[Sca-cooks] semi-topical: Good Friday dinner?

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Friday i cooked two Lenten recipes from a 14th century cookbook from 
Cairo, The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods (translated by 
Charles Perry and published in "Medieval Arab Cookery"), and a pot of 
rice, for the Wooden Spoon -- the West Kingdom cooking competition -- 
at March Crown which was this weekend.

After breakfast, I didn't eat anything else all day - so when i got 
to the event and couldn't find the people i was supposed to camp 
with, around midnight i ate a bowl of the three. Then i slept in my 
car, spreading my feather bed in the front seat and topping myself 
with my down comforter (hurray for bench seating). I woke myself up 
once when my feet hit the lock button on the door. In the morning i 
could see that i was actually parked in front of my friends' camp...

I was planning to enter the recipes for Maghmuma (with the rice) and 
"How to Flavor Cabbage" separately, but i thought they went well 
together and it turned out that two other people entered whole meals, 
so i felt better about submitting everything as one entry.

In the end there was a tie - thus two winners - a baking Laurel, 
Wulfric of Creigull, and me :-) He made, err, i forget the exact 
name, but it's Fake Bacon of layers of white and saunders-colored 
almond paste.

My recipes are below. My computer printer died and i haven't replaced 
it yet, so my documentation was hand-written. One page explained why 
these were 14th C. Egyptian Lenten dishes, a second page on the 
Maghmuma, a third on why it was ok to substitute soy sauce for murri, 
and the fourth on the cabbage. The Minister of the Wooden Spoon took 
our documentation with her, so i can't replicate what i wrote, but i 
did annotate my working recipes and type them into the computer as 
things were cooking, so i'd know what i did.

Maghmuma
p. 447, Medieval Arab Cookery

As for Maghmuma
you fill a pot with a layer of onions, and a layer of carrots, and [a 
layer of] favas, and [a layer of] peeled eggplants cut in rounds, and 
in this fashion up to two-thirds of the pot. Sprinkle coriander and 
caraway on each layer. Throw on two parts good vinegar and one part 
murri (soy sauce), [enough] to cover, and boil until nearly done. 
Throw on a good amount of green olive oil and sesame oil, and cover 
with a thin flat bread and leave on the coals until it settles. This 
is the salty variety of it.
[words in brackets extrapolated by Charles Perry]

My Recipe

onions, 2 small
carrots, 1 bunch tiny white (see note 1)
fresh favas, about 16 pods
peeled eggplants cut in rounds, 2 small thin
coriander
caraway, toasted and ground
vinegar, 3 cups white wine
1-3/4 cups Japanese soy sauce (see note 2)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup verjus (see note 3)
1/4 cup green olive oil
1/4 cup sesame oil
enough flat bread to cover (i used Sangak, a flat bread i buy at a 
local Middle Eastern store, made by a local Middle Eastern bakery)

Layer onions, then carrots, then favas, then eggplants.
Sprinkle coriander and caraway on each layer.
Repeat until the pot is two-thirds full. This took only two layers. I 
used a small oval Le Creuset roasting pan with a lid, big enough for 
a chicken... 1-1/2 quarts?
Add vinegar, verjus, water, and soy sauce.
Bring to a boil, reduce fire, and simmer until nearly done.
Add olive and sesame oils.
Cover with a thin flat bread - let some of the sauce soak into the bread.
Eat the flat bread with the vegetables and sauce. (see note 4)

NOTES:
1.) The white carrots were "interesting". They were more bitter than 
"regular" carrots. Also, that bunch was really not enough. I could 
have used the same amount again.

2.) I decided to substitute soy sauce for murri because (a) a number 
of recipes specify *good* murri or "Do not use fake murri", and (b) 
Charles Perry made murri from scratch and said it tasted like soy 
sauce.

I cited several messages in the Florilegium, one which listed the 
four articles he wrote on the process in the LA Times in early 1998, 
although i haven't read them myself - Paul Buell (co-author of "A 
Soup for the Qan") forwarded part of a message by Gene Anderson (the 
other co-author) synopsizing the articles.

I quoted the relevant messages in detail and included the specific 
URL in the Florilegium in my docs.

3.) As the amount of vinegar and soy sauce didn't cover the 
vegetables, but the vinegar already smelled really strong, i added 
about 1/4 water and 1/4 verjus, instead of another 1/2 cup vinegar. 
At least one judge commented that it was too vinagery... Either "back 
in the day" they really liked vinegar or their vinegar was more 
dilute. At least one judge commented that it was too tart.

4.) I served this with rice.

-----

How to Flavor Cabbage
p. 445, Medieval Arab Cookery

Take walnuts, blanched almonds, toasted hazelnuts. Pound everything, 
then take caraway, which you toast and pound fine, and with it a 
little thyme and garlic seed. Then you perfume the cabbage with good 
oil. Then you take a little bit of vinegar, dissolve the walnuts and 
ingredients with it. Then you throw on a sufficiency of tahineh and 
let there be a little Syrian cheese with it. Add the spices to them 
and arrange them and then [you throw the rest of the ingredients on 
the bowl. Then] throw in the first spice, enough to perfume their 
taste and aroma. It is not eaten until the next day.
[passage in square brackets omitted in one copy of the text]

My Recipe

1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup blanched almonds
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts
1 tsp. caraway, toast and pound fine
1/2 tsp. "garlic seed"/nigella
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves pulled from their stems
1/2 medium-small cabbage, shredded coarsely
3 TB. cold-pressed sesame oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 TB tahini
1/2 tsp. salt, instead of "Syrian cheese"

There were some passages i found confusing to interpret, but here's 
what i did. Comments welcome.

Blanch almonds: Bring water to a boil, put in almonds, bring back to 
a boil, turn off fire, let cool a little, pour out hot water, run in 
cold water, pour out water, squeeze nuts out of skins, and discard 
skins.
Toast hazelnuts: pre-heat oven to 350 degree F., bake hazelnuts for 
about 15 min., cool slightly, rub between hands to remove skins, and 
discard skins.
Grind walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts together medium-coarsely.
Toast caraway seeds in an oil-free pan, stirring constantly until 
aromatic - do not let burn.
Cool somewhat, then grind.
Grind nigella.
Mix caraway and nigella with fresh thyme leaves.
Cooked the cabbage in the oil until just barely tender.
Mix the nuts, spices, and salt with vinegar.
Stir in tahini.
Toss with the cabbage.
Serve the next day.

NOTES:
1.) Perry speculates that the "garlic seed" called for in the recipe 
was nigella, which is sometimes known as "black onion seed", also 
called kalonji, so this is what i used.

2.) What was meant by "Perfume the cabbage with good oil" was 
unclear. I cooked the cabbage in the oil until just barely tender, 
because it seemed to me that similar directions in other recipes 
included cooking. I intended to make a raw version for comparison, 
but haven't gotten around to it yet

3.) This was surprisingly good and i'm not a cabbage fan. At least 
one judge commented on its tastiness.
-- 
Urtatim, formerly Anahita