[Sca-cooks] Casbah! Feast, was Period Couscous References?

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

"Mark S. Harris" <stefan at texas.net> wrote:
>al-Sayyida Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint 'abd al-Karim al-hakim al-Fassi said:
>  > I froze the chicken dish, the White Tharidah of al-Rashid, (about 14
>  > gallons worth in zip-closed plastic bags) to avoid "church picnic
>  > chicken syndrome". The Seven Vegetable Tagine was bagged and just
>  > refrigerated (about 9 gallons). Fabian made 600 meatballs from the
>  > Andalusian recipe i sent him, and froze them, per my request. The
>  > couscous was made on site.
>  >
>  > However, the food was re-heated courtesy of the gracious hostess of
>  > the feast, Eliska, and quite a few generous volunteers who manned the
>  > pots of hot water.
>
>You froze the food in regular, store bought plastic zip lock bags?
>Freezer bags or storage bags?

Yes, I just used regular storage bags. I filled them about half-way
(that is, i put about 1 gallon of cooked chicken in each two gallon
bag - easier to handle, as it left bag to grip - i was afraid they'd
burst if i filled them all the way, from the weight and strain).

I put the bags in the freezer and rotated them every 1/2 hour or so,
squishing them a bit to distribute the cold, until they got frosty.
Then i left them to freeze when i was sure they were cold through.

>And then you dropped the bags of food
>including the plastic into the boiling water to thaw and warm them
>up???

No, no, no! Would not be safe. We did immerse the bags in hot water,
though... Someone kept pots of water simmering on a propane stove.
Then periodically hot water was dipped out and added to the water in
some large containers we had - tempered with cold water out of the
spigot. I do not think the plastic the bags were made of would
withstand boiling.

Fabian says he wants to get double boilers for the next feast...

>Sounds very convenient and a lot cleaner than emptying the bags
>into pots and warming the food there, as my wife and I have been
>doing for several years at Gulf Wars.

Yes, it was convenient and we didn't have to wash out the pots.

>The bags don't melt? Or
>break open strewing the food into the boiling water? Hmmm.

As i said above, we did not immerse the bags in the boiling water in
the pots on the stove... I was afraid what you're afraid of would
happen (besides health risks from heated plastic).

After it was hot, tje food was put into chafing dishes, the lower
part filled with hot water, and 2 sterno cans beneath each dish to
keep the food warm - when serving, the pans got refilled with hot
food fairly quickly, so the food didn't sit around for long.

Anahita