty parts, cut it into the pot and add salt, onion, pepper, coriander, onion, and rue. Put it on the fire after cutting up some belly with meat, and make it into small, well -formed 'usbas [packets or rolls? ] and add it to the rest and cook it, and when it is finished cooking, present it, God willing. If this dish is made with vinegar, the result is admirable and is a different dish.

[58]Recipe for a Pot-Roast, Good for the Old, the Moist of Body and Moist Stomachs

Take young, fat meat, cut it small in a clean pot with a little salt, pepper, thyme, a little murri naqî ', two cloves of garlic, and enough oil. Place it on a moderate fire and keep stirring it until it is done, and use it.

[59]Recipe for Meatballs Used in Some Dishes, such as Tafâ yâ, Jimli, and Others

And a notable dish might result from it, God willing. It is very nutritious, quick to digest, fortifying, good for the scrawny [preceding 5 words not in published Arabic text] and for the sick [literally, the braying -- the hoarse? ], the aged, and for weak stomachs. Take meat from the shoulder and the leg of a ram, without tendons or veins, and pound it very hard. Add a little oil, pepper, cinnamon or lavender, a little onion juice, a little salt, another little bit of egg and a little fine flour.
[A break here: following dish is for a raisin drink]
And clean sweet raisins of twigs and dirt and wash them with water until they are clean. If you like it infused, throw into each kail of them two parts of hot water and put in a clay vessel until it boils; then strain and throw in it [p. 26, recto] honey. And if you like it cooked, place one part of raisins with three of water and take the measure with a stick, then add to the pot as much water as you wish, cook it until it returns to the measuring mark, then strain it and throw in honey and leave it until it boils, and then drink it, God willing. And in the same manner honey is cooked for drinking.

Making Stuffed Isfunj

Take semolina and sift it, and take the flour and put it in a dish. Take water and sprinkle it lightly on the semolina. Then put your hand in it and gather it all up and cover it with a second dish, leaving it until it sweats. Then uncover it and mix it until it becomes like white flour [that is, the durum ground wheat should resemble soft wheat flour]. Throw oil in it, and mix it, and put in leavening and eggs, throw in a measure of five eggs and then mix the dough with the eggs. Then put it in a new pot, after greasing it with oil, and leave it until it rises. Then take almonds, walnuts, pine nuts and pistachios, all peeled, and pound in a mortar until as fine as salt. Then take pure honey and put it on the fire and boil it until it is on the point of thickening. Then take the almonds, walnuts, pistachios and pine-nuts that you have pounded, and throw all this upon the honey and stir it until it is thickened. Then take the semolina dough that was put in the pot, and make a thin, small flat cake (raghî f) of it, and put on it a morsel of this thickened paste. Then take the raghî f with your hand and turn it until it is smooth and round and bite-sized. [This sentence is in Huici-Miranda's Spanish translation but not in the published Arabic text] Make all the dough according to this recipe, until the filling is used up. The dough should be only moderately thin. Then take a frying pan and put oil in it, and when it starts to boil, throw in a piece of isfunj and fry it with a gentle fire until it is done. And if you wish to thicken with sugar, do so, and if you with to throw almonds, ground sugar, and rosewater into the filling, do so and it will come out aromatic and agreeable.

Mujabbana (Cheese Pie) of Ruqâ q (Thin Flatbread)

Knead flour with a little water, then complete the kneading with oil. Then make little raghî fs (flatbreads) from a piece of it, rolled out with a cane, some fifteen raghî fs, which are put in the bottom of the mujabbana when it is made. Then gather them and twist them [possibly meaning twist the edges, sealing them] and puff them up. Then make a second batch and open them so that they become leaves. When the cheese is put in it, put a layer of it and one raghî f, and then a layer and a raghî f, putting inside it about three of the raghî fs. Crack two or three beaten eggs over the cheese, [p. 26, verso] and also put some of the rind of the cheese in the bottom of it [the mujabbana], as before. Then cover it [viz. a top crust or layer of raghî fs] and grease it all with eggs, and send it to the bread oven in a large clay dish in which it is cooked. And if you cook fresh and clarified butter in it and it cover it a while until it is absorbed, may it do you much good [or: bon appetit].
[It sounds as if the raghî f called for when layering is going on may mean the compound of 15 raghî fs made earlier, only there seem to be three batches of this rather than two. I suspect the cheese is mixed with egg before being put in; but most recipes are more explicit than this when it comes to cheese, saying whether to grate or crumble or cut it (and calling either for old or for fresh cheese). " Greasing it all with eggs" may be like the modern practice of putting an egg wash on a crust.]

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