[Sca-cooks] Asabi Zainab

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I judge a fair number of cooking competitions - and i'm now the 
Principality of the Mists Silver Spoon "minister", in charge of 
organizing our four competitions per year. So if someone diverges 
from a recipe, i like to know why. Sometimes, as with musk, one MUST 
diverge. Other times, one has other reasons. I feel that the process 
and the reasoning should be included, not just the original recipe 
and the modern work up. Since most "period" recipes are pretty vague, 
it's good to explain why one made the choices one did, for 
ingredients, preparation of ingredients, cooking process, etc..

Anyway, i hope you understood that my questions were not attacks (it 
looks like you understood, but i want to make it clear). I just 
wanted some clarification as to your choices.

"Martha Oser" <osermart at msu.edu> wrote:
>The cardamom came about because the first time I made the recipe, my husband
>was working on a cardamom bread and it just smelled so good...  I didn't
>have musk (still don't) and wanted something to season the nuts inside the
>shells.  I know it's not called for in the recipe, but I thought it added a
>pleasing flavor to the pistachio nuts.  If you can suggest something I might
>use that is similar to the flavor of musk without the hassle, I'd surely
>appreciate it.

The recipe for Asabi' Zainab is in "The Book of the Description of 
Familiar Foods" as translated by Charles Perry in "Medieval Arab 
Cookery", in Chapter 10: On Halawat [Sweets] and Their Varieties (29 
recipes, plus 6 more related to those in Chapter 10 from an appendix).

There wasn't a single one that contained cardamom.

What may surprise modern people is that cinnamon does not appear to 
be used in SCA-period Abbasid sweets either, especially since it is 
so stubbornly ubiquitous in US American sweets, much to the detriment 
of said sweets, in my opinion, often disguising or covering the 
flavor of other ingredients, such as the main fruit. A small amount 
of spice can enhance a dish, but in commercial products, at least, 
there's too darned much cinnamon (ok, i'll stop ranting now).

As far as flavorings in Chapter 10, there are: rosewater (17), 
saffron (9), musk (8), camphor (2), and "musk or camphor" (1). 
Certainly other ingredients give flavor, but such ingredients as 
nuts, seeds, and sweeteners are usually integral parts of the recipe.

I also counted all the ingredients in Chapter 11: On Khushkananaj, 
Mutbaq, Qata'if, and things mixed with flour made the same way (37 
recipes plus 7 from the appendix)

Here cardamom was used once, in Halwa Kadhdhaba, which also includes 
saffron, spikenard, and atraf al-tib, a seasoning blend.

Next I counted all the ingredients in al-Baghdadi's Chapters IX: 
Halwa (9 recipes) and X: Kushknanaj, Mutbaq, Qata'if (17 recipes), 
for a total of 26 recipes

The only flavorings used (not counting sweeteners and nuts) were 
rosewater (16), saffron (5), musk (2), camphor (2), and "narcissus" - 
possibly misread for spikenard (1).

There is an additional ingredient which components are uncertain and 
that is "scented sugar" (trans. Arberrry) / "spiced sugar" (trans. 
Perry) - i lean to Arberry's translation, since other than sugar we 
don't really know what was in it - musk and/or camphor are 
possibilities. This ingredient shows up in:
"Familiar Foods" - Ch. 10 (1 time) & Ch. 11 (7 times)
al-Baghdadi - Ch. 9 & Ch. 10 (6 times)

So, cardamom is used once in 79 sweets in "Familiar Foods" and not at 
all in 26 sweets in al-Baghdadi. In fact, in SCA-period Near and 
Middle Eastern cookbooks, cardamom rarely shows up, more often in 
medicinal beverages.

So what would work as a substitute of musk or camphor?

I have no idea.

I have looked for artificial musk flavor (i generally avoid 
artificial flavors, but in this case i'd make an exception), but have 
not found any in the retail markets around me. I can get spikenard, 
but it doesn't see a likely substitute. And someone told me that 
camphor was unsafe to eat (and i mean real camphor from the tree, not 
moth balls which is poisonous to ingest)

>I know there is a "musk seed" (which I also learned about at
>the Symposium last weekend), but I haven't searched it out yet.  I'll have
>to ask our local herbalist if she has any and whether I can smell it or not
>to see if my nose approves

Musk seed is also called Ambrette. It is the seed of a plant in 
Mallow family (which i've seen as both Hibiscus moschatus or Hibiscus 
abelmoschus), and is sometimes also called Musk Mallow, or 
Mallow-Musk. I know it is used for scent, but i don't know how edible 
it is.

Anahita