What I learned watching this video: - Honey and pepper is an underrated combination - Never be a monk - The messi is the aesthetic Whole Foods is trying to recreate - Price gouging is a tale as old as time - Wine is Byzantine water
@@e21big Always sprinkle just a tiny bit of black pepper over strawberries! whether you eat them just with a little sugar, or with cream, a little black pepper leads to absolute tastesplosions.
>adds a little more flour now it's too sticky >adds a little more milk now it's too runny >after 5 minutes of fine tuning >congrats you now have 2745 fritters to serve to people
This channel has become a sort of comfort, when I need an interesting yet useful videos this is the first pick I think I’ve watched the whole backlog, I’m not very good at cooking but learning about it all is awesome, thank you.
Max is to RUclips what Astrid Lindgren was to writing. Wholesome without ever being insipid. Insightful without being preachy. And uplifting without giving false hope. Looks so easy, must be incredibly hard to pull off. Thank you, Max.
Fun fact: if you lightly toast the Semolina flour before you add it to the Milk it imparts a nice nutty flavor. The Levant region has a similar Sweet called "Halawat Al-Sameed" (translated: Semolina sweet) which involves toasting the Semolina first in 2 table spoons of butter until it is light brown then adding it to a sweet simple syrup and stirring until a porridge like consistency is achieved.
since the entire middle east was under Roman then Byzantine then Ottoman rule for so long it seems nature that recipes and foods would spread easily with the region.
This is absolutely crazy; my nonna used to make these when I was little, and unlike some of the modern things she made like cannoli or doughboys, we had no idea where these came from. When we'd ask she just called them Globi...except there were a few things that she called globi...that basically became the word she'd use for "fried sweet thing," I guess. I was able to find the more conventional "globi" online, but I never found a recipe for these fritters anywhere. Sometimes she'd throw poppy seeds or sesame seeds on them too. She also did them in squares from what I remember, but they'd often puff up to look not quite round, not quite square. I remember as a kid really loving the slight bite of the pepper with the honey, it's not a flavor combination people appreciate anymore, but I really loved it. She said it depended on the season, how much they'd puff up; no idea whether that refers to the grain or when you make them, or if that's even true lol. I should have known these were ancient because the mild sweetness is so balanced and not in your face, you can really hurt yourself eating too many of these without thinking too hard about it! Thank you so much for posting this so I finally could solve the mystery of what those delicious childhood desserts were, and now I can pass them on to my children (she never wrote down ANY of her recipes, and this one wasn't common enough to learn from memory). I'm so glad I found your channel, I love the combo of history and cooking. You're a treasure!!
We call our things "zeppoli", and they're kinda like this thing shown here, but not with pepper; my nonna put anise seeds and ricotta in her dough, and she fried them in pure olive oil, and then fixed them with sugar and cinnamon. I think every place has a fried treat/doughnut thingy.
You know, I think this "flogged, shaved, and expelled from the guild" punishment for overcharging on prices is an anti-inflationary solution we should look into trying.
I wouldn't want a guild like that in modern times, mainly because that's basically a government-sanctioned monopoly (though 'government-sanctioned monopoly' is a redundant term, since monopolies are created when corporations grease the palms of politicians, which results in the government favoring these corporations).
It's already historically known that corporations in America & Europe have done similar group deals, but usually for their financial benefit, not tha of their customers. The US also kind of already does this for raw food items, but for meat, I believe butchers bribed the governments of Canada &, maybe, also the US to draft laws that they claimed were to keep the prices of meat cheap in the 90s, but: 1) I also made them the only company ranchers could take their animals to to be butchered, so there was no competition & then scammed the hell out of those ranchers & 2) They didn't follow their own rule in the long run, anyway. Prices of pretty much all meat has skyrocketed.
@@Regulator2000 That is what they were then, too; guilds generally were granted an explicit legal monopoly with horribly exploitative hierarchical structures, and backed up by mafia-esque enforcement. While they arguably had their benefits as well, in many regards, guilds were terrible.
@@MrChristianDT So I run a farm in Canada, and I'm not sure how it went down in the US but I can tell you that in Canada, we have a system called Supply Management. The system was started in the 60s and it makes sure there is always the right supply of food staples at a consistent price (not so much that there's waste, and not so little that there's price gouging) and guarantees that farmers get a living wage for their products - this applies to milk, eggs, chicken and turkey. However, pork and beef are NOT supply-managed and we ended up with the same market concentration of industrial slaughterhouses that you all have in the US - three companies basically get to dictate the price of meat that they buy from farmers and then sell it for whatever they want, getting all the profits instead of farmers making a fair living. Then when farmers can't make money any more and sell their farm, the corporations buy their land and combine the parcels into giant megafarms that pollute groundwater and do all sorts of awful stuff. It was the policy framework of free trade and neoliberalism that was rammed down our throats by conservative federal governments in the 80s and 90s that created all of that market concentration. They also gutted a lot of our antitrust laws so there was no framework to stop these big companies from gobbling up the whole market and colluding on prices, etc. Thankfully, we still have supply management for the other commodities I mentioned, so our food supply is a lot more stable and doesn't have crazy price shocks. We are experiencing inflation right now because of covid, just like the rest of the world, but it's not as destabilizing as it would be without supply management - and things like pork and beef that aren't supply managed are inflating way faster than milk and eggs. So we basically have a socialist system of supply management and a free market neoliberal free-for-all running side by side in the same country in the same industry, and I can tell you that the managed one is working WAAAAYYYY better. So maybe those Byzantine butchers were onto something!
I’m a professional, trained, chef and I watch these videos ravenously when they come out. They are so informative of the history of food. I truly don’t know how you find all this amazing information. I love food and consume all forms of media about it and still you teach me many new things every video
Although today they're just flour based (not semolina) with honey syrup and or cinammon (or nutella coating) and no pepper, but yes i can see these honey fritters being the ancestors of todays loukoumades 😅
@@burcuyagmur2463loqma is the mouthful piece of any food. It usually refer to a size (kind of one or two table spoon if any food and loqma is لقمة in Arabic so not sure if Arabs got it from the Greek or the Greek got it from the Arabs ? But we do day loqma in general and some areas and tribes might even say "logma" or lo'ma without pronouncing either the Q or G.
@@ahmedbenmbarek9938 The origin of the word lokma is Arabic. It is a word used daily in Turkish. Also, we Turks have "lokma" dessert made during mawlids, special occasions, or when we pray for someone's soul. and we even call this process "pouring lokma".
I always appreciate you putting the effort in to pronounce these names and words properly, even when difficult. It shows a lot of appreciation for the cultures you're talking about.
Finally, Byzantine food! I use foods from your channel whenever I want to make something for my students, to help them remember and connect to the past. I am so happy to see something from the Byzantines!
Everyone who’s saying that they’d enjoy my classes-thank you for your kind words! But I have to say, you’re all assuming I’m as good a cook as Max is. I’ve never asked my students if they agree. 😁
I'm building a D&D campaign around a Byzatine-esque region and I love torturing my players with food descriptions, so this was a great starting point for building each city's food culture, especially since I was able to find an earlier printing of that book in my library! :)
I saw this recipe around the time I started making a monk for D&D. I love roleplay and especially love when food is involved to make the world feel more alive. This recipe was perfect for my monk who would naturally need something easy to prepare using what travellers would be able to spare in small quantities: Some milk, a bit of flour, and some change to procure honey and pepper.
I had the opportunity to eat this dish once. In my Uni the department of Byzantine history has some researchers specializing in ancient dietetics, medicine and cuisine, and they did lectures with degustation - which, gotta admit, is a pretty cool concept. Ours seemed however to be cut thinner and they were more crispy overall. Knowing the ancient cookery, there were probably many various ways of making those fritters, so I think both are correct.
That is so freaking cool! I had a professor bring homemade hardtac to a lecture about food and medicine during the American Civil War. It was surprisingly delicious, almost like crunchier pita chips.
Once a year a Greek Orthodox Church near me has a celebration day with homemade foods for sale. There are small honeyed sweets that instantly remind me of these!! There’s lines AROUND THE BLOCK for food orders, first come first serve…and every time my family argues over who gets the last honey-treat….I believe they’re called Loukoumades!
@@deezn8tes ruclips.net/video/wGtW_O8rypI/видео.html Here is one with English subs. From my experience they look traditional. Only thing I would recommend is to dilute the honey a bit. Enjoy
My boyfriend is making these right now and we just tried the first two batches. THEY ARE AMAZING! He rolled them into small marble shapes and finished them with the honey and a combination of black and szechuan pepper. They are like tasty ancient doughnut holes. Or for the other Australians here kind of like damper! 15 out of 10 would recommend to a history nerd friend. We've been eating them so quick I haven't even taken a picture.
I did something similar to this where I basically made a breakfast dumpling. I took sliced bread, chopped it up into bite-sized pieces, made an egg wash, dipped the chopped bread in it, make sure it's completely coated, and then fried it up in a pan. Make sure the bites stay separate, and don't be afraid to keep it about another minute or two in the pan longer than you think. When it's done, take it out, put it on a large plate, coat it in either paprika or powdered sugar and serve.
Well, the guild of pork butchers fighting back against members trying to scam people was not the story I thought I’d hear in a honey fritters episode, but it’s pretty interesting that prices were so strictly maintained.
The guild of pork butchers...what a novel idea for rpg games in the future! Also, I know that you've done at least 1 video of medieval fast foods, but methinks there are lots more things that could cause the state of hangryness in the medieval era, lol!🤣 Maybe some sequel videos to that, in the near future?😅
@@JenIsHungry Sure, until you realized that organized crime gangs are at their peak power, when THEY THEMSELVES are unionized! Effin' 'ell! You don't wanna know how much they control the prices of goods in my country even today, yes, in the year of your Lord, 2022! lel
@@JenIsHungry Yeah... You should try it. It's always good to have an active reminder for the rest of the world what happens when you fuck with prices, so that they don't try that in my country.
Great episode! The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire never gets as much attention as the Western despite having technically lasted until the 1400s. Also, those fritters I think after time evolved into the Greek desert known as lukumades. Basically fried doughballs coated with honey and nuts. Definitely try them if you've never had them before.
I was precisely thinking about loukoumades! Always around Easter. Always send my little girls up the Church stands (in Cyprus) to buy them from the Yiayias. The Yiayias would always give my little cherubs more than they'd give me!
@@kristiangustafson4130 That's awesome! I live in a part of Chicago that has a sizable Greek and Muslim population, and it's really interesting that "Mediterranean" cuisine encompasses so much of both cultures. Hell, even loukoumades shares a striking similarity to baklava! No doubt the origins of both come from Hellenistic culture.
