Dinner with Attila the Hun 

Fun fact, Atilla is what the Goths called him, and is the diminutive of "atta" meaning father. So basically because the Huns left no writing, he will forever be known as Little Daddy

I'm Hungarian and about the meat between the thighs thing: they put the meat (salted) under the saddle if the saddle chafed up the horse's back, to prevent the horse's wound from getting infected. The westerners saw it and thought it was for cooking purposes. As far as we know, the Huns did in fact cook their meat. 😂

I love your channel. As a retired FDA chemist, I love your use of herbs and spices. As an history buff, I love your historical commentary. Cheers.

People seem to forget that Atilla was raised at the Roman Imperial Court at Ravenna . Atilla read and wrote and spoke 8 languages by the time he was 14 . He was highly educated. But my guy was Alaric , King of the Goths .

Attila: "Why is there smoke coming out of your oven, Max?" Max: "Oh, uhhh... That isn't smoke, it's steam! Steam from the Steamed Lambs we're having! Mmmmm, Steamed Lambs!"

Honestly, this channel is amazing. Not only we get a glimpse of what people ate all through history, we also get a nice, entertaining, well-researched history lesson. Thanks a lot, Max!

I love the way you approached this video. You didn't have all the information on what Atilla ate and how it was made, so instead you made a meal for Atilla based on what we know of his preferences. I'd love more videos like this one, with recipes FOR a person or a group rather than something knowingly eaten by them.

Honestly though, sending a marriage proposal to Attila the Hun is surely the greatest "fuck you, dad!" move ever.

I love it that you were cooking the meat in your dutch oven! Archaeologists just found a whole village of artisans in Greece and they found the bones of an old lady who was clearly a Master ceramics b/c of her joints and all the clay pottery around her body. It's just lovely. I'd love to see a video about an ancient utensils used in cooking.

The best part about the Catalaunian Plains is that Aetius literally tried to rehire him for his campaign against the Visigoths THE DAY AFTER the battle.

In Age of Empires II, the Huns campaign contains one of my favorite interpretations of Attila's death: "On his wedding night, Attila suffered a nosebleed and choked to death. For a man who had boasted that 'where my horse has trodden, no grass grows' it was a curiously anti-climactic death."

In the place in Italy where my parents are from, people still talk about Attila the Hun. One thing they say is that the hill the castle in Udine sits on was created when Attila got all his men to make the hill by filling their helmets with earth so he could watch Aquileia burn. Sounds more like an old tale they've spun, but he certainly made an impression!😳 Oh, it's the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, borders with Austria and Slovenia from the former Yugoslavia.

Hey Max, I was talking with a few historians and anthopologists about your channel! We come from a particular ethnic minority, maybe we could suggest you some cold leads to investigate? There was this discussion about a sweet called Blancmange, it might be a dish or a whole dinner, it is apparently quite ancient and partially documented among some streams of Jewish and Arabic tradition, it moved to France and who knows what happened. It somehow arrived to the Jewish Community of Rome and also to the Sicilian population. It would be interesting to uncover a dish that traveled so much and touched multiple cultures, so much that every and each one of them claim it as their own!

The “meat between the thighs and horse” is actually the origin story of Steak Tartare! Would be cool to see you go over that recipe

I think that the reason Attila didn't have a lot of flashy and expensive things is just simply because of how he recognized that "pretty" doesn't mean functional. Being the leader of such a group too, he probably was constantly watching for betrayals. I'm also wondering if this dish would be just as good with beef or venison!

Going through horrible cancer with family and this show has just helped in getting through It’s just warming and makes me have an escape Thank you for this wonderful show ❤Ps I love your new kitchen that abalone tile is beautiful

Hi Max! Fantastic video as always!
 Also, italian fun fact, the patron saint from my city, San Geminiano di Modena (Saint Geminianus from Modena), is said to have protected the city from the invasion of Attila and the Huns in 452 dC.
 Geminiano was already dead at the time, but the people of Modena prayed to him to help and he sent a thick fog that covered the city and Attila kept going south and ignored Modena!
 I think it’s a story that it’s similar in various northern italian cities, with different protagonists, but a fun one!

Although the grass in my property in Aquileia never grew up again after he passed by, Attila invited me to a feast, and the meat was absolutely fenomenal!

We were so excited when you mentioned Serdika (Sardica). We used to live in Bulgaria, and that is the Roman city which is today Sofia! You can still walk through the remains of Serdika in Sofia's city-center. If you're interested in dishes still served in the style you mentioned--look into kavarma or any other gyuvetch-based dish. So many amazing Balkan foods to explore!

