Morocco

[Brad S]

I have noticed some interest in Moroccan food thanks to Adams thread. I did some reading today about the cuisine of Morocco.

I wanted to share with you a couple things of interest.

First I found what the ten most important spices are in Moroccan food.

They are

Cinnamon, Cumin, Saffron, Turmeric, Ginger, Black pepper, cayenne, paprika, aniseed and sesame seeds. These are most often found in the dishes of morocco. Then there is a secondary list of nine spices.

They are, Allspice, caraway, cloves, coriander seeds, gum arabic, fenugreek, licorice, honey dates and orris root.

What I found really interesting in is the blending of spices used in "Ras el hanout" (Top of shelf) it is used in game dishes, lamb and even in a hashish candy called (Majoun)

This is what was analized to be in some bought back from Morocco.

Allspice, ashberries, belladonna leaves,black cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cantharides, cardamom pods,wild cardamom pods,cayenne, cassia cinnamon, ceylon cinnamom, cloves, coriander seed, cubebe pepper, earth almonds, galingale, ginger, gouza el asnab,Grains of paridise, long pepper, lavendar, monks pepper, mace, nutmeg, orrisroot, turmeric. WOW!!! Thats a ton of spices in one blend. There are some spices that I need to look up so I can comment on them.

This is one I am going to try this weekend

4 whole nutmegs

10 rose buds

12 cinnamom sticks

12 blades of mace

1 teaspoon aniseed

8 pieces of turmeric

2 small pieces of orrisroot

2 dried cayennes

1/2 teaspoon lavendar

1 tablespoon white pepper corns

2 pieces galingale

2 tablespoons whole ginger root

6 cloves

24 all spice berries

20 green caramom pods

4 wild black cardomom pods.

It will go into my blender (I hope it doesn't explode)

I then hope to make a lamb tajin.

I'll let you know how it turns out

************************************************

A friend of mine who is from Morocco and is a waiter were I work helped me with some ideas today. We discussed at some lenth "Diffa"Which means Feast. This is were a succession of moroccos best known dishes are served. He explained to me that these are not daily events but are usaully rezerved for the whealthy. I took some notes from my friend sied, The first dish we discussed is called "Bestilla" which is a round pie made with many layers of paper thin Warqa, which means leaf. Inside are three seperate layers, two being savoury and one sweet. Stewed pigeon and the spice "Ras-el-hanout" play an important role in the savoury layers. the sweet layer is prepared with crushed sauteed almonds mixed with iceing sugar and cinnamon. Bestilla is cooked on both sides and served with more sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. another dish we talked about is "Choua" (steamed shoulder and ribs of lamb) served with salt and cumin. Or in the country side "Mechoui" (barbecued lamb).

Then come the tajins,Chicken,lamb,fish,game...The last tajin is always sweet and is usaully lamb, honey and onion.

Finally comes the steaming cous cous.

after comes fresh fruit and green tea, Only fresh spearmint is used The tea is heavily brewed and sweetned.

Some times the tea is served with a cresent shaped pastry called "qa'b el-ghazel (horns of the doe) it is a thin layer of dought wrapped around moist almond and sugar paste.

Sied, promised me tommorow he will brings some of his books on the cuisine of Morocco. He even will bring me a mini tajin because I was so interested in his country.

*(note) These are posts from another board I wanted to share.

I hope we can talk a bit about Moroccon cuisine

[Suvir Saran]

What a great post!

Morocco is one of the most sensuous countries I have ever been to. And the foods of Morocco are never the same to me outside of it. I wish I could change and enjoy the tagines, the pastilla (bastilla), especially the pigeon and the dessert ones, harira, zaalouk (roasted eggplant salad), mechouia (pepper and tomato salad), chicken briouats, mhemer (berber style omelette or fritatta) or the mud oven roasted mechoui ( roast lamb).

None of these have ever tasted the same since I came back to the US. Sad! In fact a Moroccan friend has promised to cook me a meal for he says he will use ingredients his mother smuggles in on her next trip.

The pickled limes are more subtle in flavor, the ghee has a very richy dairy smell that can often be overpowering but when cooked it is amazing.

What are the restaurants in NYC that people love for Moroccan food?

[Suvir Saran]

And speaking of ras-el-hanout, I was given many recipes for the spice powder with this name. Every shop keeper had their own version. Every chef their own blend. One said his family used 111 ingredients to make it. Another said they only used a dozen but were known for the most aromatic and tasty such mix.

