Tag Archives: medieval cooking

Tannuriyya: Chicken Pot Pie

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 DavidsonThe 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!

Mutawakkiliyya (Meat with Taro)

I haven’t worked with Taro root before so this was new. I love the almost potato like squish of the taro when I bit down. The spices can be…overwhelming. So keep that in mind when you go to cook this.

Mutawakkiliyya (The Caliph al-Mukatwakkil d. AD 861)
Meat with Taro


Translation:
A pound and a half of meat and a pound and a half of washed taro, caraway pepper Ceylon cinnamon, five bunches of green coriander, five green onions, five heads of garlic. The meat is
put in the pot and water to cover or less is put on it and you kindle (the fire) under it until it dries up. And when the water has evaporated, you throw the pepper and caraway , and you cut up
two bunches of green coriander and four green onions and pound the four heads (of garlic) mixed with three bunches of green coriander. You feed it with all the pepper and caraway and
throw everything into the pot with the meat. You can cut up the garlic. When it smells good, you put water on the pot as needed to cove the taro you have. Then you kindle (the fire) until
the taro smells good, and you make it settle and ladle it out. (Rodinson, pp. 340)


Ingredients:
1.5 lbs stew meat
1.5 cleaned taro root
2 tsp. ea. Long pepper (groud) and caraway
1 Tbs Chinese cinnamon
1 head of garlic
1 bunch cilantro (RINSED)
1 bunch green onions
Salt to taste


Redaction:
So reading through the recipe is a little bit confusing. The quantities change from 5 to 4 to 3 the further you go in. So I made a few judgement calls (after experiment). I tried 3 heads
of garlic with two full store bunches of cilantro and 4 green onions. WHOA! All I tasted was garlic. So I made a decision to embrace the right as a cook to change how much went into my
dish.


I used one (well rinsed) bunch of cilantro, 8 green onions (one store bought bunch), and one head of garlic. There is still a bite; however I can now taste the green onion and cilantro
instead of swearing I’ve turned into a vampire the garlic bit back so much.


I gathered all my items up. Per usual, I have cut the meat into bite sized pieces. I think that’s courteous to my quests to not have to chew one piece for ever while having the cheeks of a
chipmunk.


First thing to notice is that taro root looks like hairy roaches. I found when picking out the Taro, the box contained a lot of moldy roots. I went for the dense and firm roots without the
mold. I don’t need to rediscover penicillin. Rinse them well and peel off the outer layer.


The spices are some of the usual suspects. However, I am trying more long pepper than just regular pepper. I LOVE the smell of fresh long pepper. In the picture, you will see the long
pepper is whole. I ground mine up, so the full flavor could be enjoyed by all, not just the one person who bit down on a whole long pepper. However, I am trying more long pepper than just regular pepper. I LOVE the smell of fresh long pepper. In the picture, you will see the long pepper is whole. I ground mine up, so the full flavor could be enjoyed by all, not just the one person who bit down on a whole long pepper.

Put the meat into a pot with just enough water to cover.


Once the first round of water has evaporated, everything but the taro root goes into the pot.

Stir this around until fragrant. 2-3 minutes. Next add the taro root and enough water to cover. Cook until the taro root is tender. This is about 35-45 minutes.


Serve!


The taro root is nice. A good starch in place of potato for a beef stew. STRONG garlic taste even with the cinnamon. Not even the lovely fragrant long pepper could overcome so much garlic. When I do this dish again, I’ll probably go for ½ a head of garlic and maybe a smidge more cilantro and green onion. Otherwise pretty tasty.

To Bake Chikins: Chicken Pie with Vinegar and Fruit

This was one of those recipes I was really not sure about.  It sounded interesting but adding a sauce towards the end and not at the start?!  How the hell does that make the dish flavorful let alone get to all parts of the pie?  So here I did a little experimenting.  It was a fun learning experiment and the pies were adored when served at a gathering of friends.

