Wolfert
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Posts posted by Wolfert
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This thread gets really interesting.
Thanks for your comments Wesza, and for purchasing so many copies of my couscous book. I hesitate to brag, but how can I resist now---the book published in 1973 is still in print .
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In my experience, a tagine/dish involving couscous encorporates meat and spices, the couscous is not served seperately. I have also had sweet couscous made with fruit, spices, and sugar.
I'm not sure what dish you had. A tagine is not only a stew of meat, poultry, vegetables or fish, it is the name of the dish it is cooked in. I am not familiar with couscous being served inside a tagine . Do you remember wHere you had this?
Here's the skinny on steaming couscous versus following the package directions.
One pound of couscous makes about 6 cups following those directions
Steaming couscous will produce up to 18 cups tender lovely grains.
Microwaving it easily turns couscous back to puffed wheat.
If you are on a diet couscous prepared as directed on the package is a Godsend. You can eat lots of it and let it swell in your stomach!
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And for those who have never seen Spanish fly, check out the green bug on this platter.. It is sold along with quite a few other 'exciting' roots, spices and whatever in two forms: brut or raw and ground. Look for this in the souks of Fez or Marrakech. Use with great care.
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FYI I just posted in the album section some photos of cooking pots from North Africa.
One photo that you all might be interested in is this stone-like mortar used on the Island of Djerba to make harissa in one minute.
The cook grinds the rehydrated peppers with a local stone and then adds spices, garlic, sun dried sweet peppers or tomatoes, and olive oil.
Here
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I very much like the ras el hanout mixture that seasonedpioneers.com sells.
They are Liverpool-based, but mail all over the world.
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Thanks so much for explaining all this.
It is a shame that ChefZadi has to pretend to teach Moroccan food for sur la table, when he is really an Algerian chef with, most probably, fabulous and robust recipes to share. Dishes from Algeria are not that known in the States as "Algerian.".
Most Americans taste their first couscous in Paris where Algerian couscous is King. It is fiery, merguez laden and wonderful. Our love of fiery food on a soothing bed of couscous seduces.
This jives with the problem Wesca's solved so brilliantly: to teach Moroccan restaurants how to make harissa. Just to clear up why this needed to be done: most couscous in Morocco is delicate with sweet onion marmalade toppings, sweet spices, and many dried or fresh fruits. I offer 29 recipes for couscous in my book and only one asks for a red pepper sauce and it is also the only recipe from a Moroccan cook working in the States.
Even the so called leaders of gastronomy want their Moroccan couscous fiery. Quite awhile back, the late Craig Claiborne asked me to come to his home and prepare couscous. So I prepared the pumpkin couscous which is a recipe from the palace of the late Mohammed V, the grandfather of the present King, and one of my early favorites-- delicate, delicious, and special. I thought he would enjoy it. As we were tasting everything just before the guests arrived, he developed true panic.
"where is the pepper sauce? I can't imagine couscous without a pepper sauce."
Would you believe it? I made one using some red pepper and oil and served it on the side.
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That is so fascinating. Is the final product a very thick paste?
I'm so glad you provided the list. For those who are wondering about the lentils, perhaps I can shed some light. The use of barley kernels, lentils, dried favas or chickpeas as a thickener for soups, sauces and drinks is unique to North Africa, I think. The grain or pulse is crushed, then toasted in a dry skillet, and finally milled with spices.
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The two major peppers that are used in Tunisia to make harissa. The one on the left is from the town Nabeul and the other is from the town of Gabes. on the Scoville scale the Nabeul is about 4 and the other is 5.
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I totally agree with culinary bear about the rendering except when I don't need cracklings, I puree all the skin in a food processor then melt it down with a few tablespoons of water in a slow oven or over low heat on top of the stove. Adding a few tablespoons of water will help keep the fat from overheating. You can remove it later on. If I want crackling, I just cut the skin itno small pieces.
Culinary bear: I followed your idea and cooked duck legs at 180 and they were terrific. Thanks so much for sharing.
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lNow, I am a little confused . If I understand you correctly, the tajine dishes you see on menus in the US or even in France are not traditionally served this way in North Africa? Take for instance a dish like a "tajine au poulet et citron confit", you are suggesting that traditionally, this kind of tajine would always be served with couscous and not alone
I only spent 10 days in Algeria and it was back in 1973, but I can't imagine that much has changed. And I can hardly hold a candle to the chef and his knowledge of his country's food. But in the area around Biskra where I spent most of my time, the word 'tagine' was hardly ever used to describe a meat stew. Instead each dish had its own name, or it was called by its main ingredients. For example, a stew with lamb, potatoes and tomatoes would be simply called 'potatoes and tomatoes;' the word 'lamb'omitted. I had other starchy accompaniments with the various stews including a sensational crepe-like semolina bread.
