Adam Balic

Why?

Physically making the coucous takes less then twenty minutes. Infact it is more like five. The 'raw' couscous has to be steamed ~ 3 X 15 minutes. This involves putting the couscous into a steamer/kiskis/couscousière, steaming for 15 minutes, breaking up any lumps (very few lumps in my case) and adding a little water, then repeating the process. And it can be done in advance. Easy peasy. Suet is easy too. Take cold kidney fat and grate. Lard = put fat into pot of water, render out fat, remove solids, allow to set. Next I will make puff pastry I think. I am ashamed to say that I have never made this.

I decided to make couscous this weekend for a few friends. Normally this would involve five minutes work and a package of ‘instant’ couscous, as one of my friends would put it “This is the entire point of couscous, it’s better then pasta or rice because it involves no effort”. My friend is not a fan of ‘fancy’ cooking. I however, was curious to know how difficult it was to make couscous from scratch. So armed with instructions from Paula Wolfert’s “Mediterranean Grains and Greens” I set about obtaining the ingredients. No problem here, there are only two ingredients (or three if you count water) fine and coarse semolina. In the local Halal grocer I asked for the semolina, explaining that I was going to make couscous. Well this caused some confusion for the grocer, then great mirth. “Oh, you don’t make it, you use this instant couscous” and after explaining that I actually wanted to make it from scratch, “But, the instant is very good?”. Finally, after explaining that it wasn’t a matter the instant not being good, it to satisfying my curiosity. This the grocer could understand - I was clearly insane. Back in my kitchen, with the sound of a hysterically laughing Halal grocer echoing in my mind I questioned the wisdom of ‘Couscous venture 2003’, after all the only person I know to have made it from scratch, also mentioned a passing penchant for wearing pantaloons and listed horse-hair sieves as a vital part of kitchen equipment, I could see that this could be troublesome. Never the less, safe in the knowledge that my wife was at the gym for the next few hours and that any semolina disaster could be tidied/concealed before she can home I proceeded. Well, I followed the instructions. And do you know what? It was easy. Dead easy. Couscous makes it self. It transforms from flour to couscous before your eyes in such a way as to seem magical. I know the theory of how it works: the fine semolina flours binds to the individual grains of coarse flour, building up a tiny semolina pellet, as layers of semolina flour are added to the original semolina speck, in they same manner in which hailstones form. I know all this, but I still experienced a superstitious thrill from watching it occur. The first person to watch bread dough rise due to the action of yeast or taste fruit juice that had been tuned into wine by the same yeast must have experienced something similar. Roughly translated, this would be “Cool!”, possibly the response would have been even more enthusiastic in the latter case. Make couscous, it is easy and it is fun. It also tastes very good. Maybe, this is because of the pleasure derived from making it, but irrespective of this it tastes very good indeed.

Very interesting, thank you. There are big plans to introduce large amounts of cattle to the Mongolian grasslands (well at least to the bit that it is part of China), so you cow-free shots may become a rarity in the next twenty years or so. The Sheep's stomach looks like a inside out rumen form a fairly young animal. Did you notice if they used one of the other (four) types of sheep stomach to store different types of dairy produce? Rennet is produced in the true-stomach of young animals and it would be interesting to know if they make their cheese by storing milk in this stomach.

The pot was a glazed Tuscan bean pot. I added a tiny amount of liquid (juice of one Citron). The meat had basically no contraction (I assume that the temp was to low to effect the conective tissue). Based on the amount of liquid that was released by the meat and the rate that it was readsorbed/evaporated at, I would have had to cook the pot for at least 24 hours at 80.C, to get rid of the liquid. The white of the eggs had only changed to a light tan colour, if uniformly so. When the stew was cooled, the liquid did not gel at all, so this makes me think that after 12 hours the collagen had not been broken down completely.

Beef from paler cut of meat (girillo etc), beef marinated with limes juice, loose some blood, lime juice denatures proteins in beef, so it looks paler. Beef also could have been soak to remove blood so that people wouldn't freak about eating 'raw' beef. Beef was actually chicken.

