[Sca-cooks] true medieval bread recipes

[David Friedman]

I'm working from Fernando de la Grania Santamaria's Spanish translation 
of selections from the Fadalat. The recipe we are discussing is labeled, 
in Spanish:

[1] Pan Cocido en el Horno

I'm guessing that means it's the first recipe in the Fadalat--at least, 
the numbers increase irregularly through the Spanish translation (the 
next one is [6]).

The recipe starts:

Se toma la semola, se remoja, se le echa sal, se deja ablandar v se soba 
bien sobada.

Susan's translation in the Floriligium has that as:

"Baked Bread

Soak semolina, add salt and let it soften. /Dip hands in lard or oil and 
knead/it well."


In the notes to her translation she has:

/soba//bien sobada/, to knead; to add lard or oil dough during the 
kneading process. Literally, this consists of dipping hands in grease 
when kneading dough.

The question is whether the Arabic of the beginning of that recipe has 
anything corresponding to "/Dip hands in lard or oil and knead/it well."


On 9/25/16 3:51 AM, Galefridus Peregrinus wrote:
> It is true that I have the original Arabic for nearly all of the extant medieval Islamic cookbooks, but I am afraid that I have not been following this thread closely. When I try to sort out the source of the original recipe, I get lost in the nested postings. If someone would provide a recap of the discussion and tell me which recipe in what cookbook, I will do my best to find the original Arabic and sort out whether the translation is accurate.
>
> -- Galefridus
>
>> Message: 6
>> Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2016 22:33:00 -0700
>> From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
>> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] true medieval bread recipes
>> Message-ID: <c1beaaaa-c51e-3f8b-9142-bb05864598ad at daviddfriedman.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>>
>>> On 9/24/16 12:35 PM, Susan Lord wrote:
>>>
>>> Since I was criticized by an SCA reader, when I have a recipe that is
>>> not based on a specific medieval manuscript, it is stated - like "Emma
>>> Cohen?s" or "the Medieval Spanish Chef?s" etc. I do not believe I am
>>> misleading people. Take for instance fried testicles. Ok there is not
>>> MS recipe that I have found to date but I think it is elementary that
>>> they were fried.
>> I couldn't always tell whether you were citing a period source--in
>> particular, "FROM THE ARCHIVES OF BARONESS OF ALMISERAT"
>>
>> As I mentioned, none of your footnote links seem to work, at least for me.
>>> Since I was criticized for not publishing the original recipe of those I used, I am publishing it. The reader can check me to verify if I am sticking to the original and if not what the variations might be.
>> Wonderful. I wish all secondary sources did that.
>>> Please tell me what discrepancies you might have.
>> I believe I already did so for two of the recipes on your blog:
>>
>> Masador.  "Your recipe had lots of manipulations not described in the
>> text and two ingredients, eggs and goat milk powder, not in the
>> original. It may have produced tasty rolls but it wasn't consistent with
>> the original."
>>
>> For your acorn bread:
>>
>> "No acorns in the original, so when you describe it as "a variation of"
>> you mean that you have changed the main ingredient. You also add fat or
>> oil and honey or sugar and an egg, none of which are in the original."
>>
>> In the notes to your translation in the Floriligium you have:
>>
>> /soba//bien sobada/, to knead; to add lard or oil dough during the
>> kneading process. Literally, this consists of dipping hands in grease
>> when kneading dough.
>>
>> That explains the oil but not why the words mean that. Looking at a
>> modern dictionary "sobar" seems to mean "knead," so I'm guessing that a
>> literal translation would be "knead well kneaded." How do you (or your
>> source) get from that to adding lard or oil to the dough? Is the phrase
>> used in modern Spanish for that style of kneading? Is it translating
>> something in the Arabic that implies that?
>>
>> I believe Galefridus has the Arabic text, so perhaps he can check.
>> Looking at the Perry translation (from the Arabic) of the other
>> Andalusian cookbook, I'm not noticing anything similar.
>>
>> -- 
>> David Friedman
>> www.daviddfriedman.com
>> http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
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-- 
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/