That's because American history runs through Britain and France, both of which were Western Roman provinces. The Eastern Roman Empire made up states like Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Middle East, countries which are distant from Western history.
@@AxelQC How is Greece distant from Western history. Ancient Greece formed the basis of Western civilization, medieval Greece was a hub of Christendom and basically kept Western civilization on life support while the rest of Europe was living in their own filth, and post-Byzantine Greece was ground zero of the western resistance against expansionist Islam which continues to this day.
Honey is one of my favorite ingredients. It can come in so many flavors and textures depending how it is produced, and it lasts FOREVER if stored properly. 🍯
for those who are familiar, there are many greek dishes that still follow this tradition of fried dough tossed in a honey sauce. Loukamades and diples are both very delicious and watching made me think about these things that my Yiayia would make.
The visual I have in my head of Ioannes maintaining defiant eye contact with his servant the entire time he's buying and eating the soup and cabbages never fails to make me laugh. I can also imagine the three fellows in the picture to the left of the attestation being the servants rolling their eyes at him.
Sounds absolutely amazing! I honestly can’t think of a better morning than spent curled up with my cat, enjoying a cup of coffee, and watching a brand new episode of Tasting History
My mother is from Edirne. She said during times they were kids they used to drink water with calcium which made the water more salty. Maybe it was because the water came from Edirne it get calcite
The Byzantine Empire, by far my favorite part of history, just cause how they're so different from the rest of medieval Europe, the city of Constantinople in its heyday unmatched, thanks for covering this Max, always wanted to see you cover a dish from their time. :)
I think it's so nice when a creator makes that extra effort to speak a foreign language as best they can. That little bit of respect and care a lot of people can't be bothered to put in really sets channels like this apart. ❤
Max didn't brag, so I'll do it for him: Correct pronunciation is something of a trademark of this channel. Max often talks with academics or native speakers to get it right.
@@realhorrorshow8547 Or he does it like in the china related videos where he messed it up in the initial recording and has to edit in another take of him saying it correctly. Which was hillarious.
in a 17 minute video i learnt more about my byzantine heritage and coulture than 12 years in hellenic education system, (elementary, gymnasium, lykaeum), thank u very very very much sir for yr precious journey and knowledge u provided me today, as well as the faster, esiest, super gourmet sweet recipe....
@@skatiarhs007 They were romans, dude. Greek speaking Romans. It was what they called themselves, their state, and is backed by historical record. the 'Byzantine' empire what, quite simply, the Roman Empire in the East. Ro be Roman was more like ebing an American or British person, you don't need to have been a Latin to be Roman.
@@tylermech66 they was greek romans, just like in italy they was italic romans. most romans in late antiquity was greek and italian seized to be romans in early 8th century and the smaller the empire got, the less nongreek-roman remained in the empire. most ppl dont realise that "roman" was a preform of citizenship and only nonbarbarian could be roman hence italic and greek. the earliest romanized greek was the populations of southitaly and sicily, which was assimilated into the roman republic in 3rd century bc.
I find it so cool how so many cultures overlap, its very similar to an indian halwa, which is basically what the batter is pre-frying, as its also made with semolina flour, milk and sweetened with honey or sugar. Really interesting!!
"So, I went to India and bought back this really cool recipe for fried semolina bites with honey. Also, they told me about these funny little bugs that make spiderweb into cocoons, but who cares about that. More helva!" -- Demetrius the Obtuse, 3rd century AD
Black Pepper is known to pair well with strawberries if you want to experiment with something else. Lots of high end sweet shops will add a sprinkle into strawberry desserts.
One of my favorite family cake recipes uses lavender and black pepper and it's SO yummy. It's just a hint of pepper but it really makes the sweetness and lavender pop without getting perfume levels of over the top floral.
Black pepper was chosen, much like the supermarket stock of today, for its storage capability for the benefit of merchants and not the consumer. Long Pepper was preferred for its flavour, and is only really available at limited Indian merchants today. The pepper we use in recipes is almost unrecognizable to those from the dark and middle ages. This would have most likely been made with long pepper.
Pro tip: If you want to save some money on this recipe, go for regular olive oil instead of the extra virgin stuff. In testing, it's been proven that dishes that are cooked taste absolutely no different if you use regular olive oil, versus using extra virgin. The flavor difference only shines through in dishes where the oil is to remain raw, like when you're using it as part of a pesto or a salad dressing.
@@bacicinvatteneaca But this recipe calls *specifically* for olive oil, so they obviously want the flavor olive oil gives. So my advice definitely still applies.
I realise how much I love the little anecdotes you throw in from time to time that take only a couple of seconds of the video, but clearly you've found them during your research and thought about how best to put them in, like tha tlittle bit about mushrooms killing off families. You're a tremendous content creator!
I was a fundie Eastern (/Greek) Orthodox and was really into the ascetic-minimalist Byzantine cuisine. The main food of Byzantine monks (who were following the monastic rules) and pious laypeople were the "holy soup" and bread. The 'holy soup' was a legume soup, and it was eaten for lunch and dinner. It had three basic variations: made out of lentils, beans, or chickpeas. The fasting version of the soup was just that - lentils /beans /chickpeas boiled with a bit of salt. Lay people would probably add veggies like celery, turnips, mushrooms, carrots, etc.. On non-fasting days onions, a bit of olive oil, and one or two spice herbs would be added to the soup. Note that when added up, fasting days are around two thirds of the days in a year, and the old strict fasting rules said that only plant foods are allowed, and salt was the only addition allowed - no spices, condiments, sugar, honey, oil, no drink except water. Of course, the soup wasnt eaten on the strictest days of fasting when nothing or just bread was eaten, nor during Lent when only raw fruits and veggies were allowed. For Lent you wouldnt eat the holy soup, but just bread, salads - which would simply be made out of fresh vegetables which were available, such as leeks, cucumbers, radishes, cabbage, etc; and snack plants - olives, raisins, and figs, these three were the daily rations in monasteries for most of the year, and maybe sometimes there would be some nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts, and fruit such as apricots, plums and pomegranates. On non-fast days you could have cheese, eggs, fish and seafood (like oysters, mussels, etc), and would drink juices and wine. Wine was usually flavored with honey and spices, such as cinnamon or black pepper. Also on non-fasting days, especially on holidays, they would make some simple cakes and sweets (which basically just sweet and soft pastries), but the most prominent sweet was rice pudding, which was by the Byzantines considered food of the angels. This was based on some stories of saints going into the desert and not eating for long periods of time, surviving only because angels brought them food, specifically rice pudding for some reason. Ironically, the term 'holy soup' most famously survived in a satiric song from the 11th century, which ridiculed the debauchery in some Byzantine monasteries, where the author uses it as a name for a type of sauce made with onions, oil, and spices, all of which were supposed to be forbidden for most of the year. And most references you can find for the term holy soup are to that song. BTW, the author of the song was signed by a satirical name Ptochoprodromos, or "Poor Prodromos", ie the poor man's version of Prodromos, a famous [serious] Byzantine writer and poet of the time. Thats the same one whose song is cited in this video.
Lots of bloating for the monks… I wonder if any of them suffering from IBS could follow this diet. Very interesting point though, since us, “the world out there”, know little about these restrictions. Thanks for sharing.
Interestingly, there is mention that monks were given cumin and fennel drinks to help in cases bloating and flatulence. It is also possible that rice pudding was considered the food of the angels because it didn't cause bloating haha. BTW, IBS is manageable in most cases, if one removes and then gradually reintroduces the irritant foods; and some people with IBS found that they can have legumes even without doing that, if they soak them overnight and rinse them, and maybe also rinse them after boiling.
@@Angelfeather100 allegedly a lot of the bloating goes away if you… keep up at eating it, which I guess isn’t hard when you gotta do it on two thirds of the days in a year. personally I am a fan of these particular legumes, but going without spices sounds like woe.
The rice pudding they were served was actually called "Food of Angels" and was very extravagant in terms of ingredients. Mastic, mahlab, various spices, honey and whipped cream were among the added ingredients.
Here in Italy in Bologna we have a similar dish called "Crema fritta" wich you could translate in fried cream. It's basically a fried custard dusted with powdered sugar, but the look is virtually identical, except for the honey and the pepper. By the ingredients you have used, It looks more like a "polenta fritta" (Fried polenta) quite traditional and well consumed in the north of Italy, but sweet and made with milk. But i think in those time at Costantinopoli, honey and spices like pepper were signs of richness and prosperity. Very nice video, liked a lot :).
in piemonte abbiamo proprio le frittelle di semolino,fanno parte del fritto misto piemontese8di solito sono l aparte più ambita dai bambini) la differenza è che invece di miele e peperoncino mettiamo zucchero e scorze di limone nel latte e le impaniamo prima di friggere
I'm half Greek. This reminds me of the loukoumades you can get in Greece, or lokma in Turkey. Essentially fried dough balls covered in a sweet syrup, which is honey-based with Greek loukoumades. There's a strong chance these are related to these fritters.
Right? You guys (Greeks) are the MAIN influencers of the entire Anatolia/Levant area. Ottomans tried to erase your history for centuries but all the ruins, the dishes, culture goes back to the OG Greeks.
@@SoulEternalPeaceWarrior77 there isn’t one creditor. Greeks, arabs, turks, armenians etc. are all influencers and originators of the best cuisine in the world. Stop trying to create a divide and enjoy the food :)
Funny enough, in northern Italy we still do a similar recipe called "semolino fritto" or "polenta dolce". Basically it's the same process, only that you use semolina instead of durum flour (not sure if they are the same in English) and you add sugar and lemon zest in the milk before adding the semolina. Once it's cooled off, add one whole egg to the mixture before spreading it on a plate. Cut it in pieces and coat them first in beaten eggs and then breadcrumbs before frying, we don't use olive oil for that. Serve them hot as they are, without adding honey or spices.
My uncle isnt overly impressed with sweets but like honey so its become tradition that I make him something honey based for his birthday rather than what most expect of a birthday cake. Given that he also is a fan of pepper it seems I've found something for next year! Thank you very much for that. PS if anyone has any other honey desert/treat suggestions I would be very greatful to hear them!
I would recommend medovik! It's a russian honey cake that isn't really a cake, more like a stack of soft honey cookies? You could probably decorate it to look like a traditional birthday cake too
@leyalaatasto9096 we had a surplous of apples, so I ended up trying a honey apple cake recipe instead. Sadly, though it was a good cake, it was sweet without any real honey flavor. For Christmas Im trying a pistachio baklavawhich should certainly be more honey forward.
