[Sca-cooks] Food rolls and wraps

[Barbara Benson]

> Can you give some examples of wrapped or rolled foods from various> cultures?  What about period examples?
Greetings,
In the The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods, as published inMedieval Arab Cookery there is a rather interesting meat roll-up typedish. To fully understand it you need the recipe that came before italso - here they both are:
Bazmāward [Persian bazm, banquet, and award, bringing]Take nice well-done roast meat, as much as necessary, from the ribsand other parts, and pound it fine with the cleaver.  Throw fresh mintleaves on it and, if you want, a little celery leaf.  Sprinkle it witha little vinegar and lemon juice: and if you wish, put in the juice ofsalted lemons or of sour fruits instead of lemon juice; they arepounded with it [the meat].  Flavor it with a little milled mastic andChinese cinnamon and sprinkle it with good rosewater.  Pound itexceedingly well until it becomes fine.  Then take some brick-ovenbread, watched over as it baked in the oven, and let it be in theshape of a tulma loaf, in the middle of which there is a lattice rose,whose rim is not high.  It should be well cooked, between dry andsoft, that rose being conspicuously arched.  Set it aside then splitit with the knife and stuff it well with that prepared roast, and cutit into thin pieces and arrange it in baking trays Throw mint leaveson it.  It is eaten right away and the following day.
Ausāt [middles, viz. rolled up canapes, bread with fillings].Take the same roast meat described in bazmaward, then spread it outwidely on jardaq bread, which you fold nicely and roll up tight.  Cutit up and arrange it as described.  Ausāt might be made another way,which is that roast meat is taken and pounded by itself without thementioned spices and spread out in strips of jardaq bread.  Putshelledhardboiled eggs inside and roll it up tight and cut into ausāt thelength of four or three fingers.  Some people take that roast meatwhich we have described with the described spices and make ausat injardaq of it.
This is one of the recipes that I used as the inspiration for theChicken Pastedas that were served at TRM Boru and Deidre's Coronationfeast (for reference for you Mistress Christy).
So, there is at least one period example of something rolled upish. Ireally wanted to do the version with the eggs inside of it forpresentation - but that was just too many eggs to peel for me! Hopethis helps.
Glad Tidings,Serena da Riva