[Sca-cooks] Pt. 2 - Medieval Persian Iron Chef

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Here are the recipes three dishes that were served on one tray:

Bustaniyya - Orchard Dish - spiced chicken and lamb with pears,
peaches, and almonds
Saffron Rice
Rutab Mu'assal - Honeyed Dates, stuffed with almonds

Anahita

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Bustaniya - Orchard Dish
Spiced Chicken and Lamb with Pears, Peaches, and Almonds

Fruit and meat cooked together is typically Near Eastern. "Bustan"
means "orchard" and this dish contains pears, peaches, and almonds
from the orchard.

Original:
Take small sour pears, wash and wrap in a moist cloth if they are
dried pears, but if they are fresh, then macerate them in water and
strain through a sieve. Then take chicken breasts, and cut them
lengthwise in finger-sized strips and add to it as much meat [lamb]
as you wish. Next throw in peaches and boil. Season the pot with
pepper and ma'kamakh, oil, some spices, some sugar, wine vinegar,
some almonds ground up fine; add to the pot. Then break eggs over and
allow to settle.
(by Abu Samin, "Father of Corpulence", in al-Wattaq, p. 119, in Waines)

I was not sure what was going on with the pears. Were the dried pears
being soaked and drained? soaked and sieved? Was only the liquid
used? Or was a puree used? It wasn't clear to me, so I used firm,
tangy Winter pears which cooked down.

25 Bosc pears
50 dried sulfured peach halves
10 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
10 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
10 pounds of cubed lamb (cut as for stew or kabobs)
water, as needed
1 ounce Ceylon cinnamon sticks
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 ounce powdered ginger
2 Tablespoons ground coriander seed
2 Tablespoons white pepper
1/4 cup salt, to taste
water, as needed
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups red wine vinegar
2 cups ground blanched almonds
20 eggs, beaten

1. Cut of stem and blossom ends from pears, halve, core, then cut so
each pear is in eight pieces.
2. Cut peach halves in half.
3. Cut chicken into finger-like or fajita-like strips.
4. Check lamb and trim off excess fat and remove any bones.
5. In wide deep pot place fruit, meats, spices, and salt. Add water,
a couple cups to each pot - more liquid will develop out of both the
meat and the fruit as the dish cooks.
6. Put on high heat, bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium or
medium-low, so liquid develops out of meat and fruit, and contents
simmer until done, about 1 hour.
7. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary - I added more salt.
8. Add sugar and vinegar, tasting and adjusting as necessary - should
have a pleasant slightly sweet-and-sour flavor.
9. Stir in almonds - sauce should thicken.
10. Stir in eggs - sauce should thicken further. I did not pour eggs
on top as original recipe suggests, since i was cooking all the meat
in two 3 gallon pots and there would be no way to distribute the eggs
evenly over the meat in the serving dishes.
11. Dish meat into serving dishes - surround with rice, and garnish.

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Arruz al-Zafran - Saffron Rice
There are no single recipes for cooked rice, so I concocted this one
from several that I read. It leaves a lovely chewy golden "crust" in
the rice cooker that my team was snacking on in the kitchen. For a
smaller dinner, you can serve the "crust" cut up to the diners.

Arruziya:

Arrus Mufalfal:

(Both in Waines)

My Work-Up:
Basmati rice
almost 1 gallon whole milk
water
1 teaspoons saffron
2 teaspoons salt

The following is the procedure I used to cook the rice in a couple
medium-large rice cookers.

1. Put three rice cooker measures of rice into rice cooker.
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of saffron, crumbled in your fingers and
sprinkled over the rice.
3. Put three more rice cooker measures of rice into rice cooker.
4. Add another 1/4 teaspoon of saffron.
5. Add six rice cooker measures of milk.
6.Add six rice cooker measures of water.
7. Turn on rice cooker.
8. After liquid has been bubble for a little while, give the contents
of the rice cooker a stir, to more evenly distribute the saffron.
9. Cook until done (rice cooker stops cooking).
10. Remove liner with rice in it and turn upside down in a deep
container. There should be a lovely soft chewy golden-brown crust on
the bottom. This is considered a delicacy in modern Persia/Iran.
11. With a good knife, cut off the crust and set aside, then with a
rice paddle, unclump the rice.
12. Repeat the above process until you have completed sufficient
rice. I used the equivalent of four rice cookers full for one hundred
people.
13. You can serve the crust cut into wedges or feed it to your
grateful cooking staff...

To use regular pots on the stove, put equal quantities of milk and
water, bring to a boil, add saffron then a quantity of rice equal to
one of the liquids, stir, reduce heat to very low, cover and cook for
about 15 minutes. Heat must be VERY low or bottom of rice will burn.

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Rutab Mu'assal - Honeyed Dates stuffed with almonds, scented with rosewater

Original:
Take fresh-gathered dates, and lay in the shade and air for a day:
then remove the stones, and stuff with peeled almonds. For every ten
ratls of dates, take two 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 with some
of the scented ground-sugar. Cover, until the weather is cold and
chafing dishes are brought in.
("A Baghdad Cookery Book", trans. A.J. Arberry, notes by Charles
Perry, p. 88, "Medieval Arab Cookery", and p. 39, "In a Caliph's
Kitchen" by David Waines)

My Work-Up:
100 pitted Deglett-Noor dates
200 blanched peeled whole almonds
1-1/2 cups honey
1 capful rose water, Cortas brand

1. Put almonds into dates, one at a time - some dates won't hold 2
almonds. Also, check for pits - dates are mechanically pitted and the
machine could miss something and you don't want to break any of your
diner's teeth.
2. When all dates are filled, warm up honey in a saucepan on medium
heat. You just want it to be smoothly flowing.
3. When honey is warm, stir rosewater into it.
4. Then put dates into pan of honey on the stove. There should be
just barely enough to cover the dates. DO NOT STIR.
5. When honey just gets bubbly around the edges, remove from heat and
let cool. DO NOT STIR. I assume the type of dates they were using
were somewhat hard. Most of our dates are pretty soft and stirring
them after they've cooked in the honey will break them up or even
dissolve them.
6. When cool, carefully remove dates one at a time to decorate
serving dishes as desired.

NOTE: Although I find even dates NOT cooked in honey to be cloyingly
sweet, they were a big hit. People came from the dining room to pick
them off the trays after my course had been removed.

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These were served thus:
On ten round flat serving trays, a ring of rice was made around the
outside. The meat was mounded in the middle. And 10 dates were placed
evenly around the outer edge of the rice, the spaces between them
filled with garbanzo beans.