To Bake Chickins:

Translation:

Season them with cloves, mace sinamon ginger, and some pepper, so put them into your coffin, and put thereto corance dates prunes, and sweet butter, or els maro,and when they be half baked, put in some sirup of vergious, and some sugar, shake them togither and set them into the oven again…. (A Book of Cookrye: Very Necessary for all such as delight therin. 1591)

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. cut up chicken

1 Tsp ea. of ground cloves, mace, cinnamon, ginger and pepper

1 C. chopped currents, dates and prunes

1⁄2 C. cubed butter                                                                                 

1⁄2 C. Balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs. sugar

Crust:  Hot water crust

Redaction:

I took chicken thighs and cut into bite sized pieces.  Mixed them with all the spices and fruit.  If you don’t have currants added chopped up raisins.

Corances are currents for those wondering about this bit of English spelling

Here I used a butter crust. It won’t stand up on its own but has an amazing mouth feel/taste.

I put the crust into small molds normally used for cheese cakes with quick release at the sides.  The crust should be able to stand up on its own; however I wanted flavor not just a stiff upper crust.  Hence the hot water crust and mini tart pans. 

The tops have a circle at each center. This is to pour 2 Tbs. of the vinegar and sugar mixture when the pies are half cooked.  I used a knife to cut out the circle.  I would have preferred to use a small round punch of some sort instead.  These look a bit messy but get the job done.

Bake these for about 25 minutes before pulling the pies out to pour in the vinegar mixture.  I know you’re asking yourself how the hell do I get this in there?!  During the cooking the filling will shrink leaving a space between crust and interior.  

The process was a little messy as I used a spoon and not a spouted pouring device. This didn’t effect the flavor though the crusts were a bit discolored instead of being a toasty golden brown, more of a mottled colored where the vinegar spilled.

Return the pies for another 20 minutes, then pull out for serving.   

Personally, I wouldn’t do much larger even if I weren’t using the small molds.  These are very filling on their own.  A small one will fill most people up easily.  If you’re doing a feast then I can understand doing a pie sized, but cook one first to make sure the vinegar mixture actually mixes into all sections and not just partially.  This was the perfect size for the small amount of mixture per pie used.

Wasfat ‘Ukhraa Lilhawm fi Alkhali: Meat in Vinegar (Another Recipe For)

When I did this dish the first time, it was completely wrong.  I had to redo the marinade and the cooking.  I left the spicing the same and now the chicken isn’t all vinegar with a hint of spices.  You can now taste the spicing and a hint of vinegar now.

Meat inVinegar (Another Recipe For)

Translation:

Another recipe, for meat: wash the meat well and put it in vinegar, keep it and marinate it in ghee flavoured with asafetida.  Mix the meat with potherbs of all kinds and put it into a cooking pot.  When it is well-cooked, add lime juice, pepper and fresh ginger and serve it. (The Nimatnama Manuscript, pg. 13).

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken (or meat of your choice)

1 1/2 C. Vinegar

1/2 C. Ghee

1/2 tsp. Asafetida

1 tsp, ground cumin, coriander and dried parsley

1 1/2 tsp turmeric

1 Tbs. chopped ginger

1 Tbs. lime juice

1 tsp ground pepper

Redaction:

Normally you’d use a whole chicken (with skin and bones) or if you prefer red meat 2 lbs of your choice.  Here I used 4 chicken thighs with skin and bones roughly 1.5 lbs. 

The meat was put into a clay pottery pot.  Here I added the vinegar. 

The vinegar is both balsamic and generic white cider. 
I wanted a little sweet to the tart bite. You can go either way depending on what your taste is, as no particular type of vinegar is specified.  Marinade for 4 hours or overnight.

*Asafetida is very potent.  A little goes a long way and will make your hands and kitchen smell…unusual.  If you don’t have any on hand, use garlic. 


Spices shown are ground.  Don’t be afraid to play with whole spices if you have those on hand!

 Put the chicken into a baking dish. Next add the pot herbs.  Here I combined cumin, coriander, mint and turmeric together. 

I like the flavors and they go well with lime and ginger. Place in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 or until the meat is well cooked and tender.

I used a clay pot both times.  One more period than the other.  Add ghee (clarified butter) and the asafetida* (also known as the Devil’s Stink Weed) together.  Pour into the baking dish.

Once you pull the meat from the oven add the lime juice, ginger and ground pepper to taste.  Eat!