SC - Period cookshop at Pennsic?

[Susan Fox-Davis]

David/Cariadoc wrote:
<< Note that the description is pretty clearly not of a shredded pastry, 
but of thin sheets--consistent with the material I quoted earlier. >>

Yes, my opinion so far is perfectly in spirit with the
not-a-shredded-pastry-view.

What I was trying to say: the basic quata'if lookes more like a dessert
than a chicken dish to me.

So far I can see, three features are typical:
- -- the use of some kind of flat bread
- -- the use of honey and some kind of fat, seasonings
- -- the arrangement, normally, in several layers [the "aberrant" one
has only one layer, maybe this is only a very "simple" version]

In case you have access to Hosam Elkhadem's critical edition of the
Taqwim al-sihha (tacuin sanitatis) of Ibn-Butlan (Louvain 1990), there
is an entry about Quata'if on p. 198-99 (the French translation); It
goes under the heading:

   "Les desserts simples et composés" (simple and compound desserts)

In the field "meilleure varieté" (best variety):
   "carré, bien cuit, à base de pâte levée"
    four-edged, thoroughly cooked, with leavened dough

The version mentioned is with nuts (Utilité: "pour les sportifs"!!!). In
the commment is said, that it is made with sugar, almonds, nuts and
seasonings. Then: "Le carré est fait d'un quart de pain farci, d'un
quart de pâte en couvercle, d'un quart de hall (13) et d'un quart de
farce. De même, la farce, comme le luzing, est fait d'un tiers
d'amandes, de deux tiers de sucre et d'aromates en quantité telle que le
goût n'est pas rebuté". (hall=huile de sésame)

Elkhadem quotes a source (al-Mu'jam) that allows him to call the dish
"chausson" in French, and this would be "Strudel" in German.

I don't know how this adds to the picture and I am still not sure about
the role of the chicken (or the fat rib) in the other recipes.

Thomas