lamb-burgers-msg - 1/8/19
Period Moroccan Lamb Burgers.
NOTE: See also the files: lamb-mutton-msg, chopped-meat-msg, Meatbals-Veal-art, meatballs-msg, Parthian-Lamb-art, Romn-Meatbals-art, Sour-Lamb-Stw-art.
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From the fb "SCA Cooks" group:
Jennifer 'pixel' Getty
July 5 at 12:35 PM
Last night I redacted "A Type of Ahrash" from the Anonymous Andalusian cookbook for supper:
A Type of Ahrash
This is the recipe used by Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and others in Morocco, and they called it isfîriyâ. Take red lamb, pound it vigorously and season it with some murri naqî', vinegar, oil, pounded garlic, pepper, saffron, cumin, coriander, lavender, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chopped lard, and meat with all the gristle removed and pounded and divided, and enough egg to envelop the whole. Make small round flatbreads (qursas) out of them about the size of a palm or smaller, and fry them in a pan with a lot of oil until they are browned. Then make for them a sauce of vinegar, oil, and garlic, and leave some of it without any sauce: it is very good.
My redaction:
2 lbs ground lamb
2 eggs
2 T soy sauce (for a vague murri-esque flavor)
2 T vegetable oil
1 T cider vinegar (because it was either that or distilled white)
3 T spice blend
Smoosh together until thoroughly blended. Make small patties, fry in olive oil. We did not use the vinegar/oil/garlic sauce (the Consort referred to it as "salad dressing" and informed me it was not necessary), and keen eyes will note that although garlic appears in the original recipe it does not appear in my redaction, because I forgot it. The resultant patties were still delicious. The recipe made 14, it probably would have made 16 if I hadn't made them slowly larger over time. The remaining ones are going to go into the freezer to be dinner one night at our camping event next week.
Spice blend:
2 T each whole grains of paradise and cubebs, ground
2 T ground cumin
2 T ground cinnamon
2 T ground ginger
~ 1 t whole cloves, ground
~ 1/2 t saffron, ground with the cloves, etc.
Keen eyes will note the absence of pepper, coriander, and lavender--Dependent #2 is horribly allergic to both pepper and coriander/cilantro while Dependent #4 is horribly allergic to lavender. In the interests of not poisoning household members, I substituted of grains of paradise and cubebs for the pepper and coriander, and just omitted the lavender entirely.
Andi Houston
If you ever make this again, try taking lamb stew meat and putting it through a blender or food processor, rather than buying ground lamb. Gives the patties a smooth texture, rather than like American hamburger.
Jennifer 'pixel' Getty
Oh, I plan on actually trying the pounded meat--I have a super-butch granite mortar and pestle that I bought for smushing meat and chickpeas and what-have-you. This first run-through was for taste and general recipe tweaking.
I am one of those weird people who doesn't own a food processor.
Urtatim Al-Qurtubiyya
I have made and taught this recipe for about 10 years. I put the meat into the food processor, but i'm very careful not to process it too much. If it is over-processed, when the egg is mixed in, the patties won't hold together.
Here's my version:
13th Century Ahrash — Moroccan Lamb Burgers
I have been cooking and teaching this recipe for around 10 years. The 13th century anonymous Andalusian cookbook has 3 recipes for ahrash. This one, the first in the book, is identified as coming from Morocco, while the others are not identified with a particular region. I serve it with Sinab, a mustard sauce, recipe below.
ORIGINAL RECIPE
A Type of Ahrash Called Isfiriya. This is the recipe used by Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and others in Morocco, and they called it isfiriya. Take red lamb, pound it vigorously and season it with some murri naqi', vinegar, oil, pounded garlic, pepper, saffron, cumin, coriander, lavender, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chopped fat, and meat with all the gristle removed and pounded and divided, and enough egg to envelop the whole. Make small round flatbreads (qursat) out of them about the size of a palm or smaller, and fry them in a pan with a lot of oil until they are browned. Then make for them a sauce of vinegar, oil, and garlic, and leave some of it without any sauce: it is very good.
An anonymous 13th century Andalusian cookbook, Charles Perry, trans.
