Plain Dishes (Sawadhij)

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Mufarraka (Chicken Livers)

July 24, 2010 in Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Mufarraka (Chicken Livers), Plain Dishes (Sawadhij) | No comments

Occasionally I have a craving for chicken livers.  I like mine fried in a little bit of olive oil till crunchy on the outside yet still juicy on the inside.  Some times I’ll want to save the livers from a chicken for one of those days I’m craving that little bit of crunchy tasty iron treats.  Unfortunately saving livers can some times be to much of a good thing when I find I have 12 of them tucked away in the freezer.  So what do you do when you have a few extra chicken livers and gizzards?  Why you spice them up of course!

Mufarraka

Chicken Livers

Translation:

Take chicken livers and gizzards, wash them, boil them in water with a little salt, then take them out and chop them small.  Then mix them with the whites of eggs, put the necessary amount of the described spices on them, and fry them in a pan with sesame oil, stirring continuously.  If you want it made sour, leave some filtered lemon juice on it.  If you want it plain do not leave lemon juice or eggs on it.

Perry, pp. 79

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken livers and gizzards

½ tsp coriander, cumin, ground pepper, thyme, turmeric, dill

3 egg whites

My Redaction:

I took chicken livers and gizzards saved from the chickens used in other recipes (or just dinner)

livers w spices

and boiled them till cooked.

cooking livers

I cheated just a touch.  Some of the livers are actually turkey livers I had on hand as well.  (Shhhhh!)

Once cooked and cooled, the livers and gizzards were chopped up smallish, roughly the size of the pinky tip.

cooked liver with spices

The mixture was then combined with the spices and eggs, the fried in sesame oil.

liver spices frying

I tried lemon juice on part of these and part was left plain.

liver in bowl w bread

Both ways taste excellently either as a main dish or scooped up and used as a condiment on good bread!

Salma (Noodles with Yogurt and Meat)

May 7, 2010 in Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Plain Dishes (Sawadhij), Salma (Noodles w/Yogurt and Meat) | No comments

This recipe was to go with the noodles shown in Tiltin (Small Pasta Square) unfortunately the container in which the pasta was stored in had not been as dry as I had thought.  I ended up with fermented crumbling squares.  Soo…note to those making home made pasta, make sure the container is bone dry and stored some place that is also very dry.

I decided to post the noodle recipe as there aren’t that many recipes for noodles or pasta listed.  There is a really awesome picture (I am searching as I post this) of a Persian woman rolling out noodles on a table from a lump of dough.   An every day scene depicting dinner preparations of noodles.  What is so unusual is that medieval Middle Eastern cooking is rarely thought to actually have many noodle/pasta dishes!

With out further ado…an excellent pasta dish for either pasta squares or regular rolled out lengths of pasta (known modernly as spaghetti).

Salma

Noodle w/Yogurt and Meat

Translation:

Take dough, twist it, cut it in small pieces, and strike it like a coin with the finger, and cook it in water until done.  Then put yoghurt with it and fry meat with onions for it and put mint and garlic with it.

Rodinson, pp. 473

Ingredients:

1 C noodles (home made or store bought)

½ C yogurt       3 cloves crushed garlic  1Tbs mint

½ onion            1/3 lb chicken, beef, duck etc

My Redaction:

I had planned to use the home made noodles however the container used to store those in was not quite as dry as I had thought.  The home made pasta were no good so I had to rely on store bought noodles.

noodls yogurt spices

Here are all the ingredients for this dish.  I have 3 different types of meat on hand as I wanted to experiment with flavoring.  There is chicken and duck and beef.  Each was cooked in oil with onions.

cooking chicken w onions

This is the chicken with the onions.  Nothing special preparation wise.  In a skillet heat up some oil, add onions till translucent (or soft) then add meat.  Continue cooking till the meat is done.

