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Tannuriyya: Chicken Pot Pie

Translation:

Boil one chicken, pullets (2 young fowl) in salt and water. Take a frying pan and pour tallow and oil into it. Spread bread dough in it to line bottom and sides. Now, take the (boiled) chicken, pullets or the two plump fowls and remove the cavity (wall). Spread the birds flat on the dough in the pan. Mix finely chopped cilantro and onion with spikenard, cloves, cassia and black pepper. Pour on them wine vinegar and murri (liquid fermented sauce). If you prefer, use juice of…raisins…and pomegranate seeds, instead. Add ½ C. clarified butter or sweet olive oil and 5 eggs. Mix thoroughly all these ingredients and pour them all over the chicken. Roll out another piece of dough into a disc (for a crust), cover the chicken with it, (and seal together the edges of the dough). Lower the pan into the (heated) tannur until it is cooked, God willing. (Ibn Sayyar Al-Warraq, pp. 372-373)

Ingredients:

1 boiled chicken, de-boned and shredded

2 rolled out rounds of circular dough

5 eggs

½ C. Murri

¼ C. wine vinegar

½ finely chopped large onion or one small onion

1 bunch cilantro (if fresh is not available use 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp spikenard, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves

½ C. melted butter.

Redaction:

Instead of doing one full bird, I used 4 chicken thighs, well boiled in salt water. The meat and skin were left over from making chicken stock and no one in period would throw out good meat.

Quick side note: Period chickens were not the size of the chickens we find in the grocery store today. They were a lot smaller. For an idea of true chicken size, look up the chicken type called The Sultan. Small chickens, incredibly cute! but not a lot of meat. Another period Middle Eastern chicken would have been the Orloff. A little bigger than the sultan in period and breed over time to be a much bigger bird by the Russian noble Orloff. (He liked the birds so brought a bunch home to Russia…hence the name Russian Orloff even though the birds technically started in the Middle East.) I wrote a research paper that can be found on Roxalana’s redactions under Research paper if you want to know waaaay more than anyone really wants to know about chickens in period.

You will notice a spice called Spikenard. Is modernly grown as an ornamental these days instead of as a common spice, found in the ginseng family. (https://www.britannica.com/plant/spikenard-plant-Nardostachys-genus / Dalby, Andrew, “Spikenard” in Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, 2nd ed. by Tom Jaine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-280681-5)

I just went without. I also used dried cilantro instead of fresh. It’s what I had on hand.

Remember the Murri recipe awhile back? It’s here again. When you make Murri, make several cups worth. This will show up again and again in Middle Eastern recipes. If you don’t have Murri on hand, use pomegranate juice and ground up raisins. Pomegranate juice can be bought at some stores, lots of Middle Eastern and Oriental stores carry this, or it can be ordered online. For raisin juice. Soak them a little bit, then grind them well (use a Cuisinart if you have one or a pestle and mortar) and strain through a fine sieve or cloth covered sieve.

I used a simple butter crust. 1 stick of butter, mixed with 2.5 C. of flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 C. of water added a Tbs. at a time until everything comes together. Some days your kitchen is going to be so humid you won’t need all the water, but some days you will, hence the Tbs. at a time.

Roll out the dough and cover your pan.

Here you can use a Tagine if you have one, a cast iron skillet or a small pan that’s in your cabinet you use every day. (If you’re entering this dish into an A&S please note on your documentation why or why not you used the pan you did while noting what would have been used in period). Your judges will want to know if you actually know what was used in period, including what a Tannur is (https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=AOaemvKOvUqMXtldMBzHAQNcMib1l3cUWQ:1632072312805&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=tannur&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwig086Tx4vzAhXSqpUCHbfeAnQQjJkEegQIBRAC&biw=1725&bih=1000&dpr=0.8) (basically a nice sized to mucking huge in ground oven you stick dough to the sides in or lower dishes into, made with various types of mud/tiles/clay etc….that’s another paper for another time).

Lay out your shredded chicken. Cover with the onion, spice, murri and egg mixture.

Cover with the second layer of dough and seal it up. I used a simple squish the dough together then use fingers to form a semi nice looking edge found on apple pies. You can use a fork, a spoon or even a dough crimper, as long as the edges are sealed together.

