North African Cuisine, 1906
From The Moors: A Comprehensive Description by Budgett Meakin, 1906.
From: 1906 C.E. To: 1906 C.E.
Location: Morocco
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Moors: A Comprehensive Description by Budgett Meakin, 1906.
Prevalent Misconceptions
The food that other nations eat is always an attractive subject to the curious, and one which often well repays investigation, but it is strange how few European travellers give fair trial to the cooking of Orientals. This arises generally from inherent prejudice and misconception, yet in almost every country the staple dishes are the outcome of experiences handed down for generations, as the most suitable provision for its race and climate.
Morocco has unfortunately shared the effects of this neglect, its people being popularly supposed to exist on all sorts of unpalatable, if not disgusting, viands, which is so far from the case that English cooks, if not too ignorant to profit by example, might glean many wrinkles from the Moors. To begin with, it is quite a common practice with prejudiced travellers who do secure the opportunity of trying a Moorish dinner to "make sure of a good meal before they start," as they feel sure that they will not relish the few things they may dare to eat, with the inevitable result that their experience bears out their forebodings. How many English dinners would stand such a test?
Difficulty of Experiment
The average inexperienced Englishman has only to be told that most of the Moorish cooking is done in oil, for the whole thing to be steadfastly tabooed, but the few who have had the good fortune to experiment in first-class Moorish houses with a healthy appetite, will bear me out in the assurance that the oil explains half the success, and is open to no objection when really good.
The difficulty is for those not intimate with the people to secure admission to such tables, and of course it is unfair to judge from the fare of the poorer classes, especially as exemplified by the vain attempts of the foreigners' servants, who scarcely ever understand the preparation of native dainties. In good Moorish houses this department is in the very capable hands of negress slaves—not to be obtained by Europeans,—some of whom, with proper training in the culinary art, command high prices.
The National Dish
The typical dish of Morocco is the famous kesk'soo, of the name of which an able writer on the gastronomy of Morocco has declared that "the mere sound of the syllables is musical, with a sweet sibilance suggestive of twin kisses united to the coo of the turtle-dove and the note of the cuckoo." But without indulging in such rapture over its name—only to be explained by the qualities of the dish described—I do unhesitatingly assert, from an exceptionally wide and appreciative acquaintance with native cookery the world round, that I do not know a dish at the same time more nutritive, more wholesome, more simple and more tasty.
Its basis is the nourishing granular nodule or germ found only in wheat grown in comparatively poor, dry soils, which from the difficulty of grinding it is known as se-molma, i.e. "half-ground:" on the Continent this is used in the form of macaroni and other pastes, and in England it is advertised as "Vitos" or "Hovis" and kindred prepared breads. The Moors, who call it smeedh, make also from it a delicious white or macaroni-coloured bread.
For the preparation of kesk'soo or, as the countryfolk pronounce it, siksoo,the grains of smeedh are moistened and rolled in fine flour till they form pellets about the size of buck-shot, the smaller being considered the best. After being steamed and dried in the sun, it will keep good in a bag for many years, and a few days since I partook of some which I procured from Fez eight years ago.
For eating, the kesk'soo is again steamed, this time over a bowl of rich stew which is served on top of it, heaped in the centre of a big basin, sometimes with the addition of stewed quince or other fruit. But before serving the grains are carefully separated by rubbing in butter, some portion of which, called smeen, has been preserved till it has acquired a sort of Gorgonzola flavour. Too strong a dose of this at first is apt to repel the novice, but if tested gradually, this, more than anything else, renders Moorish dishes attractive, for it whets one's appetite, as assafoetida does in an Indian curry or "Yorkshire relish."
Flavourings
Not that the Moroccan cuisine depends on its greenstreaked smeen, which has perhaps been buried in an earthen jar for twelve months—a little of which then goes a long way,—for with a liberal use of capsicums ("red peppers") and the usual Oriental spices, coriander, cummin, sesame, fenugreek, cinnamon, carraway, cloves and nutmeg, there is no lack of flavour, but the Moors are not fond of "hot" things. A speciality of their kitchens is rather the use made of raisins, dates, etc. in their meat stews, with most excellent results. After kesk'soo, their stews are their strong point, and right tasty and tender they are, whatever the age of the creature supplying the meat, as they needs must be, when they have to be carved with the fingers and thumb of one hand.
Cooking in Oil
This perfection is achieved by the use of oil instead of water, permitting the viands to be cooked at a very much higher temperature than would otherwise be possible without either boiling or burning. The oil or melted butter being heated till it will at once brown anything plunged into it, is removed from the fire and allowed to simmer for hours over a gentle heat. Naturally the result from an English point of view depends upon the pureness and the freshness of the oil, and the poorer Moors and Jews content themselves with a very inferior rancid article of a most nauseous, ineradicable taste, while the best oil imparts no taste at all, and the abundant flavourings, together with the large amount of bread consumed therewith, counteracts any feeling of richness. Englishmen usually prejudice themselves against Oriental dishes by disposing of them as we might of our own stews, instead of regarding them more in the light of condiments with the assistance of which to feast on bread or rice, or kesk'soo.
