[Sca-cooks] Questions in prep for a spanish feast

[david friedman]

>Thanks to everyone who has helped with my questions so far...
>
>Hi, I've got more questions...
>
>First of all, when a recipe in the Anonymous Andalusian calls for 'meat'
>can I use beef instead of lamb or kid? Or was beef used extremely rarely?

Checking the Andalusian (useful having it in machine readable form) I 
find four recipes that specify beef. I'm pretty sure I have also seen 
veal in period Islamic recipes. And it's clear from some recipes that 
"meat" could also mean chicken.

...

>Third, I know people refer to a certain period islamic recipe as being a
>sort of ancestor of baklava. Can anyone point me to this recipe? I know
>it's in part of the 100s of pages I've been searching through and probably
>in the Florilegium but I'm getting overwhelmed.

Two recipes occur to me that might be described that way. One is 
Khuskhananaj. But although the way I most often makes it results in 
lots of thin layers of pastry alternating with nuts and sugar, the 
original recipe doesn't specify that. The other is Musamanna--the 
leafy dish. It does end up with lots of thin layers and soaked in 
honey and butter.

You can find recipes for both in the Miscellany, webbed on my site.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/