I worked for an Attila he was Hungarian. I’m sending him this link. He will love it, 😊thank you Max, awesome as always.

I used to keep chickens in Seattle, and the longest lived of my hens, Attila ( the Hen) lived 10 years. True! I love these videos! 🍖🍗🍖

The "cooking" between the thighs and backs of horses immediately brought to mind pastirma, which is a highly seasoned cured beef consumed in Turkey and other places which supposedly used to be pressed underneath saddles during the preservation process to squeeze the juice out or something. Pastirma itself means "being pressed" and Turks do considered cured meat to be cooked. I'm not Turkish but my husband is :)

“My feathers started falling apart” a problem I can honestly say I’ve NEVER had in the kitchen!

One of the best channels ever! I am always not only amused but educated. Thank you Max!

This is it! I'm FINALLY caught up! Max, I must make a dreadful admission: I actively avoided your videos when they popped up for months upon months because they looked TOO GOOD. I knew that if I watched one I'd end up wanting to sit through everything on the channel, and that it would take a while because I can't binge watch very easily. Well, some time in May I finally gave in and now I've finally seen every last Tasting History video, and what a wonderful and enlightening journey it has been! I'm excited now that I'll get to watch them come out as they're created and released in relation to holidays and historical anniversaries, too!

It’s impossible to explain how much I enjoy this channel!!

I love how much more understanding of historical customs and traditions learning how they ate and what they ate, than just learning it like… in a classroom. Thank you! 🥰

Max your content is an absolute delight. Every time I come back to your channel I lose myself in a couple hours of culinary stories rooted in compelling history. Bless you sir.

Great video as always! Hearing the description of the cooking process, I couldn't help but think of one of the traditional ways of preparing Argentinian barbecue. In this process, a large slab or meat or even an entire lamb splayed open would be placed on what looks like a cross at a slightly less than vertical position, then seasoned repeatedly with what we call salmuera. Salmuera is a salty solution with an aromatic blend of whatever herbs and spices a person wants to put in it, but it's effectively just heavily salted, flavored water that is basted onto the meat throughout the cooking process, often applied with a large bundle of herbs as a "brush," like the feather. As it cooks, the water keeps the exterior pretty moist, so that while it is clearly a roast, it doesn't develop a dark "bark" or crust, and definitely looks less "roasted" than one might expect. As the water evaporates, it also leaves behind the seasoning. If you're interested, look up "carne al asador con salmuera" and you should find examples. Now, many people skip the bundle of herbs for a water bottle with holes poked in the cap as the application method for salmuera, but the idea is the same.

Always nice to have a max miller video while eating dinner! Keep up the good work

Over the weekend, I actually finally caught up with all of the past Tasting History! Was quite the shock to sit there on Saturday with no new eps to watch so was eagerly awaiting this one.

I love your channel and historical commentary. You also make cooking seem both simple and fun. Not just a chore.

The fact of cooking meat between thighs and horses could be true. One of the oldest turkish recipes which is called pastirma (people in the west call in pastrami) was originally made by pressing meat between the saddle of the horse and the rider, it was back when turks were still nomadic. And in fact the name bastirma means “to be pressed/compressed” This is relevant as one of the most common theories of the origins of huns is that they were mainly of turkic descent

Attila. This is so cool. By the way, I have difficulty communicating because I had a stroke in Broca’s area, the part of the brain that controls speech. 2/8/2021 but I lived again. (My wife helped me compose this.)

Another outstanding episode. I like your weekly format. It means a lot to me. Cheers

Great video! Masterful mix of history, food and humor. Loved it! Great job you guys.

6:15 The Pontic steppes post-Hunnic demographic shift to Oghur Turkic sheds light on the ethnic core of the Huns with emerging Oghur tribes like Akatziri, Onogur, Utigur, Kutrigur, Saragur, Bulgar, Sabir. The names of Hunnic nobles and clans also are of evident Turkic origins

I’ve been binging your videos for 2 days. My grandson, a fan of cooking and history, also loves your channels. Thanks for such interesting info especially the history of each dish. Wonderful content!

Thank you, Max. This is one of my most favorite episodes.

Great lessons in History along with a recipe I absolutely NEED to try! Thanks again, Max!

"overrun by vandals, and goths..." i'm just imagining a bunch of goth kids being vaguely sarcastic at a bunch of roman legionnaires

Always a pleasure to see a new episode!

Your Chanel is my New favorite Max! Love the combo of food and history and the way you present it 🙂 Skål to you from Norway

Incredible work, thank you for sharing your talent, elegance and grace.

