[Sca-cooks] Period Couscous References?

[Yamil O Kiwan]

Anahita,

The feast was fabulous. Every dish was well spiced and the food was hot, no
small chore considering the fire restrictions you had to deal with.

Well done.

Jamal

> From: lilinah at earthlink.net
> Reply-To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 14:30:15 -0700
> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Period Couscous References?
>
> I seem to recall seeing recipes or references to couscous by some
> variation of its name (seksou, kuskusu, etc.) somewhere OTHER than in
> the Anonymous Andalusian cookbook, which has at least 4 recipes for
> or with references to couscous (included below).
>
> I realize i seem lazy - in fact, i'm rather spaced out at the moment
> - 8 hours of sleep total in two days, cooking for 150 - i was up
> until 5 AM prepping food for a feast Saturday night.
>
> Thanks for any pointers,
> Anahita
>
> --------------------
>
> all from:
> http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian8.htm
>
> i have removed all circumflexes over vowels (i think), as they don't
> reproduce well in e-mail
>
> Vinegar Tharida, Which is One of the Best
>
> Take the fatty meat from the fattest parts, chop it and put it in the
> pot with salt, onion, pepper, saffron, cumin, garlic, strong vinegar
> and a quantity of oil, put it on a moderate fire and when the meat is
> done put in what you have of vegetables, such as large tender
> turnips, eggplants and gourds, peeled and cooked separately (from the
> meat). As for the eggplants, make the tharida with them whole and
> uncut, and the turnips likewise, and the gourds  (should be) the
> largest possible, after pressing out their water. And add vinegar to
> taste and when it is all cooked, take it off the fire, moisten with
> it the crumbled tharid of leavened bread and repeat the moistening
> until it is ready, pour the couscous on it and it turns out
> marvelously.
>
>
> Soldiers' Couscous (Kuskusu Fityani)
>
> The usual moistened couscous is known by the whole world. The fityani
> is the one where the meat is cooked with its vegetables, as is usual,
> and when it is done, take out the meat and the vegetables from the
> pot and put them to one side; strain the bones and the rest from the
> broth and return the pot to the fire;  when it has boiled, put in the
> couscous cooked and rubbed with fat and leave it for a little (p. 57,
> verso -- HM actually says p. 57, recto here) on a reduced fire or the
> hearthstone until it takes in the proper amount of the sauce; then
> throw it on a platter and level it, put on top of it the cooked meat
> and vegetables, sprinkle it with cinnamon and serve it. This is
> called Fityani in Marrakesh.
>
>
> I Have Seen a Couscous Made with Crumbs of the Finest White Bread
>
> For this one you take crumbs and rub with the palm on the platter, as
> one rubs the soup (hasu; unless this is a scribal error for hashu,
> "filling"), and let the bread be neither cold nor very hot; put it in
> a pierced pot (the colander-like perforated top portion of a
> couscousiere or couscous steamer) and when it's steam has left, throw
> it on the platter and rub with fat or moisten with the broth of the
> meat prepared for it. I have also seen a couscous that one makes from
> a fat chicken or stuffed and fattened capons and it was as if it were
> moistened only with fat, and in it were turnips of Toledo and "cow's
> eyes."
>
>
> Tharid Mudhakkar with Vinegar and Whole Onions
>
> Take fat beef, cut it in the pot with salt, pepper, coriander seed,
> saffron, cumin and strong vinegar; when it is almost cooked,  add big
> whole onions without cutting them, cooked separately, and finish
> cooking it all; when it has finished cooking, take the pot from the
> fire and moisten with it a tharid crumbled from clean bread kneaded
> with white flour dough, and when the tharid absorbs it and is level,
> arrange the meat and the whole onions and serve it. And you might
> moisten couscous with it.
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