Babylonian Lamb Stew
Lamb stew made with milk, Persian shallot, and hard Babylonian flatbread
City/Region: Babylon | Mesopotamia
Time Period: c. 1700 B.C.E.
Sheep were one of the first animals that humans domesticated. The meat, skins, milk, and wool were crucial to the development of early civilizations like Babylon and Sumer. The Sumerian creation myth even has Sheep and Grain getting into an argument about who is more important to the people (spoiler alert, Grain wins). The fat tail sheep was (and is) particularly prized for the buttery soft fat in the tail. If you can find some, it would be great for this recipe. The only one that I could find when I made this was in 100 pound quantities, and I wasn’t ready to commit to that.
This stew doesn’t turn out very pretty, but the flavor is good. It’s very lamb-forward, and I recommend saving some risnātu crumbs for crunchy croutons because everything else is very soft. The Persian shallot has a very unique flavor that adds a nice zing that really jumps out at you. The stew does turn out a bit greasy, which is intentional, but I wonder how the fat tail sheep fat would have worked. With ancient recipes, there’s a lot of room to change things up and still be just as potentially right or wrong, so use whatever meat and animal fat you like, adjust the quantities of ingredients and the cook time, and make it your own.
“Broth of lamb.
Meat is used. You prepare water. You add fat. You add fine-grained salt, risnātu, onion, Persian shallot and milk. You crush leek and garlic. ”
Ingredients:
Risnātu
- 1 cup (140 g) barley flour
- 1/3 cup (75 ml) water
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil or melted ghee
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Stew
- 1 quart (1 L) hot water
- 1/2 cup (100 g) fat, use from the fat tail sheep if you can find it, but any animal fat like regular tail sheep, tallow, or lard will work
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/4 cup (50 g) chopped Persian shallot*
- 2 cups (475 ml) sheep milk, or cow or goat
- 1/2 cup chopped leek
- 4 to 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 pound (450 g) lamb cut into large bite size pieces
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- For the risnātu: Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Mix the barley flour and salt in a bowl. Add the water and oil and mix to form a shaggy dough.
- Shape the dough into little cakes. Place them on a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the risnātu in there to dry. You want them not as dry as hardtack (clack clack), but dry enough that they’ll easily crumble.
- After the risnātu has dried, crush it into a coarse powder, but leave some larger pieces to use as croutons later on.
- For the stew: Sauté the onion in a pan with a little of the oil for about 7 minutes, or until they’re translucent. Set them aside.
- While the onion cooks, melt a little of the fat in a large pot. Add the lamb and sprinkle it with some of the salt. Cook the lamb until it begins to brown.
- Add in the hot water, the rest of the salt, and the rest of the fat. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the sautéed onion, Persian shallot, milk, and most of the risnātu crumbs (save a few larger pieces for later). Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Grind the garlic into a paste with a mortar and pestle. Add the leek and mash them together. Add this mixture to the stew.
- At this point, you can add more milk if you want more broth in the stew. Simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the lamb is nice and tender. Leave the lid off if you want a thicker stew.
- When the lamb is tender, dish it up and garnish with the larger risnātu pieces and little chopped leek if you like. Serve it forth.
Notes
- Persian shallot has a unique flavor that would be hard to find a substitute for. I found some dried online. Soak it in water for about an hour and it’ll be ready to use.
- Link to Persian shallot: https://amzn.to/47VTGAv
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