The meaning of ras-el-hanout is loosely, the top one. The best of the best in other words.

the few spices that were common to most and seem to have worked well when I have tested them are the following.

Cardamom

ground ginger

saharan nutmeg also called manguette (sp?)

mace

paprika

white and black peppercorns

ash bay

cinnamon

[Brad S]

Mechoui for Suvir

10 # Lamb ( I use the four ¼)

1 ½ tablespoons ground coriander seeds

5 cloves mashed garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

6 tablespoon softened sweet butter

S&P to taste

Trim out the fat from your lamb, then make a deep slit under the 4 leg bone along the breast plate.Blend all the other ingreidients into a paste and rub it into the meat and let stand for 10/15 minutes

Preheat your oven to 475 f

Place the lamb,fatty side up in a large roasting pan.Place on the middle rack of your oven and roast for about 15 minuts,then reduce the heat to 350f and continue to roast for about 3 hours,or until the meat can be easily removed from the bone.Baste every 15 minutes with the juices (don’t forget,very important) as you want to develop a great crust.

I serve this with a little bowl of salt and ground cumin to sprinkle on the meat.

Also..don’t be shy use your fingers to enjoy this one.

Zaalook is also one of my favorites

2 # eggplant

salt

evoo for frying

3 ripe tomatoes pelled seeded and concasse

3 cloves garlic chopped

a touch of cumin (not much)

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

about 3 table spoon lemon juice

Remove three verical strips of the skin from the eggplant,then slice into ½ inch slices,salt them and let them leach for a good half hour,rinse them and gently squeeze them and pat dry the slices

Heat the evoo in a skillet and fry the eggplant until golden brown on both sides,removing them with a slotted spoon when there done (keep the oil in the pan when done)now..mash the eggplants with the tomatoes,garlic,spices and cilantro

Fry the puree in the oil until all the liquid has vapored off (only the eggplant and a bit of oil should remain)

Then pour off the oil and season it with the lemon juice (also check for salt)

[Suvir Saran]

Mechoui for Suvir

10 # Lamb ( I use the four ¼)

1 ½ tablespoons ground coriander seeds

5 cloves mashed garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

6 tablespoon softened sweet butter

S&P to taste

Trim out the fat from your lamb, then make a deep slit under the 4 leg bone along the breast plate.Blend all the other ingreidients into a paste and rub it into the meat and let stand for 10/15 minutes

Preheat your oven to 475 f

Place the lamb,fatty side up in a large roasting pan.Place on the middle rack of your oven and roast for about 15 minuts,then reduce the heat to 350f and continue to roast for about 3 hours,or until the meat can be easily removed from the bone.Baste every 15 minutes with the juices (don’t forget,very important) as you want to develop a great crust.

I serve this with a little bowl of salt and ground cumin to sprinkle on the meat.

Also..don’t be shy use your fingers to enjoy this one.

Zaalook is also one of my favorites

2 # eggplant

salt

evoo for frying

3 ripe tomatoes pelled seeded and concasse

3 cloves garlic chopped

a touch of cumin (not much)

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

about 3 table spoon lemon juice

Remove three verical strips of the skin from the eggplant,then slice into ½ inch slices,salt them and let them leach for a good half hour,rinse them and gently squeeze them and pat dry the slices

Heat the evoo in a skillet and fry the eggplant until golden brown on both sides,removing them with a slotted spoon when there done (keep the oil in the pan when done)now..mash the eggplants with the tomatoes,garlic,spices and cilantro

Fry the puree in the oil until all the liquid has vapored off (only the eggplant and a bit of oil should remain)

Then pour off the oil and season it with the lemon juice (also check for salt)

Brad, the recipe you share is very similar if not entirely like the one Paula Wolfert shares in her book, Couscous And Other Good Food From Morocco (1973). Check the recipe on page 235 and you will see what I mean.

We should try and give credit where it belongs and at eGullet, we try not to share an entire recipe from a cookbook. Many PM these to members if requested or give links to other sites where these may be found with the authors permission.

I certainly thank you for sharing this recipe. Belatedly I must admit.

I am glad to see we each have much respect for Paula Wolfert and her great recipes and writing about foods of these regions.

Brad, what other recipes are your favorites from Ms. Wolferts many books?

If we are lucky, she may even add to her recipes on eGullet. Since she posts on this site. And is always very generous.

[Adam Balic]

While travelling through Morocco I collected Ras el Hanout in every medina that we went though. All different. I prefer the one from Fez, no idea if there are regional styles of Ras el Hanout, as well as different shop styles.