While the meat was cooking I put the noodles into a pot of water with a little salt until the noodles were done.  I mixed the garlic with the yogurt and cooked the meat with onion.  Once everything was mixed or cooked, I put the noodles in a bowl, with the yogurt on top, then place the meat on the yogurt and sprinkled with mint.

noodles yogurt and cooked meat

This picture actually has a little of all three meats for a tasty comparison.  I really liked the chicken and the beef.  The duck was actually twice cooked.  The first time it was cooked in the the oven with the breast and leg meat being shredded into a bowl then fried with onions for this dish.  The duck was really really good.  By far my favorite!  Extremely time consuming though so if duck is what you want be prepared to spend a bit of time on this meat!

Tuffahiyya (Meat with Apples)

December 24, 2009 in Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Plain Dishes (Sawadhij), Tuffahiyya (Meat with Apples) | No comments

I had a lot of apples on hand when contemplating the next set of dishes to cook.  This recipe (both of them) had been on my list to do.  This is a very simple dish that just requires having everything on hand…like apples, meat and spices.

One note,  I did change the “Intensly sour apples” to firm sweet apples i.e. honeycrisps or pink ladies.  Both of these apples keep their shape and wonderful flavor during and after cooking.

Tuffahiyya

Meat with Apples

Translation:

1st translation – According to another recipe, not the one given earlier.  Fry meat, after boiling it, in melted fat with spices.  Then take strongly sour apples and peel them and take out their seeds, and cut them up medium.  Then throw the apples in the pot or the frying pan, after taking it up, for a good while.  And when they soften and it is done.  It is left on a quiet fire and it is taken up.

(Perry, pp. 352)

2nd translation – Put meat into the pot.  Peel apples and cut them up and put them in it.  Then sweeten it. (…similarly to Safarjaliyya)

(Perry, pp. 471)

Ingredients:

2 lbs cubed stew meat  (beef, venison, goat etc)

4 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1” cubes (sweet or sour)

1 tsp ea of ground: thyme, cumin, coriander, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, tumeric

1 Tbs. sesame oil

***optional: 1 tsp honey per serving

My redaction:

I cut up stew meat into manageable bite sized pieces, laid out the spices to be used, and the apple chunks.

spices

I have held the theory that meals that were eaten with bread or hands did not have the luxury/opportunity for the eater to take a piece of meat, cut it up then eat.  What was taken was probably eaten and a conversation could not be had over a meal if the participants could not talk while chewing manageable cubes of meat.  That’s just  my theory though and why I cut up stew meat into bite sized pieces.

The cubed beef was placed in a pot of water (just enough to come to the top edge of the meat) and cooked thoroughly for about 20 minutes.

meat in pot

The water will cook down as will the meat.  However the 20 – 30 minutes of cooking makes the meat tender and less chewy.  Many of the recipes would normally say to skim off the foam however this recipe is unique in not mentioning skimming at all.

Once the beef has been cooked, any excess juice was drained off  before placing the cubed cooked meat into a medium pan with the sesame oil.  Spices are then added.

meat with spices

1 tsp of spices for 2lbs of meat may sound like a lot; however we are also cooking the meat and apples, so don’t be afraid that the spices are going to over power the meat.  Everything blends very well together once the apples have been added.

After the spices have been stirred into the meat, the apple slices are added.

meat apples

Everything is mixed well, with the spices coating the meat and apples evenly and allowed to cook till the apples are soft.  Roughly 15 minutes.  I did add a 1/2 a cup of water after the meat and apples had absorbed the sesame oil, then covered the pan to allow the resulting steam to help cook the apples.

meat in bowl

After the apples have soften, the meat and apples are served in a bowl.  Honey can be added  to sweeten the flavor if desired.  I like the flavor with out the honey; the honey adds just a touch of sweetness that compliments the apples with the spices very well.  The honey is up to the personal taste on whether to have a sweet or savory dish.

Raihaniyya (Aromatic Herbs w/Meatballs)

November 22, 2009 in Plain Dishes (Sawadhij), Raihaniyya (Aromatic Herbs w/Meatballs) | 1 comment

Now by this time you may be thinking, “Hey, you’ve done a LOT of meatballs!”  and you’d be right, I have done quite a few meatball dishes. There is a reason meatballs are well documented in favored dishes.  Meatballs were a way to say “I, and my house, have become well enough off that we can spend that extra 2-3 hours taking perfectly good meat, pound it flat, add expensive spices and roll the tasty treat of meat into bite sized balls; all for YOU, our favored guest.”  Meat was  a luxury in period times due and meat balls even more so.   As for me making meatballs, well I had some ground hamburger and a new recipe to try out.

