[Sca-cooks] period sweets

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>...I shall be IN persona.. a woman of 10th century Al-Andalus... what would
>be the proper sweetmeats that I would make and offer to my 'guests'...
>
>Islamic Empire - 10th century..
>
>thanks
>'bella / Aine

Here are two 13th century Muslim recipes:

They're from the book "In A Caliph's Kitchen" by David Waines. His
worked out recipes don't always follow the originals, but for the
sweets they are pretty close. It is long out of print and i searched
for nearly 2 years for a used copy before i gave up and got it via
Inter-Library Loan.

I've included the Original (as published in "In a Caliph's Kitchen")
and David Waine's version, along with my notes and one of Lord
Cariadoc's redactions. I've never made these myself because i don't
like sweets much.

-----------------------------------

Khushknanaj
(khushk = dry and nan = bread in Persian)
from the cookbook by al-Baghdadi, 13th c.

ORIGINAL

Take fine white flour and with every ratl mix 3 uqiya of sesame oil,
kneading into a firm paste. Leave to rise. Then make into long
loaves. Put into the middle of each loaf a suitable quantity of
ground almonds and scented sugar mixed with rose water, using half as
much almonds as sugar. Then press together as usual and bake in the
oven. Remove.
-----
David Waines' version:
6 oz white flour
1/2 oz yeast
pinch of salt
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 Tb. sesame oil [MY NOTE: you can find in the health food store
      it's good for cooking period Near Eastern food with
      Note: this is *not* the Chinese roasted kind]
2 oz. ground almonds
2 oz castor sugar [extra fine granulated sugar, not powdered sugar]
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2-3 Tb. rose water [possibly less]

Sift flour into a bowl, add salt
Mix yeast with granulated sugar and a little water. Add to flour.
Add sesame oil to mixture. Mix.
Add enough water to make a dough with a firm consistency.
Knead for 10 min. then cover with a towel and leave to rise in a warm
place 1-1/2 hour.

Mix together ground almonds, castor sugar, cinnamon.
When well blended gradually add rosewater to make a stiff paste - may
need to add a little water.

When the dough has risen, turn onto a floured board and knead for a
few minutes.
Cut the dough into 10 equal portions. Roll each into a flat thin oval.
Place 1/10 of the filling on one dough oval, roll the dough over it,
moistening the edges with water so they'll stick. Form into sealed
cylinders. Make sure filling is well covered so it doesn't burst out
when cooking.
Place on greased baking pan and cook in preheated oven at 450 until
just golden.

Cool before serving.
-----
His Grace, Lord Cariadoc's version, from the Miscellany:

2 c white +1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c sesame oil (from untoasted sesame!!!)
6 oz almonds = 1 c before chopping
additional flour for rolling out dough
12 oz = 1 1/2 c sugar
1 T rose water
3/4 to 7/8 c cold water or 1/2 c water, 1/2 c sourdough starter

"Leave to rise" is a puzzle, since the recipe includes neither yeast
nor water. The recipe does not seem to work without water; perhaps
the author took it for granted that making a paste implied adding
water. We originally developed the recipe without leavening, but
currently use sourdough, which is our best guess at what the original
intended (and also seems to work a little better). The two versions
are:

Without leavening: Mix the flour, stir in the oil. Sprinkle the water
onto the dough, stir in. Knead briefly together.

Sourdough: Mix the flour, stir in the oil. Mix the water and the sour
dough starter together. Add gradually to the flour/oil mixture, and
knead briefly together. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise about 8
hours in a warm place, then knead a little more.

We also have two interpretations of how the loaves are made; they are:

Almost Baklava: Divide in four parts. Roll each one out to about
8"x16" on a floured board. Grind almonds, combine with sugar and rose
water. Spread the mixture over the rolled out dough and roll up like
a jelly roll, sealing the ends and edges (use a wet finger if
necessary). You may want to roll out the dough in one place and roll
it up in another, so as not to have bits of nuts on the board you are
trying to roll it out on. You can vary how thin you roll the dough
and how much filling you use over a considerable range, to your own
taste.

Long thin loaves: Divide the dough into six or eight parts, roll each
out to a long loaf (about 16"), flatten down the middle so that you
can fill it with the sugar and almond mixture, then seal it together
over the filling. You end up with a tube of dough with filling in the
middle.

Bake at 350 deg. about 45-50 minutes.

Notes: At least some of the almonds should be only coarsely ground,
for texture. The sesame oil is the Middle Eastern version, which is
almost flavorless [Anahita's Note: i find sesame oil i get at the
health food store to be *quite* flavorful]; you can get something
similar at health food stores. Chinese sesame oil, made from toasted
sesame seeds, is very strongly flavored and results in a nearly
inedible pastry. We do not know what scented sugar contained.
-----
Anahita's suggested short cut, if you don't feel the need to be
really authentic:
I suspect you can cheat by using a simple cookie dough made with
sesame oil instead of butter and with NO vanilla. Roll dough into
flat thin ovals and fill and bake as directed above. Do check on
them, because they shouldn't be brown, just golden. Shouldn't take
more than 15 min, and maybe less.

-----------------------------------

Rutab mu'assal
"Honeyed Dates" (literally)
13th c. recipe - source not specified

ORIGINAL
Take freshly gathered dates and lay in the shade and air for a day.
Then remove the stones and stuff with peeled almonds. For every 10
ratls of dates take 2 ratls of honey. Boil over the fire with two
uqiya of rose water and half a dirham of saffron, then throw in the
dates, stirring for an hour. Remove and allow to cool. When cold,
sprinkle with fine-ground sugar scented with musk, camphor,and
hyacinth. Put into glass preserving jars, sprinkling on top some of
the scented ground sugar. Cover until the weather is cold and chafing
dishes are brought in. [my note: might "chafing dishes" be "braziers"
used to warm the house?]

David Waines' version:
1 lb. fresh dates
2 Tb. honey
4 oz. blanched almonds
3 Tb. rosewater
big pinch saffron
2 Tb. castor sugar (extra fine granulated sugar)
2 Tb. ground cinnamon [i think that's a bit much!]

1.) Carefully slit each date down one side and remove the pit.
2.) Into each date place one blanched almond, then squeeze closed.
3.) Mix together rosewater, honey, and saffron in a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes. Remove and allow to cool
slightly.
4.) Add dates to syrup, spooning it over the dates so each is
thoroughly coated. Leave them in the syrup for a couple of hours.
5.) Remove dates and roll each one in caster sugar mixed with cinnamon.
-----
My notes:
I have never made this. That said... (1) i've seen some dates that
were a bit hard. If you end up with these, you can simmer them in
water to cover until they're tender, probably a few minutes. Drain
and cool before proceeding. (2) Also, you can sometimes find pitted
dates, which could save a bit of work. (3) you might want to put more
than one almond in a date, depending on the size of the almonds and
of the dates. (almonds in Morocco were rather small, but they were
incredibly flavorful.)

Well, that's it for these two recipes... There some others, but these
sounded not bad to me and like they might work for your schtick.

Anahita