Ancient Mesopotamia
Babylonian Lamb Stew
Guided by m. puhādi (“Stew of Lamb”) on Old Babylonian tablet YBC 4644 (Recipe 12, obverse lines 31–32), this article presents a modern home proposal combining lamb, milk, grain cakes and alliums. It is distinct from the beet-based stew Tuh’u. Quantities, timing, flavour and consistency are not cooking-tested.
No record confirms a cooking trial. Quantities, heating times, taste and results should not be read as verified by cooking.
MODERN RECREATION
Modern Adaptation Proposal
Ingredients
Instructions
- [Preparation and Hygiene] Check allergen labels on all products for milk, wheat and barley gluten; refrigerate raw lamb and milk as directed. If using frozen lamb, thaw in a leak-proof container in the refrigerator—never at room temperature. Wash hands, knives, cutting boards, mortar and pestle, and a food thermometer; strictly separate utensils used for raw meat from those used for vegetables and cooked food. Do not rinse raw meat.
- [Modern Proposal for risnātu Grain Cakes] In a small pot, bring about 300mL water (extra, for boiling barley) to a boil, add 25g dry barley, simmer over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes until tender, and drain well in a strainer. In a bowl, mix all of that drained cooked barley, 25g emmer flour (or plain wheat flour), 5g sheep fat (or vegetable oil), 0.5g salt and 15–20mL water (extra, adjusted until cohesive); do not taste raw dough. Shape into 8–10 small flat cakes about 2cm wide and 8mm thick, and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 20–25 minutes until dry and cooked through (if not using an oven, dry-toast both sides in a skillet over low heat for 10–12 minutes total and then simmer thoroughly in Step 4 until cooked through, leaving no raw flour or dough). This adapts the research team's experimental interpretation and is not a settled ancient formula.
- [Vegetable Preparation] On a clean cutting board, finely chop 80g onion and 40g shallot. Finely chop 50g leek and 6g garlic, then mash them in a clean mortar. Rather than treating the bracketed restoration in the published figure as a mandatory raw garnish, this home proposal cooks the leek and garlic in the stew for hygiene and practicality.
- [Browning and Simmering] Heat 10g sheep fat (or vegetable oil) over medium heat in a heavy pot with ample headroom to prevent boil-overs, and brown 300g lamb for 3–4 minutes. Browning is a modern interpretive choice. Do not stop after partial cooking to refrigerate for another day; immediately add 400mL water and 2.5g salt, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and skim any foam. Add the onion, shallot and baked grain cakes from Step 2 (crumble about half and leave the rest whole), set the lid slightly ajar, and simmer over low heat for an initial guide of 35–40 minutes. Guard against burns from hot splashes, steam and hot pot handles.
- [Adding Milk, Leek and Garlic] Into the lamb broth over low heat, gently stir in 200mL pasteurized milk along with the mashed leek and garlic from Step 3. Because a hard rolling boil can cause milk to boil over or curdle sharply, do not overfill the pot; maintain gentle low heat (just below a full boil) and simmer for a further 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching on the bottom, until the milk broth melds with the lamb, vegetables and grain cakes. Add 50–100mL water if the liquid reduces too much. Milk curdling, thickness and flavour have not been cooking-tested.
- [Temperature Check, Serving and Storage] Do not judge completion by simmering time, tenderness or appearance alone. Insert a food thermometer into the thickest piece of lamb and verify that the centre reaches at least 75°C for 1 minute or more, and that the grain cakes are cooked through. Serve promptly with clean utensils. Do not leave leftovers in the pot at room temperature (avoid holding out of refrigeration for over 2 hours, or over 1 hour above 32°C); divide into shallow covered containers, chill promptly at 4°C or below, and reheat thoroughly to the centre before eating. No shelf-life testing has been performed for this recipe.
HISTORICAL RECORD
Historical Sources and Evidence
These sources provide historical context. They do not necessarily support the quantities or cooking times in the modern adaptation.