Raihaniyya

(Aromatic Herbs with Meatballs)

Translation:

Its recipe is that you cut up fat meat small and boil it in water.  Then put dainty meatballs in it and a handful of peeled chickpeas.  When it is nearly done, take half as much spinach as the meat and cut it up small with the knife and half boil it.  Then throw it on the meat, and adjust its salt and spices.  If there remains some water in it, let it go away.  Put as much melted fat of fresh tail as it will bear on it, and a scraped stick of Chinese cinnamon, and leave it until it becomes done in the fat and is completely done.  Then reduce its fire, and it settles and is taken up.

Ingredients:

1 lb stew meat (beef, venison, or lamb) 1 lb of ground meat (beef, venison or lamb)

1 tsp ea.  Pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon

(Alternate spices to add would be black anise seeds, hot pepper seeds, garlic, dill, thyme)

¼ tsp saffron      1 onion       1 can garbanzo beans

1 Tbsp sesame oil (olive oil if sesame is not available)

2 cups chopped spinach (de-stemmed unless baby spinach)

Salt to taste         1 tsp thyme, cinnamon, salt

(Rodinson, pp. 348)

My Redaction:

I took a 1lb brick of hamburger meat and 1lb of cut up stew meat (that was cut into bite sized pieces).   The meat does not specify being all of the same.  A combination of meat chunks could have been used as well as a combination of pounded meat.    The meat size should be bite sized are even slightly smaller.  What is the use of making a really tasty dish if guests aren’t able to enjoy a bite sized piece but have to stop, take the piece of meat from their dish, cut the meat into a more manageable piece then put down the knife and  chew?   With the meat in bite sized pieces, eating is all one step of select, bite, swallow, then  cheer the cook on to more dizzying heights of cooking extravaganzas!

Once the stew meat size has been established, the stew meat was added to a pot with water only 1/2 inch over the meat and boiled till almost done. Modern cooking really doesn’t like boiled meat as the idea that boiling renders the meat flavorless.    If spices weren’t added or oil(s) etc then yest the meat would be flavorless; however in period boiling had the added benefit of not only cooking quickly, but cleanly as well.  Any sand or nasty bits on the meat went to the scum which was always skimmed off leaving clean well cooked meat in a pot.

I had preselected and measured the spices, cut up the onion, and spinach.

Spices

The spices, the little white dish to the side of the garbanzo beans, were added to the ground meat, mixed well and small bite sized meatballs were then formed, except for the last 1tsp of thyme, cinnamon and salt.  Those spices will be added to the overall dish at the end.

meatballs a

Once the meatballs had been formed, they were added into the boiling water with the other stew meat.  Don’t worry, the meat should not fall apart at the touch of water; however you do want enough water to cover all the meat to get everything well cooked, then I added the garbanzo beans.

When the meatballs have been almost thoroughly cooked, I drained all the excess water out of the pot leaving the meat and the beans.    Sesame oil was added to the pot before replacing on the stove.  The remaining spices; 1 tsp thyme, cinnamon, salt, were then added as well as the onions and chopped up spinach.  The recipe calls for tail fat yet sesame oil was used in substitution.    I’ve written before on the extreme muttiness of tail fat and how I’m avoiding that extreme at this time.

cooked meatballs

This dish smells wonderful…and tastes excellently!  This is a colorful tasty warm dish that is fairly healthy in regards to the modern diet.  I would suggest serving the dish with either saffron rice or even over a bed of spinach.

