chefzadi

I think it might be carob, oddly enough. edited to add this link ← Here

Looks great Elie- Reminds me of a variation of leavened kesra, no baking powder, yeast instead. I know I'll be eating Omar's Lebanese cooking sometime soon, hope to taste yours. Of course I'll be making your Lebanese bread recipe.

The other thread is about fresh pork belly (non, oui?) which has different applications. As others have already said in this thread I would brown in first. Adding it towards the end is okay too depending on the texture you want, it's a more homey finish. Unless you do some sort of smoked pork belly foam or gelee...

Here

They'll learn one of thes days. There are different modes of publishing and tapping into niche markets. My wife knows more about this then I do. Anyway, I would suggest writing a prospectus. I will send you some links.

Carob you say? Last year my son came down with a bad case of the runs. I went to hole $$$$ to purchase something with 'good bacteria' in it. A few years earlier a doctor in France had prescribed an acidophilus supplement for my daugher who had the same problem and it worked. So I was looking for the same thing. The chipper, team player, head of supplement section insisted that carob powder would stiffen his stools. That night my son spewed brown liquid from both ends. Yeah, carob is great if you don't 'expect' it to taste like chocolate or to stiffen stools. Ya know I'm playing with ya Mizducky. True story though.

H'reimi means hot in Algerian derja and it is transliterated by French speaking Algerians this way. Hamrāya has h'rissa, h'rissa almost always has cumin in it. Missing cumin found. Maghrebi derja, especially Algerian cannot be entirely decoded or even easily understood from the point of a classical/standard speaker of Arabic or a Mashriq speaker, even in it's written form. Algerian derja has loan words from Amazigh. Algerian derja has Amazigh-Arab hyrbid words. Amazigh, including food terms, are also written in Arabic. Amazigh has Arab-Amazigh hybrid words. The other non-Arabic loan words in our derja can probably be easily deciphered by a relatively educated person. Hamrāya- can mean to make hot or to make something with chilis, the name has nothing to do with cumin or the type of seafood used. The exact same Libyan recipe can be found in all three Magreb countries with the same, similar or different names. The recipe listed by the way doesn't include onions in the list of ingredients, but it does in the directions for preparation. Tomato juice is a new addition. It's not something our moms or grandmothers would have added. Libyan Arabic overlaps with Maghrebi derja where the country borders Tunisia and Algeria.

Yes, freedom. That is one reason I want to start a blog seperately with my own 'user agreement.' It's also a way for me to expand my teaching.

I met one of the winners today. LA's Jonathon Gold. I forgot to congratulate him. Congratulations Jonathon!

I'd like to tie up this thread for now, unless anyone as specific questions about recipes. I'm working on the second draft which should be completed in 2-3 months. All of the historical information will be sent scholars for verification. I have over 100 Amazigh recipes, mostly from the Kabyle and over 500 other recipes. My always supportive wife is actually learning Tamzight, Algerian Darja and Classical Arabic food terms. The accuracy of the terms will be verified with linguists. I'm also working on curriculum for a series of workshops on Algerian cuisine that I will be conducting for professionals and students, organizing a special event for foods from the Ancient World, blogging, an online culinary course (I will wait for the powers that be to announce what it is, no it's not on Algerian cooking) and volunteering/donating my services at local shelters... Thank you all for your feedback and input in this discussion.

I've taught another class to children since my last update. The kids in the poorer neighborhoods break my heart. They are so sweet, gentle and eager to help me with the cooking demos. I can see that many of the children in the poorer neighborhoods are malnourished. I see it in their skin, hair, nails. They wear hand me downs, tattered cheap ill fitting clothes. They eat everything I make them. Often times it's a really a full meal portion shortly after lunchtime. I wonder what they ate at lunch. I wonder what they will eat for dinner. I wonder what they will have for breakfast. The so called third world is right here in Los Angeles. 25% of the children in California live below the poverty line. I will be at The Good Shepard in a couple of weeks. They are having a spa day for homeless women in transition. The women have different reasons/causes for becoming homeless with children no less. Oh my God, the most vulnerable on the streets. The use of the word "spa" is for fun, make no mistake about it, the scene is not something out of Oprah. It is very basic, the neccessities of life. Including clothes and makeup for job interviews. A buffet lunch will be served. I will donate some food for it. We are discussing the logistics of doing a demo/class. It's not a solution for all the problems in the world. It is about little steps. Reaching out to another person in small ways, breathing tiny amounts of hope.

Don'te get me started on Ray Charles! I'll leave it to my wife to talk about Coltrane, Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Monk....

She of the long blond hair riding a horse... Did she ride side saddle or cowboy style? Mint Julip.

I appreciate beautiful horses and fast women. A beautiful fast woman is a gift to be treasured, a godess indeed. Horses and women don't belong in the same sentence unless we are speaking of Catherine the Great. Bourbon I am not so sure of. Looking forward to this blog. You go! Go Zilla!