Statements supported by sources
Clay tablet YBC 4644 in the Yale Babylonian Collection (museum number YPM BC 018709, CDLI P291955, primary publication reference YOS 11, 25) is an Old Babylonian culinary text written in Akkadian. Its provenience is unrecorded in CDLI.
In the electronic Babylonian Library (eBL) edition of YBC.4644, this dish is Recipe 12 on obverse lines 31–32. Headed me-e pu-ḫa-di (me-e pu-ha-di, translated “Stew of Lamb” in the research team's figure), the text lists meat, water, fat, salt, risnātu (translated as dried barley cakes), šusikillu and samīdu (rendered as onion and Persian shallot), milk, and mashed leek and garlic.
The dish Tuh’u, discussed alongside it by the research team and in Yale's beet-stew adaptation, is a separate recipe with different ingredients and steps; its beets and beer are not part of m. puhādi (Recipe 12).
Inference and interpretation
- Regarding tablet date, Yale's collection highlight gives c. 1750 BCE, the research team dates the three Old Babylonian tablets to no later than c. 1730 BCE, and CDLI lists the broad Old Babylonian range c. 1900–1600 BCE. This article treats the tablet as an 18th-century BCE (c. 1700 BCE on the summary card) source without claiming a single exact year, invention date or provenience such as Babylon city or a royal palace.
- Sources inspected here are the museum record, CDLI metadata, the research team's public essay and figure, and the eBL electronic transliteration and translation. We did not independently decipher tablet photographs, read the full printed volume YOS 11 (1985), access the login-restricted full text of Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks Chapter 9 (2019), or systematically collate Bottéro's 1995 edition. The six lines in the published figure are a modern typeset layout, not tablet line numbers (which are obverse 31–32).
- The tablet does not specify modern weights, liquid ratios, temperatures, cooking durations, meat cuts, fat source, or the animal species and fat content of the milk. The research team's choice of lamb shank, baked risnātu cakes of parboiled barley, emmer flour and fat, and multi-hour simmering is an experimental reconstruction filling textual gaps, not the sole ancient method. Their trials are not this site's cooking verification record.
- Ancient Akkadian plant terms such as šusikillu and samīdu are not asserted to be one-to-one botanical matches with modern commercial onion, shallot or leek cultivars. Likewise, the bracketed restoration around mashing leek and garlic in the figure is not treated as an unconditional raw-garnish rule.
Modern adjustments
- As an untested trial proposal for 2–3 servings, quantities are set at 300g cubed lamb, 400mL water, 200mL pasteurized cow's milk, 15g sheep fat (or vegetable oil), 3g salt, 25g dry barley (plus about 300mL extra water for boiling and 15–20mL water for binding), 25g emmer flour (or plain wheat flour), 80g onion, 40g shallot, 50g leek and 6g garlic. These are editorial starting figures, not conversions of ancient units. Using vegetable oil, plain wheat flour, red onion or scallions when sheep fat, emmer flour, shallots or leeks are unavailable is a modern substitution.
- Making risnātu by baking all of the barley boiled and drained from 25g dry grain with 25g flour, 5g fat, 0.5g salt and 15–20mL water at 180°C for 20–25 minutes, browning the lamb for 3–4 minutes, and simmering the mashed leek and garlic with the milk for 15–20 minutes rather than serving them raw are modern design choices for handling and food safety. Estimated work time of about 95–100 minutes (40 minutes prep and baking, 55–60 minutes simmering) is unmeasured; flavour, curdling and thickness are untested.
- Food safety and hygiene: thaw frozen lamb in the refrigerator (never at room temperature), do not rinse raw meat, separate raw-meat utensils from cooked food, and never partially cook meat to finish on a later day. Following the Japanese health ministry benchmark across all five language editions, verify with a thermometer that the centre of the largest piece of lamb reaches at least 75°C for 1 minute or more; do not rely on time or colour alone. Guard against burns from boiling milk mixtures, steam and hot handles, and chill leftovers promptly in shallow containers at 4°C or below.