I haven't made the cous cous yet, but I did make a Tangia over the last two days. I pretty much stuck to the description in Paula Wolfert's book, with a few alterations. Beef brisket (I haven't seen camel since Meknes) was cut into 1.5 by 2 inch cubes, these were mixed with crushed garlic and spices and placed in large terra cotta bean pot/amphora. Four uncracked raw eggs were added. pot sealed with parchemnt paper and string. placed in the oven at 80.C for 12 hours. After twelve hours the meat was still pinkish, but the collagen hadn't broken down. I cooked the dish for a further 1.5 hours at 160.C. Meat now very tender and still pinkish in the middle. I further flavoured the dish with citron zest and coriander (I lacked preserved lemons and I like coriander). The meat was very tender, but there was a great deal of liquid and the flavours were a little unconcentrated. I think that I should have cooked it at a higher temperture (I was guessing the temp.) It is a very good method for cooking a stew, but I need to modifiy the technique somewhat.

Quite often, is that wrong? Actually the 'Natural History' is an excellent read, especially if you are interested in food. Pity about the damn volcano though.

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced of that, but I can accept that it's a possibility. I'll have to do some reading before I am totally convinced. That said, I don't have a hard time believing that pounded garlic/oil sauces were made before egg/oil sauces. As to whether or not mayonnaise was derrived or evolved from these sauces... I don't know. If it helps add any texture to the debate, another Casas book, Delicioso!, refers to Allioli... "Alioli (allioli in Catalan), a garlic mayonnaise which most likely originated with the Romans..." Not sure of the accepted origin of mayonnaise, but this might shed some light on the pounded garlic/oil sauces vs. egg/oil sauces timeline. Pliny the Elder mentions a garlic and oil emulsion sauce, but he was describing a product made by the locals in the area he was living in. This place is now known as Tarragona and is Catalan. So it is more likely that the sauce is native to this area of Northern Spain, Southern France, rather then Roman.

Thank you, Tony. I wouldn't expect any less from you and your profound knowledge of Spain. 'Fresh' white asparagus that's three or four days old becomes wooden. That's the 'fresh' asparagus most people eat. And then of course the season is a very short one. Do buy yourself a tin of ultra-large Navarra white asparagus (of the size that's legally and quite precisely known as 'cojonudos') next time you're in Spain, open it without preconceived notions , and then report on it, please. Don't blast things you haven't tasted yet. That would be my humble piece of advice. Rude bugger aren't you? When you say tinned/canned, is this literally so, or does it mean bottled in glass? I ask because I would would have thought that the produce would be tainted from contact with the metal. Or are the cans lined with something maybe? I have never had white aparagas in Spain, only the wild green type.

"creamy-textured oil-based stable cold emulsifications" I don't think that would sell the product. Did I mention that I make my "creamy-textured oil-based stable cold emulsifications" with garlic using a wooden pestle in a large bowl? Is quite fun to do and it is less foamy then if you use a food processor.

Bacon = Pancetta. Don't you have un-smoked or rolled bacon (Ayreshire cure) in the US?

I make the recipe using only two garlic cloves and about two cups of oil, it is quite stable. Infact it is almost like a jelly until the second cup of oil is used. Aioli with egg is a garlic mayonnaise, I haven't and problem with that. But, it is important to consider that it came from a non-egg oil emulsion and that Mayonnaise is secondary to the original garlic emulsion sauce. There is also little historical documentation that suggests that Mayonnaise precedes Aioli. So if Aioli is the for-runner you can have your 'rosemary aioli', rather then 'Rosemary and garlic Mayonnaise', because if Mayonnaise has garlic in it then it is aioli.

Citrus are typically difficult to genetically manipulate and Citrons have existed for hundreds of years (if not longer) in cultivation. I also recognise the flavour of the rind. So I pretty sure it is 'natural'. Plus who would want to develop a giant lemon that is all pith and no juice?