DO NOT forget to add small pricks to the dough so that pockets of hot air can escape and not rip your dough apart while drying to do so.

Bake until done.

I found this more like a chicken quiche then a chicken pot pie. The flavors were a bit odd yet still enjoyable!

October 3, 2021 | No comments

I had guests coming and wanted to show off something new but I wanted comfort food. It had been an awful week for all of us. This dish hit all the comfort spots, meaty, fatty, carby, sweet and salty. There isn’t anything this dish can’t help with when you’re needing comfort.

Morassa Palav

Chicken with Rice, Fruit and Nuts

Translation:

This dish is also called Molamma’ Palav. Its method of preparation is that chicken meat is cut into small pieces, and after skimming, once it is cooked, rice is added. When the rice is half cooked, golden raisins, pistachio nuts, almonds, dates, figs, chestnuts, barberries, and a large amount of chickpeas are added and mixed, and fire is prepared as in other dishes and it is steamd. Each of the above mentioned ingredients is added at different stages; for example, dates are added after the rice drained in order to prevent them from becoming mushy. (Ghanoonparvar, pg. 27)

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. cut up chicken

2 C. Jasmine rice

1 C. ea. Almonds, Pistachio, Barberries

2 C. Raisons, Figs, Dates, Chestnuts, Chickpeas

1 C. Chicken Stock

1 C. Butter

Salt to taste

Optional:

1⁄2 large onion

3 cloves minced garlic

Pinch saffron

1 tsp ground cloves

Redaction:

Gather everything together. Here I make a substitution of golden raisins for currents. Usually it’s the other way around but not today.

Yes, those are fresh figs. It’s fig season here and I had a bunch on hand. So if you need a recipe for fresh figs, here ya go!

Add the chicken and rice together and cook. Here I added the chicken stock and butter instead of water.

Yes, you can use water, I wanted more flavor hence the addition.

Half way through cooking I added the nuts and chickpeas.

With 10 minutes left, I added all the chopped fruit and chestnuts.

Serve – One bowl is all I could eat. This rich and satisfying as only a good chicken and rice dish can be.

For the optional: Add the chopped onions with the chicken, rice and stock with the garlic. Add the saffron and ground cloves when you stir in the nuts.

September 10, 2019 | No comments

Finding myself with excellent lamb chops, I decided I needed to try a new dish. I was skeptical at first due to the boiling of meat the recipe called for and the inclusion of jujubes and mastic. Both of these spices are strongly overpowering if to much is included so add these sparingly! This is an amazing dish with flavors that dance over the palate. Try it once and you’ll be a fan!

Mishmishiya

(Fat Meat with Apricots)

Translation:

Take fat meat. Boil it in a little water and take its scum away. Take dried apricots and remove their pits and replace them with blanched almonds. And when the meat is done, throw the apricots on it, and raisins, atraf al-tib, a stick of Chinese cinnamon, mint mastic, saffron and jujubes, and sweeten it with sugar and honey. It comes out well. (Rodinson, pp. 356-357)

Ingredients:

4-6 lamb chops or 1 lb. cubed.

1/2 C. apricots

Enough almonds to stuff each apricot

1/4 C. raisins

1 tsp Chinese cinnamon, mint, and honey

1/16 ground mastic

4 jujubes

Pinch of saffron

Redaction:

Take your apricots and stuff them. Then gather all your ingredients together in one spot.

Also I hate jujubes. Note for one steak, I only had one squished jujube in the entire spice dish. I consider jujubes to be the worst spice ever! Use it in very small quantities! Otherwise your dish will taste like nothing more than jujubes and a hint of something else. Don’t go overboard on the mastic. It’s type of pine resin and also has a strong taste. A little goes a very long way!

Take a deep frying pan and fill it half way up to the meat’s side.

Let the meat sit in the water for 4-5 minutes on each side. Continually removing the scum as it surfaces (it won’t be much).

While the meat is boiling, put the apricots and raisons to the side, then grind together all the spices except the honey.

When the meat has been cooked on both sides and the water has been boiled away, remove it from the pan. Sprinkle the ground spices over the meat,

scattering the dried fruit over the meat. Dribble the honey over that.

