Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invoc

by Unknown

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE: COMPRUNKNOWN
Our binding, not the publisher's

“(THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATION OF WHAT SHALL HAPPEN IN THIS HALL OF DOUBLE MAATI.) THIS CHAPTER SHALL BE SAID [BY THE DECEASED] AFTER HE HATH BEEN CLEANSED AND PURIFIED, AND WHEN HE IS ARRAYED IN APPAREL, AND IS SHOD WITH WHITE LEATHER SANDALS, AND HIS EYES HAVE BEEN PAINTED WITH ANTIMONY, AND [HIS BODY] HATH BEEN ANOINTED WITH UNGUENT OF _ANTI_, AND WHEN HE OFFERETH OXEN, AND FEATHERED FOWL, AND INCENSE, AND CAKES, AND ALE, AND GARDEN HERBS. AND, BEHOLD, THOU SHALT DRAW A REPRESENTATION OF THIS IN COLOR UPON A NEW TILE MOULDED FROM EARTH UPON WHICH NEITHER A PIG NOR OTHER ANIMALS HAVE TRODDEN. AND IF [THOU] DOEST THIS BOOK UPON IT [IN WRITING, THE DECEASED] SHALL FLOURISH, AND HIS CHILDREN SHALL FLOURISH, AND [HIS NAME] SHALL NEVER FALL INTO OBLIVION, AND HE SHALL BE AS ONE WHO FILLETH (_I.E._, SATISFIETH) THE HEART OF THE KING AND OF HIS PRINCES, AND BREAD, AND CAKES, AND SWEETMEATS, AND WINE, AND PIECES OF FLESH SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO HIM UPON THE ALTAR OF THE GREAT GOD; AND HE SHALL NOT BE TURNED BACK AT ANY DOOR IN AMENTET, AND HE SHALL BE BROUGHT IN ALONG WITH THE KINGS OF UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT, AND HE SHALL BE IN THE TRAIN OF OSIRIS(108) CONTINUALLY AND REGULARLY FOREVER.”

From a cookbook of 1861

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1861  ·  Beeton
RICH SWEETMEAT GINGERBREAD NUTS

1759. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of treacle, 1/4 lb. of clarified butter, 1 lb. of coarse brown sugar, 2 oz. of ground ginger, 1 oz. of candied orange-peel, 1 oz. of candied angelica, 1/2 oz. of candied lemon-peel, 1/2 oz. of coriander seeds, 1/2 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 egg; flour. _Mode_.--Put the treacle into a basin, and pour over it the butter, melted so as not to oil, the sugar, and ginger. Stir these ingredients well together, and whilst mixing, add the candied peel, which should be cut into very small pieces, but not bruised, and the caraway and coriander seeds, which should be pounded. Having mixed all thoroughly together, break in an egg, and work the whole up with as much fine flour as may be necessary to form a paste. Make this into nuts of any size, put them on a tin plate, and bake in a slow oven from 1/4 to 1/2 hour. _Time_.--1/4 to 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, from 1s. to 1s. 4d. per lb. _Seasonable_ at any time.

Sources: The passage is from Unknown, Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invoc, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — teal cloth, grapes stamp.

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