I'm not much of a cook (due to lack of time, not lack of interest) so I can't take much away from the recipe itself. My biggest gain from your videos is the vast historical context and detail you give to almost every part of the video. I'm not really learning to cook, I'm learning history and culture!
This channel is without a doubt my absolute favorite. You have this incredible ability to bring history to life and doing so through food is such a joy to watch. I can't wait to buy your recipe book!! Thank you for being so amazing and sharing such important and incredible content!!
This channel is honestly what keeps me going through my fasting periods. Something about hearing about good food while also activated my brain more than my stomach somehow helps. So, the nerd in me is happy because I'm learning, the skill guy in me is happy because it has something new to try out, and my stomach is happy because... I guess it know that's food does, in fact, exist even when it isn't eating
I love the comparative measure of a Frosted Mini Wheat and giggle at the extra research a future Max Miller is going to have to do when he comes across these ancient videos and decides to make a new Tasting History series.
This is somewhat similar to Greek halva: semolina toasted in lots of olive oil, mixed with honey or syrup. Optionally some raisins. Very traditional sweet and made to this day by grandmas around Greece ;)
@@Alaryk111 the word "halva" means literally "sweet" (yes, it came via Turks from Arabic) and can mean a lot of different treats. The Turkish halva is quite different from what the OP described AFAIK.
Fried dough is delicious no matter where it comes from nor when. The cooking of the dough reminded me of choux pastry or churros, where you have to cook the paste before actually cooking the dough. I want to make these fritters but with some lemon zest or something to give the fritter a little sharpness. Lemon, pepper and honey, it can't go wrong.
My brother made this recipe and they came out amazing. They rly remind me ou an other desert we have in greece called loukoumades, but this version was very distinct and had a different texture. A very nice desert overall
This recipe reminds me a bit of the cookies they make in North Africa, specifically Chebakia. But I would presume that a lot of other cultures are familiar with frying dough and coating it with honey or other sweet substances. Looks quite tasty! Might give it a try myself. :)
My great grandmother, from Naples, used to make something similar. The dough was rolled into balls about 1/2 to 3/4 in diameter. I was allowed to help because I was the oldest (10 through 12). She would deep fry them and, when warm, cover them in honey. She just made them around the holidays. Unfortunately, when she reposed, no one else continued the tradition. As I was watching this video, i could taste Nonna's "honey balls"
I'm greek, and this dish reminds both of loukoumades (fried dough balls, served with honey and cinnamon, usually at markets) and the semolina halva we eat (semolina & sugar mixture, fried in olive oil and cut in pieces). I don't know about back then, but in Greece today the go to way to cut any dessert ( halva included) is definitely a diamond.
My first thought was "so like Loukoumades?" too! I'm considering making it for my family and telling them it's essentially the Byzantine ancestor of them
@@antonytheocharidis9576 yes but with a small difference that loukoumades are a bit more fluffy and this looks to have more 'meat' on the inside, plus I think the ground pepper must be really good....never thought of it
There is a southern Italian dish made that is similar called "Strufoli" when they say made in the shape of sweets they usually mean in small marble size balls. In case you were trying to find that, Southern Italians preserve many of these treats. Perhaps that helps in your research.
I love your content every time I watch. I also have PTSD and random panic attacks. Your mellow voice and historical recipes are so calming. I really appreciate this channel for so many reasons. Thanks for being you, Max. ❤️
I recommend checking out Townsends as well. Videos on 18th century food, building techniques, woodworking, etc. Very mellow and informative. Helps me a lot when my anxiety/ depression is really bad. All the best to you
As a Turk, I must express my gratitude to you for documenting this beautiful dish, because it helped me discover one of my home country's desserts, and one that became my favourite at that. Upon watching this for the first time I could only think about how delicious those sweet fritters would taste, somehow unaware that the local iteration of the very same sweet was being made and sold everywhere in Turkey, and in my entire life I had had the misfortune of never getting to try the famous "Lokma". One unassuming day, an uncle leaving the mosque offered me a small plastic box containing a serving of these fritters, as is custom on religiously significant days like was on that occasion. It was there that I realised that the Lokma Tatlısı was the same dish being shown in your video, and that it tasted exactly as good as I thought it would. Thank You Mr. Miller !
My grandma (I'm from Bavaria in Germany) made something similar for me when I was little. It's called "Griesschnitten" and is made of soft wheat semolina boiled to a thick porridge with milk and sugar. You pour it into a Container and refrigerate. Then you cut it into cubes, dunk it in beaten egg, toss it in breadcrumbs and fry it in a Pan. We always eat it with cinnamon sugar and applesauce. Now I have to try your fritters I guess😍
@@bacicinvatteneaca not that I'm aware of. My guess is that either the cuisines are similar to begin with - there are lots of eastern european things my grandma cooks. Or these recipes came with immigrants at some point. We're from a Region in Frankonia where Lots of french words are still used in our dialect and those are remnants of Napoleon's wars. EDIT: So I just did a quick deep dive because I can't think of slavic immigrants my grandma or great grandma may have known. Turns out that Frankonia was sparsely inhabited so between the 6. And 9th century Slavic People from the Danube and Bohemia regions came and settled there, mingling with the people who were already there. That could be an answer :)
As a Brazilian, I'm thrilled with this video. On the question of the origins of feijoada. It is usually taught in our schools that this dish comes from the slaves, precisely as you described. However, every single gastronomer I've met in my life tells me that this story is very much untrue. They all sustain the French origins of the dish, going through the Portuguese, so feijoada, as we know it today, has this origin. We know that the main Brazilian dish before the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808 was the dried meat with Farinha and the Prince Regent, D. João, ordered that beans be included in the military daily ration. That's - as far as I know - how beans became so popular in Brazil. What you described as feijoada eaten using the hands is still eaten in Brazil today, but with another name. Depending on the region, its name changes. It can be macaquinho, cancão, or bolinho de feijão.
Me too. There's a quote my family sometimes uses, from a Soviet "children's" book about "tea without tea" i.e. hot water (the book is absolutely terrible, this is about the only thing from it worth remembering). It reminds me of that. :D
This has then been oft repeated as a military joke, whenever the main ingredient of something is out, whether a suitable replacement has been sourced or not, the resulting dish will generally be named "X without X". "Beef stew without beef" for example.
“What’s nowadays Bulgaria” was pretty much Bulgaria back then, too… Btw my Bulgarian grandma used to make these all the time. She’d also add cinnamon to the honey syrup though, and she wouldn’t fry it in olive oil but sunflower oil instead because olive oil is hella expensive and not great for deep frying.
The first steps of making these fritters is almost exactly like making kasha, a popular breakfast in Eastern Europe. Just use less semolina and add a little butter and even some of that honey and you have a pleasant sort of porridge 😋
That's so cool! In the Netherlands we make semolina (griesmeel) custard or puddings in a similar way. More of a dessert food. Milk+sugar+semolina. Sometimes some raisins. Eat hot for custard like dish. If you chill it for a few hours it becomes a cute pudding that you can turn out. Serve with some red fruits or a berry sauce kind.
Kinda similar to a middle eastern sweet dish called Awamah ( floaters ) in syria or lukmet al kadi in Egypt ( the judge's bite ) or lokma in turkish, although nowadays it can be made with wheat flour and using syrup instead of honey to make it cheeper and does not include the black pepper.
The cool thing about these ancient recipes is that they have been passed down through the generations, written down in a book at some point. Probably forgotten about until someone found the book and decided re-publish it, then someone translated into English. Then Max read it and made a video about it, passing the recipe down to us!
Even if my ancestors weren't Greek or Turkish, I still feel connected to this dish. Like its connecting with my human ancestry not just focused on nationality
The boiled milk and wheat reminds me of a Pate de choux (sp?). By boiling the wheat and liquid together you get some interesting chemistry going. This allows the dough to puff up when cooked without needing a leavener like baking soda or yeast. It also cooks the dough so you get a nice browning on the second cooking. You also get a nice fluffy interior.
This is my favorite RUclips channel. So wholesome, interesting, funny, creative. I can tell a ton of work goes into making these videos. Thanks Max! This brings me a ton of peace when having a hard time. I play one of your Playlists and go to sleep listening to Tasting History.
We made these yesterday. Turned out to be great! Thank you for sharing history and the recipe with us. We found adjusting the temperature depending on the size of the dough pieces made the fritters better cooked. The pepper was an interesting touch.
Ah just read this. I made a seperate comment about how these are similar to a Greek dish of fried dough balls covered in honey syrup called loukoumades. It's crazy to see ancient Greek or Middle Eastern recipes and have them be recognizable to the food I grew up with when eating with my Greek side of the family. My other side of the family is Dutch, and there is a Dutch dish called zuurvlees that has its history traced back to Roman dish.
oh a total gazillion!! there's a "fried dough drenched in honey" version of regional twist of sweets almost every place you go in greece today, and especially around the holidays (christmas, easter etc). since they don't have stuff that goes bad in them, they keep fresher for longer too - and honey is a natural preserving agent as well!
@@seaofseeof It made me think of loukoumades as well. I'm not Greek, but loukoumades and galaktoboureko are two of my favorite things at Greek restaurants when I can find them.
Love the combination of honey with black pepper. A friend of the family taught me about it when I was a small child, mentioning it in the context of Roman foods. Been adding black pepper on top of my bread with honey ever since.
I’ve always said that I’ve never met a fried dough that i didn’t like, and it sounds like an interesting combo! I literally was just researching how to relocate to Turkey just a couple of hours ago…. I feel that this must be a sign 😂😂
Made these for a project in my history class and here's what I learned: When spreading out the dough, it's really sticky, so wet your hands down It's very easy to make substations based on ingredient availability and diets, I used whole wheat flour becuase that's what I had at home :P If your afraid to fry, bake them instead. Same temp, just keep an eye on them. My bake batch took 5 minutes with a little shake and toss halfway through. Note though, you loose a lot of crunch. The texture is certainly not for everyone, crunchy outside with a very soft inside. The entire process took me about an hour, so if you need something quick to impress some people with your historic recipe know-how, this is a very good way to do it. Don't put the honey on until you serve it and don't store it with honey, it gets squishy They reheat very nicely. Happy cooking!
Yep. I found the same thing. I also patted it out roughly on parchment paper, ,put another piece on top, then gave it a light rolling with a pin to even out the thickness. Hands don't have to be dripping, just damp.
This is the most amazing channel EVER! Combination of my love of history and cooking. Thank you, Max. Would love to get Jose's take on some of the food you cook.
