Nawal Nasrallah - Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens_ Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook-BRILL (2007)

introduction 19
2. The opening section of Chapter 32, which deals with general
remarks on muãajjan§t and ãab§hij§t (varieties of braised dishes), is identical
with a corresponding passage in the Istanbul manuscript (fol.
47 ‏.من المعتضدي 126r), where the source is given as min al-Mubta'idÊ
Min ‘from’ denotes that the reference is to a book.
3. In the Istanbul manuscript (fols. 185r-v), there are recipes
باب في تطييب الملح)‏ Kuê9§jim” in “Chapter on Enhancing Salt,
48 two of which are identical with al-Warr§q’s salt recipes in ‏,(كشاجم
Chapter 21. The phrase min nusÕ9atihi ay'an نسخته ايضا)‏ ‏(من ‘from
his copy, too,’ clearly indicates that Kuê9§jim has a cookbook of his
own (fol. 185r). 49
4. Also in Chapter 21, al-Warr§q gives a recipe for a laxative salt,
which is included in the Istanbul manuscript with the additional
information في كتاب جالينوس)‏ ‏(وجدته “I found it in the book of
Galen” (fol. 185r). It is not clear here if ‘I’ refers to Kuê9§jim, or
Masbåd ibn Mawdåd, the compiler of the Istanbul manuscript.
5. A short segment in which al-Warr§q describes meat of íib§
‘antelopes,’ in Chapter 48, is almost identical with a passage in Al-
Bayzara, a tenth-century book on hunting written by B§zy§r al-bAzÊz
al-F§ãimÊ. 50 It is my contention that both al-Warr§q and al-B§zy§r
drew on the same source, an earlier book on hunting. Quite likely
this source was Kuê9§jim’s Al-Maߧyid wa ’l-Maã§rid ‘hunting and
chasing wild animals.’ Kuê9§jim, to begin with, was al-Warr§q’s
acquaintance, to say the least. 51 We have evidence that al-Warr§q
did use Al-Maߧyid wa ’l-Maã§rid in two more places in his book.
The first one is where he quotes Kuê9§jim’s verses urging his son
to be kind to him in old age (Chapter 8), and the second, where
he mentions that the first to chase the wild animals on horse-
47
Also known as Muanis al-Muíaffar. See point 14 in Section IV.1 above.
48
See above, Section I.
49
Besides these recipes, Kuê9§jim is credited for a couple more in Istanbul MS
سمك مالح من (fols. 215v, 218r), the first is about making salted fish, mentioned as
آخر and the second is a sauce recipe served with fish, mentioned as ‏,عمل كشاجم
book. Neither is included in al-Warr§q’s ‏.من كشاجم
50
(http://www.alwaraq.net) 44. The author is said to be Abå bAbdull§h al-
0asan bin al-0usayn al-B§zy§r. He was the keeper of the palace falcons used in
hunting wild animals. He served the Fatimid Caliph al-bAzÊz bi-All§h (d. 996).
51
When al-Warr§q quotes Kuê9§jim’s poems he often precedes them with
anê9adanÊ ‘he recited to me.’