Is Allioli native to Catalan? Penelope Casas' The Food and Wine of Spain lists its version with egg. I had assumed the lack of egg in some areas was to increase shelf-life. Do most Spaniards leave out the egg in theirs or only those in Catalan (I know, I know... Catalan is not Spain )? Allioli is Catalan, tradionally no egg, but I imagine that most garlicky, oily emulsion sauces have egg yolk added as it is much easier to stop the sauce from splitting with an egg yolk added.

Well from what I have read, Mayonnaise is the offspring of a eggless emulsion type sauce. A clue to this is the various names for a similar garlic/oil emulsion product from Southern France to Northern Spain. A good summary of the history of these types of sauces is given on Clifford A. Wright's site: Emulsion sauces I should say that I think that we are looking at this from opposite directions, me from the Catalan Allioli side, you from the French Aioli side. While Andrew Colman and Clifford Wright both speak about adding egg to allioli, it isn't traditional, as they both indicate. At the moment I don't have to add egg yolk, but I have failed in the past when I didn't add an egg yolk. Must be the Scottish garlic.

Strange citrus has been Identified. I have seen the grown-up versions. They are about 20-25 cm long and 10-15 cm wide. In cross section they resemble a lemon with a very thick peel. The juice is not very plentiful and is not as sour as a lemon. The zest smells is similar to a lemon, with a herbal note. When cooked the flavour of the zest is quite different to that of a lemon. This pretty much nails the identifiaction as a Citron/Cedro. Same species as the lemon, different sub-species though.

Pancetta is not smoked, or am I incorrect about this? Depends on the panchetta type. Much of it isn't though. Mostly I have seen the smoked versions coming from the North-East.

Adam, I don't know. But along the Cote d'Azur, you find lots and lots of Italians, and French people with Italian names, and Italianesque products such as porchetta, often with Italian names. Well I guess at one point they were as 'Italian' as any of the other regions. I have read that one of the greatest dispointments in Garibaldi's life was the desision of his home town of Nice to become French. Many locals in Nice still have Italian surnames. One would think that having a biscuit named after him would be enough for any man.

It's both molecules, but I prefer to give cholesterol the positive press for a change. A slightly more technical link explains: Emulsions I think that you are correct that it is possible to be to free and easy with the definition of Aioli, but if we are going to be so specific, then it is incorrect to refer to Aioli as simply a garlic flavoured mayonnaise. It certainly can be, but it really belongs to a seperate group of garlic and oil emulsions, the egg bit is window dressing.

I think that the catalan version in Spain (slightly different spelling), often doesn't contain egg, so it from a slightly different class of sauces I would guess. The cholesterol in the egg yolk helps in the emusification process. It is a bi-polar molecule that helps to form the tiny little beads of oil suspended in the liquid componant. As you can get away with garlic alone, garlic most contain molecules with similar properties.

My Summers are in Scotland, so not problem at all with bugs. Except midges.

Sure, and next you will be saying that making warqa is a piece of cake (actually I have made this, it has a different texture to filo, which I like). I have your book and Clifford A. Wright's book also describes it. But I have always assumed that it way purely something that cookbook authors place in there to tempt innocents and to mess up their kitchens. I shall make fresh cous cous in a weeks time and I shall report back on this site about the result. Instant cous cous will be on stand-by though.

I have no problem with leaving homemade mayonaise sitting around for a few hours or even longer if chilled. I have no fear of eggs though. You can make it without the egg yolk, but it is more likely to split. I haven't had a problem with this, but that is what the books say. Colman Andrew's great book on Catalan cooking has numerous variations on the theme. One of the nicer ones is to to flavour the Aioli with quince paste or other fruits.

I still have trouble imagining people actually making cous cous. It is an excellent product, but the effort involved in making it from scratch must be hugh. Especially some of the sub-Saharan cous cous made from maize or millet. I have several sizes of cous cous, do they have different uses? I really like the very fine grade, as it is so tender and fluffy that it takes you away from and association with pasta and 'al dente'.