[Sca-cooks] Turkish delight

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

David Friedman wrote:
> Your palude sounds as though it might be related to al-Warraq's faludhaj 
> and khabis recipes. Chapters 93 and 94. Except that those have some sort 
> of fat as well as sugar or honey and starch.

Yes, as i noted, the words are related. They all derive ultimately from the Persian "paluda". And the products are related as well, although Arabic recipes for faludhaj include sesame oil or (sheep tail) fat.

It seems to me that faludhaj started as a soft pudding-like sweet, the oil was removed and as palude it became more of a jello / jelly served in a dish, and as lokum it ended up as gelled cubes coated with powdered sugar as the cooking over a low fire was extended.

I wrote:
>> ...Hans Dernschwam in 
>> 1553 called it "strong flour" since there was no German word for it. In 
>> the 18th century wheat starch was known as "hair powder", since its only 
>> use was for powdering wigs. By the 19th it was used for stiffening linen 
>> and eventually returned to uses in cuisine.

Bear replied
> This may be a questionable assertion about Dernschwamm. The German word for 
> starch is "Sta:rke." The German word for strong is "stark." Both words 
> derive from the Old High German "starchi." Modernly, starch powder is 
> "Sta:rkemehl" and strong flour is "starkes Mehl." Since the German of 1553 
> is not standardized, it may be difficult to determine precisely what is 
> being stated. 1553 is also roughly 100 years after the noun starch comes 
> into use in English. Before I accept the assertion that there was no word 
> for starch in German, I'd really like to see the evidence presented.

Her statement on p. 163 is footnoted, and the endnote on p. 278 says:
Dernschwam, Hans, Tabebuch Einer Reise Nach Konstantinopel und Kleinasien (1553-1555), ed. Franz Babinger (Munchen and Leipzig, 1923), p. 124, 'Krafft meel'.

> BTW, the terms Amelmehl (emmer powder) and Kraftmehl (strong or powerful 
> powder) have also been used to refer dialectically to starch. Amelmehl is 
> sometimes translated as amidon.

Thank you, Bear. That makes things clearer.

Johnna wrote:
> I know it's not Isin, but Isin with a cedilla but trying to get the characters right 
> and then get them to appear in the post on the list...
> Amazon lists her under just Isin. 

Just letting folks know how to pronounce her name. All those marks fail to show up in plain text.

> BTW, Devra also has copies of the book.

I HIGHLY recommend Isin's book to anyone who has an interest in Ottoman food or in the history of confections.

> Her Facebook account is also under Mary Isin.
> https://tr-tr.facebook.com/mary.isin
> Her website is Mary I??n
> maryisin.com.tr/?
>
> Priscila Mary I?IN.

Thanks for the additional info.

> 5 more inches of snow today

Sorry to hear about the snow. Can you send some to California? We need the moisture desperately.

Someone sometimes called Uratim (that's oor-tah-TEEM)