Majoun are easy to make and are a more interesting 'pick me up' then the Italian equivalent.

[Suvir Saran]

While travelling through Morocco I collected Ras el Hanout in every medina that we went though. All different. I prefer the one from Fez, no idea if there are regional styles of Ras el Hanout, as well as different shop styles.

Majoun are easy to make and are a more interesting 'pick me up' then the Italian equivalent.

I love Fes.

[Adam Balic]

I would say that Fez was the highlight of my trip to Morocco.

[Suvir Saran]

I would say that Fez was the highlight of my trip to Morocco.

Fes was where I stayed the longest.... Marrakesh was the highlight.

But certainly Fes charmed me most.

[Suvir Saran]

Food in Fes was amazing.

Le Maison Bleu is the most amazing restaurant in Morocco.

Did you go there?

[Adam Balic]

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I didn't. I had this brilliant idea that I would like to try the street food. I ate something that was very delicious (a large liver sausage with some bread), but it made my tummy a little upset. In the two weeks I was there I mostly ate imodium and drank 'Hawai', one of the few soft drinks that has a fat content

I did make a heroic effort to taste as many things as possible and I looked at as many food stalls as possible, but it wasn't the food orientated trip I was thinking it would be.

[Suvir Saran]

Fes was about discovering the rich cuisines of the grand dames and hosts of that city and also the couple of restaurants worth going to. Marrakesh on the other hand was about food stalls.

I am sorry you were sick. But certainly Morocco has much to offer besides food. And Fes especially is about the eyes more than taste.

[Wolfert]

Adam: I'm really sorry you got sick in Morocco. More often than not, you can pretty much count on the concept of 'Darwinian gastronomy' kicking

in.[Developed at Cornell, it is a theory that cooking methods

and use of certain spices and herbs evolved in response to food

borne illnesses protect you.] You can count on za'atar, a type of oregano, one of the best Moroccan herbs to protect you in many of the savory dishes due to its strong antibacteria strength. It is even stronger than hot chilies. I wonder if it was the dish itself which might not have been washed with soap.Or in the case of bread or dried fruits, flies are a big problem if you don't have a place to dust them off or in the case of dried fruit, a good washing.

[Suvir Saran]

Adam: I'm really sorry you got sick in Morocco. More often than not,  you can pretty much count on the concept of 'Darwinian gastronomy' kicking

in.[Developed at Cornell, it is a theory that cooking methods

and use of certain spices and herbs evolved in response to food

borne illnesses protect you.] You can count on za'atar, a type of oregano,  one of the best Moroccan herbs to protect you in many of the savory dishes due to its  strong antibacteria strength. It is even stronger than hot chilies.  I wonder if it was the dish itself which might not have been washed with soap.Or in the case of bread or dried fruits, flies are a big problem if you don't have a place to dust them off or in the case of dried fruit, a good washing.

Paula, interesting you say that, a cancer specialist that visits India often, always tells friends and family in the US that he kills the bugs with the spicy foods of India. He drinks bottled water, avoids salads and fruits outside. And in his many decades of travel to India, he has never had much stomch borne trouble.

I had the same success in Morocco and I was there quite some time and ate with relative if not complete freedom. I did make sure not to drink water in Morocco and avoided ice in my countless glasses of fresh orange juice and all salads and fruits in outdoor stalls.

[Wolfert]

Suvir: check out the darwinian gastronomy papers from Cornell on the internet. YOu'll see that chillies and oregano are both high up on the list of foods used to prevent street food tummy aches.

[Adam Balic]

Adam: I'm really sorry you got sick in Morocco. More often than not,  you can pretty much count on the concept of 'Darwinian gastronomy' kicking

in.[Developed at Cornell, it is a theory that cooking methods

and use of certain spices and herbs evolved in response to food

borne illnesses protect you.] You can count on za'atar, a type of oregano,  one of the best Moroccan herbs to protect you in many of the savory dishes due to its  strong antibacteria strength. It is even stronger than hot chilies.  I wonder if it was the dish itself which might not have been washed with soap.Or in the case of bread or dried fruits, flies are a big problem if you don't have a place to dust them off or in the case of dried fruit, a good washing.

Any travel results in risk due to being exposed to a different bacterial 'flora'. Such a shame though as I would have loved to have tasted more of the street food. There was a baked sheeps head in the Marrakesh central market that I especially wanted. In the end I only just recovered enough to have one restaurant meal, in Casablanca of all places in Morocco and it was a French-Moroccan meal. A pancake of overlaping potato slices filled with duck confit (made with some Ras el Hanout) was particularly good, if not the street food I was after.

