[Sca-cooks] Al-Andalus griddle tool?
Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
samia at idlelion.net
Mon Jan 30 18:22:50 PST 2012
Does anyone know what this special griddle tool might be?
-Sayyeda al-Kaslaania
/Kuna-fa/: Griddle Cakes [all typos mine]
Put the special griddle for cooking /kun//a-fa/ on a fire of small
coals with no flame. When it is very hot, grease [the griddle] using a
clean piece of cloth soaked in sweet oil and pour over it a quantity of
batter sufficient to cover the griddle. Leave [it] on the fire long
enough for the cake to cook, then remove it and put it on a plate.
Continue with the rest of the batter, each time greasing the griddle
with the oiled piece of fabric and peeling off the cake with a knife.
Then melt a quarter pound of butter or /samn/ with two pounds of honey
and mix them. One may add some pepper to this mixture of butter and
honey, using it to moisten the cakes, which are eaten warm.
For this preparation, /samn/ is preferred to butter.
If one wishes to preserve [the /kuna-fa/], it is necessary to cut them
with scissors into the very narrow strips and cook them for a long time
in clarified honey in a new pan. When the strips of cake are nearly
firm, moisten them with /samn/ or oil as one does in the case of a
/thar//i-d/. When [the /samn/] has been fully absorbed, take [the
strips] off the fire and remove them from the pan so that they will be
ready to serve. They are eaten either hot or cold. Before serving,
sprinkle [them] with sugar and cinnamon, and eat, if God wills it.
-Andalusian, compiled at Murcia. Thirteenth century. /Kit//a-b
Fad//a-lat al-khiw//a-n f//i- tayyib//a-t al-ta'//a-m wa-l-alw//a-n/
("Book of the Excellent Table Composed of the Best Foods and the Best
Dishes"). As it appears in Zaouali, Lilia and M.B. DeBevoise (trans.).
/Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174
Recipes/. Berkley: Univ of California Press, 2007: p 137.
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