[Sca-cooks] Preliminary notes on Mu'aqqad

[david friedman]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Vincent Cuenca recently posted about his experiments with the recipe
for Mu'aqqad in the 13th c. Andalusian cookbook sometimes referred to
as Manuscrito Anonimo (the title of the Spanish translation).

My first reaction to his post, after checking the recipe, was that
his interpretation was implausible, given the original. He was
cooking the liquid down to a very concentrated sugar syrup (boiling
point 330 degrees). But the recipe specified two parts of rose water
to one of sugar, so on his reading you were boiling almost all of the
rosewater away. If the intent was to make such a syrup, one would
expect the recipe to start with something more like one part of
rosewater to four of sugar, then boil down from there. And the recipe
said to let the liquid cool for a little before adding the egg
whites--which is difficult with a syrup likely to crystalize if you
look at it crosseyed. Finally, the recipe clearly describes  beating
the egg white into the sugar syrup while continuing to cook the
latter, apparently for some length of time.

My second reaction was that what Vincent was doing sounded fairly
close to the way I make Hulwa from the recipe of Ibn al Mubarrad.

My third reaction was to notice that the Hulwa recipe, although less
detailed than the recipe for Mu'aqqad (no quantities), was actually
quite similar. That suggested the possibility that not only was
Vincent misinterpreting Mu'aqqad, I was misinterpreting Hulwa, and
had been for years. "Hulwa" is a broad enough term so that Ibn al
Mubarrad might easily enough have classified Mu'aqqad as a kind of
hulwa.

I therefore tried doing Mu'aqqad, following the recipe as closely as
I could. Here it is:

---
Dissolve a ratl of sugar in two ratls of aromatic rosewater on a
moderate fire, and when it is dissolved, strain it through a woolen
cloth. Then return it to the fire and stir it gently until it is well
cooked. Then remove it from the fire so that it cools slightly. Beat
the whites of a dozen eggs in a dish until they give up their foam,
and throw them on the melted sugar. Return it to the fire and beat it
with the confectionery cane ['asab hulwâ: evidently a candy-making
utensil] until it whitens and takes the consistency of 'asîda and
remove it from the fire and put in half a ratl of pistachios, if
possible, and half a ratl of peeled almonds, and serve it forth, God
willing.
---

I did a quarter recipe:

sugar: 1/2c
rosewater:  1 c
3 egg whites
2 oz each pistachios and peeled almonds

I spent about 7 minutes stirring the sugar into the rosewater over
medium heat, until it dissolved and came to a simmer, then strained
it through a piece of scrap wool. I then simmered it at medium for 20
minutes, beat the egg whites to foamy and added them, beating them
with a whisk (aka whip--not the geared gadget) while continuing to
cook them at medium.

That was the point where it got interesting. The egg whites drank all
of the syrup, turning the combination into a sort of white foam. I
tried taking a little out and letting it cool while continuing to
cook and beat the rest, but it seemed clear that it would never get
anywhere close to hard. So I beat and cooked for about another twenty
minutes. As I did so, the foam gradually decreased in volume,
increased in thickness. I don't know exactly how stiff asida would
be, but from the description that Perry gives in the footnote (A mush
of flour with a little boiling water, butter and honey) I assumed
rather paste like. When it got to something vaguely like that I added
the nuts, spooned the stuff out, let it cool. It never got really
hard, but ended up as a reasonable sort of slightly sticky candy with
a high proportion of nuts and a strong rose water taste.

I think I made at least one mistake. Because I was getting impatient,
I turned up the heat, and started getting little brown bits,
apparently from the stuff browning at the bottom and then getting
picked up by the stirring. I suspect it would work better if I cooked
it at medium low and did it longer. Also, I might dilute the rose
water next time. I have no idea how strong "aromatic rosewater" would
have been. And I think it would be easier to do a good job with a
larger quantity.

For comparison, here is the hulwa recipe from Ibn al Mubarrad. The
one support for how I make it (like a divinity, cooking down to a
syrup then stirring into beaten egg white, then adding nuts) is the
reference to the syrup being cooked until it "takes consistency."
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       (Hulwa)
Its varieties are many. Among them are the sweets made of natif. You
put dibs [fruit syrup], honey, sugar or rubb [thick fruit syrup] in
the pot, then you put it on a gentle fire and stir until it takes
consistency. Then you beat eggwhite and put it with it and stir until
it thickens and becomes natif. After that, if you want almond candy
you put in toasted almonds and 'allaftahu; that is, you bind them.
walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, toasted chickpeas, toasted sesame,
flour. [apparently alternative versions]. You beat in the natif until
thickens. For duhniyyah you put in flour toasted with fat. As for ...
(other versions.)
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  cooked over medium to medium high another 20 minutes, beating
continually with a whisk.
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--
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/