[Sca-cooks] boiling/browning meat

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

The medieval Persians had a technique which the Ottomans borrowed called in Eski Osmanli "kalye" (that's a two-syllable word).

In this technique, which is very commonly used, the meat, cut up into the required size of chunks, is put in a pot on a medium fire. As it cooks the natural juice in it come out - usually no water is added, and i have found that the more meat there is the more juices come out. But the meat should not burn or stick to the bottom, so the cook needs to stir occasionally and keep an eye on it, adding a little water if necessary.

When the moisture cooks away, the meat fries in its own fat. However, if the meat is not fat enough it helps to add a little. Neither Ottoman nor Persian palace cuisines in SCA period used olive oil, so i suggest adding butter [not margarine! never!] since both cuisines appear to be fond of it. Of course, if one can get sheep tail fat from fat tail sheep that would be even more appropriate.

Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)