Atraf at-Tib: The spice blend used in Rummaniyya

Atraf at-Tib: the spice blend used in Rummaniyya (Meatballs in Pomegranate Juice)

My ground meat dish for the April 2012 meeting was Rummaniyya: Meatballs in Pomegranate
Juice. But I didn't get the meatballs made before the meeting. Instead I fried them after the April
meeting and froze them to use for the June meeting since they are really more about the sauce and the
condiment Atraf tib. This gave me plenty of time to try the recipe before the meeting...They were
delicious! I will be very happy to make them again.
I pieced my rendition together from several recipes, The one listed for Rummaniyya in my book
Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, from this modern recipe for Lamb meatballs in Pomegranate
Sauce http://www.food.com/recipe/lamb-meatballs-with-pomegranate-sauce-368333
and from the instructions on how to make Andalusian Meatballs from
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf
I also got the ingredients for atraf at-tib from http://home.earthlink.net/~altabbakhah/Misc_ME_Food/SpiceboxBaghdadi.html but unfortunately there is some confusion on a couple of the spices used and as in most Medieval recipes no amounts are mentioned. It does however say that it seems to be a pre-version of Ras El Hanout so I looked up how to make that figuring that I could use only the ingredients mentioned in atraf at-tib. That recipe I found here
http://www.ochef.com/587.htm but since most spices are best when toasted I used the instructions for
making it from here http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ras-El-Hanout-Spice-Blend
This is the recipe I came up with.
To make atraf at-tib:
The name ras el hanout, by the way, translates as "top of the shop," which some have taken to mean
"best of the best," but which others believe may simply mean that it was made in the front of the shop.
Ras el Hanout (Moroccan Seasoning)
From Couscous and Other Good Foods from Morocco, by Paula Wolfert.

Ingredients:
2 whole nutmegs
5 rosebuds (dried)
6 cinnamon sticks (I used cassia or Chinese cinnamon since that is what I have and most of the recipes
for Medieval Islamic Cuisine that I have call for Chinese cinnamon)
1 Tbsp whole fresh ginger root
3 cloves
12 allspice berries
10 white or green cardamom pods
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3 long pepper or ½ tsp
6 blades of mace (you can’t buy blades of mace locally but I found the info to substitute a heafty pinch
of ground mace for each blade called for, it then suggests to taste and adjust accordingly since the
blades vary in size http://www.apinchof.com/cookingqanda.htm)

Dry fry (toast) the seeds and peppercorns in a heavy-based frying pan for one minute. Pour the seeds
and peppercorns into a mortar and pestle or processor for grinding. Add the remaining spices and salt.
Grind or process the seeds, salt and spices until smooth.

At http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org/2009-January/023086.html
it lists all 12 ingredients of Atraf al-Tib:
“Atraf al-tib contains twelve ingredients. Which they are depends in part on the translator:
-- A.J. Arberry, p. 132, Medieval Arab Cookery;
-- Charles Perry, p. 21, Medieval Arab Cookery;
-- Nawal Nasrallah, pp. 643-644, Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens, listed in the index as afwah al-tib.
Unfortunately, the one book that lists ingredients, the 'Abbasid "Kitab Wusla ila al-Habib", gives no
proportions.
Nine of the ingredients are the same regardless of translator. But there are three on which they differ. I
am confident about two of them, but the last remains a mystery.
1. betel nut (Piper betle) (tanbul)
2. green cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) (hal)
3. cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) (kibash qaranful)
4. ginger (Zingiber officinale) (zanjabil)
5. long pepper (Piper longum) (dar fulful)
6. black pepper (Piper nigrum) (fulful)
7. nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) (jauz al-tib)
8. mace (Myristica fragrans) (bisbasa)
9. bay laurel leaves (Laurus nobilis) (warq rand)
10. rose buds (Rosa damascena) (zir ward) (Arberry & Nasrallah)
-- Perry gives rose hips, which is unlikely in my opinion, given how common rose petals are in cooking
and how rarely rose hips appear.
11. spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) (sunbul) (Perry & Nasrallah)
-- Arberry gave lavender, but we now know that this is inaccurate. Lavender does not appear in recipes
from the Eastern Mediterranean and not in the medicinal manuals i have from the region, although it is
frequently used in savory dishes in al-Andalus.

And finally the mystery ingredient:
12. lisan al-'asafir”

The 3 translators gave differant translations most of which are questionable to unlikely. Since the
ingreadient is undecided I didn't include it.
I added the cinnamon sticks and allspice berries even they were not in the original recipe for Atraif tib
because they sounded good and were available in that area at that time period and since there were two
ingredients I didn't add it kept the ingredients to the same amount. The other ingredient I didn't use was
Betel Nut. The research I did on it gave me this info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nut

"The Areca nut is the seed of the Areca palm (Areca catechu), which grows in much of the tropical
Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is commonly referred to as "betel nut" as it is often chewed
wrapped in betel leaves.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has concluded that chewing areca nut is carcinogenic
to humans. It made this conclusion after reviewing the published scientific studies related to health
effects of chewing areca nut...Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf is a tradition, custom or
ritual which dates back thousands of years from South Asia to the Pacific. It constitutes an important
and popular cultural activity in many Asian and Oceanic countries, including India, Pakistan,...
Areca nuts are chewed with betel leaf for their effects as a mild stimulant,[3] causing a mild hot
sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although the effects vary from person to person.
The effect of chewing betel and the nut is relatively mild and could be compared to drinking a cup of
coffee. The areca nut contains tannins known as arecatannin, gallic acid, a fixed oil gum, a little
terpineol, lignin, various saline substances and three main alkaloids: Arecoline, Arecaidine and
Guvacine which have vasoconstricting properties....
In the Indian Subcontinent the chewing of betel and areca nut dates back to the pre-Vedic period
Harappan empire.[6] Formerly in India and Sri Lanka it was a custom of the royalty to chew Areca nut
and betel leaf. Kings had special attendants carrying a box with the ingredients for a good chewing
session. There was also a custom to chew Areca nut and betel leaf among lovers because of its breathfreshening
and relaxant properties. Hence there was a sexual symbolism attached to the chewing of the
nut and the leaf. The areca nut represented the male and the betel leaf the female principle."

So it's easy to see why this ingredient was so popular and why I chose not to use it. Being carcinogenic
to humans I don't know if I would be able to purchase it in the U.S. and it would be dangerous to take
internally.