This might be the only cooking video anywhere, that has a warning about feathers! Love this channel ❣️

The Chinese historical records like the Records of the Grand Historian or the Book of Earlier Han called similar tribes Xiongnu 匈奴, but it's not clearly established that they were referring to the same people we today call Huns in Europe. Even if the Chinese name for Hungarians contains the same first character: 匈牙利.

Another superb episode, I can't wait to get my hands on your book.

I cannot wait till this cookbook drops!! I've got mine preordered already, can't get here soon enough!!

I still love he fact that this channel is a History channel disguised as a food network show, also Saba is amazing

I think this is my favorite video you have done so far! Can't wait for more, as always much love Max! :)

Thank you Matt for this! I really enjoyed the history with the recipe!

I really like the new placement of sponsored segments, since they don't interrupt the actual content. Thanks for making this change!

Honestly the best part of my meals is getting to enjoy them with such great entertainment, great video as always!

Hey Max, you should totally do an episode on the Cherokee dish called Kanuchi 🤠

Your research is impeccable! Awesome video as always!

So many genuine laughs out loud on this one. So entertaining. Love your channel Max 💖🙌

Great video, as always. As a young child in the early 1960s, my first impressions of Attila the Hun were formed while watching an episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show," when Dick sat down at a piano in the writers room and started singing a little ditty entitled "I Fell in Love with Attila the Hun" ... I have tried in vain to see if there is a clip of Dick's performance that I could share as a link. Needless to say, the song was running through my head as an "ear worm" while I watched your video - a bonus feature to an ancient recipe and an intriguing glimpse into a now obscure corner of history!

I love long pepper. It's great in baking. I add it to my apple pies for extra warmth.

Been watching a ton of videos from Dan Davis, a great author and fanatical historian who infuses his novels with a staggering amount of research. He talks about the culture and basic foods, but your channel is a perfect compliment focusing on the food with some great history.

I really don’t know what I enjoy most, the recipes or the history. But Max you make it all wonderful ! I bet you are so much fun in person. You always make me laugh. Another great video! ❤️

From one Max to another great work on these videos! Always learn something here.

Ounce Again I am enthralled. The History coupled With your Prepared ancient Repast, was indeed Well Done!! Thank You!

I’ve seen every one of your episodes Max and always look forward to the next! 👍🏻

Awesome chapter, as usual. Thank you!! 🌞❤️

The historical impact of Attila cannot be overstated on the nations of the world today. If you're Hungary, grab a Turkey dinner and hope the chef didn't cover it in Greece. Order bubbly drinks, but don't drink too fast or you'll Belgium up really loud. Don't Russia through the meal though, that's neither polite Norway to eat. Slovene steady wins the race and you'll have plenty of time to Finnish. And leave a generous tip when they bring out the Czech.

Love all your shows! Would love two shows, 1 on fancy or low tea and another on high tea, on a high table for those less well off, and often their dinner. A big tea time and tea interest for me! There’s tea -ware and tea and the food and the purpose of the specific tea events.

Great video! I'm going to school in Rome, Italy and immediately thought of you and your channel when I saw a bottle of colatura di alici on a store shelf here!

Fantastic content. Wonderfully produced. Thank you

its a delight when you upload while i make another recipe youve made, keeps me happy while i wait for the recipe to finish cooking!

not the question I would've ever asked but here I am - interested and ready to watch

Ordered your book and very much looking forward to reading it 😀 x

what a Fantastic history lesson!!! you're a great storyteller!

Starting my morning with Max? Absolutely. Tasting History for breakfast!

Great humor this episode! Keep up the good work!

Just discovered your RU-vid channel and was so impressed that I ordered your new cookbook from Amazon. I love history and our society can be so much richer when we pay attention to our historical roots. I'm not the greatest cook, my kitchen is small and I have to make due with the stove and cooking gadgets that I have. But I promise that I will try to taste a bit of history as you've done.

I love how Max just discovers something halfway through & just says "Oh maybe using feathers to baste my meat isn't a technique we should go back to."