@@TastingHistory Some comments Placenta: Search for traditional placenta Lesvos, " παραδοσιακή πλατσέντα Λέσβου" and try a real one. For honey cheesecake search "μελόπιτα Σίφνου" Roman bread: There are two ways to make this bread: The lines on top are a seal ruclips.net/video/wtM6u5JP7SY/видео.html ruclips.net/video/ITp3p5TcHRo/видео.html Black broth: This food is not history, still exists, its a traditional Greek food from Peloponese and called Paspalas, Χιουροπασπαλάς or Σκοτοπασπαλάς when it has the blood in it. Teganites: Search Τηγανιτές, μαρμαρίτες, λαλάγγια
Ancient History and cooking are my favorite things. I love your channel! Thank you for all the History lessons. This episode really fills in some blanks. Happy Christmas 🎄 (today is 12/19/22).
I might be one of those rare people who watches Max more for the history than for the food. Been following this channel since 2020 and I have never cooked a single thing on it. But I watch every episode because I always learn something really cool that I had no idea about. In my youth I didn't care much for history studies and I must say, I feel like I have learned more history from this channel than almost anywhere else in my life. I think it's more fun because Max has such an easy going tone and he presents everything with respect, humor, and he always breaks the complicated things down in simplest terms. Anyways tl;dr this show rocks.
The cisterns are amazing. I was there with my kids several years back and they had so much fun in the dark - especially when they learned that several Medusa heads formed the base of a few of the columns, all on their side or upside down so that no one would turn to stone looking in her eyes. Such a beautiful and fun city. If you ever get the chance - go!!!
It's so crazy. Modern day Istanbul is just like this. Spontaneous day markets open on city streets with no warning and are gone in a few hours, fish peddlers, amazing street food all around, fruit and vegetables are piled everywhere. Bakers are still well respected and people still go to them to get daily bread and all manner of pastes. I was astonished, there's still so much from their old ways of life, it's crazy. Even though they are turks nowadays.
It reminds me very much of a precursor to Ishli (the milk flour dough but ishli has a walnut and cinnamon filling then are soaked in syrup after cooking)
Honey and pepper has become one of my new favorite flavors from the ancient culinary world. It adds a complex sweet savory flavor that complements everything from this or dates and nuts as a dessert to meats and more savory dishes.
12:47 I think what you're talking about is "midye dolma" that's stuffed mussels, which is considered a street food in Turkey and can be found almost at every single corner of the city even today. If you Google & check images online for "midye tepsisi" or "midye dolma tepsisi" you'll see that instead of being served on a plate in a restaurant, this dish is simply sold on top of a large tray which is lifted by a tiny wooden trestle. So, everyone can order any amount of mussels and eat them right there without even stopping to sit down & wait. After Ottoman empire took over and Constantinople became the capital of Ottoman empire, there were large amount of Bazaars and after the ruler of the city has changed, damages were fixed and Bazaars and the life at the city continued as before. My guess is the tradition of serving mussels may have continued afterwards at the Bazaars as well. So, it's likely that stuffed mussels were served on top of a wooden trestle on a tray at Byzantine, therefore everyone apart from their socioeconomic class could be able to eat the dish.
“Cutting it as per sweets” is the popular diamond or rhombus shape of sweets as one can see in Baklava or many Turkish delights, the same culture late came to India which made many Indo-Persian/Mughal sweets being diamond shaped!
@15:30 We used to do that in Australia. All the bars shut at 6pm, resulting in the Six O'clock Swill. As soon as everyone got off work at 5pm they'd rush to the nearest pub to drink as much as they could before closing time. There was a notable decrease in alcohol-related crime when restrictions were lifted.
I absolutely adore learning everything I can from this channel, as just a hobby cook who is obsessed with learning about as many flavours and cultures from around the world as humanly possible, every episode is an absolute treat (often literally as well!) Also kudos to the wonderful They Might Be Giants reference! I was grinning from ear to ear!
This is one of the many dishes that are made on this channel that I want to try so badly! It also doesn't seem too hard to make although there are parts that you could completely mess up the dish on.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I’ve started posting short videos on TikTok and Instagram, so make sure to follow me over there for appetizers to hold you over between episodes.
Yo max, in 10 minutes this video went from 6 to 2,681 views, awesome.
@@Moosemoose1 it’s just my mom hitting the refresh key a bunch of times
@@TastingHistory You Mum is always so dedicated.
Edit from Chance the dog - We appreciate her!!
@@TastingHistory As the Spiffing Brit says, "It's perfectly balanced."
I like that they built even their business end of things looking lovely, with great architecture...😉
Just imagine how much work the tasting history guy 500 years from now is going to have to do to find out how big a frosted mini-wheat is.
🤓
Future Gourmet Makes with Claire Saffitz
The hell is that
@@bacicinvatteneaca American cereal
LOLLLLLL 😅
What I learned watching this video:
- Honey and pepper is an underrated combination
- Never be a monk
- The messi is the aesthetic Whole Foods is trying to recreate
- Price gouging is a tale as old as time
- Wine is Byzantine water
You forgot one
-Istanbul, not Constantinople
"Never be a monk"
Depends on where you live.Some monks in western europe had very good food.
pepper's actually a legit dessert ingredient, it was actually used in many places in Asia for sweet treats
@@e21big Always sprinkle just a tiny bit of black pepper over strawberries! whether you eat them just with a little sugar, or with cream, a little black pepper leads to absolute tastesplosions.
@@kiprasdainovskis5495 In fairness, even Old New York was once New Amsterdam
>adds a little more flour now it's too sticky
>adds a little more milk now it's too runny
>after 5 minutes of fine tuning
>congrats you now have 2745 fritters to serve to people
hi koishi
stop greentexting in a 40 year olds comments
@@superorderer>implying you’re too old to greentext
>ngmi
@@NeumaghAnon i didnt imply that but here i'll say that definitively no one should greentext over the age of 14
@@superordererprobably shouldn't use imageboards at 14.
This channel has become a sort of comfort, when I need an interesting yet useful videos this is the first pick I think I’ve watched the whole backlog, I’m not very good at cooking but learning about it all is awesome, thank you.
I’m currently on my second rewatch of the entire series. And when I finally finish it, I’ll probably start it over again at some point. 😂
Max is to RUclips what Astrid Lindgren was to writing.
Wholesome without ever being insipid. Insightful without being preachy. And uplifting without giving false hope.
Looks so easy, must be incredibly hard to pull off. Thank you, Max.
Max is not dictatorial, like some cookbook authors. He tells you when to adjust to your taste, and when to be precise.
I watch Tasting History to chill lol
Try technology connections next
Fun fact: if you lightly toast the Semolina flour before you add it to the Milk it imparts a nice nutty flavor. The Levant region has a similar Sweet called "Halawat Al-Sameed" (translated: Semolina sweet) which involves toasting the Semolina first in 2 table spoons of butter until it is light brown then adding it to a sweet simple syrup and stirring until a porridge like consistency is achieved.
India's got a similar dish, with a similar name. Suji (semolina) Halwa. Slightly thicker than porridge and loaded with nuts.
since the entire middle east was under Roman then Byzantine then Ottoman rule for so long it seems nature that recipes and foods would spread easily with the region.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the tip 😊
Sounds gooooood
@@komal146 Halwa is awfully yummy and addictive!
This is absolutely crazy; my nonna used to make these when I was little, and unlike some of the modern things she made like cannoli or doughboys, we had no idea where these came from. When we'd ask she just called them Globi...except there were a few things that she called globi...that basically became the word she'd use for "fried sweet thing," I guess. I was able to find the more conventional "globi" online, but I never found a recipe for these fritters anywhere.
Sometimes she'd throw poppy seeds or sesame seeds on them too. She also did them in squares from what I remember, but they'd often puff up to look not quite round, not quite square. I remember as a kid really loving the slight bite of the pepper with the honey, it's not a flavor combination people appreciate anymore, but I really loved it.
She said it depended on the season, how much they'd puff up; no idea whether that refers to the grain or when you make them, or if that's even true lol.
I should have known these were ancient because the mild sweetness is so balanced and not in your face, you can really hurt yourself eating too many of these without thinking too hard about it! Thank you so much for posting this so I finally could solve the mystery of what those delicious childhood desserts were, and now I can pass them on to my children (she never wrote down ANY of her recipes, and this one wasn't common enough to learn from memory). I'm so glad I found your channel, I love the combo of history and cooking. You're a treasure!!
Max does have a video on globi!
Cannoli?
The season part is not joking she just don't know how to say air humidity and temperature,bread dough also get affected the same way
We call our things "zeppoli", and they're kinda like this thing shown here, but not with pepper; my nonna put anise seeds and ricotta in her dough, and she fried them in pure olive oil, and then fixed them with sugar and cinnamon. I think every place has a fried treat/doughnut thingy.
Your Nonna is a treasure too!!
You know, I think this "flogged, shaved, and expelled from the guild" punishment for overcharging on prices is an anti-inflationary solution we should look into trying.
I wouldn't want a guild like that in modern times, mainly because that's basically a government-sanctioned monopoly (though 'government-sanctioned monopoly' is a redundant term, since monopolies are created when corporations grease the palms of politicians, which results in the government favoring these corporations).
It's already historically known that corporations in America & Europe have done similar group deals, but usually for their financial benefit, not tha of their customers. The US also kind of already does this for raw food items, but for meat, I believe butchers bribed the governments of Canada &, maybe, also the US to draft laws that they claimed were to keep the prices of meat cheap in the 90s, but:
1) I also made them the only company ranchers could take their animals to to be butchered, so there was no competition & then scammed the hell out of those ranchers &
2) They didn't follow their own rule in the long run, anyway. Prices of pretty much all meat has skyrocketed.
@@Regulator2000 That is what they were then, too; guilds generally were granted an explicit legal monopoly with horribly exploitative hierarchical structures, and backed up by mafia-esque enforcement. While they arguably had their benefits as well, in many regards, guilds were terrible.
Like how they did in the economic disasters of NatSoc Germany, the Soviet Union, and full communist China? No, thanks.
@@MrChristianDT So I run a farm in Canada, and I'm not sure how it went down in the US but I can tell you that in Canada, we have a system called Supply Management. The system was started in the 60s and it makes sure there is always the right supply of food staples at a consistent price (not so much that there's waste, and not so little that there's price gouging) and guarantees that farmers get a living wage for their products - this applies to milk, eggs, chicken and turkey. However, pork and beef are NOT supply-managed and we ended up with the same market concentration of industrial slaughterhouses that you all have in the US - three companies basically get to dictate the price of meat that they buy from farmers and then sell it for whatever they want, getting all the profits instead of farmers making a fair living. Then when farmers can't make money any more and sell their farm, the corporations buy their land and combine the parcels into giant megafarms that pollute groundwater and do all sorts of awful stuff. It was the policy framework of free trade and neoliberalism that was rammed down our throats by conservative federal governments in the 80s and 90s that created all of that market concentration. They also gutted a lot of our antitrust laws so there was no framework to stop these big companies from gobbling up the whole market and colluding on prices, etc. Thankfully, we still have supply management for the other commodities I mentioned, so our food supply is a lot more stable and doesn't have crazy price shocks. We are experiencing inflation right now because of covid, just like the rest of the world, but it's not as destabilizing as it would be without supply management - and things like pork and beef that aren't supply managed are inflating way faster than milk and eggs. So we basically have a socialist system of supply management and a free market neoliberal free-for-all running side by side in the same country in the same industry, and I can tell you that the managed one is working WAAAAYYYY better. So maybe those Byzantine butchers were onto something!
