Savory Meat

Savory Meat (מִטעִמַּים, matammim, from טָצִם, to taste, Ge 27:4 sq.; and so מִטעִמּוֹת, matammoth, "dainties," Pr 23:3,6). The patriarchal cookery, like that of the modern Arabs, appears to have been generally very simple, but in dressing a favorite joint the latter frequently use every variety of fruits and vegetables which they can procure. "Among the more common dishes," says Mr. Lane, "are the following: lamb or mutton, cut into small pieces, and stewed with various vegetables, and sometimes with peaches, apricots, or jujubes and sugar; cucumbers, etc.; small gourds, or the fruit of the black or white eggplant stuffed with rice and mince meat, etc.; vine leaves, or pieces of lettuce leaf and cabbage leaf, enclosing a similar composition; small morsels of lamb, or lamb and mutton, roasted on skewers, and called keebab; fowls simply roasted or boned and stuffed with raisins, pistachio nuts, crumbled bread, and parsley; and various kinds of pastry and other sweets. The repast is frequently commenced with soup, and is generally ended with boiled rice mixed with a little butter and seasoned with salt and pepper; or after this is served a watermelon or other fruit, or a bowl of sweet drink composed of water with raisins, and sometimes other kinds of fruit, boiled in it, and then sugar, and with a little rosewater added to it when cool. The meat, having generally little fat, is cooked with clarified butter, and is so thoroughly done that it is easily divided with the fingers" (Mod. Egyptians, 1, 214). SEE FOOD.