Maqadem — Damascus Sheep Trotters

Sheep trotters are simmered for a long time. What gives the dish its texture is not spice but hours on the heat: the broth turns gelatinous and sets as it cools. In Damascus the dish is called maqadem, sometimes qishsha. The same food is kawareh in Egypt and baja in Iraq; the pot and the method shift from place to place, the ingredient does not.

It comes in two forms

The first is plain: the trotters and their broth in a deep bowl, with lemon and garlic beside them. The second is fattet maqadem — toasted or dried Arab bread broken into the bottom of the bowl, then chopped trotter meat, garlic yoghurt, melted clarified butter and toasted pine nuts. The bread soaks at the bottom and stays crisp on top, which is why the bowl is eaten the moment it arrives.

It gets confused with fatteh

Both carry bread, yoghurt and clarified butter, and both have fatteh in the name. The difference is what goes in. The classic fatteh of Damascus is built on chickpeas and belongs to breakfast; fattet maqadem is built on meat and belongs to a winter morning. Some shops sell the two side by side, but the pots are separate.

Where, and at what hour

In Damascus, Midan and Qudsiya are the quarters named for this dish. The counter opens early and closes when the pot is empty — arriving towards midday means arriving for nothing. It helps to ask whether it is sold by the bowl or by the plate before you order; the two do not come to the same bill.