fd-Africa-msg - 3/28/20

Period food of northern Africa. Moroccan food. Tangine.

NOTE: See also the files: Africa-msg, blacks-msg, Italy-msg, fd-Byzantine-msg,  fd-Mid-East-msg, fd-Greece-msg, fd-Turkey-msg, fd-Morocco-msg.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 02:24:09 -0500
From: Robert Gonzalez <robgonzo at cwix.com>
Subject: Re: SC - tagine?

>What's a tagine? Is this a period term as well as a modern one? Is
>there a differance between what they were then and now?
>--
>Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra

A tajine is a morracan dish. and also the name of the ceramic cookware in
which the dish is cooked and served.
I am not sure how  far back it goes but it is very basic so it seems that it
can go back quite a bit.
morrocan cooking and tajines in particular are characterized by their use of
fruits and vegtables along with meats in a thick stew or more like a gravy.
I've seen all sorts of combinations some even using fish as the meat.
the main thing tho is the use of several exotic spices.
This is a good link for more on moroccan cooking.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Cookbook/Morocco.html

and here is a Tajine recipe I got from David Rosengarten's show Taste. on
the food network.
BTW the Ras el Hanout mentioned is a spice blend which varies from place to
place. It means basically the best of the shop. meaning that if you go to a
spice store and ask for ras el hanout you will get a blend of the top 15 or
20 spices in the store. In the show David made a blend which include a few
basic things like annise and cinnomon as well as some more exotic items like
rose buds and orange blossom. unfortunately the web Food Network website did
not give the ingredients of that blend. Should have taped that one...
One of these days I'll get the guts to try this at an event or something. If
someone does please let me know how it goes.
Buena Suerte!
Roberto Maroquin de Aragon
Bjornsborg, Ansteorra

LAMB, PRUNE AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH TAGINE
(Adapted from Paula Wolfert Recipe)
3 pounds boned lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon ground saffron
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout, if desired
1/4 cup grated onion
5 sprigs fresh cilantro, tied with string
1 cup thinly sliced onion
I pound pitted prunes, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes
1/2 cup honey
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut in 2-inch pieces
1/2 cup orange flower water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Trim excess fat from meat.
In a bowl combine the butter, oil, saffron, turmeric, pepper, ginger, Ras el
Hanout, and onion. Dip meat in mixture to completely coat and add to
casserole set over moderate heat. Cook meat, turning, until no longer pink.
Add enough water to just cover meat and the cilantro, bring to a boil and
simmer, covered, 1 hour. Add sliced onions and simmer 30 minutes longer. Add
drained prunes and simmer, uncovered, until sauce is reduced to 1 cup.
Arrange squash in a fresh pan. Add orange flower water, honey and cinnamon
sticks. Simmer 15 minutes undisturbed. Reduce cooking liquid over high heat
until syrupy. Return to casserole and simmer 5 minutes, or until squash is
tender.
To serve: transfer meat to a serving dish, spoon sauce with onion and prunes
over it and garnish with the squash. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Serve
over Couscous.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Recommended drink: Green Tea


Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 12:39:42 -0700
From: lilinah at grin.net
Subject: Re: SC - tagine?

Roberto Maroquin de Aragon wrote:

>here is a Tajine recipe I got from David Rosengarten's show Taste. on
>the food network.
<snipped and moved>
>(Adapted from Paula Wolfert Recipe)

I highly recommend Paula Wolfert's cook books, any of them:
        Mediterranean Cooking
        The Cooking of South-West France
        The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean

I am especially fond of the Moroccan one, although it is not at all "period":
        Couscous and Other Good Foods from Morocco
        copyright 1973
        Harper and Row
        ISBN 0-06-014721-0

>BTW the Ras el Hanout mentioned is a spice blend which varies from place to
>place. It means basically the best of the shop. meaning that if you go to a
>spice store and ask for ras el hanout you will get a blend of the top 15 or
>20 spices in the store. In the show David made a blend which include a few
>basic things like annise and cinnomon as well as some more exotic items like
>rose buds and orange blossom. unfortunately the web Food Network website did
>not give the ingredients of that blend. Should have taped that one...

