Iraq

Iraqi cooking descends from ancient Mesopotamia, famous for masgouf grilled river fish, dolma, and slow-cooked stews over rice. Dates, tamarind, and dried lime lend a distinctive sweet-and-sour depth.

The oldest known recipes in the world are Babylonian clay tablets from southern Mesopotamia, three of them dated to around 1730 BCE and now at Yale; the best preserved carries twenty-five stews. One is a lamb and beet stew with beer, arugula, coriander, Persian shallot, cumin, leek and garlic, elaborate enough to suggest a palace kitchen. What that establishes is continuity of place rather than of recipe.

Sourness here comes from three directions at once: tamarind in some stews, dried lime in others, and pomegranate or verjuice elsewhere, often against the sweetness of dates. Masgouf is the Tigris tradition, carp split flat, propped upright around a fire of apricot or orange wood so it cooks by radiant heat, then laid over the coals at the end.

Flaky layered pastry baked crisp, soaked in syrup, and topped with rich clotted geymar cream.