We had a thread on the Cornell theory at one point, I had a few issues with it, although overall it sounded good. Many spices have very low levels of anti-bacterial action, the amount that you would need to use would be very high and some of the active componants are heat labile, so not cooking.

Za'atar seems to be very effective though. I wonder if that is why they put it into the Smen?

[Wolfert]

there are two reasons they put it in the smen: it smells good as the butter 'turns,' and it preserves it. Fassis claim they can keep their butter 7 years.

Seven crops up everywhere----in couscous, in that beany soup I told you about yesterday and alot of other stuff.

[Adam Balic]

there are two reasons they put it in the smen: it smells good as the butter 'turns,' and it preserves it. Fassis claim they can keep their butter 7 years.

Seven crops up everywhere----in couscous, in that beany soup I told you about yesterday and alot of other stuff.

Seven is a mystic number for a lot of cultures. In the one of the Islamic traditions, there are seven levels to Heaven (and also to Hell, if you are Dante). An the world was created in seven days.

[Wolfert]

right on!

[brioboy]

Food in Fes was amazing.Le Maison Bleu is the most amazing restaurant in Morocco.

Only ten days - ten glorious days - in Morocco earlier this month and only one of them in Fes. But I had seen the posts here (and elsewhere) about Maison Bleu and so blew off what was said to be the very good food at the Riad we were staying at and made a reservation. I'm lucky in that I have a generous expense account here in Washington D.C. and food is obviously a passion if I'm posting here. And we ate well in Morocco - not quite up to Bourdain's adventure with lamb testicles documented in "A Cook's Tour" (we didn't have his time or budget) - with delight and surprise everywhere. But Maison Bleu is a cut above. All the traditional components of a typically overwhelming Moroccan multi-course feast are present but each taken out to the refined extreme of that course leaving me at least with that feeling of a lightbulb going off in your head when you eat a beetroot that has been properly baked and spiced or some other familiar food presented at its highest quality and your moth goes "so THAT'S what chicken is supposed to taste like." You know the sensation. But these guys do it with pretty much every single course. The lamb is so tender it feel immoral and perfectly spiced. The vegetables are explosively fresh and also spiced with restraint and care. The Bastilla is a florid exhibition of the pastry chef's skill with perfectly baked wafers cascading out from sweet cream and rosewater (?) desert filling instead of wrapped around as in the more usual pigeon pie. But it isn't Nouvelle Moroccan - the boss called it "going backwards - Mama cooking." The sensory overload was compounded by the Gnawa players working the room with such fun energy that one was momentarily distracted from the food. It was an embarassment of riches; luxury for the soul. There's going to be a cookbook but attempting this at home would be futile. Stop reading this and go.

[NUSSAH]

HI everyone, been reading round to find any info on Morroco!!! Im going to a wedding in Casablanca on Thurs, will be there four days, Thinking of doing Casa first day, then wedding, then Marrakesh and Rabat, maybe Fes too ... any suggestions?! where to go and eat. Heard ok restauirants in Casablanca but we really want some good local food and a night of fine dining Friday maybe!

Would love to hear comments or ideas, we live in Barcelona and have eaten plenty of Cous cous etc so time for the REAL thing ...

Thanks!!!

[prasantrin]

Quite honestly, I found the Moroccan food in restaurants (the type that the average Moroccan would/could go to) to be pretty bad. I did not even realize how delicious Moroccan food was until I was invited to a home-cooked meal. Until then, I had thought it was over-rated and over-cooked.

In Rabat, the best restaurant food was generally found in Italian restaurants (also, the German Cultural centre had a good restaurant). I would savour the Moroccan food you'll be getting at the wedding, as nothing you will get in most restaurants will even remotely compare in terms of flavour or quality.

[NUSSAH]

Thank you!!! Hmmm not the news I expected, but I guess we will just have to try it out, Im sure the wedding food will be great! If i happen to find any amazing or just good restaurant, I will post it here for future ref.

Thanks for your help Prasantrin :0)

[Sackville]

If you happen to be in Marrakech, go down Rue Zitoune (one of the main roads leading off the square, in the far right corner if you're facing the market/souk) and go to a fabulous restaurant called Dar Mimoun. You won't be disappointed!

[Wolfert]

Can you describe some of the dishes for us?