Filo/phyllo-- was [Re: SC - duck and bread]

[david friedman]

At 9:02 AM -0700 8/31/00, Susan Fox-Davis wrote:

>That's why my question to Paul via Kiri included all those 
>speculations.  It is
>clearly a Muslim recipe after all, and does list "Muslim oil" [butter] as an
>ingredient;  perhaps the bean was unfamiliar as well.  Shrug.  I don't know,
>that's why I asked.

One of the points the translators of _A Soup for the Qan_ make is 
that the Mongol empire in China was in reasonably close touch with 
the Ilkhans in Persia, with people going back and forth. One result 
is a cuisine that mixes Mongol, Middle-Eastern, and Chinese elements. 
The fact that they are using ghee and calling it "Muslim oil" doesn't 
mean that the recipe is based on a middle-eastern recipe, although it 
could be. I can't think of anything at all similar using bean paste 
in period middle-eastern cooking--that sounds to me like a Chinese 
element in the recipe.

The Chinese had wheat flour in the north and rice flour in the 
south--doesn't either seem a more likely substitution for semolina 
than bean paste?

>
>Also:  if this source documents the use of WHITE sugar, it could be 
>a boon to SCA
>cooks for years to come.  Goodness!  Only the Qan could probably 
>afford it, but
>then again, we all imagine ourselves to be rich nobles don't we?
Is there any reason to believe that people in period didn't have 
white sugar? I am fairly sure I have seen recipes that specified 
black or dark sugar, implying that an alternative existed. And I also 
think I have seen references in Arabic poetry about food that imply 
the sugar is white, although I haven't checked my memory on that.

Sugar in period was expensive in most of Europe because it had to be 
imported. But transporting a pound of refined sugar from Sicily or 
wherever to London doesn't cost any more than transporting a pound of 
unrefined sugar.

A different issue is whether they had granulated sugar--my 
impression is that it came in a solid cone and had to be ground 
before using.
- -- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/