The Oldest Recipe in History - Hammurabi's Kanasu Stew

[00:00] Today I am cooking one of the oldest recipes 

[00:03] At over 3,750 years old this is a Babylonian recipe for kanasu stew

[00:09] made around the reign of King Hammurabi.

[00:12] So thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video as we make a stew from ancient Babylon

[00:16] this time on Tasting History.

[00:24] So this recipe and I use the term recipe very 

[00:28] is one of 25 stews or broths which are found on one of the four Yale Babylonian culinary tablets.

[00:35] This one was created no later than 1740 BC during or just after the reign 

[00:43] Hammurabi, a great conqueror but more famously known for his long enduring code of laws.

[00:49] Now I have made two other stews from this tablet. And in my mind, it was not that long ago. Like, I just did it.

[00:54] But actually, it was like over five years ago that I did these. In fact,

[00:58] both of them made it into the Tasting History cookbook, which came out 3 years ago.

[01:02] I made the tuh'u which is a beet stew, and then I made another lamb stew that has milk in it.

[01:09] Also, just a couple days ago, I finally finished writing my second cookbook,

[01:12] took me long enough.

[01:13] So more details on that coming up fairly soon.

[01:17] Anyway, it's been a while since I've done anything from these tablets,

[01:20] so I wanted to revisit them so I can talk a little 

[01:25] Now, the recipe leaves a lot up to interpretation. It says

[01:31] "Kanasu stew. Leg of mutton is used. Prepare water, add fat.

[01:35] Samídu; coriander; cumin; and kanasu.

[01:38] Assemble all the ingredients in the cooking vessel and sprinkle with crushed garlic.

[01:42] Then blend into the pot šuhutinnu and mint."

[01:45] See what I mean? Not a lot of instruction there in that recipe.

[01:49] First off, what does prepare water mean? Does it mean to just

[01:53] gather water, put it in a big boiling pot? Do you have to boil it?

[01:58] Is it something that you have to purify, add salt, add something completely different?

[02:02] Was there a whole process that was just so common at that time that they didn't feel the need to write it down

[02:07] and now we just don't know at all and never will?

[02:10] Also, while I'm calling it a stew, you could also use the word broth

[02:14] or soup. It's been translated as both or sauce because really the word just kind of means a liquid.

[02:21] So it could be a sauce over the meat. There's nothing that actually says in the recipe. So

[02:29] kind of up to me. Then perhaps most frustrating is the fact 

[02:36] or they have been translated but in multiple ways 

[02:41] including the name of the soup kanasu and then samídu and šuhutinnu.

[02:46] For the word kanasu it's just known to be some sort of edible plant.

[02:50] Some people think that it is a sort of wheat like emmer wheat which could be used then as a flour to thicken the soup,

[02:57] but it could be something totally different but that's what I'm going to use.

[03:00] Then there is the word samídu which most scholars agree is some sort of allium

[03:06] like a shallot or something similar

[03:10] but there are people who actually believe that it means like semolina or fine flour.

[03:18] The reason is because similar words like semida in the Hebrew Talmud

[03:22] and semidalis in ancient Greek both refer to fine flowers. And it's where we get the word semolina.

[03:28] And this might be the case, but I'm always wary of making that kind of assumption

[03:33] because those languages aren't written down until well over a thousand years after this was written.

[03:40] And words can change a lot in a thousand years. 

[03:48] that does not mean that they actually have anything to do with each other.

[03:52] Take the word island and isle.

[03:55] They sound similar. They mean the same thing.

[03:59] And yet, the words aren't actually related at all.

[04:02] One is from a Latin origin and one is from a Germanic origin.

[04:06] Just happens that they sound and mean the same thing.

[04:09] So while samídu may mean fine flour, I am going to go with most scholars and go with a shallot

[04:16] mainly because it's just going to add a lot more flavor than semolina flour.

[04:20] Finally, the word šuhutinnu, this one too causes a lot of confusion because

[04:24] really it just refers to something that has been pulled out of the ground. Some sort of vegetable that's been pulled out of the ground.

[04:31] That could mean a lot of things.

[04:33] A lot of scholars think that it is another thing like a leek or something like that.

[04:38] Others believe it's more like a root vegetable like a turnip or even a early carrot.