In Morocco, four major and different traditional recipes called chicken with lemon and olives are popular. In the seven years that I lived in Morocco, I never heard of serving any of these four versions with anything but homemade dense wheat bread scented with anise.
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The great Marrakesh dish called tangia is prepared in an amphora shaped earthen ware pot that is placed in the furnace area next to a bath house or hammam.
It is a dish made by men---a dish of soldiers, sheepherders and others separated from women. Hence your friends telling you it is a dish from the bled (countryside).
It isn't a tagine, but it is a stew. A tagine (the pot) has a circular bottom and is set over a brasier for long cooking.
Anissa's use of the word "fresh' makes me think it is the chickpea sized mhammsa and not harder onion juice-rolled-and-dried berkoukech. You didn't tell us what she wants you to do with it in the recipe. I am sure you can use the Israeli couscous as a substitute for mograibyeh.
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re the acid inhibiting the cooking of beans.
I have a wonderful recipe for red wine-flavored beans. It uses the prohibition of cooking beans in acid to great advantage. The beans cook very slowly and absorb the flavor of the wine, which loses its acidity on account of the slow cooking, becoming mellow by the time the dish is fully cooked.
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In Anissa Helou's "Mediterranean Street Food" there is a recipe for "Chicken with Moghrabbyeh." Hanou defines moghrabbiyeh as the Lebanese version of couscous with a much bigger grain.
I have a bag of "Israeli" couscous in my pantry. Can this be substituted?
I have been collecting cookbooks devoted to the cuisines of North Africa since 1959, and have more than 100 books. I keep them altogether in my library. Unfortunately, I can't find Anissa's book. I think it is a very fine book but I have misplaced it so I have to 'wing' my answer.
Moghrabbiyeh is the Middle Eastern Arabic word for Israeli couscous. I know it as the Moroccan berkoukech, a hand rolled tiny ball that is dried, rolled in onion juice to help harden it ,and dried again. This makes it strong enough to be simmered in sauce or water or both, but not steamed.
The reason I wanted to check the book is there is also large grain couscous called mhammsa, which is twice the size of the regular packaged grain couscous and is served with chicken, onions, chickpeas and raisins, but it isn't hardened so it has to be steamed. And it is steamed 5 times before it becomes light and tender. If you simmered it you would have only pastywater!
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ChefZadi: By chance, are you describing the smen laded tlitli? What an unfortunate name ! I, too, had tlitli, but only once. Happily, the cook served a garnish of hard boiled eggs.
In Morocco, the couscous, vegetables, meat or whatever, and sauce are all served on the same plate placed in the center of the table. In restaurants catering to tourists, they serve everything separately.
Helenas: barley couscous is simply couscous made with cracked barley.
The protein in barley is so low it doesn't make sense to turn it into flour, then roll it into a couscous pellet to steam. Instead, cooks crack it, toast it or cook it and then steam it.
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Helena:
Yes, store-bought couscous is fine but you need to dampen it down and break it up in a bowl before steaming..
The only time you steam semolina couscous without previous dampening is when you make your own hand rolled cosucous and it goes straight from the bowl into the steamer. If you dry the couscous ---in the sun---then you need to dampen it as well.
Brown suggests one inch of water. This must be a mistake. I can't imagine steaming with so little water . I use 6 or 7 inches of water.
You don't need a tea towel or anything to shield the holes in the steamer. When steam is going up through the holes, the couscous sticks together and it won't fall through.
You can steam covered or uncovered. Moroccans rarely cover, TUnisians always cover their couscous. The Moroccan couscous comes out lighter and needs longer cooking.
I steam 15 minutes each time with 5 minutes out on a try. After the first steaming I add salt, a drop of oil and enough cold water in small amounts to dampen it. THen I take a long wide whisk and break up the lumps. Oddly to break up small gooey lumps you should wet your fingers and roll them out to break them up.
I always repeat this p rocess a third time but without adding oil or salt. The water needs to be added very gradually. The secret of couscous expanding is...it doesn't do it in the steamer it does it in the wide open pan as you break up lumps. and wet it down.
On the other hand, with homemade rolled couscous ,you need to steam it at least 3 times to fully cook it
The reason I switched to an earthen steamer is it produces a lighter and fluffier couscous. The old couscous steamers in Morocco and Tunisia were made with clay.
CHeck out theClay Coyote Pottery at www.claycoyote.com
They sell beautiful ceramic colanders that work perfectly and cost about 32 dollars.
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1 tablespoon ground coriander seed to 1 teaspoon ground caraway, and hot red pepper to taste.To this blend, I add a bit of crushed garlic and a pinch of ras el hanout or curry powder is if I'm going to use it right away. Or, if I make it in large quantity I have to switch to garlic powder which is the pits.
