[Sca-cooks] Mongol measure?

[Terri Morgan]

> I'd love to see this recipe.  Could you post the URL?
> In the meantime, I bet the "tau" is actually "tou" or
> about 317 cubic inches.  If you want to checkout some
> of the weights and measures for Mongolian cooking,
> take a look at the Silver Horde website:

http://www.viahistoria.com/SilverHorde/main.html?research/MostlyMongolianCoo
king.html

> Bear

Thanks - that matches what I just told my friend (and I sent him to that
exact website just now). Here's what he wrote to me:

**********
I saved this as I thought is was cool, but cannot get back to the website.

" Catch many of the mice of the Hairy Tail (gerbils 1 tan clean), finely
ground coriander (one liang), onions (ten stalks), spices (five ch’ien).
Apply [coriander, onions and spices] uniformly to ingredients and roast. One
may dress the hairy mice in a thick flour with fuang and steam-roast until
done in a cage; this is also possible. One may dress the hairy mice with
liquid butter combined with flour, and brazier cook in a brazier; this is
also possible.”
... “MIce of the Hairy Tail meat is best in fall, when they are fat for the
long sleep.  It is rich, brown and crackles when fried. It supplements the
center and augments ch’i. It is beneficial eaten broiled dipped in salt
broth water and roots. Of the white foods best with airag."

Got this from a Iraqi article on a Arabic historian, Ibn Battua. I ran it
through the translater program at work as it was written in persian. The
program did not recognise Tan, Liang, Ch'ien, airag, Fuang.I think from my
readings on other sites that "white foods" is a dairey product of some sort.

********

So my guess that it was a translation problem is probably right.

Thank you, everyone, for the help!
Now if I can just keep my fingers crossed that he won't take me up on that
offer to help him make kumiss (airag)...


Hrothny