[04:45] Again, it's kind of up to you. I'm going to go with a leek because

[04:50] again I think it's going to add more flavor than 

[04:54] So yeah, but there is no right or wrong answer or they're all wrong 

[05:02] My thought is you just shouldn't take this too 

[05:09] is not going to be exactly right because we just 

[05:14] so just have fun with it. So, for this fun version of this recipe,

[05:20] my version of this recipe, what you'll need is 1 quart of water, 1 large shallot, 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds,

[05:26] 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1/4 cup or 30 grams of emmer flour, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, a small leek,

[05:33] a handful of mint leaves, and a couple pieces of 

[05:37] about enough to have 1 and 1/2 lbs or 680 grams of meat once cut off the bone.

[05:41] Then, 1 tbsp of salt and 3 tbsp or 45 grams of fat.

[05:45] Now there are a lot of options when it comes to 

[05:48] It could have been butter or ghee or tallow or lard or sesame oil or olive oil that came in from the Mediterranean.

[05:56] Or more than likely, it would have been the fat from a fat tail sheep.

[06:01] Finding the fat is darn near impossible. I'm sure it's out there, but I've never been able to find it here in the US.

[06:07] But they're really popular in the Middle East. I 

[06:12] they were really popular in antiquity. In fact, 

[06:17] the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus, who says

[06:21] "They have long tails no less than four and a half feet long which,

[06:25] if they were allowed to trail on the ground, would be bruised and developed soores.

[06:29] As it is, the shepherds have enough skill in 

[06:34] The carts are placed under the tails, each sheep having one to himself, and the tails are then tied down upon them."

[06:40] I did get, like I said, to try it finally when I went to Jordan last month, or two months ago.

[06:46] And it is really, really unctuous and kind of has a strong, buttery flavor.

[06:52] So, since I can't find it, I'm going to use ghee, 

[06:57] So start this dish by chopping the shallots and crushing the garlic.

[07:01] And then add the coriander and cumin seeds to a mortar and grind them into a powder.

[07:06] Then get as much lamb meat off of the bone as you can and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

[07:11] You can also use pre-cut stew meat if you've got it.

[07:14] Another option would actually be to put the whole leg in the stew 

[07:20] but I find that that doesn't give as much flavor. 

[07:26] To do that just melt a bit of the fat in a pot over high heat and then add in the meat,

[07:31] and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Then move it around and continue to cook until it gets just a little bit of a browning.

[07:38] Then remove the meat from the pot and add some more of the fat and then the chopped shallots.

[07:43] Sprinkle in a little bit of the salt and toss them in the fat and let them cook for 3 to 4 minutes

[07:48] or until they're nice and fragrant. Then pour about 2 cups of water into the pot

[07:52] and scrape off as much from the bottom of the pot as you can. There's going to be a lot of nice flavor there.

[07:57] And then let it come to a simmer and add the rest of the fat to the pot and let it melt in.

[08:02] Then once it's melted, you can add the ground up coriander and cumin along with the salt and stir it all in.

[08:08] And then add another two cups of water and the flour and stir that in.

[08:13] And a whisk here really helps so you don't get too many lumps.

[08:16] Then let this slowly come up to a boil. And then you can add in the garlic along with the seared meat.

[08:22] Then lower the temperature to medium low and let it simmer for a moment.

[08:26] Then put the lid on and continue to cook for about a half an hour.

[08:29] And every once in a while you can check on it 

[08:33] If you want something more like a broth or a soup or just keep the water as is

[08:38] if you want something thicker like a stew or even like the meat in a sauce.

[08:42] There really is no wrong answer there cuz there really is no right answer there.

[08:46] We just don't know. We are in a complete culinary limbo and I'm just going to have to make peace with that.

[08:52] Now as the soup cooks, chop up the mint as well as the leek.

[08:55] Now I always wash my leeks, of course, but yet once it's chopped, I find that there's still always like little bits of dirt between the layers.

[09:02] So I like to give them another rinse in the sink.

[09:04] Then, after the soup has cooked for about 30 minutes, you can remove the lid and add in about half of the leeks and most of the mint.

[09:11] Stir those in and let it continue to cook uncovered for another 10 minutes or until it is as thick as you want.

[09:17] As I mentioned, this recipe was written around the time 

[09:24] the old Babylonian Empire. Now, in school, mostly 

[09:31] you know, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, those kinds of things, the

[09:36] really rather harsh ones. But it turns out he also had a lot to say about the food of ancient Babylon.

[09:46] Before I get to Hammurabi, I just want to let you 

[09:50] leading over the next year and a half. I'm going 

[09:53] They are so much fun. It is just an experience filled with food and history and culture and learning.

[09:59] It is so educational, but it is a lot of fun and you're 

[10:06] So, if you want to check those out, the first one is going to be starting in Paris going down the Seine, or up the Seine, through Normandy

[10:13] so you know it's going to be good food. That is in November 2026.

