[Sca-cooks] Holiday Sweets

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Katira wrote:
>I just took this to a feast.  I first made it back in
>1997 for my first try at a cooking competition (Mists
>Silver Spoon).  The catetory was "snack foods" and was
>tasted with the brewing competition.  I looked for a
>salty snack type of recipe but found this and it
>really was fine with beer (I did a taste test).  I
>find that using old bread to make the crumbs (not bone
>dry) and the moist kind of dates (forget the name),

Medjool, probably.

>I get a mixture that holds together well and is more
>like a sweet than a travel food (Cariadoc's version is
>so dry it is almost impossible to shape according to a
>helper at a feast he was doing, though it was still
>quite tasty).  I also tried the sesame oil in my first
>version and felt it overpowered all the other flavors.
>  I also found it was quite an oily mixture. Ugh.  The
>butter is perfect for my taste.

Did you use a nice cold-pressed sesame oil from a health food store? 
Or one from a Middle Eastern market? Or the dark roasted East Asian 
kind from the supermarket?

I find a good quality cold-pressed sesame oil has a wonderful flavor 
that adds rather than detracts from the dishes to which it is added. 
Spectrum oils has two. I prefer the cold-pressed organic for flavor, 
but it is more expensive than their other oil, so i buy a bit of each 
for feasts, for a compromise for best flavor and price.

Not too long ago, i decided to try the cheaper Middle Eastern sesame 
oil. Although the finished product was acceptable, and i imagine most 
diners didn't notice, it did not have the same wonderful fresh nutty 
flavor of the cold-pressed oil. I find this kind, which is hot 
pressed or chemically extracted i don't know which, to be bitter.

The dark roasted East Asian sesame oil is generally available in 
supermarkets and several people on various lists have used it 
mistakenly. This kind was not used in Near Eastern food and is, of 
course, completely unsuitable, as it adds an overpowering flavor to 
the food, rather than the wonderful flavor of cold-pressed sesame 
oil. It is meant to be used only as a flavoring in finishing a dish 
and is added at the end after the dish has pretty much finished 
cooking. In the proper setting it is wonderful, but Near Eastern food 
is not the place it should be.

Anahita