Urtatim's Version
makes six to eight patties
1-1/2 lb. ground Lamb
6 cloves Garlic, pounded
1-1/2 Tb. Lavender Buds
1 Tb. ground Coriander seeds
2 tsp. ground Cumin seeds
1-1/2 tsp. powdered Cinnamon
1 tsp. powdered Ginger
1/2 tsp. ground Pepper
scant 1/4 tsp. powdered Cloves
1/8 tsp. Saffron, crumbled
3 Tb. Tamari Soy Sauce, instead of murri naqi' (see note)
2 Tb. White or Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tb. high quality Olive Oil
2 Eggs, beaten
Olive Oil for frying
Sauce:
3/4 c. White or Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tb. high quality Olive Oil
6 cloves Garlic, smashed
1. Pounded meat has a finer, smoother texture than ground meat. To achieve this, run ground meat through a food processor. Do not process too much because if the texture meat is too fine, the patties will not stay together when the eggs are mixed in.
2. Blend together all spices, then stir into meat along with soy sauce, vinegar, oil, garlic, and eggs.
3. Make small round patties the size of the palm of the hand or smaller.
4. Fry them in a pan on medium heat with plenty of oil until they brown. Patties shrink while cooking.
5. Make sauce of vinegar, oil, and garlic. Serve on the side; it separates, so stir well before using. (my note: If the sauce for meat patties includes murri or soy sauce it is even more flavorful.)
6. Eat with soft flatbread such as naan. It is good served with Sinab (see recipe)
Note:
I use soy sauce because of Charles Perry's experiments making murri.
Sinab — Mustard-Almond Sauce
A prepared mustard condiment of ground mustard seed mixed with sour grape juice (verjus) or vinegar, was common in Andalusian cooking, yet unknown in the East where mustard seed was used.
ORIGINAL RECIPE
Recipe for Making Sinab. Clean good mustard and wash it with water several times, then dry it and pound it until it is as fine as kohl*. Sift it with a sieve of hair, and then pound shelled almonds and put them with the mustard and stir them together. Then press out their oil and knead them with breadcrumbs little by little, not putting in the breadcrumbs all at once but only little by little. Then pour strong vinegar, white of color, over this dough for the dish, having dissolved sufficient salt in the vinegar. Then dissolve it well to the desired point, and strain it thoroughly with a clean cloth; and there are those who after it is strained add a little honey to lessen its heat. Either way it is good.
An anonymous 13th century Andalusian cookbook, Charles Perry, trans.
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/.../andalusian_contents.htm
* Kohl is a powdered mineral, sometimes antimony, used to line the eyes of women and some men, as well as girls and boys to protect them from the evil eye. It nearly always contains lead, so importation into the US is forbidden. Commercial "kohl" eye pencils are not the same.
Urtatim's Version
makes about 2 cups
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 c. White or Red Wine Vinegar – do not use cider or "white" vinegar
1/4 c. Water
1/2 c. powdered Mustard Seed, about 2 oz.
6 oz. blanched Almonds, very finely ground, about 1/2 cup
1 or 2 slices high quality white bread, barely toasted, ground to make crumbs, a scant 1/2 cup (1/4 cup + 3 Tb)
1/4 c. Honey, optional, or to taste
1. Mix vinegar and water, put salt in it, and stir to dissolve.
2. Grind almonds.
3. Stir together ground almonds and mustard powder.
3. Then squeeze to press out the oil – this works best with very fresh almonds.
4. Add breadcrumbs little by little, kneading between additions.
5. Strain or puree further as desired.
6. Pour the vinegar over this paste, stirring to dissolve it well.
7. Add honey to taste, as desired
Taste and add more almonds or bread crumbs or honey or liquid as desired to balance flavors.
8. If you are sensitive to heat, you may want to age this a few days in the refrigerator.
Note:
• Although the recipe calls for "strong vinegar", I dilute the vinegar with water because :
a. the strength of vinegar was variable and was not standardized as it is in the US today;
b. for a competition I prepared a different recipe calling for cooking the ingredients in vinegar and, while I used half vinegar, half water, some judges thought it was still too strong.
• While this recipe calls for vinegar, it would be worthwhile to experiment using verjus instead.
• I sometimes take a short-cut version using Dijon mustard in place of the mustard powder and vinegar. In the recipe above, substitute 1 cup prepared Dijon mustard for the salt, vinegar, and water.
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