In "Couscous and Other Good Foods from Morocco", she has a discussion of
ras el hanout.

I asked some time ago if anyone know if ras el hanout was period, and if so
did anyone have a recipe, but got only resounding silence in return. So,
here's what Paula has to say about Ras (head) el Hanout (of the shop):

(begin quoted section)
p. 24  "Ras el hanout, which means, literally, "top of the shop," seems to
fascinate everyone, foreigners and Moroccans alike. It is a very old
mixture of many spices, sometimes ten, sometimes nineteen, sometimes
twenty-six; Moroccans have told me of a ras el hanout that contained more
than a hundred ingredients.

It is incorrest to think of ras el hanout as a curry powder by another
name, It lacks the abundance of fenugreek, coriander seeds, mustard seeds,
poppy seeds, and cumin of commercial curry. Though theoretically almost
anything is permissible in ras el hanout-even dried garlic and
saffon-obviously some mixtures are better than others. The aphrodisiacs
(Spanish fly, ash berries, and monk's pepper) that appear in most formulae
seem to be the reason why the mere mention of this mixture will put a gleam
into a Moroccan cook's eye.

Ras el hanout is used in Moroccan game dishes' in mrouzia (Lamb Tagine with
Raisins, Almonds, and Honey, p. 286), a sweet lamb dish; in the hashhish
candy called Majoun (p. 314); in various rice and couscous stuffings; and
even in some recipes for bisteeya. I bought a packet in the Attarine
quarter of Fez, where it si sold in brut form, and after a long analysis, a
friend in New York who is a spice merchant and I came up with the following
list of ingredients:

Allspice
Ash berries (Holarrhen, called lissan ettir in Morocco. A tan, elongated
spice that looks like a bird's tongue and is alleged to have strong
medicinal and aphrodisiacal properties.)
Belladonna leaves
Black cummin seeds (Nigella arvensis sativa, called habet el soudane in
Morocco)
        [Anahita's note: i think this is called kalonji in India]
Black peppercorns
Cantharides (Lytta vesicatoria, called debbal el hand in Morocco. The very
sight of these green, metallic beetles, called "Spanish fly" terrifies me)
Cardamom pods (Eletteria cardamomum, called qaqual in Morocco)
Wild cardamom pods (Eletteria cardamomum, var. major, called abachi in
Morocco, and popularly known as "bitter black cardamom"...)
        [Anahita's note: you can sometimes find these in Indian shops]
Cayenne
Cassia cinnamon
Ceylon cinnamon
Cloves
Coriander seed
Cubeb pepper
Earth almonds (Cyperus esculentus, called tara soudania in Morocco... a
perfumed chestnut taste)
Galingal (Alpinia galanga, called kedilsham in Morocco... In Indonesia it
is frequently used, and is called laos)
Ginger
Gouza el asnab (...a kind of nut...I have not been able to identify its
botanical name and am indebted to the Fez bookbook of Mme. Z. Guinaudea for
being able to identify it at all)
Grains of paradise
Long pepper
Lavender
Mace
Monk's pepper (Agnus castus, called kheroua in Morocco. Another potent
aphrodesiac.)
Nutmeg
Orrisroot
Turmeric

[Anahita's note: i have not included all her excellent notes on most of the
spices, only on those that are a bit obscure, or this would be much longer
- - of course what's obscure to one person may be commonplace to another - if
you have more questions, i'll selectively quote more of her notes.]

p. 26  With a  Moroccan girl who lives in New York, I worked out an
American formula for ras el hanout that obviously lacks some of the rare
Moroccan items like cubeb peppers and the aphrodisiacs. Nevertheless, it's
a pretty good approximation.

