Simple Cooking Guide To Lebanese And Syrian Cuisine

Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Sabieh

Betty Sabieh is worried that her kitchen’s not tidy and that her favorite cookbooks are falling to pieces ­ but the American-born author of “Simple Cooking Guide to Lebanese and Syrian Cuisine” soon resorts to her natural enthusiasm talking about the book which reflects a lifetime’s experience.

“This has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says. “It’s been good for my self-esteem and my mental health and it’s opened up whole new areas for me ­ printing, photography. And boy, is that rough work.”

The newly published hardcover book has kept Sabieh busy for two years and was born during a period of enforced idleness after hip surgery. Not being able to walk up or down even one step for three months saw Sabieh confined to her Mansourieh home ­ even her garden was inaccessible.

“People would come visit and I had videos and books, but there’s only so much that you can take,” says Sabieh, who lost her hearing as a result of wartime shelling. “My daughter Christine suggested I write a cookbook, and so it started. But then I found that although I might know how to make tabbouleh straight off, I had to be precise about the quantities and the steps to preparing it.

“When I got better, I sat in the kitchen and measured everything. It took me 18 months to research the 237 recipes in the book. Writing the step-by-step instructions was the hardest work. My family were the guinea pigs, but I don’t think they complained.”

Sabieh first came to Lebanon in 1954 on a round-the-world trip her father paid for her after she graduated with a degree in business administration from New York University. “Halfway around the world I met my husband. I tease him that he still owes me the other half of the trip,” she says.

Married in 1955, Sabieh spent the next 10 years in Syria, where her husband was working, before returning to Lebanon.

Her initiation into Lebanese cooking came as a new bride being taught by her mother-in-law. “My mother-in-law had been to a mission school and spoke very good English, as did my sister-in-law, so I was very lucky,” Sabieh says. “But learning to cook with my mother-in-law was difficult ­ she never measured anything. When I watched her, it seemed so easy, but in my own kitchen it was another story. A handful of this and a pinch of that never seemed to work out the same way.”

As its title suggests, the book is a good introduction to what can be a bewildering array of Lebanese dishes. Recipes are named in both English and phonetic Arabic and range from mezze and salads to pickles and desserts by way of main dishes such as dijaj maa sumac (chicken with sumac), shish taouk, kefta, inkhaa mikli (fried brains), and kibbet samak (fish kibbeh).

Sabieh has included a small section on freezing food, something which she believes is an innovation for a Middle Eastern cookbook.

“Simple Cooking Guide to Lebanese and Syrian Cuisine” will be available throughout the Middle East and in the United States, so Sabieh has chosen recipes for which the ingredients are widely available. “It was pointless to do something like stuffed carrots, when you can only get the right carrots, which are cored before you buy them, in Aleppo.

“The way the Lebanese cook is different from the way Jordanians cook and the way Syrians cook,” she says, “and even within Lebanon there are variations ­ regional differences. Just the other day I came across a new way of cooking grape leaves with potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the pot which is then inverted to serve. It seems that’s the way they do it in the north.

“Yet many of the dishes of the Middle East, such as hummus, are basically the same. Many of the traditional dishes have their origins from Biblical times. For instance, I have a recipe in the book for adas moudardarah maa riz (lentils and rice) which is what Esau sold his birthright for.”

Sabieh believes that foreigners mistakenly believe Middle Eastern cooking to be difficult and shy away from it. “The beauty of Lebanese food is that you can cook it three or four days in advance and it will be just as good when you eat it. But,” she warns, “you can’t microwave it, it has to be slow cooked.”

Even a keen cook like Sabieh admits to having a love-hate relationship with the kitchen. “Some days I can’t stand the thought of going into the kitchen,” she says. “We don’t eat Lebanese food all the time. I like to mix it up ­ some days we’ll have Italian or Chinese or American cooking. And we eat out a lot too. It’s only normal not to want to cook all the time.”

She also confesses to not liking all Lebanese food ­ raw meat dishes and Turkish coffee leave her shuddering, but over the years, she has developed a taste for foul which she “detested” when she first came to the Middle East.

For the first time in 44 years, Sabieh admits to feeling homesick. “When you’re young, you’re adventurous,” she says. “I was happy with everything and have no regrets, but now I realize there’s very little for older people to do here. In the States senior citizens really live ­ they go on bus tours, play sport and wear colored clothes. I want to enjoy my age until the finish.”

A long-time member of the American Women’s Club, Sabieh has already been invited to several signings for her book, much to her amusement. “I didn’t know anybody would want my signature,” she laughs. “This has really taken me by surprise.

“I’ve also been surprised, and grateful, that the Lebanese seem appreciative of a foreigner writing a cookbook in English about their food.”

Article by Sandra Simpson in Beirut’s Daily Star on Jun. 07, 1999

Language: English
ISBN: N/A
1999, Hardback, 

Book Condition: New
Publisher: Librairie du Liban