[10:17] If you want to sign up for those, I am going to put links in the description.

[10:21] And now onto Hammurabi.

[10:23] Hammurabi was the sixth Amorite king of Babylon.

[10:26] And he took the throne after his father's abdication around 1729 BC.

[10:30] But when he became king, Babylon was nothing that special.

[10:35] It was a small city state and it kind of had power 

[10:41] but it was really surrounded by much bigger 

[10:48] empire that Hammurabi would make it.

[10:50] Because while he is definitely most famous for his code of laws,

[10:54] Hammurabi was one of the great warrior kings 

[10:59] But before he became a great warrior king, he strengthened Babylon through-

[11:05] well through food.

[11:06] See, just like in the early stages of the video game Civilization, one of my favorites,

[11:10] Hammurabi had to establish Babylon as an economic powerhouse if he wanted to conquer the surrounding territory.

[11:19] And he did that by building a ton of granaries and canals that went off of the Euphrates River

[11:26] that stopped the flooding from ruining the crops.

[11:29] "Its banks on both sides I turned into cultivated ground.

[11:32] I heaped up piles of grain, I provided unfailing water for the lands...

[11:37] The scattered people I gathered with pasturage and water I provided them,

[11:42] I pastured them with abundance, and settled them in peaceful dwellings.

[11:46] And it was only after he made sure that his people had ample food

[11:50] that he could use the surplus of resources to build a mighty army which in just a few years

[11:57] was able to defeat the much more powerful civilizations of Ilam, Larsa, Eshnuna and Mari.

[12:03] Now some of these places like Ilam he didn't actually conquer but he did defeat.

[12:08] And then other places like Mari, he pretty much wiped off the map before incorporating their lands into his empire.

[12:16] If you remember last year's video on the Mesopotamian desert, mersu,

[12:20] I actually talked about the great king of Mari, Zimri-Lim.

[12:23] He was an extraordinary builder in his own right and would have gone down as one of the greatest kings of the era

[12:29] had not Hammurabi come in and decimated everything that he had built. But

[12:34] before he did that, Zimri-Lim tried to get into Hammurabi's good graces by plying him with wine.

[12:41] "Hammurabi, king of Babylon, has written to me for wine...

[12:45] Open up the wine stockroom with Sidqummasi standing by,

[12:48] let him purify his hands, then select 11 jars of red 

[12:54] Mix it in one vat, fill up 10 jars of red wine, seal them with this seal [I have sent],

[12:59] and give them to Bahdi-lim [to take to Hammurabi].

[13:02] Then convey to me 1 jar of the red wine that you are mixing, send it upstream..."

[13:07] Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that the wine actually worked because shortly after that,

[13:11] Zimri-Lim disappears from the history books and 

[13:15] It was only after the utter destruction of most of his 

[13:21] the wise judicious king that history remembers 

[13:26] This is mainly because of the 7 and 1/2 foot tall diorite/basalt stele on which he inscribed 282 laws.

[13:33] Now it is not the first written code of laws but it was definitely the most enduring and influential in the ancient world.

[13:39] And I feel like in school we all learn about it but mostly just about the really juicy bits like

[13:44] "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.

[13:48] If one breaks a man's bone they shall break his bone."

[13:51] All those tit fortat sort of laws that we associate with ancient justice. But actually

[13:56] most of the laws are far more mundane and deal 

[14:02] and marriage and probably most important for 

[14:08] the idea of innocent until proven guilty.

[14:11] See, if you accused somebody of something, you actually had to prove it.

[14:15] There was a presumption of innocence and the burden of proof was on the accuser.

[14:21] Also, there was due process. Everyone had a right to go in front of a judge and plead their case.

[14:27] And if you were the accuser and you were proven to be false making it up, well then you were punished.

[14:35] For "If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he has made,

[14:41] if that case be a capital trial, the man shall be put to death."

[14:46] It also established the concept of the punishment should fit the crime.

[14:50] Now the punishments to us may seem rather harsh, but

[14:54] the idea was that the punishment should be no more nor less than the actual offense.

[15:00] And this obviously seems, you know, like of course to us today, but that is not always the case.

[15:07] Even a thousand years after the law code was written, there were things like the Draconian laws of Athens.

[15:14] These put into place by Draco typically called for the death penalty for almost everything.

[15:20] Like if you steal a piece of fruit, death penalty.

[15:23] If you are caught sleeping out in public, death penalty.

[15:26] I would have got that many times when I fell asleep on the subway living in New York.

