SC - Qata'if -- duck and bread

[TG]

Adamantius, in response to Margali and Selene, said:

<< Is there any evidence to suggest that the modern qata'if product of
shredded phyllo/borek is what is referred to in Al Baghdadi, etc.? >>

According to Peter Heine, Kulinarische Studien. Untersuchungen zur
Kochkunst im arabisch-islamischen Mittelalter [culinary studies,
investigations into the art of cookery in the arab-islamic Middle Ages],
there is a recipe for Qata'if in the cookbook of al-Tudjibi [Andalusia,
13th century]. Heine gives a German description that is based on the
Tudjibi-recipe. The original recipe can be found on p. 33 of the
Benchecroun edition (Rabat 1981; don't know where it is in the improved
Beyrout edition 1984).

In addition, he says: "Die Lexika geben _Qata'if_ mit 'kleine Krapfen'
o.ä. wieder" [The dictionaries render _Qata'if_ as 'small doughnuts' or
something similar] (p. 128). -- Hm.

In the article of Maxime Rodinson, it appears under the heading 'Des
douceurs et pâtisseries' (p. 140 and fn. 6). It is said to be a famous
sweet dish (_gâteau célèbre_). In addition, he says that there is a
hitherto unedited work extant in three manuscripts, presumably about
patisserie, with the word _qata'if_ in its title (15th century; see p.
105 with fn. 3). He says, that the dish was often praised by the poets.

Now, strolling through the paper copy of 'A Baghdad cookery-book', I
find that one of those poets is quoted there (Mas'udi, 947/957):

"When in my friends the pang of hunger grows,
I have QATA'IF, like soft folios;
As flow of lambent honey brimming white
So amid other dainties it is bright,
And, having drunk of almond-essence deep,
With oil it glitters, wherein it doth seep.
Roser-water floats thereon, like flooding sea,
Bubble on bubble swimming fragrantly;
As foliated book, laid fold on fold --
Afflicted hearts rejoice when they behold:
But when divided, like the spoils of war,
All have their hearts' desire, and sated are." (Arberry 1939, 29)

Praise to the books and articles with an index and footnotes. There is a
footnote to this qata'if passage that refers the reader to a dictionary
and to "Lane, _The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_, ch. 5. n. 99, where
the composition of this pastry is fully described".

This could be: E.W. Lane (ed., transl.): The Arabian nights'
entertainment or the Thousand and One nights. New York 1927. [Not seen.]

Now, it SEEMS to me from the Tudjibi recipe and from Rodinson, that the
recipe for judhab khubz al-qata'if in the Baghdad cookery-book is not a
"chicken recipe" (and not a duck recipe) but a recipe for a kind of
sweet/patisserie that is prepared or refined with the fat of a chicken
instead of or in addition to the kind of fat that is usually used (the
Tudjibi recipe in the German version says "Butter oder Butterschmalz",
the Mas'udi version mentions oil).

Thomas
(P.S.: Thanks Hauviette and Selene for your kind words! It's not hard
work, it's fun.)