General Features of Middle Eastern Food

Cooking fats used in most countries in the past were rather heavy. In particular, alya, the rendered fat from a sheep’s or lamb’s tail, was extremely popular. Many of the medieval recipes I have included start with ‘melt tail’ or ‘fry in tail’. They refer to alya. As a special refinement it was sometimes coloured red or yellow. Today, although this fat is still used for cooking in a few districts, it has generally been replaced by a clarified butter called samna, ordinary butter, margarine and oil.