سمك مشوي

"Take fresh fish and thoroughly scrape off its scales with a knife. Then make an incision in its belly, wash it very well, and dry it from water. Take rue and pound it finely, discarding the seeds. Take about half as much dried thyme and pound it as well. Use about a quarter as much peeled garlic, pounded finely. Take about half the total amount walnut kernels and pound them, then mix everything together. Sprinkle some ground coriander, cinnamon, cumin, and mastic over the mix. Knead it all with fresh sesame oil, and adjust the salt to taste. Coat the fish inside and out with sesame oil mixed with saffron steeped in rose water, and fill its belly with the prepared stuffing. Tie the fish with strong linen thread and place it on an iron skewer. Put it in a tannour (oven) over gentle, non-flaming heat, and cover its head with a pot until you know it is cooked. Then remove and serve it hot or cold."

The recipe as written uses concise, imperative language, common in medieval Arabic cookbooks, assuming the reader is experienced and familiar with standard kitchen processes. Quantities are given as fractions or approximations relative to each other, rather than precise weights or volumes. Some ingredient names, such as 'saq' (rue), 'shirj' (sesame oil), and 'darṣīnī' (cinnamon/cassia), differ from modern terms, and may have variable spellings. Every step is part of a sequence of actions, often merged into a single sentence, typical of the time’s practical culinary writing.