I’m a professional, trained, chef and I watch these videos ravenously when they come out. They are so informative of the history of food. I truly don’t know how you find all this amazing information. I love food and consume all forms of media about it and still you teach me many new things every video
None of this food stuff is particularly interesting or appetizing but I do watch these videos ravenously
@@FrancisR420 You're a madmen if this food doesnt look appetizing to you.
@@EpicAMV911 yeah, it looks like tater tots and those are really good!
It’s essentially fried cream of wheat.
Honey fritters , or as we called it today "loukoumades" (λουκουμάδες) , is still one of the most common desserts in Greece to this day
Although today they're just flour based (not semolina) with honey syrup and or cinammon (or nutella coating) and no pepper, but yes i can see these honey fritters being the ancestors of todays loukoumades 😅
We have them in Romania as well and we call them "Greek donuts", as I watched the video I figured that might be the origin.
We Turks call this dessert "lokma" :) "lokma" means a piece of food.
@@burcuyagmur2463loqma is the mouthful piece of any food. It usually refer to a size (kind of one or two table spoon if any food and loqma is لقمة in Arabic so not sure if Arabs got it from the Greek or the Greek got it from the Arabs ? But we do day loqma in general and some areas and tribes might even say "logma" or lo'ma without pronouncing either the Q or G.
@@ahmedbenmbarek9938 The origin of the word lokma is Arabic. It is a word used daily in Turkish. Also, we Turks have "lokma" dessert made during mawlids, special occasions, or when we pray for someone's soul. and we even call this process "pouring lokma".
I always appreciate you putting the effort in to pronounce these names and words properly, even when difficult. It shows a lot of appreciation for the cultures you're talking about.
Finally, Byzantine food!
I use foods from your channel whenever I want to make something for my students, to help them remember and connect to the past. I am so happy to see something from the Byzantines!
Can I come to your classes!!!??
I wish you were my teacher!
This sounds absolutely delightful, I hope your students enjoys your classes, because I know I would!
Everyone who’s saying that they’d enjoy my classes-thank you for your kind words! But I have to say, you’re all assuming I’m as good a cook as Max is. I’ve never asked my students if they agree. 😁
@@silmarien1383 I'm sure your students will remember your classes for the rest of their lives.
I'm building a D&D campaign around a Byzatine-esque region and I love torturing my players with food descriptions, so this was a great starting point for building each city's food culture, especially since I was able to find an earlier printing of that book in my library! :)
Sounds like my dream campaign. If you’re doing it online, I’d certainly like to apply to make new friends and play!
Oh benevolent DM, have mercy on your players haha
#livingmyBardlife
I saw this recipe around the time I started making a monk for D&D. I love roleplay and especially love when food is involved to make the world feel more alive. This recipe was perfect for my monk who would naturally need something easy to prepare using what travellers would be able to spare in small quantities: Some milk, a bit of flour, and some change to procure honey and pepper.
I hope there's an iconoclasm quest line where players can get their nose excised
I had the opportunity to eat this dish once. In my Uni the department of Byzantine history has some researchers specializing in ancient dietetics, medicine and cuisine, and they did lectures with degustation - which, gotta admit, is a pretty cool concept. Ours seemed however to be cut thinner and they were more crispy overall.
Knowing the ancient cookery, there were probably many various ways of making those fritters, so I think both are correct.
That is so freaking cool! I had a professor bring homemade hardtac to a lecture about food and medicine during the American Civil War. It was surprisingly delicious, almost like crunchier pita chips.
Once a year a Greek Orthodox Church near me has a celebration day with homemade foods for sale. There are small honeyed sweets that instantly remind me of these!! There’s lines AROUND THE BLOCK for food orders, first come first serve…and every time my family argues over who gets the last honey-treat….I believe they’re called Loukoumades!
loukoumades are amazing and pretty easy to make. just drizzle some honey on top and then cinnamon and walnuts. Delicious!
@@dpapad202 100% one of my favorite treats! They’re so good….I need to find a good recipe to try and fill that void…once a year is not enough!
@@deezn8tes ruclips.net/video/wGtW_O8rypI/видео.html
Here is one with English subs. From my experience they look traditional. Only thing I would recommend is to dilute the honey a bit. Enjoy
@@dpapad202 I’ve got some local beekeepers who have an exceptional smoked honey that will go great with this! Thanks so much!!
I'll have to make some.
My boyfriend is making these right now and we just tried the first two batches. THEY ARE AMAZING! He rolled them into small marble shapes and finished them with the honey and a combination of black and szechuan pepper. They are like tasty ancient doughnut holes. Or for the other Australians here kind of like damper! 15 out of 10 would recommend to a history nerd friend. We've been eating them so quick I haven't even taken a picture.
I did something similar to this where I basically made a breakfast dumpling. I took sliced bread, chopped it up into bite-sized pieces, made an egg wash, dipped the chopped bread in it, make sure it's completely coated, and then fried it up in a pan. Make sure the bites stay separate, and don't be afraid to keep it about another minute or two in the pan longer than you think. When it's done, take it out, put it on a large plate, coat it in either paprika or powdered sugar and serve.
Well, the guild of pork butchers fighting back against members trying to scam people was not the story I thought I’d hear in a honey fritters episode, but it’s pretty interesting that prices were so strictly maintained.
You never know where these things will take you. 😊
The guild of pork butchers...what a novel idea for rpg games in the future! Also, I know that you've done at least 1 video of medieval fast foods, but methinks there are lots more things that could cause the state of hangryness in the medieval era, lol!🤣 Maybe some sequel videos to that, in the near future?😅
The had unions, I love it lmao Regulations for price gouging is a good idea... Maybe we should try that.
@@JenIsHungry Sure, until you realized that organized crime gangs are at their peak power, when THEY THEMSELVES are unionized! Effin' 'ell! You don't wanna know how much they control the prices of goods in my country even today, yes, in the year of your Lord, 2022! lel
@@JenIsHungry Yeah... You should try it. It's always good to have an active reminder for the rest of the world what happens when you fuck with prices, so that they don't try that in my country.
Great episode! The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire never gets as much attention as the Western despite having technically lasted until the 1400s. Also, those fritters I think after time evolved into the Greek desert known as lukumades. Basically fried doughballs coated with honey and nuts. Definitely try them if you've never had them before.
I was precisely thinking about loukoumades! Always around Easter. Always send my little girls up the Church stands (in Cyprus) to buy them from the Yiayias. The Yiayias would always give my little cherubs more than they'd give me!
@@kristiangustafson4130 That's awesome! I live in a part of Chicago that has a sizable Greek and Muslim population, and it's really interesting that "Mediterranean" cuisine encompasses so much of both cultures. Hell, even loukoumades shares a striking similarity to baklava! No doubt the origins of both come from Hellenistic culture.
That's because American history runs through Britain and France, both of which were Western Roman provinces. The Eastern Roman Empire made up states like Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Middle East, countries which are distant from Western history.
Right? The medieval Roman Empire gets so ignored
@@AxelQC How is Greece distant from Western history. Ancient Greece formed the basis of Western civilization, medieval Greece was a hub of Christendom and basically kept Western civilization on life support while the rest of Europe was living in their own filth, and post-Byzantine Greece was ground zero of the western resistance against expansionist Islam which continues to this day.
We have something similar in Algeria called "Makroud", but we stuff these Fritters with dates paste and then fry them and dip them in honey.
That sounds absolutely heavenly 🤩
Honey is one of my favorite ingredients. It can come in so many flavors and textures depending how it is produced, and it lasts FOREVER if stored properly. 🍯
My favourite is Eucalyptus Honey, yum!
Honey, Garlic and Lemon are the Golden Trilogy. Any combination of these ingredients is guaranteed to be godly.
It lasts forever almost regardless of how you store it, as long as you haven't mixed it with anything.
@@Mat_Rural Jupp. same as cream, ham and cabbage.
@@FirstLast-gw5mg In a humid place, it can get a liquid layer on top, and that can develop a nasty mould.
for those who are familiar, there are many greek dishes that still follow this tradition of fried dough tossed in a honey sauce. Loukamades and diples are both very delicious and watching made me think about these things that my Yiayia would make.
I looove diples!
Is yiayia grandmother?
@@RoundBaguette yeah.
Lots of Italian ones too.
@@konstantinapapaioannou4306 in Spanish too! At least in Spain Spanish
The visual I have in my head of Ioannes maintaining defiant eye contact with his servant the entire time he's buying and eating the soup and cabbages never fails to make me laugh. I can also imagine the three fellows in the picture to the left of the attestation being the servants rolling their eyes at him.
I really look forward to Tuesday mornings. A good cup of coffee, my cat curled up beside me, and the newest Tasting History video. 😊
I like this set up
Sounds absolutely amazing! I honestly can’t think of a better morning than spent curled up with my cat, enjoying a cup of coffee, and watching a brand new episode of Tasting History
Can we also note how well he pronounces the stuff in Greek like I am actually surprised, he got the vast majority of them spot on
He takes great care with his pronunciations, it's one of the reasons I love this channel. :-)
Even when his pronunciation isn’t 100% spot on it’s still obvious that he cares about doing his best to get it right.
Right?? I had to comment too and say thank you because mpre often than not Greek stuff is absolutely butchered by English speakers
Yep, he did great!
he does his research and a lot of practice. kudos.
My mother is from Edirne. She said during times they were kids they used to drink water with calcium which made the water more salty. Maybe it was because the water came from Edirne it get calcite
The Byzantine Empire, by far my favorite part of history, just cause how they're so different from the rest of medieval Europe, the city of Constantinople in its heyday unmatched, thanks for covering this Max, always wanted to see you cover a dish from their time. :)
As a Greek, I'm so impressed and thankful for your excellent pronunciation of all the Greek words and names in this video ❤️
Thank you! It is definitely one of the harder languages to get my mouth around, so I'm glad you approve.
