[Sca-cooks] Question re. arab recipe "Samak Madhkhur"

[Stefan li Rous]

Mari asked:
> - page 481 "Samak Madhkhur" is.... "raw fish fillets sprinkled with salt and
> spices, rolled up in orange and citron leaves and stored in vinegar until
> you want to fry them"
>
> Citron leaves?? - is this a particular plant or can I substitute something
> like lemon tree leaves?

I'm not sure about whether lemon leaves would work or not. It is
possible that the original really meant lemon tree leaves but was
mis-translated. This is brought up in this file in the FOOD-FRUITS
section of the Florilegium:
fruit-citrus-msg  (45K)  3/26/01    Period citrus fruits. Recipes.

However, the following is also from that file:
> The citron seems to be the first citrus fruit known in the West, having
> become established in Persia by around 500 B.C. and spreading slowly around
> the eastern end of the Mediterranean from there. The Romans of the first
> century A.D probably grew citrons in the southern parts of Italy and knew
> of lemons and sour oranges, although it seems to be debatable whether or
> not they grew them. The collapse of the Roman empire seems to have left
> citrons growing, in part growing wild, in Sicily and southern Italy, and no
> other citrus surviving in Italy.
>
> The Arabs continued the spread of citrus fruit; by the 10th century the
> sour orange was known and there were references to importing new varieties
> from India, and by the 12th century lemon, sour orange, citron, and pummelo
> had all made it as far as Spain and North Africa. There is also a 12th
> mention of the pummelo in Palestine by a Christian pilgrim, and a
> 13th-century Arab reference to what is probably lime. By the 13th century
> lemon, sour orange, citron, and what is probably lime are described from
> northern Italy.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****