"My feather started falling apart" made my heart ache

8 This can be surmised by analysing the names of Hunnic princes and tribes. The names of the following Hunnic princes are clearly Oghuric Turkic in origin: Mundzuk (Attila's father, from Turkic Munc uq = pearl/jewel: for an in-depth discussion of the Hunnic origin of this name in particular see Schramm (1969), 139-40), Oktar/Uptar (Attila's uncle, Öktär brave/powerful), Oebarsius (another of Attila's paternal uncles, Arbårs leopard of the moon), Karaton (Hunnic supreme king before Ruga, Qarâton = black-cloak), Basik (Hunnic noble of royal blood, early fifth century, Bársig = governor), Kursik (Hunnic noble of royal blood, from either Kürsig, meaning brave or noble, or Quršiq meaning belt-bearer). For these etymologies see Bona (1991), 33. Three of Attila's known sons. have probable Turkic names: Ellac, Dengizich, Hernak, and Attila's principal wife, the mother of the crown prince' Ellac, has the Turkic name Herekan, as does another notable wife named Eskam. See Maenchen-Helfen (1973), 392-415. See also Bona (1991), 33-5, and Pritsak (1956), 414. Most known Hunnic tribal names are also Turkic, Maenchen-Helfen (1973), 427-41, e.g. Ultincur, Akatir etc. The cur suffix in many of these names is a well-known Turkic title and as Beckwith (1987), 209, points out the To-lu or Tardus tribes (Hunnic in origin) of the Western Turkish On Oq were each headed by a Cur (noble). Zieme (2006), 115, speculates that the title cur belongs to a pre-Turkic Tocharian stratum of the Turkic language, which, if true, again highlights the essential heterogeneity of Central Asian peoples and even languages. See also Aalto (1971), 35. In addition to this primary language (Oghuric Turkic), Priscus informs us that Latin and Gothic were also understood by the Hunnic elite. See Priscus, fr. 13.3, Blockley (1983), 289. The name of Ellac, Attila’s eldest son, is a corruption of the Turkic älik ( ilik ) meaning ‘ruler, king’. 21 Ernak/Irnik the youngest son also has the variation of the same suffix in his name. His name is probably Turkic är-näk , meaning ‘great hero’, with the suffix here functioning as an augmentation of the Turkic är-än (hero). 22 Thus the suffix -ik/ich was used in Hunnic to imply greatness (i.e. ruler or kingship). These names were, it seems, formal court titles rather than personal names. Kim, H. (2013). The end of the Hunnic Empire in the west. In The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (pp. 89-136). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

So stoked to see more ancient dishes! I would also love to see Jose trying the dishes with you. A second opinion if you will. Keep up the good work, love the channel!

Excellent episode, I love this history. Thank you Max

I love your videos 🧡 I think you're doing something really meaningful here!

Information at 7:22 is probably right. As a Turk, this is told to us as the origin of the meat dish called "Pastırma", which is drived from word "bastırma" meaning "pressed"

Great video! I really enjoy stories more and more these days. ❤

Ooo, it looks like you’ve upgraded your lighting Max. It looks great. As usual your videos are amazing and the content always keeps me engaged.

I actually got long pepper in my cupboard now. I acquired it when you did the Parthian chicken, along with the hing powder (insanely powerful ingredient - user beware). But ya, that long pepper is SO cool! It is the thing I add to spiced wine now that just transforms it into a completely different experience. Just wow... The numbing sensation and the full body experience once your body sends it into the bloodstream... It's SO relaxing... Match that with caraway, peppercorns, a few cardamom pods and some coriander seeds, on top of the standard cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and orange.. Like, just add that whole gamut in there (to proper taste). Just... wow... Thanks, Max!

Max - I binge watched your channel all through my pregnancy, especially during the evenings when I couldn’t sleep. Now I’m sitting here watching this video with my 4 day old newborn son ❤ Thank you for the quality content 😊 Now we are both enjoying it together

My love of history AND cooking?? How have I not found this channel earlier

this channel combines my two favorite things in the world, cooking and history. ❤

Long pepper is a fine gift; I use it fairly often when I make Indian dishes.

For anyone looking for Saba/Mosto D'Uva Cotto abroad, try the greek equivalent, Petimezi. It's widely available in European Greek shops or you can get it online. It's reduced wine must, syrup-like and heavenly. Goes perfect on buttered bread.

Enjoy your series. You make history interesting.

I love the music you chose for this video!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the 'The Attila the Hun Show'!!!!!! This video is a perfect setup intro for the Monty Python skit, and John Cleese will forever be my Attila the Hun! 😁 Now I need to get me some sapa.

I watch this every Tuesday at lunch keep up with the great videos

This sounds so delicious and makes complete sense. Especially the Onions at the bottom. My Dad showed me the benefits of doing that when cooking Meats because it helps prevent sticking, helps keep the Meat moist, and adds flavor.

I love this channel. I also love how you always have different pokemon in the background.

Sounds more like a protection racket than Lucy and Charlie.

Still amazes me that there is a channel that is witty and combines my love for History and Food, only complaint is that its only a video a week, otherwise no complaints at all

Excellent presentation. I am a fan of both history and cooking and this subject is ideal 👌👌👌 Keep up the good work 👍👍👍

Ive been watching this show nigh on religiously, as of late. Ive always been a history buff, and ive recently fostered my love of food and This channel just scrathes that itch, I love it