I think it's so nice when a creator makes that extra effort to speak a foreign language as best they can. That little bit of respect and care a lot of people can't be bothered to put in really sets channels like this apart. ❤
Max didn't brag, so I'll do it for him: Correct pronunciation is something of a trademark of this channel. Max often talks with academics or native speakers to get it right.
@@realhorrorshow8547 Or he does it like in the china related videos where he messed it up in the initial recording and has to edit in another take of him saying it correctly. Which was hillarious.
Yes, I noticed too, well done Max!
Mushrooms (9:26) To quote Terry Pratchett 'All mushrooms are edible; some only once.'
in a 17 minute video i learnt more about my byzantine heritage and coulture than 12 years in hellenic education system, (elementary, gymnasium, lykaeum), thank u very very very much sir for yr precious journey and knowledge u provided me today, as well as the faster, esiest, super gourmet sweet recipe....
You been smoking on that refer
You have Rhōmaîoi blood in your veins, not "byzantine" that is a fake term!
@@facundomagarinoss3401 so what were the Greek speaking byzantines ? and how disapear ?
@@skatiarhs007 They were romans, dude. Greek speaking Romans.
It was what they called themselves, their state, and is backed by historical record. the 'Byzantine' empire what, quite simply, the Roman Empire in the East.
Ro be Roman was more like ebing an American or British person, you don't need to have been a Latin to be Roman.
@@tylermech66 they was greek romans, just like in italy they was italic romans.
most romans in late antiquity was greek and italian seized to be romans in early 8th century and the smaller the empire got, the less nongreek-roman remained in the empire.
most ppl dont realise that "roman" was a preform of citizenship and only nonbarbarian could be roman hence italic and greek.
the earliest romanized greek was the populations of southitaly and sicily, which was assimilated into the roman republic in 3rd century bc.
I find it so cool how so many cultures overlap, its very similar to an indian halwa, which is basically what the batter is pre-frying, as its also made with semolina flour, milk and sweetened with honey or sugar. Really interesting!!
It makes sense, with Constantinople being the gate to and from Europe where traders from all over could be at any given time.
There are also dozens of desserts still made in Turkey today from semolina, and they are also called helva.
I was thinking the same thing!
thats insanely similar to how we pronounce, probably was due to trade and indo-european routes, but still quite cool
"So, I went to India and bought back this really cool recipe for fried semolina bites with honey. Also, they told me about these funny little bugs that make spiderweb into cocoons, but who cares about that. More helva!" -- Demetrius the Obtuse, 3rd century AD
love getting a history on food. something so engrained into historical culture that never seems to be mentioned.
Sweet black pepper is really underrated. I had a black pepper spiced cake at Herstmonceux Medieval Festival once and it was wonderful.
Raise your hand if you want to see Max bake this after some history research.* standing on my chair arm lifted upwards *
Black Pepper is known to pair well with strawberries if you want to experiment with something else. Lots of high end sweet shops will add a sprinkle into strawberry desserts.
One of my favorite family cake recipes uses lavender and black pepper and it's SO yummy. It's just a hint of pepper but it really makes the sweetness and lavender pop without getting perfume levels of over the top floral.
Black pepper was chosen, much like the supermarket stock of today, for its storage capability for the benefit of merchants and not the consumer. Long Pepper was preferred for its flavour, and is only really available at limited Indian merchants today.
The pepper we use in recipes is almost unrecognizable to those from the dark and middle ages. This would have most likely been made with long pepper.
I had some fried potatoes and beef with a honey black pepper sauce it's amazing
Pro tip: If you want to save some money on this recipe, go for regular olive oil instead of the extra virgin stuff. In testing, it's been proven that dishes that are cooked taste absolutely no different if you use regular olive oil, versus using extra virgin. The flavor difference only shines through in dishes where the oil is to remain raw, like when you're using it as part of a pesto or a salad dressing.
Or use peanut oil for frying, since it doesn't give a specific taste to foods
@@bacicinvatteneaca But this recipe calls *specifically* for olive oil, so they obviously want the flavor olive oil gives. So my advice definitely still applies.
I am amazed, one of my favorite Spanish dessert is "Leche frita" fried milk and must be the grandson of this recipe because is almost the same
@@emmalouie1663 I can't recommend leche frita enough, it's so delicious 🤤
Leche frita enjoyer si soy
@@CrujiAlexX and a Wakfu player as well, the coincidences
@@cefirodewinter9086 HAHAHAHAH yes, wakfu enjoyer i am 😎😎
It looks much more like "buñuelos" than "leche frita".
I realise how much I love the little anecdotes you throw in from time to time that take only a couple of seconds of the video, but clearly you've found them during your research and thought about how best to put them in, like tha tlittle bit about mushrooms killing off families. You're a tremendous content creator!
The excellent attention to all aspects (big and small) makes this show so special-fascinating, delightful! Like the anecdotes that he includes. ❤️
I was a fundie Eastern (/Greek) Orthodox and was really into the ascetic-minimalist Byzantine cuisine. The main food of Byzantine monks (who were following the monastic rules) and pious laypeople were the "holy soup" and bread.
The 'holy soup' was a legume soup, and it was eaten for lunch and dinner. It had three basic variations: made out of lentils, beans, or chickpeas. The fasting version of the soup was just that - lentils /beans /chickpeas boiled with a bit of salt. Lay people would probably add veggies like celery, turnips, mushrooms, carrots, etc.. On non-fasting days onions, a bit of olive oil, and one or two spice herbs would be added to the soup.
Note that when added up, fasting days are around two thirds of the days in a year, and the old strict fasting rules said that only plant foods are allowed, and salt was the only addition allowed - no spices, condiments, sugar, honey, oil, no drink except water. Of course, the soup wasnt eaten on the strictest days of fasting when nothing or just bread was eaten, nor during Lent when only raw fruits and veggies were allowed.
For Lent you wouldnt eat the holy soup, but just bread, salads - which would simply be made out of fresh vegetables which were available, such as leeks, cucumbers, radishes, cabbage, etc; and snack plants - olives, raisins, and figs, these three were the daily rations in monasteries for most of the year, and maybe sometimes there would be some nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts, and fruit such as apricots, plums and pomegranates.
On non-fast days you could have cheese, eggs, fish and seafood (like oysters, mussels, etc), and would drink juices and wine. Wine was usually flavored with honey and spices, such as cinnamon or black pepper. Also on non-fasting days, especially on holidays, they would make some simple cakes and sweets (which basically just sweet and soft pastries), but the most prominent sweet was rice pudding, which was by the Byzantines considered food of the angels. This was based on some stories of saints going into the desert and not eating for long periods of time, surviving only because angels brought them food, specifically rice pudding for some reason.
Ironically, the term 'holy soup' most famously survived in a satiric song from the 11th century, which ridiculed the debauchery in some Byzantine monasteries, where the author uses it as a name for a type of sauce made with onions, oil, and spices, all of which were supposed to be forbidden for most of the year. And most references you can find for the term holy soup are to that song. BTW, the author of the song was signed by a satirical name Ptochoprodromos, or "Poor Prodromos", ie the poor man's version of Prodromos, a famous [serious] Byzantine writer and poet of the time. Thats the same one whose song is cited in this video.
Lots of bloating for the monks… I wonder if any of them suffering from IBS could follow this diet. Very interesting point though, since us, “the world out there”, know little about these restrictions. Thanks for sharing.
Interestingly, there is mention that monks were given cumin and fennel drinks to help in cases bloating and flatulence.
It is also possible that rice pudding was considered the food of the angels because it didn't cause bloating haha.
BTW, IBS is manageable in most cases, if one removes and then gradually reintroduces the irritant foods; and some people with IBS found that they can have legumes even without doing that, if they soak them overnight and rinse them, and maybe also rinse them after boiling.
@@Angelfeather100 allegedly a lot of the bloating goes away if you… keep up at eating it, which I guess isn’t hard when you gotta do it on two thirds of the days in a year. personally I am a fan of these particular legumes, but going without spices sounds like woe.
The rice pudding they were served was actually called "Food of Angels" and was very extravagant in terms of ingredients. Mastic, mahlab, various spices, honey and whipped cream were among the added ingredients.
@@petergray7576 Well it balances out. Boring food with fantastic dessert!
Here in Italy in Bologna we have a similar dish called "Crema fritta" wich you could translate in fried cream. It's basically a fried custard dusted with powdered sugar, but the look is virtually identical, except for the honey and the pepper. By the ingredients you have used, It looks more like a "polenta fritta" (Fried polenta) quite traditional and well consumed in the north of Italy, but sweet and made with milk. But i think in those time at Costantinopoli, honey and spices like pepper were signs of richness and prosperity.
Very nice video, liked a lot :).
in piemonte abbiamo proprio le frittelle di semolino,fanno parte del fritto misto piemontese8di solito sono l aparte più ambita dai bambini)
la differenza è che invece di miele e peperoncino mettiamo zucchero e scorze di limone nel latte e le impaniamo prima di friggere
I'm half Greek. This reminds me of the loukoumades you can get in Greece, or lokma in Turkey. Essentially fried dough balls covered in a sweet syrup, which is honey-based with Greek loukoumades. There's a strong chance these are related to these fritters.
Mm loukouma, the greatest beach snack
Second that! Loukoumades were the most memorable food of our Med travel.
Right? You guys (Greeks) are the MAIN influencers of the entire Anatolia/Levant area. Ottomans tried to erase your history for centuries but all the ruins, the dishes, culture goes back to the OG Greeks.
But the lokumades have yeast and they are made of regular flour not semolina
@@SoulEternalPeaceWarrior77 there isn’t one creditor. Greeks, arabs, turks, armenians etc. are all influencers and originators of the best cuisine in the world. Stop trying to create a divide and enjoy the food :)
Funny enough, in northern Italy we still do a similar recipe called "semolino fritto" or "polenta dolce". Basically it's the same process, only that you use semolina instead of durum flour (not sure if they are the same in English) and you add sugar and lemon zest in the milk before adding the semolina. Once it's cooled off, add one whole egg to the mixture before spreading it on a plate. Cut it in pieces and coat them first in beaten eggs and then breadcrumbs before frying, we don't use olive oil for that. Serve them hot as they are, without adding honey or spices.
The wheat is called Durum wheat in English. The flour made from it is semolina.
@@edcrichton9457 Thanks for the answer. In italy we call durum flour "semola di grano duro" which is different from semolina, hence the confusion
@@edcrichton9457
In Norwegian “semulegryn” is a lot finer than most other “grain”, but not quite flour.
I Looove semolino dolce! It should definitely be more popular!
Someone made something like that while I was at their place once, but they were little balls & they called them San Marinos.
