SC - cous cous

[david friedman]

At 8:27 AM -0700 10/2/98, Anne-Marie Rousseau wrote:
>Hi from Anne-Marie

>Soldier's Couscous (Kuskusu Fityani) (A55)
>The usual moistened couscous is known by the whole world. The Fityani  is
>the one where the meat is cooked with its vegetables, as is usual, and when
>it is done, take out the meat and the vegetables from the pot and put them
>to one side; strain the bones and rest from the broth and return the pot to
>the fire; when it has boiled, put in the couscous cooked and rubbed with
>fat and leave it for a little on a reduced fire or the hearthstone until it
>takes in the proper amount of the sauce; then throw it on a platter and
>level it, put on top if it the cooked meat and vegetables, sprinkle it with
>cinnamon and serve it. This is called Fityani  in Marrakesh.
>
>Soldier's Cous cous
>2 c. cous cous
>1 can veggie broth + 1 canful water
>4 T. butter
>1/4 tsp cinnamon
>1 t. salt
>
>In a large pot with a good lid, bring the broth and water to a boil. Stir
>in the cous cous, and clap on the lid. Let sit off the heat until all the
>water is absorbed. Stir in the butter and sprinkle heavily with cinnamon.
>Fluff with a fork to keep from being gloppy. Serves 6-8 generously.

Your redaction and the original recipe appear to have almost nothing in
common but the use of couscous and cinnamon. More precisely:

The original creates the broth from meat and vegetables, the redaction from
vegetables.

The original cooks the couscous first (presumably steamed, though it
doesn't say) and then adds it to the liquid, the redaction cooks the
couscous in the liquid.

The original uses fat, put on before the couscous is added to the liquid,
the redaction uses butter, put on when it is served.

The original serves the couscous under the meat and vegetables used to make
the broth--the normal form of the dish in modern north African cooking, as
I understand it--the redaction omits them.

In responding to a query from Ras who is, as usual, more tactful than I am,
Anne-Marie writes:

>I agree that the original mutton/vegebtable broth would have a vastly
>different taste, as well as being far more accurate. However, we were
>expected to provide SOMETHING for vegetarians to eat (dang their forest
>eater hides! :)), and so we chose to sub in a very flavorful vegetable
>broth instead.

But why did you choose to create a dish for your purposes and then assign
to it the name of a quite different period dish? You have cooked couscous,
but you have not made "Soldiers Couscous." It is as if you made  plain
spaghetti sprinkled with parmesan to serve as a side dish and labeled it
"spaghetti marinara."

>Also, the original text of the entire recipe
>(not just the bit cited in your question) specifies that cous cous can be
>made "moistened as usual", or else it can be the method described with the
>mutton broth.

I don't think it is clear from the quote whether it means that the Fityani
is not moistened as usual, or whether it is being offered as a particular
example of "The usual moistened couscous"--(the one where ...).

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


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