Lamb with QuincesRe: [Sca-cooks] Menu help! Pretty please.

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> > We tried both the Mukhallah and the Lamb with Quinces last night. The Lamb
> > with Quinces (supposed to go together in the Moorish course-- ick. Ick. I
> > don't know what we did wrong but... ick. So that's out.
> >
>
> OK, let's start at the beginning. What does the original say, and what did
> you do? What about it was ICK!  ? It just might be that a misunderstanding
> on your part may have caused the difficulty.
>

Hm.. well, first let me point out that, when we tried the Mukhallah, we
agreed that we couldn't put any acidic dish in the same course, and the
lamb with quince dish is acidic. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they
are supposed to fill the same place in the order of the Islamic meal...

The original

Safarjaliyya, a Dish Made With Quinces
This is a good food for the feverish, it excites the appetite, strengthens
the stomach and prevents stomach vapors from rising to the head. Take the
flesh of a young fat lamb or calf; cut in small pieces and put in the pot
with salt, pepper, coriander seed, saffron, oil and a little water; put on
a low fire until the meat is done; then take as much as you need of
cleaned peeled quince, cut in fourths, and sharp vinegar, juice of unripe
grapes (verjuice) or of pressed quince, cook for a while and use. If you
wish, cover with eggs and it comes out like muthallath.

What we did:

Took about a pound of lamb loin chop (it was what I could get) and cut it
up, removing the bones. The lamb looked and smelled fine at that point.
We then put that lamb in a pot with a little water (maybe a quarter-inch)
and about half-teaspoon of coriander seed, a teaspoon of oil, a sprinkling
of pepper and salt, and a quarter-teaspoon of ground coriander, plus 4-5
threads of saffron.

We cooked the lamb until it seemed to be cooked through. It smelled odd.
Very mutton-y.

Then we added a quince, cut up (half of it was cut into small pieces by
mistake, the other half into eigths) and some substitute verjuice (lemon
juice and water). We cooked it, covered, for a bit.

It really started to smell like old mutton at that point, and to be
unappealing. So I added a bit of vinegar.

After the water had cooked away and it had started to caramelize, it was a
bit better, and we served it for tasting.

I think it was a waste of a good quince.

Could it have been bad lamb or something? Or what? I've never cooked lamb
before!


-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"I am in a corner without being back[ed?] there and often come out
fighting."  -- James Thurber, 1960 interview with Life