Try to make it yourself if you want; your blender will undoubtedly survive
all these nuts, sticks, barks, and seeds, but the aroma will linger on--ras
el hanout is strong. (Follow with a separate grinding of cane sugar and
your blender will be clear and clean). Grind the following ingredients in a
blender until you obtain a fine mix, then sieve:

4 whole nutmegs 1/2 tsp. lavender
10 rosebuds     1 Tb. white peppercorns
12 cinnamon sticks      2 pieces of galangal
12 blades mace  2 Tb. whole gingerroot
1 tsp. aniseed  6 cloves
8 pieces turmeric       24 allspice berries
2 small pieces orrisroot        20 white or green cardamom pods
2 dried cayenne peppers 4 wild (black) cardamom pods

[Anahita's note: because of the good services of fellow listee and spice
merchant, Francisco Sirene (or your other preferred spice merchant) we here
have the option of adding both kinds of cinnamon, black cummin, grains of
paradise, and long pepper, if we want to experiment ourselves. And you may
want to "bump up" the amount of cayenne a little.]

p. 27  A rather simple recipe for ras el hanout--although far less
thrilling to make or use--can be made with the following formula (buying in
ounces from a spice merchant and grinding at home):

1/2 ounce allspice berries      1-1/2 ounces dried gingerroot
1 ounce black peppercorns       1/2 ounce stick cinnamon
1/2 ounce galingal or laos roots        1/4 ounce turmeric
1/2 ounce mace blades   3 rosebuds
1-1/2 whole nutmegs             1 clove
10 cardomom pods

(end quoted section)

Happy eating,

Anahita Gaouri bint-Karim al-hakim al-Fassi


Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 17:42:26 -0500
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: Re: SC - OOP? Question what is a Tagine?

My copy of "The International Cook's Catalogue" has a entry on Tajines;
quote:

"In Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria a tajine is a savory stew of fish, meat or
poultry.  The variety is endless---- a tajine can be a subtle red snapper
ragout , an assertive melange of mutton and quince, or a perfumed blend of
chicken with preserved lemons.

A tajine is slowly simmered in a tajine slaoui, a round, shallow,
flat-bottomed earthenware dish with a high conical lid.  The lid fits snugly
into a lip in the dish so that steam and flavor cannot escape during
cooking. "

It goes on to describe dining customs and the dimensions of individual
tajine slaoui of of which they show both a "for use" and a "serving piece
only".  Best you check to see if what they are selling can be put in the
oven.  Oddly enough they provide a recipe for "Lamb Tagine with Fried
Eggplant" in which they use the alternative spelling you provided.  They
cribbed it from "Couscous and other Good Food from Morocco"  by Paula
Wolfert  ISBN: 0-06-091396-7.  My copy of her book shows numerous beef,
lamb, veal, chicken, and fish dishes.  As I understand that it is still
currently in print you might stop by B&N or what have you and check it out.
What price do they have on the tagine?  My 1977 ICC shows a price of $30.00
for the "for use" version and $36.00 for the highly decorated "serving only"
model.

Daniel Raoul le Vascon de Navarre', who as he has not had his din din can be
called, The Hungry.


Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 05:54:43 EDT
From: <DianaFiona at aol.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Food book West African Middle Ages

MelanieWilson at bigfoot.com writes:
<< 
 Of no real interest to me, but I can across this title that might interest
 some of you !
 
 West African food in the Middle Ages by Lewicki T
 
 Mel >>

    If this is the one I'm thinking of, it's a scholar's treatise rather than 
a recipe book. I ran across one with a title something like this a couple of 
years ago when our shire did an event with a West African theme, and the lady 
doing the feast managed to get an ILL of the volume I found. This was one of 
the cases where putting together a feast involved *lots* of speculation and 
correlation's between the info we could get on the foods available at the 
target time/place and modern ethnic recipes from the same area. She did huge 
amounts of research and came up with a great meal. Not one that could be 
considered really period, of course, due to the sparsity of info, but still a 
wonderful use of the available resources..................

