[Sca-cooks] Zirbaja with quince juice

[galefridus at optimum.net]

I thought I'd let folks know the outcome of my experiment with quince juice.  This was sixth or seventh zirbaja that I've prepared.  I followed Cariadoc's suggestion and finely chopped two quinces in a food processor, then squeezed the pulp in a linen cloth.  The yield was a bit less than a cup.  The rest of the recipe (already posted here a week or two ago) was pretty straightforward.  It came out pretty well, with no odd flavors that I or any of those I fed could detect.  One comment that I'll add is that this particular recipe was a bit unusual among zirbajas in that it included no saffron.

Al-Warraq includes one other zirbaja that calls for quince, but that one uses it cooked and pressed through a sieve -- effectively pureed.  It also calls for sausage, which I am not at this time prepared to make.  Maybe I'll pick up some sausage from one of the local halal groceries -- it will probably have a few New World ingredients in it, but I can live with that until such time as I delve into the world of sausage making...

-- Galefridus