Varieties of Meat
Little meat is eaten in the country, though the wealthy townsman consumes far too much of it. The mountaineers have to club together to kill an occasional ox, but the Arabs with their flocks and herds indulge more frequently, at least once a week. The Moors prefer mutton to beef, but often pass off goat for the former, so that practised housekeepers demand to see the tail on a carcass from which they purchase. Camel's flesh is also eaten on occasion, and I have found it much like coarse beef. Then, too, in the country wild boar is sometimes consumed, in spite of the koranic prohibition: so also are porcupines, neatly described as "pigs disguised in pen-holders." Foxes, jackals and hedgehogs enlarge the bill of fare in some parts, but one may live years in Morocco without a chance of trying anything but mutton, beef and "chever."
When fresh meat is plentiful, as after the "Sheep Feast," the superabundance is cut in strips, sun-dried and packed away in jars with melted butter. In this condition, known as khalia', it will keep for years, and is in great demand for travelling. Of game the Moors eat most varieties within both their reach and the Mosaic limitations as adopted by Mohammed, and the same may be said of fish. Fowls are everywhere to be obtained, and a favourite dainty is "squab" or unfledged pigeon in pastry,—"bastilah."
Snails are sometimes stewed or fried in oil by the poor, and so are locusts, boiled half an hour with salt or vinegar, and fried with pepper, while in some parts a big stag-beetle is eaten. In order to be halal, or lawful, animal food must not only be from an acknowledged "clean" animal, but it must be slaughtered in such a manner as to get rid of the blood, as by cutting its throat, and this is always done even with game, which if secured when already dead, is prohibited, haram.
Dairy Produce
Milk, eggs and butter are staples in the country during spring, and very fair cream cheeses are made, but they do not keep. Fresh milk can only be obtained at the moment of milking, for it is stored in unscalded jars, or even mixed with the sour milk in house, very much preferred to fresh all over the East. Honey is often to be had, but is by no means as plentiful as it might be; in these details every district has its own peculiarities.
Vegetables
The vegetables grown by the country Moors seldom include anything beyond pumpkins, cucumbers, broad beans, onions and turnips—the last-named being eaten dried in the mountains,—but in the towns there is always a good supply, the favourites being artichokes—of which the stalk (khershuf) is eaten, and it is delicious—carrots, truffles, egg-plants, "ladies' fingers," tomatoes, and radishes. Roasted green corn, date-palm shoots, palmetto roots and barley sprouts are also in vogue at certain seasons, and all fruit that can be obtained is eaten, which away from the towns is not much. Several other excellent vegetables comparatively unknown in England are used in Morocco, such as egg-plants, kohl-rabi, and beet-root tops (an excellent substitute for spinach).
Pastry and Bread
In the matter of sweets and pastry the Moors are fairly clever, but their productions do not always tempt Europeans. Their pastry when well made is exceedingly rich and flaky, being first kneaded, then cooked with oil, and they make a delicious sort of short-bread cakes to take with tea. Sponge fritters (sfinjes), are made to perfection, and they are a favourite breakfast dish. For travelling they turn out a good solid biscuit which will keep a great length of time, but their bread, unless specially baked, is best eaten fresh.
Most families knead their own, employing natural leaven, and send the flat round cakes like big buns to the public oven, where a certain proportion is retained in payment, and sold to those who have no one to make it for them. To collect the bread, lads are sent round the streets with boards on their heads, making their presence known by uttering a shrill incomprehensible cry; house-wives requiring their services, on the other hand, loudly rap the knockers on their doors, their persons carefully concealed within, and only a fat arm showing.
Public Ovens
The ovens consist of long low tunnels, on one side of which are wood fires, and the cakes are put in and turned with long shovels, not being allowed to brown or form a hard crust. In the country, where often not even an attempt at such an oven is to be found, bread is quickly made—often of barley or maize — on an earthenware pan, in a cake (raghifah) about half an inch thick, which though heavy when cold, is very palatable fresh, with butter—and an appetite.
Although from necessity the Moors are generally frugal in their habits, and often almost vegetarians, it certainly cannot be said that they are so from choice, as whenever they do get a chance, they indulge to such an extent that cash and corpulence are almost regarded as synonymous, and in woman at all events, beauty may be estimated by weight. Their great meal, at which, if possible, kesk'soo makes its appearance as the crowning dish, is soon after sunset, and that over, they are fit only for sleep.
Meakin, Budgett. The Moors: A Comprehensive Description. Swan Sonnenschein & Co, 1906.
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