[Sca-cooks] Kiri's Middle Eastern Feast

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Mon Mar 31 17:35:10 PDT 2008


Kiri posted a review of the Middle Eastern feast she cooked recently.

What was the event and when and where was it? Yes, I'd like to add  
this review to the Florilegium and I think this info helps identify a  
feast in the future.

<<< So if we do this, there will have to be one
person in charge of the dayboard and a second in charge of the  
feast.  And,
as tired as I am right now, I may not be either one of them!!  (But  
we all
know that I'll change my mind....it's that helium-hand thing!) >>>

How common is it to have one headcook for both a dayboard/lunch along  
with a dinner or a dinner along with a breakfast? Personally I think  
that is a lot to ask of one person. Although having a different,  
perhaps less experienced cook do the lunch or breakfast under the  
oversight/tutelage of the main headcook would seem to be a good way  
to let someone gain some experience and yet still let them operate  
mostly on their own. Of course this assumes the two people can work  
well together and not fight over limited kitchen resources.

<<< Everyone loved what we prepared, and I've received numerous  
requests for
recipes.  However, most of the dishes we did for the feast part were
provided by Dame Hauviette from her forthcoming e-book on Turkish  
cuisine,
so I can't share those recipes as they are copyrighted.  But her book  
should
be finished and available in the next few weeks...I'll keep you folks
posted. >>>

Please do, and I'll add the information to your feast review.


<<<.I had a bunch of blanched almonds
left over from prepping the stuffed date dish, so we sauteed the  
almonds in
sesame oil with a little salt and freshly ground cardamom...turned  
out to be
a really great way to do these...>>>

Did you use the toasted sesame oil or the non-toasted (which I've yet  
to see)?

<<< In a couple of cases, we didn't exactly follow the recipe.  For  
example, the
Sumak Summaqiya called for "boiling" the fish in the sauce.  When I  
tried
this, the fish disintegrated so much that I had more of a fish sauce  
than
fish with a sauce over it. >>>

So how specific was the original recipe on the type of fish to be  
used? Do you think it needed a firmer fleshed fish? Or perhaps the  
recipe was expecting a fresher fish than the frozen/refrigerated fish  
you had? Or perhaps the original recipe was expecting salted or  
stockfish to be used instead of fresh?

<<< Most everything worked just fine, though there were a few  
glitches. >>>

Thank you. One of the things I like to have in feast reviews is the  
problems (and possible solutions tried) as well as what worked out.  
Sometimes there is more to learn from mistakes than successes, and  
I'd rather learn from others' since I make enough on my own.

<<< The
worst one was that I ordered a very special kind of pasta (orichette)  
from
an online site.  I had to order it because our searches in the area  
around
here came up empty.  So...paid extra to get the stuff here on time,  
but when
we opened the carton, it turned out to be rigatoni!  Could have  
purchased
that anywhere!  Sigh.  It still worked (it was part of the lamb  
dish), but
it would have been MUCH better with the smaller disk-type . >>>

So, do you think you were a victim of substitution by the website?  
Was it a matter of ignorance at the website? Or is this one of those  
naming problems we have discussed here previously, such as the  
cardoon/artichokes/chard discussion in another thread?

Does anyone know of a website (or other resource) that defines  
different pastas, preferably with photos? Is there one specific to  
the pastas in our period? ie: which pasta shapes or types are likely  
to have been used in period. There's probably still the problem that  
a name for a pasta in period might now denote a completely different  
pasta.

<<< As it was, the
pasta sort of, IMHO, overpowered the wonderful taste of the lamb and its
seasonings. >>>

In what way? Because it was larger than expected and thus there was  
more "noodle" than wanted? Or the taste of the "pasta" itself was not  
what you expected? So far, I've found that most pasta noodles taste  
fairly similar to each other.

<<<If anyone wants any of the recipes, other than the ones that have  
a (*)
beside them, let me know and I'll be happy to share.  Stefan, if you  
want
them for the Florilegium, give me a few days, and I can do that as  
well. >>>

Yes, please. I'd have sent this by email, but since I was asking  
these other questions...

Some recipes had a single (*) and some had a double (**). Were these  
doubly copyrighted :-) or something else?

Thanks,
   Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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