My first thought on this recipe is that boiling meat is just blah! I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and very juicy the meat came out. The ground spices smelled amazing! Even with the jujube and mastic, the saffron and cinnamon and mint blended with the others wonderfully.

June 5, 2018 | No comments

This is a dish to try if you have a large volume of yogurt on hand and want to try a new dish. I think it’s ok. The flavors are good but I’ve had better yogurt dishes to be honest. I can’t say this is amazing but it is filling. Perhaps over noodles or rice it would be a bit better. Perhaps with a bit of cheese sprinkled over it as well.

This is obviously a very close relative to Al-Madira in name, but that’s about it. There are different spices and cooking style, enough so that these are barely kissing cousin recipes..

Madira

(Meat in Yogurt with Leeks)

Translation:

A pound of meat, four pounds of yoghurt. Put them with curdled milk, a shifaya of leeks, a quarter shifaya of green onions – and if the onions are green, they can be dispensed with – and a stick of ginger, a stick of Ceylon cinnamon, both whole and the weight of a quart dirham of whole mastic. Then you put the yoghurt in the pot, and when it boils and sticks to the ladle, throw the meat in. When it boils tow or three times, cut up the leeks, which have been split, and throw them in. And when the leeks boil, cut up the onions and throw them in with the mastic, Ceylon cinnamon and ginger. When it all smells good and boils, throw in the mint, half a bunch. Its fire should be gentle, so that it smells good and binds; if it doesn’t bind, throw in it the quantity of half an ounce of heart starch or a handful of rice. When the yoghurt is nearly done, take it down. (Rodison, pp. 327.)

Ingredients:

1 lb meat (beef or lamb) cut up.

4 lbs yogurt

1/2 C curdled milk (sour milk?)

1 leek

4 green onions

1 stick of ginger (do not chop!)

1 stick cinnamon or 1/2 tsp ground

1/4 tsp mastic

Redaction:

I gathered up almost everything, forgetting to picture the leeks and mint.

The yogurt went into the pot to boil.

Once the yogurt had started to boil and liquefy, I added the beef chunks.

I let this boil before adding the split, sliced and washed leek.

Bring the yogurt mixture to a boil three times before adding the onions, ginger (do NOT chop), cinnamon and mastic.

Put the flame, or stove top on low, and let simmer until the yogurt starts thickening up. If the yogurt doesn’t thicken add rice or arrow root.

Once the dish has thickened, add the mint then serve forth.

The dish doesn’t look like much, and I found it a little bland but exceptionally filling. I thought I was going to have to add starch; however as I let the liquefied yogurt reduce for about 20 minutes. The curds came together like small granules of rice. It takes a bit of time but it’s worth the wait. I also found the taste and excellent blend of onion, yogurt, beef and mastic, with a slight hint of ginger and cinnamon. I added a bit of salt and found this made a world of difference!

July 24, 2017 | No comments

Musk

Musk is noted in more medieval recipes for food and perfumes than you can shake a sword at, adding a depth and complexity to foods the same way sandalwood does. A little goes a very long way!

Now modernly, we can get musk from whales (ambergris) also known a whale snot.

Beaver musk (castor sacks of Castor Canadensis or Castor fiber).

Civet (viverridae).

Finally ambrette musk (hibiscus ablemoschus).

Period musk is almost impossible to get. Why you may ask? While I was doing a bit of studying for another project (surprise, surprise), I’ve found that the original(ish) musk mentioned in period cooking came from three sources. The Siberian musk deer (M. moschiferus), black musk deer (M. fuscus) Alpine/Himalayan musk deer (M. chrysogaster). The glands of the musk deer were harvested (and small quantities from very small musk deer farms) by removing the scent glands of the deer.

The gland secretions would dry into small black grains that were, and are, prized for the pheromones they exude. The description is that of a rich and earthy smell, almost heavenly. Mostly. Some people found it repulsive, but not so many that the deer aren’t on the verge of extinction now.

The original method for removal was to kill the deer and take the musk glands, without worry about sustainability. This has come back to haunt those who relied on the deer’s scent gland. Few of these animals survive, except in the most remote regions. The price, in period is listed as being twice the weight in gold and modernly 3 to 4 times that price now. (Nabhan, pp. 150-151).

