So in this post I promised to talk about my A&S entries for the competition we had on November 19th in the Canton of Greyfells (Kingston, ON). As you might have seen on my blog for some time I had what I was working on for my Kingdom A&S entries. I had decided to put in 5 pieces, but not do the Pentathlon! Which was good because a friend won it with her fabulous nettles work! YAY!
So my entries were as follows:
- Tudor Gable Hood (Beginner)
- Men's Complete 16th Century Japanese Garb (Intermediate)
- Bobbin Lace (Beginner)
- Arab Chicken Dish (Beginner)
- Arab Chickpea Dish (Beginner)
The Tudor gable hood was completely done by hand and I had made it for TSivia's Pelican elevation. It was really nice to have people ask questions about it. I do believe that I have pictures from earlier posts with it on. I have had it for a while, but it was nice to get some comments on it. I am curious to see what those will be exactly (they should be coming in the mail soon!).
My second piece was Takahiro's Kosode, Hakama, Dobuku. I will try and post a picture of him in his Garb, but I wanted to hear if there was anyone who could give me more information on to how to push this to the next level.
My Bobbin lace was truly a beginner entry, as this was the work I had done at my Pennsic class this past year. I like how my stitches are becoming more solid and done properly. I got some great suggestions about how to make a new pillow and Siglinda suggested we meet up to chat about lace as that is her specialty! Yay, someone in town to chat with. Hopefully in January I can do that with her, time to focus on some project! LOL.
Now on to the two dishes I had lots of fun doing - but they were time consuming. This is where all my pictures come from on this post! hehe...
My Arabic Chicken Dish called Another bārida from the book of al-Wāthiq.
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| Arab Cooking - ingredients picture |
I wanted to do a recipe from the Annals of the Caliph’s Kitchens Ibn Sāyyar al-Warrāq’s Tenth Century Baghdadi Cookbook. I am very curious of Arab cookery in medieval times and I wanted try out some new recipes. So I decided that I wanted to do a cold meat appetizer as this would be easier to transport to the A&S competition. I hope to add this recipe to my repertoire.
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| Spices ready for toasting |
List of ingredients were: 2 Roast Chicken (breasts), ½ cup of Mustard, 2 tsp of Murrī, 1 tbsp. of White Sugar, 2.5 tbsp. of Ground Walnuts, 1 pinch of Asafetida (ground), Drizzled Olive Oil once plated, Pomegranate Seeds
Murrī
3 Tbsp honey,1 1/2 oz white bread, 1 Tbsp wheat starch (used corn starch instead), 2/3 tsp anise seeds, 2/3 tsp fennel seeds, (2/3 t nigela) – Not able to get at this time, 1/4 tsp saffron, 1/3 tsp celery seed, 1/4 oz carob powder, 1/4 oz ground walnuts, 1 1/2 oz quince – not in season – unable to get at this time (used a pear), 1/2 cup salt, 1 pint water plus ¾ cups, lemon (1/4 of one).
Mustard
4 tsp Yellow Mustard seeds, 5 tbsp of White Wine Vinegar, 3-4 pieces of saffron, ¼ tsp poudre douce.
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| Honey starting to scorch |
Byzantine Murrī
I started out by placing all my necessary ingredients together and pre-measured. I then heated up the small fry pan with the honey. I heated the honey on med till it boiled then I removed the pan from the heat and let it cool 5 minutes. I then reheated the pan again and brought it to a boil. I did this 2 more times as the recipe requires the honey to taste scorched.
I started out by placing all my necessary ingredients together and pre-measured. I then heated up the small fry pan with the honey. I heated the honey on med till it boiled then I removed the pan from the heat and let it cool 5 minutes. I then reheated the pan again and brought it to a boil. I did this 2 more times as the recipe requires the honey to taste scorched.
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| Toasted bread in Mortar |
I then toasted the slice of bread in the toaster so that it was almost black. Once the toast had cooled I pulled it apart and put it into my mortar and pestle and crushed the bread to breadcrumbs.
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| A fine bread crumb |
I then toasted the anise and fennel seeds on the stove in a small pan. When toasted they were added to the mortar and pestle to be ground with the ground walnuts and celery seeds. Now I was waiting for the honey to be done, once it was ready I moved the honey to a medium sauce pan and added the water and salt to the pot. I wanted to dissolve the salt and honey before I added the rest of the ingredients (except the lemon).
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| Honey, water and salt |
Once they were dissolved I added the saffron and Carob powder, then the rest of the spices, the walnuts, breadcrumbs, starch and pears. Now it needed to simmer for about 2 hours. I stirred the pot regularly. Once it was ready then I removed the pot and put the sauce in a fine mesh sieve and pushed through the pear and any little pieces of spice and nuts. Back on the stove it went and I added the lemon juice. It simmered for another 30 minutes. I repeated this process 2 more times. The murrī was ready.
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| All ingredients in the pot |
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| Murrī ready for the mustard mixture |
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| Mustard |
Medieval Mustard
I measured out the mustard seeds and placed them in a glass bowl and added the white wine vinegar and covered them with plastic wrap to soak overnight. In the morning I drained off the excess vinegar (but kept it on hand) and put the seeds in my mortar and pestle. I then proceeded to mash the seeds into a grainy mustard texture. I then added some of the vinegar to get it a little more sauce like. I then added some saffron and poudre douce to flavor the mixture. I then set it aside to continue the sauce for the chicken.
I measured out the mustard seeds and placed them in a glass bowl and added the white wine vinegar and covered them with plastic wrap to soak overnight. In the morning I drained off the excess vinegar (but kept it on hand) and put the seeds in my mortar and pestle. I then proceeded to mash the seeds into a grainy mustard texture. I then added some of the vinegar to get it a little more sauce like. I then added some saffron and poudre douce to flavor the mixture. I then set it aside to continue the sauce for the chicken.
Poultry Dish
I took 2 chicken breast with the bone in and salt and peppered the breasts before I placed them on the Barbecue. Once they were at the correct temperature I then removed the breasts and let them stand for about 5 minutes. I then removed the bone and sliced the breasts into a reasonable bite size. I then placed them in the refrigerator so that they would cool and be ready for transport to the site.
For the sauce I took the mustard and added 2 tsp. of murrī and 1 tbsp of sugar to get a nice sweet sour taste. The mustard also has quite a bit of heat to it, so it made a nice combination. I then added ground walnuts which thickened the mustard quite a bit and then I added the ground asafetida. I then put this mixture in the fridge so that the flavours would meld nicely.
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| Another bārida from the book of al-Wāthiq - Photo by David Gotlieb |
~Em
Part 2 coming shortly - Arabic Chickpea with Ginger and
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