My uncle isnt overly impressed with sweets but like honey so its become tradition that I make him something honey based for his birthday rather than what most expect of a birthday cake. Given that he also is a fan of pepper it seems I've found something for next year! Thank you very much for that. PS if anyone has any other honey desert/treat suggestions I would be very greatful to hear them!
I would recommend medovik! It's a russian honey cake that isn't really a cake, more like a stack of soft honey cookies? You could probably decorate it to look like a traditional birthday cake too
@@juliasaraiva9146 thank you! I'll have to look into it
Hey OP it's been a yr! How did it go? 😊
@leyalaatasto9096 we had a surplous of apples, so I ended up trying a honey apple cake recipe instead. Sadly, though it was a good cake, it was sweet without any real honey flavor. For Christmas Im trying a pistachio baklavawhich should certainly be more honey forward.
I'm not much of a cook (due to lack of time, not lack of interest) so I can't take much away from the recipe itself. My biggest gain from your videos is the vast historical context and detail you give to almost every part of the video. I'm not really learning to cook, I'm learning history and culture!
Wondrium, give Max his own show. His is one of the best channels on youtube.
🤓
Yaaaas! I'd sign up just for that alone.
This channel is without a doubt my absolute favorite. You have this incredible ability to bring history to life and doing so through food is such a joy to watch. I can't wait to buy your recipe book!! Thank you for being so amazing and sharing such important and incredible content!!
This channel is honestly what keeps me going through my fasting periods. Something about hearing about good food while also activated my brain more than my stomach somehow helps.
So, the nerd in me is happy because I'm learning, the skill guy in me is happy because it has something new to try out, and my stomach is happy because... I guess it know that's food does, in fact, exist even when it isn't eating
You're better than me 😂
I can only watch food videos right after I eat. Watching during fasting makes a typically easy thing way too hard!
You're stronger than me lol
These videos make me hungry and inspire me to cook
I love the comparative measure of a Frosted Mini Wheat and giggle at the extra research a future Max Miller is going to have to do when he comes across these ancient videos and decides to make a new Tasting History series.
Great video, as a Greek I thank you for exploring this part of our culinary history and culture.
This is somewhat similar to Greek halva: semolina toasted in lots of olive oil, mixed with honey or syrup. Optionally some raisins. Very traditional sweet and made to this day by grandmas around Greece ;)
Isn't halva turkish?
@@Alaryk111 the word "halva" means literally "sweet" (yes, it came via Turks from Arabic) and can mean a lot of different treats. The Turkish halva is quite different from what the OP described AFAIK.
A turkish friend once said its neighter turkish nor greek its mediterranean.
Halva is common in turks, greeks and arabs. Can't really a single culture have it.
Kinda reminds me of diples too. A forerunner, perhaps?
Fried dough is delicious no matter where it comes from nor when. The cooking of the dough reminded me of choux pastry or churros, where you have to cook the paste before actually cooking the dough.
I want to make these fritters but with some lemon zest or something to give the fritter a little sharpness. Lemon, pepper and honey, it can't go wrong.
Yes. Fried dough is amazing regardless of what form it takes.
I have truffle honey and I'm very curious how that goes but too tired to make these
My brother made this recipe and they came out amazing. They rly remind me ou an other desert we have in greece called loukoumades, but this version was very distinct and had a different texture. A very nice desert overall
The Underground cisterns are super cool! I've been in one and the pillers in part of it are an upside down medusa!
This recipe reminds me a bit of the cookies they make in North Africa, specifically Chebakia. But I would presume that a lot of other cultures are familiar with frying dough and coating it with honey or other sweet substances.
Looks quite tasty! Might give it a try myself. :)
Oh yeah. I feel like these type of sweet are fairly universal.
north africa was under roman rule for a looong time so...
That was a part of the Roman Empire as well, wasn't it? So perhaps it's a remnant of that time.
Much of middle eastern and North African cuisine has its roots in Greek cooking thanks to the Byzantine influence.
I did work in West Africa and they have a similar thing with sesame seeds/flour and honey
My great grandmother, from Naples, used to make something similar. The dough was rolled into balls about 1/2 to 3/4 in diameter. I was allowed to help because I was the oldest (10 through 12). She would deep fry them and, when warm, cover them in honey. She just made them around the holidays. Unfortunately, when she reposed, no one else continued the tradition. As I was watching this video, i could taste Nonna's "honey balls"
I'm greek, and this dish reminds both of loukoumades (fried dough balls, served with honey and cinnamon, usually at markets) and the semolina halva we eat (semolina & sugar mixture, fried in olive oil and cut in pieces).
I don't know about back then, but in Greece today the go to way to cut any dessert ( halva included) is definitely a diamond.
My first thought was "so like Loukoumades?" too! I'm considering making it for my family and telling them it's essentially the Byzantine ancestor of them
@@antonytheocharidis9576 yes but with a small difference that loukoumades are a bit more fluffy and this looks to have more 'meat' on the inside, plus I think the ground pepper must be really good....never thought of it
@@antonytheocharidis9576 Halva and Lokma are actually Persian foods .. So it is normal that it looks like to Byzantine foods
@@Apostolos-UK Halva and Lokma are actually Persian foods .. So it is normal that it looks like to Byzantines foods
@@demi9826 Get into the claims Line my friend, it’s quite long already! 😅🇬🇷👍
Watching Max get excited by the food makes me legitimately happy.
There is a southern Italian dish made that is similar called "Strufoli" when they say made in the shape of sweets they usually mean in small marble size balls. In case you were trying to find that, Southern Italians preserve many of these treats. Perhaps that helps in your research.
It makes sense when you consider that the Byzanitnes held on to southern Italy for centuries after Justinian first conquered it.
I found it could have been diamond shape with fired snacks from north Africa and malta.
we have exactly this in greece, but called loukoumades. its so delicious
@@lemonandgaming6013 lol. came here to say this is literally just loukoumades. Makes sense with the proximity
It's probably a descendant of the Ancient Roman dish called globi.
I love your content every time I watch. I also have PTSD and random panic attacks. Your mellow voice and historical recipes are so calming. I really appreciate this channel for so many reasons. Thanks for being you, Max. ❤️
I recommend checking out Townsends as well. Videos on 18th century food, building techniques, woodworking, etc. Very mellow and informative. Helps me a lot when my anxiety/ depression is really bad. All the best to you
As a Turk, I must express my gratitude to you for documenting this beautiful dish, because it helped me discover one of my home country's desserts, and one that became my favourite at that. Upon watching this for the first time I could only think about how delicious those sweet fritters would taste, somehow unaware that the local iteration of the very same sweet was being made and sold everywhere in Turkey, and in my entire life I had had the misfortune of never getting to try the famous "Lokma". One unassuming day, an uncle leaving the mosque offered me a small plastic box containing a serving of these fritters, as is custom on religiously significant days like was on that occasion. It was there that I realised that the Lokma Tatlısı was the same dish being shown in your video, and that it tasted exactly as good as I thought it would.
Thank You Mr. Miller !
The art! The architecture! One of favorite parts of history and the world.
Wish I could have seen it.
@@TastingHistory Me too. But preferably as an abbot. heh.
My grandma (I'm from Bavaria in Germany) made something similar for me when I was little. It's called "Griesschnitten" and is made of soft wheat semolina boiled to a thick porridge with milk and sugar. You pour it into a Container and refrigerate. Then you cut it into cubes, dunk it in beaten egg, toss it in breadcrumbs and fry it in a Pan. We always eat it with cinnamon sugar and applesauce. Now I have to try your fritters I guess😍
Are all her ancestors from there? Or is someone in her family south Slavic?
@@bacicinvatteneaca not that I'm aware of. My guess is that either the cuisines are similar to begin with - there are lots of eastern european things my grandma cooks. Or these recipes came with immigrants at some point. We're from a Region in Frankonia where Lots of french words are still used in our dialect and those are remnants of Napoleon's wars. EDIT: So I just did a quick deep dive because I can't think of slavic immigrants my grandma or great grandma may have known. Turns out that Frankonia was sparsely inhabited so between the 6. And 9th century Slavic People from the Danube and Bohemia regions came and settled there, mingling with the people who were already there. That could be an answer :)
My grandma qlso always made these and so do I.
We are from Baden though.
As a Brazilian, I'm thrilled with this video. On the question of the origins of feijoada. It is usually taught in our schools that this dish comes from the slaves, precisely as you described. However, every single gastronomer I've met in my life tells me that this story is very much untrue. They all sustain the French origins of the dish, going through the Portuguese, so feijoada, as we know it today, has this origin. We know that the main Brazilian dish before the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808 was the dried meat with Farinha and the Prince Regent, D. João, ordered that beans be included in the military daily ration. That's - as far as I know - how beans became so popular in Brazil. What you described as feijoada eaten using the hands is still eaten in Brazil today, but with another name. Depending on the region, its name changes. It can be macaquinho, cancão, or bolinho de feijão.
Idk why but wheat gruel without the wheat absolutely slayed me. And fun fact Max’s subscriber count is about 1/4 of the population of LA
Me too. There's a quote my family sometimes uses, from a Soviet "children's" book about "tea without tea" i.e. hot water (the book is absolutely terrible, this is about the only thing from it worth remembering). It reminds me of that. :D
@@beth12svist "This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!"
This has then been oft repeated as a military joke, whenever the main ingredient of something is out, whether a suitable replacement has been sourced or not, the resulting dish will generally be named "X without X".
"Beef stew without beef" for example.
@@coracorvus No, "tea without tea" means there are no leaves whatsoever. :D
Seeing the genuine excitement on his face after eating one was the most adorable and wholesome thing I've seen this week
“What’s nowadays Bulgaria” was pretty much Bulgaria back then, too…
Btw my Bulgarian grandma used to make these all the time. She’d also add cinnamon to the honey syrup though, and she wouldn’t fry it in olive oil but sunflower oil instead because olive oil is hella expensive and not great for deep frying.
Not when the Aqueduct of Valens was built nor during the time of Justinian I as mentioned in the video
The first steps of making these fritters is almost exactly like making kasha, a popular breakfast in Eastern Europe. Just use less semolina and add a little butter and even some of that honey and you have a pleasant sort of porridge 😋
That's so cool! In the Netherlands we make semolina (griesmeel) custard or puddings in a similar way. More of a dessert food. Milk+sugar+semolina. Sometimes some raisins. Eat hot for custard like dish. If you chill it for a few hours it becomes a cute pudding that you can turn out. Serve with some red fruits or a berry sauce kind.
I second this ! In Croatia we ate semolina cooked in milk and sweetened with honey for breakfast 😋 ☺️ it was delish !!
I saw the title, and my first thought was struffoli, the Italian fried dough fritters drenched in honey. Not too far different.