So where does that leave the modern cook? Up a creek for the period musk. There is no way that musk, from the listed deer, is harvested cruelty free or without costing an arm and a leg (throw a kidney in for good measure). There are substitutions. There is a variety of plant based musks with beautiful earthy notes and of course synthetics. If possible go with the plant based. Experiment. Try new things! Always err on the side that more can be added but it’s going to be hard to remove what you’ve already put in!

May 2, 2017 | No comments

While doing research for another project, I ran across this random little gem of a recipe. I had Scappi’s butter pie crust on hand and fresh pears, along with spices and dried fruit. I thought to myself, why the hell not! Let’s see what happens! And a taste new dish is recreated.

A Winter’s Tale Pear Pie

Translation:

“…saffron to colour the warden pies (pears). Mace, dates, non; that’s our of my note; nutmegs, seven, a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many raisins of the sun.” The Clown in A Winter’s Tale (Milton, pp. 20)

Ingredients:

Pinch of saffron

4 pears

1 tsp ea. ground mace, nutmeg, ginger

20 dates (pitted and chopped)

20 prunes

1 C. raisins
***Quick note before we get started, this pie is being made in a single serving pie mold. I gave instructions for a full pie. If you want to do a single pie just cut everything down to 1/4.
Redaction:
Gather your ingredients. First things first!
Chop up your pears, dates, prunes. Toss in the raisins and mix.
Add your spices, mixing again.
Here I used a butter crust, because it is awesome! (and I love making it) along with the fact I had extra on hand.
Make a top for the pie. I was pretty sloppy with this pie crust…a late night of cooking. You can make a pretty pie topping with a little bit more effort. If I were serving this to company, of course it would be much much nicer!
An interesting note. The Clown, in a The Winter’s Tale, didn’t ask for sugar. The dried fruit and natural sweetness of the pear is supposed to cover the delicate flavors and natural sugars without any extra.

Cutting into the pie…it just smells period. That scent of spice and fruit that comes only with a real medieval cooking.
I hate to admit this, but I was skeptical about the no sugar thing. Turns out the fruit pie is fabulous without. Very tasty.

April 17, 2017 | No comments

There have been a few hurdles over the past few months that I have had to address and recover from. However I have a new recipe to add to my list of favorite dishes. Meat plus fire, always an excellent combination!

Sikh

(Skewered Meat)

Translation:

…for the method for skewered meat: mix meat with salt onions and turmeric and boil it with whole potherbs. Cut it into very small pieces and strain it. Then fasten one segment of meat and one piece of onion on the skewer and rub ghee, caraway, lime juice, white ambergris, rosewater and salt on it. Bake it well and when it is tender, wrap it in thin bread and serve it. (Mandu, pp. 26)

Ingredients:

2 lb cubed meat

Salt (to taste)

1 onion (finely chopped)

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp ea. thyme, cilantro and basil

Second stage

1 onion cut into quarters

Ghee

2 tsp Caraway

1 tsp lime juice

¼ tsp rosewater

Salt to taste

Redaction:

I am going to change this slightly. Here instead of boiling the meat, I am placing the meat to marinade overnight in the first set of ingredients.

So first, take a good piece of meat with a bit of marbled fat for excellent flavor and cut it into cubes.

Then mix the marinade together.

After the meat has marinated for 24 hours (or slightly longer),

I skewer all the meat.

I alternate one cube with one slice of onion, until the skewer is filled. The onion chunks actually help with the cooking. I did several skewers with onions and several without. Those without onions cooked slower and the meat was still very red in between the chunks while the outside was done and slightly charred.

Once the skewers are ready to grill, I brush each one with the ghee, caraway, lime juice, rose water and salt mixture, every 5 minutes until the meat is done.

This is the raw meat grilling on a small clay pot grill.

The meat is smelling heavenly at this point but still a bit raw.

The meat is done and ready to be devoured.

The meat actually never made it into the flat bread. We ate the cubes hot off the skewers. It was delicious. I regret nothing!

August 4, 2014 | No comments

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