Since ground coriander seed loses its oomph so fast I often purchase tabil ready made from the Liverpool based www.seasonedpioneers.com. They have a very good formula or maybe it is just their spices are fresher and they have some secret way to make garlic powder less oppressive. I highly recommend it to the home cook. Chefs might balk at the price for such a small amount but it works for me.
I agree that hairssa with roasted red peppers is excellent as well.
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Very interesting stuff. Having made couscous (following Paula's methods) I was surprised by how easy it is to make (and would be easier if I had the correct sieves!),
So pleased you saw the beauty in hand rolling couscous. To get the right sieves, check out an Indian grocer. They sell sets of 4 sieves for very little money.
but one think that I am interested in is why couscous at all?I think there are a number of reasons, but the major one is saving on fuel by the stacking of pots on top of each other when cooking --i.e. the couscous rack over the steaming soup.
Why is couscous so prevalent in the North Africa, rather then other durum wheat/semolina products like dried pasta?Clifford Wright has done research on the introduction of hard wheat (durum-semolina) in the 12 th century. It quickly became the flour of choice in pasta and couscous .
In Tunisia there are mosaics from Roman times showing the making of couscous. No doubt with barley or millet. By the way, there are Berbers in North Africa who still use barley rather than durum wheat for couscous, bread, etc.
The 13th C, muslim cookbook "Kitab al-tabikh fi al- Maghrib wa’l-Andalus" (Charles Perry translation) mentions three "pasta"* type products, one sounds very much like berkoukes/muhammas etc, the others more 'conventional' pasta types. I have seen recipes for pasta steamed in a kiskis like couscous from North Africa, so pasta is used in some cases, but while is couscous more widely seen?
Berbers in North Africa claim they developed the art of culinary steaming in the Mediterranean. And they do steam a lot of different foods including rice, itriya (hand rolled noodles), fresh favas, whole chickens, chunks of lamb, fish, and chick peas.
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The addition of onions and sundried tomatoes is not traditional at all. Don't get me wrong, it might taste fine, but it's not authentic.
You are absolutely right harissa is not made with onions.
Harissa which has its home in Tunisia is made three ways: steamed fresh peppers drained, crushed with spices, garlic and oil and used fresh; dried red peppers pounded and mixed with spices and olive oil; and dried red peppers pounded with a small amount of sun-dried tomatoes, seasoned with spices, and thinned with oil.
The most popular come from the town of Nabeul and look like New Mexican peppers.
The King of red hot peppersauces is in southern Tunisia iand s called harous. Making harous takes time but it is much more delicious. Onions are fermented for up to 3 months in salt and turmeric then drained and combined with spices far more complicated then in the north, and dried hot peppers from Gabes are used instead of the ones from Nabeul. They are large as well but fatter.
The best of the best is when a harissa sauce made with dried red pepper and sun dried tomato is blended half and half with the harous sauce as they do on the island of Djerba.
How do I know all this? I was incredibly lucky back in the 80's and was hired to represent the Tunisian olive oil ministry in Asia and Australia when they needed someone to lecture in English on Tunisian cooking. In order to do this, the ministry sent me all over Tunisia, year in and year out, until I got all the information down pat.
Delighted to share it with you. Soon I'll post pictures of the two peppers.
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The secret of the great long cooked dishes of the French Southwest is in the reheating over a 2 or 3 day period. Each day the meat is slowly reheated, simmered, cooled, and degreased. The flavors mellow at each reheating. The flesh is not mushy but meltingly tender. These dishes usually have a flour based sauce which holds the wine flavor through all the reheating .
I have never done a reheating of a Moroccan tagine in order to plump up the meat. I think of Moroccan tagines as all about the sauce--- fresh and ready for dipping with bread. In many cases the meat has "given up" most of his flavor to the sauce.
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Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)
And when you mentioned Oran, I remembered that is where I first tasted the pied noir dish of pickled fish and vegetables called scabetch.
My husband and I had crossed over from OUjda, went on to Oran for lunch, and then to Algiers for the night. The following day we went down to Biskra to use the town as our base for research. (I remember the women were completely covered burka style, only one eye could be seen. )
My husband was tracking down the life of Isabelle Eberhardt, the early 20 th century journalist whose extraordinary life encompassed an enormous range of experience. As a journalist she followed the French army into the Sahara, insulted the great and the famous, spent sleepless nights in rapturous mystical prayer. When she died in a flash flood in the autumn at the age of 27, she was reputed to have slept with most of the foreign legion. I was in ain sefra at her grave on the anniversary of her death. My husband planned it that way!.
In every town there is a street named after her. I believe this is the same in the Algerian quarters in France. Is this true?