Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
centuries. All of these aquatic creatures
have nevertheless always been hunted,
either for their abundant stocks of fat,
useful for many purposes and in particu-
lar for the making of soap and the fuel-
ling of lamps, or for their thick and very
resistant hide, used in the manufacture
of shields and, in particular, of protective
shoes for the feet of camels required to
traverse stony deserts.
recipes for fresh fish, five for salted, and
three with the trigle or gurnard ( irrī ).
7. Fabulous marine creatures
Arab authors naturalists and geogra-
phers, such as azwīnī, al-Damīrī and
al- āi, include in their descriptions
of different seas the accounts of seafarers
who encountered there enormous marine
creatures, unidentifiable and very danger-
ous. Thus they mention the fāūs or ūt
al-ay which shatters the ships which
it encounters, but which is put to flight
when the sailors hang from the peripheral
points of the vessel rags stained with men-
strual blood ( ay ). Also mentioned, in the
Sea of China ( bar al-īn ), is a fish three
hundred cubits in length which the inhab-
itants of the island of Wāwā (Indone-
sian Archipelago) repel and banish by
making the loudest possible noise, beat-
ing cauldrons and tomtoms. In the same
sea lurks the aam , which has the head
of a pig, is covered with a hairy fleece
instead of scales, and shows female sexual
organs; it is allegedly edible. In the Indian
Ocean ( bar al-Hind ) there is a large fish
nicknamed kataba 'l-kitāb “he has written
the topic”, the juice of which produces
an invisible ink legible only at night, and
another large green fish with a serpent's
head whose flesh, tasted only once, sup-
presses all appetite for several days.
6. As a source of diet
Fish has been a staple source of nour-
ishment for humanity from the outset. It
is consumed in various forms. Firstly, it
may be fried immediately after catching.
On the other hand, it is the object of four
principal modes of preservation. The first,
much used in Egypt since the time of the
Pharaohs, is dessication by exposure to
the sun of large and small fish ( mu ª amma,
ara, bu ª ūa, kūri ¡ ) such as the stockfish
( bāālāw, bāālyū, baala, balāwa , from
the Spanish bacallao ). The next is salting
and smoking ( tamlī and tad īn ) for small
fishes ( ayr ) such as the anchovy ( an ª ūwa,
an ª ūyah, an ¡ ūyah, an ª ūba, ª īa, ª uūn,
fasī , mulūa, maū ) and the sand-smelt
( u ª u ª , balam, haff ); the same treat-
ment is used for the salmon ( salāmūn,
ª alāmūn, ūmūn, ūt Sulaymān ). Also used
is pickling or maceration with spices in
brine ( salāmūra, sanamūra ). In Tunis this is
the method used to preserve carp ( bunn ).
Finally, there remains preservation in oil
or vinegar and packing in metal contain-
ers; this applies to the sardine ( sardin, sarda,
bisāriya, absāriya, aram ), the cod, the mack-
erel and the herring. Delicacies such as
caviar ( ibyāra ) and botargo ( bara ), are
not widely consumed in Arab countries.
As for culinary preparations of fish, they
are most varied and many are similar to
those of Europe. Well-known, among oth-
ers, is the fish stew ( munazzalat al-samak,
mubulā ) based on eel or carp. The ancient
Arabic treatises on culinary art supply five
8. Specific qualities
These are numerous and for the most
part beneficial. The flesh of the fish is of
cold and humid texture. The best flesh
is that of the sea fish, and more specifi-
cally, that of fishes with speckled back
and delicate scales; but it causes thirst
and may generate catarrh; it is appro-
priate for those with high temperatures
and for young persons. It is necessary,
however, to reject black or yellow fish,
those of marshes which absorb mud, and
in particular the bream ( abrāmīs ) and the
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