Middle Eastern

This is very sweet, but it is a syrup and not to be compared to orange juice. We used the smallish, slightly acid oranges with thin skins for this, but now that we have bottled freshly squeezed orange juice, that is what we use. Dilute 2 tablespoons in a glass of iced water.

A refreshing sweet-and-sour Persian syrup to be diluted in ice-cold water.

This fragrant drink was a favorite in my home. Commercial varieties of a concentrated version (a syrup) have an unpleasant synthetic taste.

This wonderful, heartwarming winter drink is hot milk thickened with the starchy ground bulb of an orchid called Orchis mascula. This was sold by street vendors from the large copper urn in which it was made. The stone-colored powder called sahlab (salep in Turkish and Greek) is expensive and not easy to find. I have often bought it in Middle Eastern markets only to discover that it was a fake or adulterated mix. Cornstarch is an alternative which gives a creamy texture but not the same special flavor.

If you go to Egypt, one thing to bring back home is wine-red dried hibiscus petals.

In my family, it was the men—my father or brothers—who made the coffee. Here is their method. My parents had many pots of different sizes—for two, three, four, five people.

This deliciously refreshing drink, called doug by Persians, ayran in Turkey, and laban by others, is consumed extensively all over the Middle East and particularly in Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran. It is prepared in the home, served in cafés, and sold by street vendors. It is good served chilled or with ice cubes.

The flavors here are rich and exciting.

In Egypt, vendors sold crates of rose petals, in their season, for making rose water and rose jam. Certain varieties of rose, such as the wild eglantine of Turkey and Syria, are the best for jam-making. I have not been able to make a good one with the roses from my garden. The petals remained tough under the tooth.

This can be served as a sweet, with thick cream to accompany. Or plunge 1–2 tablespoons of it into a glass of iced water, then drink the syrupy water and eat the fruit left at the bottom. Use an olive pitter to pit the cherries.

We start getting large quinces from Cyprus at the beginning of October, and later in the year smaller ones arrive from Iran and Turkey. I buy them as soon as I see them, and they last a pretty long time without going bad. Their heavenly scent pervades the whole house. In America they are available in the fall in farmers’ markets.

You can serve this with thick cream or mascarpone, or with vanilla ice cream. For the preserve to last a long time, it needs the same weight of sugar as of figs. If you will be eating it within 2 weeks you can make it much less sweet, but keep it in the refrigerator.

This Kurdish preserve makes a ready sweet to serve with chopped walnuts or clotted cream.

This exquisite delicacy makes a ready dessert. Accompany if you like with vanilla ice cream or mascarpone. It is made with fresh dates—the yellow or red varieties, which are hard and sour and totally different from the dried dates with which people in America are familiar. (They are called zaghlouli in Egypt.) It is usual to peel them, but that is an arduous task and, in my view, not all that much worth the effort. They are stuffed with blanched almonds, with which they make a lovely combination.

A delicacy which should be attempted whenever green walnuts are available.

This popular Lebanese pickle is served as a mezze. Make sure the walnuts have a fresh taste.

This is one of the most popular and exquisite preserves. As the peels keep well in the refrigerator, you can collect them gradually. Choose thin-skinned oranges, preferably the bitter Seville type. Rub very lightly with a fine grater to remove their shine and some of their bitterness, being careful not to grate too deeply. Then, with a sharp-pointed knife, cut 6 deep lines in the peel from end to end and pull off the peel in 6 strips.

This magnificent jam makes a delicious ready dessert that can be served with thick cream.