[Sca-cooks] soba bien sobada

[David Friedman]

On 9/27/16 8:58 AM, Susan Lord wrote:

> Please note my publication of "Culinary Abundance Rich Recipes with Medieval Variations," which contains samples of recipes Fernando de la Granja Santamaria translated. Stefan published it as a message but now I find in  a Bucknell publication: http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/food/Fadalat%20-%20Andalusian%20Muslim%20-%2013th%20C.pdf
>   <http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/food/Fadalat%20-%20Andalusian%20Muslim%20-%2013th%20C.pdf>
> As seen in Recipe 1, Pan Cocido en el horno/Baked Bread in Granja’s translation of Fadalat reads: "se soba bien sobado."
>
> In my vocabulary list, in the same publication, this phrase is explained:
> 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.
If I understand this correctly, you are quoting yourself here.
> If you consult  xhttp://es.thefreedictionary.com/sobado <xhttp://es.thefreedictionary.com/sobado> you will find:
>
>   sobar: Oprimir y remover una cosa para que se ablande. English to knead.
> sobado, -da, del bollo o torta a cuya masa se ha agregado aceite o manteca. Adding oil or butter to dough to make bun or a cake.
So that's your basis for translating the Spanish. It still doesn't give 
your detailed instruction ("Dip hands in lard or oil and knead it well")

Checking the Oxford dictionary at 
https://es.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sobado I get


    adjective

  * 1

    [objeto] Que está muy gastado o deteriorado por el uso.

    /necesitas una cartera nueva, que esa está muy sobada/

  * 2

    [tema, recurso] Que ha sido tratado o utilizado en muchas ocasiones,
    por lo cual puede resultar vulgar o falto de originalidad.

If I correctly understand those, neither has anything to do with adding 
oil.

It looks as though there are a variety of things the word might mean. We 
need to go back to the Arabic original.

I've put the question to Charles Perry and we will have to see if I get 
an answer or if Galefridus can work it out.
>
> Note, I am translating from la Granja as I do not know Arabic nor do I have access to the text la Granja used.
>
> It is interesting to note that the Marin version No. 1 "Receta de pan cocido en el horno" makes no reference to the addition of oil or grease and calls for the dough to be rolled out like obleas/wafers which I interpret to be flat bread but then it is left to rise.
Which raises the question of whether the rolling out is somewhere in the 
original Arabic or if Marin is adding additional instructions.

-- 
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/