Definitely an ancestor
Kinda similar to a middle eastern sweet dish called Awamah ( floaters ) in syria or lukmet al kadi in Egypt ( the judge's bite ) or lokma in turkish, although nowadays it can be made with wheat flour and using syrup instead of honey to make it cheeper and does not include the black pepper.
This channel taught me to cook, so thank you Max!
Wow! What a compliment!
LOVE THE LEAD IN! Now They Might Be Giants version is going through my head. Wonderful info as always!
I see you're a man of culture as well
That is the first thing I thought as well. I'm glad there's others like me out there.😆
@@cerberaodollam Lol, woMan of culture, but glad to be in the same sphere!
@@WillyLuedtke Hells yes! Cheers!
Oh hell yeah, I was just talking about them yesterday but nobody seems to know who they are!
The cool thing about these ancient recipes is that they have been passed down through the generations, written down in a book at some point. Probably forgotten about until someone found the book and decided re-publish it, then someone translated into English. Then Max read it and made a video about it, passing the recipe down to us!
Even if my ancestors weren't Greek or Turkish, I still feel connected to this dish. Like its connecting with my human ancestry not just focused on nationality
The boiled milk and wheat reminds me of a Pate de choux (sp?). By boiling the wheat and liquid together you get some interesting chemistry going. This allows the dough to puff up when cooked without needing a leavener like baking soda or yeast. It also cooks the dough so you get a nice browning on the second cooking. You also get a nice fluffy interior.
This is my favorite RUclips channel. So wholesome, interesting, funny, creative. I can tell a ton of work goes into making these videos. Thanks Max! This brings me a ton of peace when having a hard time. I play one of your Playlists and go to sleep listening to Tasting History.
We made these yesterday. Turned out to be great! Thank you for sharing history and the recipe with us.
We found adjusting the temperature depending on the size of the dough pieces made the fritters better cooked. The pepper was an interesting touch.
Part of me wonders just how much of the old Greco-Roman cuisine still survives in Italian, Greek & Spanish (Portugal & Romania too)dishes today.
A lot. Some ingredients have been replaced, but the bones are still there.
Ah just read this. I made a seperate comment about how these are similar to a Greek dish of fried dough balls covered in honey syrup called loukoumades. It's crazy to see ancient Greek or Middle Eastern recipes and have them be recognizable to the food I grew up with when eating with my Greek side of the family.
My other side of the family is Dutch, and there is a Dutch dish called zuurvlees that has its history traced back to Roman dish.
also in Southern Italy, there a lot of desserts which could be described as "fried dough balls drenched in honey", eaten around Christmas and Easter
oh a total gazillion!! there's a "fried dough drenched in honey" version of regional twist of sweets almost every place you go in greece today, and especially around the holidays (christmas, easter etc). since they don't have stuff that goes bad in them, they keep fresher for longer too - and honey is a natural preserving agent as well!
@@seaofseeof It made me think of loukoumades as well. I'm not Greek, but loukoumades and galaktoboureko are two of my favorite things at Greek restaurants when I can find them.
I have traveled to Istanbul many times! The last time I was there, they still had the Grand Bazaar. The smell of the spices was everywhere! Loved it!
I love that you credit your sources. It adds to what is already a fantastic channel and you are awesome, Max. Keep doing what you do!
Love the combination of honey with black pepper. A friend of the family taught me about it when I was a small child, mentioning it in the context of Roman foods. Been adding black pepper on top of my bread with honey ever since.
I’ve always said that I’ve never met a fried dough that i didn’t like, and it sounds like an interesting combo! I literally was just researching how to relocate to Turkey just a couple of hours ago…. I feel that this must be a sign 😂😂
I come from a Native American family. We like our fried dough as well. I’ve seen fist fights break out over a piece of fry bread.
Wow. Don't let any Greeks hear you conflate Turkey with the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium. 😬
Turkey is a nation predicated on genocide, if you want to remain morally sound I suggest you don't contribute.
@@yuyutubee8435 I understand where you're coming from. I said Turkey because that's where present-day Istanbul not Constantinople is.
@Doom I know some people who live there right now and yeah, it's very very affordable especially by western standards
Made these for a project in my history class and here's what I learned:
When spreading out the dough, it's really sticky, so wet your hands down
It's very easy to make substations based on ingredient availability and diets, I used whole wheat flour becuase that's what I had at home :P
If your afraid to fry, bake them instead. Same temp, just keep an eye on them. My bake batch took 5 minutes with a little shake and toss halfway through. Note though, you loose a lot of crunch.
The texture is certainly not for everyone, crunchy outside with a very soft inside.
The entire process took me about an hour, so if you need something quick to impress some people with your historic recipe know-how, this is a very good way to do it.
Don't put the honey on until you serve it and don't store it with honey, it gets squishy
They reheat very nicely.
Happy cooking!
Yep. I found the same thing. I also patted it out roughly on parchment paper, ,put another piece on top, then gave it a light rolling with a pin to even out the thickness. Hands don't have to be dripping, just damp.
Man, I love this channel. In the first 5 seconds, Max has me singing they might be giants. One of the best subs I've made.
This is the most amazing channel EVER! Combination of my love of history and cooking. Thank you, Max. Would love to get Jose's take on some of the food you cook.
Sometimes we bring it up on the side channel: ruclips.net/user/KetchupwithMaxandJose
@@TastingHistory Some comments
Placenta:
Search for traditional placenta Lesvos, " παραδοσιακή πλατσέντα Λέσβου" and try a real one. For honey cheesecake search "μελόπιτα Σίφνου"
Roman bread:
There are two ways to make this bread:
The lines on top are a seal
ruclips.net/video/wtM6u5JP7SY/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/ITp3p5TcHRo/видео.html
Black broth:
This food is not history, still exists, its a traditional Greek food from Peloponese and called Paspalas, Χιουροπασπαλάς
or Σκοτοπασπαλάς when it has the blood in it.
Teganites:
Search Τηγανιτές, μαρμαρίτες, λαλάγγια
I love the price regulating rules. No scammers selling you something for 5x what it's actually worth.
I love the use of the Frosted Mini Wheat as a standard measure
In Greece today there is a yeasted version - Loukoumades. Very much like donut holes
Ancient History and cooking are my favorite things. I love your channel!
Thank you for all the History lessons. This episode really fills in some blanks. Happy Christmas 🎄 (today is 12/19/22).
I might be one of those rare people who watches Max more for the history than for the food. Been following this channel since 2020 and I have never cooked a single thing on it. But I watch every episode because I always learn something really cool that I had no idea about. In my youth I didn't care much for history studies and I must say, I feel like I have learned more history from this channel than almost anywhere else in my life. I think it's more fun because Max has such an easy going tone and he presents everything with respect, humor, and he always breaks the complicated things down in simplest terms. Anyways tl;dr this show rocks.
The cisterns are amazing. I was there with my kids several years back and they had so much fun in the dark - especially when they learned that several Medusa heads formed the base of a few of the columns, all on their side or upside down so that no one would turn to stone looking in her eyes. Such a beautiful and fun city. If you ever get the chance - go!!!
It's so crazy. Modern day Istanbul is just like this. Spontaneous day markets open on city streets with no warning and are gone in a few hours, fish peddlers, amazing street food all around, fruit and vegetables are piled everywhere. Bakers are still well respected and people still go to them to get daily bread and all manner of pastes. I was astonished, there's still so much from their old ways of life, it's crazy. Even though they are turks nowadays.
As a food and history nerd, this channel meets a strange sweet spot for me
Oh man looks like one of my favorite foods at the Greek food festival loukaumades
I’ve no doubt they’re a relative
In Turkey they’re called Lokma!
It reminds me very much of a precursor to Ishli (the milk flour dough but ishli has a walnut and cinnamon filling then are soaked in syrup after cooking)
Next time I go to the local Greek Festival I'm gonna put pepper on my loukoumades
Honey and pepper has become one of my new favorite flavors from the ancient culinary world. It adds a complex sweet savory flavor that complements everything from this or dates and nuts as a dessert to meats and more savory dishes.
Imagine being a nobleman out on the town and your manservant says "No, we have food at home."
I so needed this in my life today. Nothing is more comforting than Tasting History with Max Miller. When we get a glimpse of Jose even better!
We are getting back to posting on Ketchup with Max & José!
who is jose
@@thedoorman243 Max's husband. He does the captioning.
12:47 I think what you're talking about is "midye dolma" that's stuffed mussels, which is considered a street food in Turkey and can be found almost at every single corner of the city even today. If you Google & check images online for "midye tepsisi" or "midye dolma tepsisi" you'll see that instead of being served on a plate in a restaurant, this dish is simply sold on top of a large tray which is lifted by a tiny wooden trestle. So, everyone can order any amount of mussels and eat them right there without even stopping to sit down & wait. After Ottoman empire took over and Constantinople became the capital of Ottoman empire, there were large amount of Bazaars and after the ruler of the city has changed, damages were fixed and Bazaars and the life at the city continued as before. My guess is the tradition of serving mussels may have continued afterwards at the Bazaars as well. So, it's likely that stuffed mussels were served on top of a wooden trestle on a tray at Byzantine, therefore everyone apart from their socioeconomic class could be able to eat the dish.
Me, going in: "If Max makes that joke, swear to gods--"
Max: "...that it's Istanbul, not Constantinople"
Me: "Goddammit Max, never change XD"
Why they changed it, I can’t say.
People just liked it better that way.
Ain't nobody's business but the Turks.
You *knew* he was going to... LOL
“Cutting it as per sweets” is the popular diamond or rhombus shape of sweets as one can see in Baklava or many Turkish delights, the same culture late came to India which made many Indo-Persian/Mughal sweets being diamond shaped!
This recipe is Byzantine, why are you bringing up turkey and the Arab world? This was before Turkish influence on the region dude
@15:30 We used to do that in Australia. All the bars shut at 6pm, resulting in the Six O'clock Swill. As soon as everyone got off work at 5pm they'd rush to the nearest pub to drink as much as they could before closing time. There was a notable decrease in alcohol-related crime when restrictions were lifted.
They remind me of the loukoumades we make today in Greece.
Oh man, I would love to go to a party hosted by you. I imagine you putting out little things like these as appetizers. Great show! Thank you!
🤓
I absolutely adore learning everything I can from this channel, as just a hobby cook who is obsessed with learning about as many flavours and cultures from around the world as humanly possible, every episode is an absolute treat (often literally as well!) Also kudos to the wonderful They Might Be Giants reference! I was grinning from ear to ear!
This is one of the many dishes that are made on this channel that I want to try so badly! It also doesn't seem too hard to make although there are parts that you could completely mess up the dish on.