[Sca-cooks] Question - What Ottoman Recipes to Include in C.A.

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Galefridus wrote:
> I hesitate to use butter, though because I've seen a distinction made between tail 
> fat and butter in some of the Islamic cookbooks. Although I recently made some smen 
> (goat butter ghee) to play with a few Moroccan recipes.

I'm cooking SCA-period Ottoman and Persian recipes. They almost never use oil. They often do use butter. So in those cases butter is not an unreasonable substitute for sheep tail fat.

SCA-period Arabic recipes rarely use butter. So the solution of what to substitute is different. I think Bear's suggestion of schmaltz is reasonable, even if not truly period, since sheep tail fat is not in the standard stupormarket.

They are all are ultimately different food cultures, despite their sharing of recipes, literature, and religion.

Urtatim