[Sca-cooks] catching drippings

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Susan Fox-Davis wrote:
>I wonder how the drippings get distributed over the whole pan of pastry
>rather than pooling in the middle, where the chicken in hanging.  Maybe
>we shouldn't pack down the qata'if shreds too firmly, so the juices can
>run throughout the pan?

While the tray is at the bottom of a tanour, there are a multitude of 
chickens hanging over the tray (not legions, but probably 4 to 6 at 
least). So there is some distribution of the drippings of the baking 
tray.

Also, most of the time the sweet is layered between flat bread. 
Bearing in mind that as far as i can tell, pita *as we know it today* 
is a fairly recent creation, i assume the flat bread is closer to 
lavosh, which is thin and tender (not like modern commercial pita 
which is tough), or to some of the Persian and Afghani flat breads 
i'ver purchased - they are thicker than modern commercial pita, but 
they have a tender crumb and would absorb liquids well.

Finally, as far as i can tell from reading the recipes, Medieval 
qata'if was NOT shredded, but in sheets, somewhere between phyllo and 
(darn i'm forgetting the name) a Moroccan "pancake" thingy - these 
are not made by pouring liquidy batter into a pan as we make pancakes 
in the US. Rather, the flour is worked with water and oil and salt, 
and worked and worked and worked by hand, then let to rest. After 
resting some time, the dough is divided into small balls. Taking one 
ball at a time, the dough is stretched and stretched until it is 
quite translucent. IIRC, the flat sheets are cooked in a hot pan 
without oil, i.e., it isn't fried, it's sort of baked over the 
fire/heat. (BTW, this is NOT warqa - which is made by dabbing a ball 
of warqa dough on a heated convex surface, like a wok upside down).

I think phyllo would be a suitable substitute if one doesn't want to 
use the actual surviving Medieval Arabic qata'if recipes (they're a 
bit vague), although it won't be the same, NOT modern shredded 
qata'if.

Anahita