Mascouf. This wonderful dish takes me back many years to Abu Nawaz Street, the long wait whilst it was slowly and tenderly cooked. It was worth the wait and I am drooling just typing this. I still love it but it is not the same as I remember.
It also recalled to me the night I was "kidnapped" in Baghdad. I was left alone in the hotel because I was not feeling well. A friend Capt Jellabi of Iraqi airways turned up. He wanted to take me out and after a lot of persuasion I agreed to go with him to "his brother's place, just down the road". The journey took "forever". After a bottle of scotch disappeared I felt better but pleaded to go back to the hotel. In the end we set off, but stopped of "for a quick bite to eat". It was by the river and Mascouf. When it eventually arrived and quickly dispatched I was fully recovered. I was driven back to the hotel to find my party, running around in circles thinking I had been kidnapped or had worsened in my sickness, but I felt great!