[Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 19, Issue 39

[rtanhil]

>

I don't usually reply with the subject "digest", but thought
it was appropriate, since I'm going to talk about 3
completely different posts.

> From: Samrah <auntie_samrah at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Looking for Cookie Recipe

<snip>

> A friend's gamma had a recipe for a cookie that is soaked
> in honey after it is baked..... immediately after they
> were put on the rack to cool... they were drizzled/soaked
> in warm honey with orange zest and liquer in it.....

What was the ethnicity of her gamma? That would help. I can
think of several cookies soaked in some kind of honey-based
syrup (or would cheerfully try to recreate it even without a
recipe), but narrowing it down is tough without a source.

Heck, even Grandma Tannahill's sugar cookies (delicious on
their own, in a plain sort of way) would not suffer from a
dip in orange-scented honey.


> From: Patrick Levesque <pleves1 at po-box.mcgill.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Getting discounted foods - was:
> Menus To: "Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>"
>     <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> Grocery warehouses are our friends!
<snip>

> >> My favourite shopping places start with food
> wholesalers (where the >> restaurants shop).

This option is not available in all areas. If you live in an
area where food wholesalers are willing to talk to you if
you don't own a restaurant, more power to you. You can
probably get some really good deals. But here in New Jersey,
if you don't own a restaurant or catering business, you
can't shop truly wholesale, even with the special SCA tax
status. I keep trying, but am getting shot down so often I
am getting really sick of it. It probably has to do with
taxes, but I'm not sure how. In New Jersey, you don't pay
taxes on food unless you are eating in a restaurant or
hiring a caterer. They can tax the food because there is a
service provided with it (I guess cooking and serving).
Wholesalers in my area tend to want more to go on than the
documentation the SCA can provide. Not to mention repeat
business. Most don't want to hear about single orders. They
want to know how much businessthey can expect from you every
month. They also want to deal with a business as opposed to
an individual. We've had professional chefs cook feasts
before, and they have ordered food through the wholesalers
with whom their businesses deal (through their business
accounts, I might add). We get great deals (for that event).
That's nice. But you can't plan a budget around it. And they
want to drop the food off during business hours on a
weekday. We do not usually have access to most of our sites
the day before an event. Many SCA cooks in this area do not
have professional affiliation, either, which puts
wholesalers out of reach.

Farmers markets are great. Produce can be a lot cheaper.
I've even dealt with individual farmers who are willing to
sell me, say, a whole dressed pig at a reasonable rate.

One of my current projects is a resource list for people in
my area. A lot of potential cooks don't know where to get
stuff cheap. A lot more are learning all the time.

Canada is different than the US. New Jersey is not exactly
like much of the US.

A lot of budgeting is where you are and what you can get.
Another example: it is illegal to sell unpasteurized milk in
New Jersey. But I know a farmer who is willing to part with
it for a donation (of something like $3/gallon). He doesn't
exactly sell the milk. He'll give you the milk, if you make
a $3 donation. Kind of like the toys in a happy meal. You
can't buy the toy, but if you buy the happy meal, it's free.
If I had the time to make cheese, I would get my milk there.
I don't know if I'd serve it at a feast. You don't get much
cheese out of a gallon of milk. It would be expensive.

Berelinde
Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom


> From: lilinah at earthlink.net
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Asabi Zainab

> Martha Oser wrote:
> >Here's my redaction for Asabi Zainab.  The original
> recipe is from "The >Description of Familiar Foods" found
> in _Medieval Arab Cookery_.  Enjoy! >
> >Asabe Zainab (Fingers of Zenobia, 3rd century queen of
> Palmyra)  Take a >pound of flour and knead it with 3
> ounces of sesame oil.  Then knead it with >hot water and
> put it on a cane and fry it somewhat.  Then take it out
> (and >remove the cane) and throw it in honey and take it
> up.  Stuff it with plenty >of pistachios and musk and
> rosewater and sprinkle sugar on it and it is >taken up.
> >

Here's my take on it.

1 pound flour
3 ounces sesame oil (Middle-Eastern kind, not Chinese)
hot water

Blend flour with oil until evenly dispersed. Add hot water
to make a maleable, but not too sticky dough.

Take gobs of dough and wrap them around the handle of a
wooden spoon. Dip in hot oil until the dough puffs and
starts to turn golden. The wooden spoon might not be good
for much after this. If you had several wooden spoons, you
could probably keep using them for this recipe, but they
would forever be greasy and/or singed.

It's tempting to say "plunge the hot dough (while still
around the spoon) into honey, but I think it might just be
easier to slide it off the spoon when just warm and drizzle
generously with honey.

If it doesn't collapse before it cools, stuff the hole with
ground pistachios mixed with rosewater (in whatever
proportion seems good to you). They'll be sweet enough
without sugar in the filling.

If you like, and you can get it, garnish with rock sugar.

The musk is a tricky dealbreaker. I might want to try a
little screw-pine essence (Indian stores) for an unusual
flavor. Pine isn't the same as musk. Nothing else would
taste like musk but musk. But unless you work for IFF or
Firmenich, or some other fragrance supplier, you probably
can't get musk. I would go for something different
(screw-pine "kew") rather than familiar, but undeniably
tasty. Or I would just leave it out. Rosewater and almonds
are a classic, tasty tradition.

The only things I like better than sweets flavored with
rosewater are sweets flavored with orange flower water.

Berelinde's little bit of heaven:  pour a teaspoon of orange
flower water in a rocks glass. Let it sit on your nightstand
when you go to sleep. Talk falling asleep to heavenly
aromas.

Berelinde, commenting on the latter part of the day.