My wife and her family immigrated to Los Angeles in January of 1975. They missed the taco crisis by just a hair, but hit the gas crisis head on (odd or even ending numbers on the license plate). She's crazy I tell ya! Life is never boring with her, but I am sure she has shortened my life span by at least ten years. I make her crazy with this attitude. Mwah ha ha!!!!! When we go to In n Out, she already knows I should order 4 double doubles. I order 2 instead. After I'm done I order 2 more, making my family wait 30-40 minutes more after they are all done.

I could eat one of those pastrami sandwiches by myself on a good day, especially after a soccer game. I am not an over orderer like my wife. This is a pet peeve I've learned to live with. Take out containers and leftovers cluttering the frigo still piss me off though. But after 8 years together I just laugh and say, "war is over." Really how can a sane person living in a major city like Los Angeles ever fear a food shortage? With that said, I do cook too much food for guests. The worst mistake I think I can make as a host is not having enough food to satisfy, no stuff my guests.

I'm intrigued by his use of spices. I wonder if anyone who has dined there can describe what they tasted in terms of spices? Does he have a very light hand? Blends? Single notes? Infusions of sauces/broths? Does he use spices as part of a crust? etc,etc,etc...

My school library has ordered this book at my request. I will be using parts of it for "The French Connection" (The language, history, terroir and culinary terms club I lead). True I don't need the book, I already understand the book so I will be a tutor for the book... It seems like the book needs a supplement or an old school trained French chef instructor as a tutor. The supplement is more cost effective.

I'm planning on finding out. I want to interview him for my book. If you have specific questions post them or pm them to me. I want to interview him as soon as possible though.

Great game plan. Sounds like you've put in some time as a T.A. What would I do without a T.A.? Being a T.A. is great training to be a Sous Chef/Kitchen manager.

A quick update. The church has time and space. There is a waitlist of students. The main concern is funding. The funding is a matter of juggling politics. I contacted some of the organizations mentioned upthread. I would like to teach for them as well. There is a lot of bureaucracy that slows things down. I have trouble being patient with it. It seems so simple to me.

They are still masked by master chefs! Surely a chef who is totally at the mercy of fickle mother nature is doomed. Produce that is not the absolute finest and freshest must be treated to bring out the best. Otherwise it is "shopping not cooking" and such a chef is helpless in between seasons or with a fish that is a day too old. As for Point, I agree with you. But I also think that the ideas you mention were part of larger shifts/changes in the concept of restaurants, dining out and a growing Bourgeois. As for Bocuse nouvelle cuisine was happening and would have continued to happen with out him. Of course in different ways and his contributions are not taken lightly. But Escoffier? He had a vision. I want to continue this discussion in depth. But at the moment I really need to focus on my Algerian cookbook. After that it will be French cooking. I will begin with Lyon and the Beaujolais. Les Meres, Eugenie Brazier and of course Bocuse.

Ooooh, oooh ME ME ME! I look good while I fillet salmon as well. I worked up the line one step at a time. No shortcuts here. Plus I have the added value of multi-cultural appeal coupled with 'serious chef.' I'll go up against Keller or Ducasse. Mano a Mano, toe to toe. My only prima donna request is that I get to pick my own wardrobe and no green M&M's.

Further in this chapter is The Wandering Jew I mentioned in the Beautiful Algeria thread that for the most part there is no distinction form Jewish Algerian cooking and non-Jewish Algerian cooking. The differences would be related to Kashrut and not in the ingredients or use of aromatics. This is why I had a bit of trouble wrapping my mind around Jewish recipes of the region. In the back of mind the question, "why is this particularly Jewish and not simply Algerian or Moroccan or Tunisian?" lingered. The discussion in the book is just a few pages, but very concise as is Mr Wright's style of writing. The role of Jews as transporters, exporters and documenters is very clearly stated. As a side not this reminds me of my Israeli friend who I met in Korea. His mother was a Moroccan Jew. She came to visit and he of course brought her to the restaurant I was working at. She immediately hugged and kissed me allover. It's the bled that we share.

I have not read every page of this wondrous book. Each page swells with knowledge and scholarship. If I may be so bold as to clumsily share my thoughts I would like to begin near the end of the book. In a chapter titled Conclusion the Unity of the Mediterranean. From my own point of view I have seen the Mediterranean as North and South, the European side and the African side. This of course has to do with the history of the Magrheb and Algeria in particular. But the North and South of course can be considered the West when seen in relation to the Mashriq. And East and West make more sense for historical purposes which I won't get into too much now. Yes, the art and architecture of Maghreb have been discussed in this forum in other threads. The Roman mosaics of Tunisia. The Byzantine and Roman ruins in Setif, Algeria. Ancient footprints are petrified next to modern buildings. The Maghreb has a long memory as does the Mediterranean itself.