[Sca-cooks] herb seasoning question
Suey
lordhunt at gmail.com
Wed Feb 28 17:40:22 PST 2007
> Ian Kusz wrote:
>
>
>> Does anyone here have experience with using asafoetida as a spice? . . . wanted to know what "kind" of food they use
>> it in,
>> if any.
>>
Asafoetida, also called the Devil's dung. It is extracted from
silphium root. I am not sure whether some of my notes refer to silphium
or the extracts from the root: asafoetida, resin, juice or gum. The
Roman text and those of the ancients cite it as "silphium". The Ancients
added "it" to food in small quantities to give it a fragrant effect. Too
much spoils the food. Romans used "it" as a condiment as much as
liquamen. It is thought that "it" was used for its aphrodisiac effect
and was used in food prepared for banquets especially. Apicius calls for
silphium root in his recipes while Flower uses asafoetida when trying
them. She indicates that it must be used sparingly but states that the
flavor is delicious. She recommends it for fish especially. In North
Africa "it" was grown especially in Cyrene where "it" was cultivated for
export. There "it" was used in medicine and in cooking. The Anonymous
Al-Andalus 13th Century Cookbook calls for it in "Tabahaja," a dish of
fried goat's meat. Today several Middle Eastern recipes call for
asafoetida. [Anónimo/Huici.1966:250:149; Apicius/Flower. 1958:28-29; ES:
Anonymous/Perry. Sep 5, 02 and Pullar. 1970:242]
Unfortunately I have not had time yet to review Flower's translation
to see what recipes call for it. I have no data on medieval cookery in
North African or on modern Middle Eastern recipes as I do not handle
those subjects.
Suey
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