Franken Chicken

November 12, 2009 in Plain Dishes (Sawadhij), Stuffed Chicken Skin (Franken Chicken) | No comments

Stuffed Chicken Skin

(also known as Franken Chicken)

This recipe was done out of curiosity.  I mean really how often do you go to a dinner party and say “OMG…that chicken is a STUFFED chicken?! ”  In period for a really excellent high end dinner this is exactly what they did.  They made castles out of pastry and sugars, meat dishes with out meat (Romans’ were famous for this) and re-stuffing a chicken skin or a pig skin was nothing.  This type of over the top cooking showed how refined and well to do the host was.   This was known as  “conspicuous” quality of creation.

Translation from Wusla:

There are a couple of varieties:

First Recipe: Take a chicken, scald it with boiling water and do not split either it’s belly or it’s crop.  Push a meat skewer (mirwad) into its neck between the skin and the meat and use the skewer to separate the two.  Blow hard into the neck (orifice) to detach all the skin from the meat.  Whenever you find a little piece still attached (to the skin) which will not be freed by the blowing, use the skewer to detach it.  Then use a thread to anchor the skin to the leg bones and split the bird along its back (from) the tail to the base of the neck. Remove the meat, leaving the leg bones including the thigh bones, in position.  Likewise cut the wing tendons inside the skin.  Stuff with rice, meat, chickpeas and onions, chopped as for stuffed trip (sakhatir).  The wings are left as they are (their meat) not being separated from (their) skin, so as to complete the illusion of a (real) chicken.  The skin is sewn back together and the neck is attached firmly…also being sewn up.  Cook in water with stuffed tripe.  This can also be fried afterward, if desired, or it can be left to finish cooking in the water.

2nd recipe:  With a stuffing of pounded meat as described abofe: take the meat of a chicken prepared as above and that of another chicken, leaving a skin wich can accommodate the meat of both chickens.  Cook in water and then pound thoroughly in a mortar.  Place in a cooking pot with a little chicken fat and sesame oil, some olive oil, hot seeds and parsley leaves and fry until the meat is golden.  Add some minced onions and some mint.  When the stuffing is cooked, fill the chicken skin with it, sew up and secure firmly at the base of the neck, after replacing the sternum in its proper place in the breast so as to give the impression of a real chicken.  Cook in water, then fry and place any remaining stuffing with the chicken.

(Medieval Arabic Cookery, Rodinson, pp. 162)

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken            1 onion         ¼ cup fresh parsley (or 2 tbs dried)

1 Tbs sesame oil, olive oil and chicken fat,         1 Tbs  mint       1 Tbs dried peppers

1 tsp salt (or to taste).

My redaction:

When teaching classes on how to do Middle Eastern or Roman redaction, I can not stress enough on the necessity to read and re-read the instructions several times.  The first read through is to get a feel for the ingredients.  The second read through is a better understanding of HOW a dish was put together.  In this case…how a dish was disassembled then reassembled.

I took a fully thawed fryer and scalded in boiling water for 30 seconds.  The scalding tightens the skin, which helps with the skin removal process.  Do not fool yourself on this part.  The skin is still paper thin and extremely fragile…the scalding just helps tighten it up a bit;  this does not make the skin impervious to damage.

I inserted a metal skewer, one I had laying around for kabob’s, into the neck and started to gently separate the skin from the meat by severing the connecting tissue between the two.  I did not blow on the skin.  (Even though the chicken was well rinsed prior to the scalding, I am not willing to put my lips on what is still mostly raw chicken!)  Remove the tail of the chicken if this is included on your fryer.  I was not particularly graceful in the skin removal as I would have liked; there were several holes in the skin by the time I was done.

skin

As you can see the skin looks properly deflated.  Rather embarrassed in fact as if I had caught the skin just stepping out of a hot tub.    (I know…I just couldn’t help myself on that one!)

The redaction calls for not splitting either the breast or crop area, which is the front of the bird.  I had to split the chicken skin along the back as there was no other way to remove the skin from the meat no matter how much skewering or blowing was done.  Now here is the tricky part, and a little change to the original recipe.   I decided on my first try to keep the wings but do away with the legs.  The original recipe calls for the leg bones and wings (with meat) to remain attached to the skin with thread attaching the skin to the legs.  Then the leg and wing joints are  severed at the body with thread connecting the bottom leg skin to the bottom leg bone, while all the meat was removed carefully to leave the skin intact .  This bird was NOT going to be able to do any running when all the stuffing and cooking was done!    The theory was that the meat stuffing would refill the leg skin with the leg bones giving shape and definition.   Knowing my own limitations for not renting the skin further…I just took the legs off but left the wings.