- Allergens: contains milk and wheat (emmer or plain wheat flour), and uses barley (gluten); not suitable for gluten-free diets. Check ingredient and allergen labels on all commercial products and substitutes.
Sources and references
- YBC.4644: eBL fragment edition — Recipe 12 (obverse 31–32)Open source: https://www.ebl.lmu.de/library/YBC.4644
Electronic transliteration and translation: Recipe 12, obverse lines 31–32 (me-e pu-ḫa-di) and Record notes inspected. 2023 is the electronic registration year, not the tablet's date. No independent decipherment from photographs or full-edition collation was performed.
- The Ancient Mesopotamian Tablet as Cookbook — Recipe for m. puhādi “Stew of Lamb”Open source: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ancient-mesopotamian-tablet-cookbook
Public essay by the research team: Old Babylonian tablet dating, the 'Recipe for m. puhādi “Stew of Lamb”' section and experimental recreation (shank, risnātu made from barley, emmer flour and fat), and distinction from Tuh’u. Not a full critical edition; the team's trials are not this site's cooking record.
- Figure: Recipe for m. puhādi “Stew of Lamb” (cuneiform copy, transliteration, normalization and translation)Open source: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/sites/default/files/09-14_lambstew_new_0.jpg
Published figure in the essay: cuneiform hand copy, six-line typeset transliteration (opening me-e pu-ha-di), normalization, English translation and bracketed restorations inspected. Not a photograph of the clay tablet; the six typeset lines are not tablet line numbers.
- Tablet. Culinary recipes. Old Babylonian. Clay. — YBC 4644 / YPM BC 018709Open source: https://peabody.collections.yale.edu/view/object/520775d7-e19a-4b53-ab8c-03b0cb6a3723
Museum collection record confirming identifiers YBC 4644 (YBC 04644), YPM BC 018709 and CDLI P291955, and Old Babylonian period classification. Physical inspection and character-by-character collation against photographs were not performed.
- YOS 11, 25 (P291955) — Cuneiform Digital Library InitiativeOpen source: https://cdli.earth/artifacts/291955
Catalogue metadata: Akkadian language, broad Old Babylonian period (c. 1900–1600 BCE), unrecorded provenience, and primary publication reference YOS 11, 25 (1985). Neither a transliterated text on CDLI nor the full 1985 volume was read here.
- 厚生労働省「家庭での食中毒予防」Open source: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/shokuhin/syokuchu/01_00008.html
Modern food safety guidance (Points 2–6): hand and utensil washing, preventing cross-contamination from raw meat and juices, heating the centre to at least 75°C for 1 minute or more, rapid shallow-container chilling and thorough reheating. Not evidence of ancient practice.
- USDA FSIS, Lamb From Farm to TableOpen source: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/meat-catfish/lamb-farm-table
Modern lamb handling guidance: Safe Thawing (refrigerator thawing; never thaw on the counter), Safe Cooking (distinguishing cuts and ground meat) and Partial Cooking (never brown or partially cook meat to refrigerate and finish later). This article applies the 75°C for 1 minute standard across all five languages.
- FoodSafety.gov, 4 Steps to Food SafetyOpen source: https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/4-steps-to-food-safety
Modern hygiene guidance: Clean, Separate and Chill (do not rinse raw meat, separate utensils, refrigerate at 4°C or below, and avoid leaving food out over 2 hours, or 1 hour above 32°C).
- FDA, Food Allergies: What You Need to KnowOpen source: https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-allergies-what-you-need-know
Modern allergen guidance: checking product labels for major allergens including milk and wheat across all ingredients and substitutes. Barley is also used, so this dish is not gluten-free; national legal labelling categories are not equated.
- 消費者庁「鍋」の取扱い上の注意Open source: https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/representation/household_goods/guide/zakka/zakka_28.html
Modern cookware safety guidance: do not overfill pots, and guard against boil-overs, hot liquid, steam and hot handles to prevent burns.