SC - duck and bread

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Qata'if is shredded phyllo dough, which looks much like vermicelli.  The goodies
you make with it are of the baklava type, as you have observed already.  The
chicken fat idea is worthwhile;  I've always used butter myself.

His Grace can answer the matter of translation of chicken/fowl/duck, but modern
Persian cooking uses duck frequently, notably my favorite Fesanjan, duck with a
pomegranate-nut sauce.  Will go home and post the recipe later.  I use chicken
more often than duck for budgetary reasons, both versions are good.

Love and quack!
Selene
selene at earthlink.net

margali wrote:

> I have a question about persian foods and duck. I have Cariadocs vol 1
> which has al Bagdadi [actually, it sort of appears like several versions
> ov al Bagdadi, 2 in the very fromt and a third at the end of vol 1]
>
> I want to do Phlips birthday duck next year as a persian themed dinner,
> and I noticed chicken recipes but nothig for duck. Is it possible that
> the original translation says chicken but the actual word is 'fowl'
> including duck as an option instead of chicken? Did they not cook ducks?
> Would it be OK to substitute duck in  judhab khubz al-qata'if?
>
> Also, what type of "bread" is qata'if? I noticed that in chapter X,
> various flour products are mentined and all it has to say about qata'if
> is "This is of various kinds. Stuffed qata'if are baked into long
> shapes, stuffed with almonds and fine ground sugar, rolled around and
> laid out; then sesame oil, syrup, rose water, and fine-ground pistachios
> are thrown on. Fried qata'if are baked into loaves, stufed with almonds
> and fine ground sugar kneaded with rose water, rolled and fried in
> sesame oil, then taken out and dipped in syrup and removed. Plain
> qata'if are put into a dish and immersed in sesame oil, then syrup is
> added, rosewater and fine ground pistachios." It almost sounds like they
> are referring to crepelike things, a thin flexible flatbread or pita
> like bread.
>
> judhab khubz al-qata'if
> Take qata'if bread as required ; spray the dish with a little rosewater,
> and place the bread thereon in layers, putting between each layer
> almonds and sugar, or pistachio ground fine ; spray again with
> rosewater. When the bread fills the dish pour on a little sesame oil and
> cover with syrup. Hang over it a fat plucked chicken, smeared with
> saffron ; when cooked, remove. Small stuffed qata'if are also treated
> this way.
>
> [both cites A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks vol I 6th
> ed.]
>
> I think for buffet serving in camp, I might go with the 'small stuffed
> qata'if' treated this way, and as we are partially cooking the ducks
> ahead of time to leach out most of the fat and speed the in camp cooking
> process, it would be nice with a rich duck dripping, but if it is for
> only chicken, can you suggest a period persian duck recipe? I can always
> make it for the pot luck next year with chicken...I do haev to admit, I
> was thinking of plunging in and using my pita recipe, and making it with
> pitas in the mean time, it sounds like a really neat form of bread
> pudding made really rich with drippings!
> margali