At this point there was a skin (see above picture) and a very naked bird waiting to be stripped of meat and bones.   I took every scrap of usable meat from the chicken and ground it.  The redaction calls for “pound thoroughly in a mortor”.  I believe this was to render the chicken meat much like ground hamburger, making it easier for cooking then re-stuffing into our skin.

I had all the ingredients on hand and added a bit of salt.

spices

The redaction calls for 2 oils and 1 fat.  Sesame oil, olive oil and chicken fat.  I had chicken fat on hand (I save the fat from roasted chicken, roughly a cup rendered per roasting) as there are many really good redaction recipes that call for throwing a pudding under a chicken and letting the chicken fat drip into the pudding pan.  So save that grease because you never know when the next wonderful recipe will call for a Tbsp or two.

I went with the 2nd redaction as I did not have any cooked rice on hand but I did have onions and parsley from the garden readily available.  The 2nd recipe calls for the meat of another bird.  I didn’t find this necessary; however if I had actually left the leg skins attached it might have been.

The next step in the redaction calls for throwing the meat into boiling water for skimming.  I don’t have to worry about sand, dirt or impurities having collected on my chicken meat so I skipped straight to the “Place in a cooking pot with a little chicken fat and sesame oil, some olive oil, hot seeds and parsley leaves and fry until the meat is golden”.    Just like that…then add the chopped onion and mint till the onions are translucent.  Take a taste and then add salt.

This redaction  could go on any table, for dinner and do a cook proud as it is VERY tasty; however we now get to the complicated messy but interesting part!

While the meat was frying and the onions sauteing in the really heady oil mixture, take a bit of thread (I used a sturdy quilting thread…hey I had it on hand!) and sew up any rents that were made in the skin while removing.  The correct thing to do for the chicken skin is to also sew up the neck and back and leaving the bottom opened for stuffing.  Unfortunately for me…Murphy and his law showed up and my plans were slightly re-arranged on what should have been done to what could be done.

Keep an eye on the chicken meat while stitching up the skin!!  When everything is finished cooking, take the meat and spices and let them cool till you can handle the mixture with your hands.  Once the meat can be handled commence stuffing your sewn up skin.  Do not over stuff.  Any meat that is left over will be used around the stuffed cooked chicken, so as to not go to waste.

stuffed skin

This is the stuffed skin after Mr. Murphy showed me that I should have sewn everything up tight prior to stuffing (NOT after) and that the belly/crop skin was so very thin that flipping the bird on to it’s back to hide the stitches was no longer an option (as the skin would split, spilling all the stuffing out).

The next step calls for boiling the stuffed skin then frying.  My poor bird was not up for boiling.  The skin had not been sewn up tight enough to be water tight so I opted to bake instead.  I placed the bird very gently into a pottery chicken roaster (as small casserole dish would work as well) and popped the naked stuffed chicken into the oven at 350 degrees till the wings were thoroughly cooked and the skin was a nice golden brown.

cooked chicken skin

There will be chicken grease at the bottom of the clay pot, as well as a little of the excess oils from cooking the meat.   In period a roasting chicken’s grease was used in puddings and other dishes.  It would not be going out on a limb by much to say that throwing either couscous or rice at the bottom of the clay pot prior to cooking is out of bounds, adding a wonderful rich meaty/fattiness (you NEEDED those calories in period) to a bland but satisfying carb.

While this looks likes Frankenstein dinner…it’s a very tasty treaty.  I am sure that the dinner parties thrown by the sultans and caliphs had cooks who could get a chicken naked in under 3 minutes with out huge tears, I’m afraid at this point this redaction for looks gets a C – while the taste gets an A +!

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