[Sca-cooks] Ka'ak recipe -- someone still looking for one?

lilinah at earthlink.net lilinah at earthlink.net
Thu Sep 3 12:56:58 PDT 2009


Judith wrote:
>  I found the recipe for ka'ak from "Aromas of Aleppo." I don't know if
>  anyone's still looking for it, or if it was found, but here it is,
>  beginning with the introduction to the recipe (page 22, Aromas of
>  Aleppo by Poopa Dweck). I hope it helps.

His Grace, Duke Cariadoc was commenting on his attempts at making 
ka'ak, using SCA-period recipes. As he remarked on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 
22:46:06 PDT:
>  Ka'ak are a middle eastern cookie/cracker, usually but not always
>  ring shaped; a number of different versions are still made. I've now
>  tried two period recipes, one from al-Warraq and one that Charles
>  Perry sent me from Wusla (13th c.).

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:18:32 EDT, Johnnae said there seem to be 
recipes for ka'ak in "A Treatise on the Canon of MSedicine of 
Avicenna". I note that Avicenna is the European version of the 
author's real name, Ibn Sina (aka Abu Ali Sina), a Persian physician 
and philosopher who was also an important interpreter of Aristotle. 
He was born in the province of Bokhara in 980 or 981 and died in 
Hamadan, northern Persia in 1037. I don't have a copy of this, 
although clearly i should, as i have a side interest in medieval Near 
and Middle Eastern and Central Asian medicine, and i have a number of 
formularies.

Then on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:17:13 PDT, David/Caraidoc said wrote
>  Not only is there a recipe (spelled Ka'k rather than ka'ak) in the
>  Anonymous Andalusian, I've made it and it's in the _Miscellany_.

So that's three period recipes for ka'ak in cookbooks (plus unseen 
possibilities in Ibn Sina). I'm sure there are some in the 14th c. 
"Book of the Description of Familiar Foods", and it includes a 
confectioner's manual (it's in M.A.C. - Medieval Arab Cookery).

However, i know i sometimes like to compare modern recipe with period 
ones just to see how things have changed. I've got ka'ak recipes in 
my Middle Eastern cookbooks. Plus, "Aromas of Aleppo" has been on my 
Amazon wish list for some years... So many books, so little cash.

Back to work, then tonight a dive into "Familiar Foods" to find more 
SCA-period Ka'ak recipes.
-- 
Someone sometimes called Urtatim



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