[Sca-cooks] Musk seed addendum Re: Flour question

[Huette von Ahrens]

Here is the website I found:
 
http://www.somaluna.com/product.asp?p=134
 
They are in Bloomington, Indiana, so it shouldn't take long to received.
 
Huette
 
--- On Sun, 1/16/11, Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Flour question
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011, 3:22 PM


I think that this recipe sounds delightful, even without the musk.  Before I would ever try using musk or camphor, I would try it out in a small batch with only a select few to taste.  I am not sure what musk would taste like, but from the camphor cough drops that I tried years ago, it is a pretty strong flavor, which modern Americans might not like.

But rather than using coriander as the aromatic, IMHO, I would rather try cardamom, which was popular in period both in Europe and the Middle East.  It can also be found commercially in a very fine powdered form.

I just looked up 'musk' in the Oxford Companion to Food which says this:

"In appropriately discreet quantity or diluted form, musk was formerly used in the kitchen with rose-water to flavour such things as pies but this practice seems to have died out."

The OCF goes on to say, "Smell-alikes in the plant world often have common names incorporating 'musk' or 'musky'.  The musk melon is one example; and there are also the musk cucumber and musk lime.  The musk mallow, 'Abelmoschus moschatus' is a different matter, in that its seeds provide a musky spice (French, ambrette) sometimes used to flavour coffee." 
 
I have looked up ambrette or muskdana and found a site that sold the seeds for $7.00 an ounce that were food grade seeds.  It is another idea.
 
Huette


--- On Sun, 1/16/11, Elaine Koogler <kiridono at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Elaine Koogler <kiridono at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Flour question
> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011, 12:58 PM
> Thanks to everyone.  I'm
> probably going to go ahead and use all purpose
> flour, though I may try a test batch with cake flour. 
> And I think I'm going
> to take Bear's suggestion and use the coriander as my
> aromatic.  Given the
> ingredients in the cookies, I think that would very
> compatible!
> 
> When I get the menu nailed down, I'll post it for all to
> see. (And yes, I'm
> going to probably do one of the banana dishes!)
> 
> Kiri
> 
> On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 3:05 PM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Had a bit of time finally today so I pulled out my
> copy of Annals of the
> > Caliphs' Kitchens to look at the cookies that Kiri is
> talking about.
> > Page 426 for those that care. I note Nawal mentions in
> a footnote,  "The
> > cookies described here are similar to today's
> traditional Iraqi stuffed
> > cookies klecha, made using similar carved wooden molds
> (qalab)."
> >
> > Klecha or kleicha recipes seem to use All Purpose
> Flour. She gives detailed
> > instructions in her 2003 cookbook Delights from the
> Gardens of Eden. There's
> > an entire chapter on their history and the
> variations.
> >
> > Johnnae
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what
> is essential is
> invisible to the eye."
> --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
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