            Ldy Diana


Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 01:43:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] African dish
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

--- Sarah Fitzpatrick <fitz at ccountry.net> wrote:
> There is an northern African dish (Algeria?) with the crust made of a soft
> dough dabbed on a hot pan (a wok like turned upside dowm over the heat
> source) then pealed off and stacked. The pie is made of chicken, almonds
> layers of dough and I forget what else.  Maybe 10 sheets, filling and
> repeat. It is in the Time Life Cookbook for Africa.
> Sarah

I believe that the "hot pan" you are thinking of is a tajine or tagine, which is a ceramic pan with a ceramic cone-shaped chimney to bake or stew foods without  
having to stir them.  Almost all the North African tajines are ceramic, but there are metal ones made in America and Europe using the same principles.

Also, the recipe that you are thinking of is Moroccan and is called bstilla or bistilla or bisteeya or pastilla.  It is believed to have come to Morocco from  
Andalucia.  And the pastry used is called "trid".  According to Claudia Roden in her new book called "Arabesque", pages 66 through 68.  Claudia Roden is a very noted food historian who specializes in Mediterranian foods.  Her new book covers Moroccan, Turkish and Lebanese foods.

Huette


Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:39:09 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] West African Food in the Middle Ages
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

West African Food in the Middle Ages: According to Arabic Sources by Tadeusz Lewicki
There is now a paperback edition of this title. The 1974 hardback has long been OP. Published by Cambridge University Press on March 5, 2009.
ISBN-10:0521102022 ISBN-13:978-0521102025

"It is important for historians studying West Africa before the sixteenth
century, particularly social and economic historians, to know what the
basic foods were before the arrival of crops from the Americas such as
maize, cassava, ground nuts, red peppers and tomatoes. Medieval Arabic
historians and geographers recorded a great deal of information about
social and economic life in Africa during the period and this is a
full-scale attempt to make use of the material related to foodstuffs and
the preparation of the food. The references collected from the Arabic
texts are interpreted in the light of the work of modern ethnographers
and the descriptions given by travellers in more recent times."
Contents: 1. Arabic sources for the history of the foodstuffs used by 
West African peoples; 2. Vegetable foodstuffs; 3. Meat and fish; 4. 
Other foodstuffs; 5. Utensils.

Johnnae


Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:24:14 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] West African Food in the Middle Ages
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

<<< "It is important for historians studying West Africa before the sixteenth
century, particularly social and economic historians, to know what the
basic foods were before the arrival of crops from the Americas such as
maize, cassava, ground nuts, red peppers and tomatoes.
Johnnae >>>

The ground nuts reference caught me by surprise until I realized they were 
referring to Arachis hypogea, the peanut.   Vigna subterranea, the Bambara 
or African groundnut, is the indigenous ground nut of West Africa and it is 
a basic food stuff in Africa.

Looks like a book I want to add to the collection.

Bear 


From the fb "SCA-Cooks" group:

Andrea Halimah Mobley
September 27 at 4:30 PM

Would any researchers of non European period cooking send me a DM...specifically African, Indian or Southeast Asia. I’d like to pick your brain please and thank you 

Johnna Holloway 
From Arabic sources but still of interest. West African Food in the Middle Ages - by Tadeusz Lewicki. https://www.cambridge.org/.../76F24D8707CC6ACD6B6DC32373A...#

Johnna Holloway 
If you have academic library access (ProQuest databases) I'd suggest a search through the dissertations database. It's long, involved, and labor intensive, but you can dig into dissertations that may help, at least on the topic of medieval foods in sub saharan Africa. Also will give you an idea of what problems you will encounter. Here's one for example: Tracing history in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali—archaeology, oral traditions and written sources
Arazi, Noemie. University of London, University College London (United Kingdom), 2005.

Johnna Holloway 
This one looks interesting-- The culture of crops on the Gold Coast (West Africa) from the earliest times to circa 1850
La Fleur, James Daniel. University of Virginia, 2003.
The present study describes changing Gold Coast foodways not only as the product of internal innovation, but as participating in cultural cross-currents of the Atlantic world. 
This became the basis for the book: Fusion foodways of Africa's Gold Coast in the Atlantic era.

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	fd-Africa-msg	Page 2 of 8