laḥm rāhibī

Discussion

This dish is representing specifically Christian food popularized in al-Andalus. The name literally means “Monk’s Food.” As we’re told above, there are many ways to prepare it, though a theme is evident. The end result is always a rich dish of fatty meat, first simmered, and then finished in the oven to brown the top. It always contains onions, and it always has some sweet and sour element, which are described at the time as a single flavor – muzz translated as sour-sweet.

We’re told people are most used to cooking this dish with the meat of cows fatted to excess. The recipes also use lamb as an option for the meat. In either case, we’re instructed by ASA in all four of his recipes to use “the delicious and fatty places” as well as the rumen tripe. This specific tripe does well when cooked for a long time, and is very soft and absorbent of the other flavors of a dish. While not favored by many modern diners, tripe is an extremely nutrient-dense food. FKH provides one recipe and calls for “the tastiest cuts of fatty beef” and specifies brisket, rumen tripe, honeycomb tripe, and shanks. Each of these cuts produces different flavors and textures, creating a wide variety of meat choices for this dish.

For the sour-sweet element, ASA tells us that rose-petal jam made with sugar, fruit molasses – specifically of grapes, both sweet and sour apples, and both sweet and sour pomegranates – as well as vinegar and dried plums are all options for this element. FKH on the other hand says to use honey or rose-petal honey jam specifically, or to replace that with very sour vinegar. FKH tells use to use saffron, but ASA says that using the molasses makes saffron unnecessary. Both propose a list of contextually familiar spices including black pepper, ginger, spikenard, Ceylon cinnamon, spikenard, coriander seeds, herb fennel, and even murri naqi in FKH.

All versions of the recipe follow the same basic cooking method with some small variations. The meat should be cooked gently until it starts to turn white and releases it’s juices. We must resist the temptation to brown the meat as the modern cook would – it is explicitly not called for, and is accounted for later in the cooking. The meat is next braised with onion and oil until deliciously tender. FKH says that if we braise it onion puree, it would be called “comforting” and “sunbeams” which is an option I clearly could not turn down. Lastly, and this is clearly non-negotiable in both authors’ eyes, the dish must be spiced and then baked in the oven until all of the liquid evaporates and the meat browns on top. This gives the dish the appropriate fragrance, i.e. of spiced meat rather than onions.

After trying this dish several of the ways described, I settled on the interpretation below. Lamb shoulder or leg would work just as well, and if you are skittish about tripe, it can be omitted. Likewise, you could substitute any of the types of meat mentioned above – anything you would use for a stew or braise. FKH says you can also use chicken. Other than the use of modern tools, my interpretation stays well within the specified lines of the dish. The spices are adjusted to my taste, and you could adjust them to yours. I chose pomegranate molasses because it is the easiest fruit molasses to come by in most cases, and it is delicious. I finish the dish with rose water, as suggested in FKH’s recipe, because I find that it is completely lost if added before the end, but adds a wonderful element to the aroma of the dish when sprinkled on top.