Byzantine murrī

A cooked murrī

Byzantine murrī is a dark, very salty paste that the medieval Arabic recipe repertoire records under this name. It is not made the way the grain murrī is. Grain murrī relies on a mould-developed starter that breaks down over a long maturation. Byzantine murrī builds its dark, concentrated flavour in the pan, by scorching honey and boiling its ingredients together, then straining the result.

The difference matters for a reader. The cooked form shows that medieval cooks could reproduce some of what a long-matured seasoning gives a dish by cooking, rather than waiting for fermentation to do the work.

What goes into it

The recipe combines honey with toasted bread, walnuts, quince, carob and a mixture of spices. The modern adaptation lists anise, fennel, nigella seed, celery seed and saffron, and salt. The medieval text is more expansive, with a very large amount of water and specific quantities for the walnuts and quince.

Honey is taken to a deep caramel by repeated boiling. The toasted bread stands in for the spoiled bread of the grain murrī, and the walnuts and quince add body and sweetness.

Method

Boil the honey repeatedly until it darkens and caramelises. Grind the seeds and walnuts and combine them with the honey, the toasted bread, the quince, the carob and salt. Add water, boil the mixture and strain it. The finished paste is dark, fragrant and very salty, and the adaptation advises using it sparingly.

Notes

The medieval quantities are not a usable scale: they name very large amounts of water and walnuts, and the modern adaptation is a home version. The sources give no shelf life, no storage limit and no date of origin. Whether the recipe travelled from Byzantium to the Arabic world or the other way is not established.