[15:30] As for Hammurabi's laws, the reason that I wanted to talk about them here on Tasting History is because many of them

[15:36] have to do with food and agriculture. Like

[15:40] "If a tavern keeper should refuse to accept grain as payment for beer but accepts only silver,

[15:45] and the price of the beer is less than that of the grain,

[15:48] she shall be convicted and thrown into the water."

[15:51] And some of these tavern based laws were really strict, like if someone is conspiring in your tavern

[15:57] and you're proven to know about it and you don't turn them in,

[16:00] then you are put to death.

[16:02] And "If a 'sister of God' open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink,

[16:06] then shall this woman be burned to death."

[16:09] Then there is a huge section of law codes that have to do with farm labor

[16:14] and it even establishes a minimum wage for different types of farm work.

[16:19] It also gives protections or sometimes not protections to the people who are working the farm

[16:25] or people who are renting animals from your farm. Like if you rent an ox or you're working with an ox

[16:31] and you put its eye out, then you have to pay the owner, the farmer, half of the price of the ox.

[16:38] And "If anyone hire an ox, and break off 

[16:43] he shall pay one-foruth of its value in money."

[16:46] Those are some very specific injuries, which make me think that they happened a lot, which is kind of sad for the ox.

[16:51] Also, the law codes give some protections to workers and renters that they had never had before.

[16:58] Like, "If anyone hire an ox or an ass, and a lion kill it in the field, the loss is upon the owner."

[17:05] Then there was even an act of God clause. For if you are using an ox

[17:09] "...and God strike it that it die, the man who hired it shall swear by God and be considered guiltless."

[17:16] To this day, insurance companies use that same excuse to get out of paying claims all the time.

[17:22] Now, while these laws may not be as famous as, you know, an eye for an eye kind of thing,

[17:27] they were actually probably a lot more commonly used by the average person

[17:32] because they dictated the most common things in life, namely things that had to do with food.

[17:39] And it's because Hammurabi paid attention to these rather mundane affairs

[17:45] that he was able to build and maintain his great empire.

[17:49] Unfortunately, his successors did not seem to have that same talent because

[17:56] basically right after he died, they started losing land. And within just a few generations,

[18:01] it was basically the size that it had been when Hammurabi had taken over.

[18:05] It'd be another thousand years before Babylon came roaring back with a sequel under Nebuchadnezzar II.

[18:11] Though this time it was around for even a shorter time, just a few decades.

[18:15] But as I said, that's a story for another time because that's a thousand years after Hammurabi and a thousand years

[18:22] after the recipe for this kanasu stew was written down.

[18:25] So once the stew is fully cooked to the desired thickness, serve it up with a little of the raw leak and mint and it is ready to eat.

[18:32] And here we are, kanasu stew from the reign of Hammurabi,

[18:35] one of the oldest recipes in history.

[18:39] Bon appetit.

[18:40] [nom nom nom]

[18:44] Hmm.

[18:45] That's delicious.

[18:51] So, the um-

[18:52] it's almost as thick as like a gravy, and it could be served that way, more, like I said, more like a sauce.

[19:00] What's really nice is having a little bit of the raw

[19:05] leek in there gives it some texture. There's a bit of a crunch. I also put some more coriander seed on top, which doesn't have a strong flavor,

[19:12] but again, it gives it some texture.

[19:14] What I love is that none of the individual flavors are like leaping out at you.

[19:22] And I was worried that the mint would because 

[19:26] Lets have have a little bit more.

[19:27] [chomp]

[19:29] Hm.

[19:33] The meat just melts in your mouth.

[19:36] That's actually really really good.

[19:39] Yeah, there's not a lot I would change. Yeah,

[19:43] three millennia later and it's still absolutely delicious. Now,

[19:48] yes, there is the possibility that it was not served like this 

[19:53] but it couldn't be that far off. Most of the ingredients are the same.

[19:58] So, really, you're just kind of talking about a texture thing 

[20:02] leg of lamb in here? Was it all boiled?

[20:05] I do think searing it helps. It just helps to bring out some of the flavor. Purely boiled meat...

[20:10] not the most flavorful way to make it.

[20:14] But a wonderful, wonderful dish.

[20:17] So, yeah, if you want to join me in Paris traveling down the Seine this autumn,

[20:21] then I will put a link in the description 

[20:25] and make this dish. It is definitely worth it. And as 

[20:32] or I'll put the recipe up on the tasting 

[20:37] which I made with help from today's sponsor, Squarespace.

[20:40] Squarespace is the easiest all-in-one platform for building a website. And you do not need to be a designer to make something really nice.

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[21:31] And I will see you next time on Tasting History.