The entrance to my web-home.
Notice the green tile roof, typical of Fes.
Check the weather in Fes, Morocco, my father's home, which is updated every time you visit the page.

Here are two photos of me, if you really want to look.

is off to one side of the central courtyard. It is not quite a room, yet set back and somewhat protected from the elements - lined with soft coushioned banquettes, the walls decorated with intricate zellij tile work.

You'll also find information about and recipes for authentic Medieval and Renaissance cooking in Europe and in the Near East, and some modern Moroccan recipes, as well as links to other websites about Near and Middle Eastern food and Medieval and Renaissance food.

Cooking in 2012

Well, clearly we aren't there yet, but i am planning to teach cooking at the West Coast Culinary Symposium, in late winter. Yes, the brilliant AnTir symposium is moving south, 2012 in The West, 2013 perhaps in Caid...

I am also planning to teach some classes at Pennsic. If i can't make it to 2012, then in 2013...

Cooking in 2011

Teaching 15th and 16th century Ottoman and late 16th century Persian cuisine

* Kingdom of An Tir Culinary Symposium, April 15-17:  I taught 3 classes - one history and two hands-on. The event was held in a rustic Boy Scout camp in the still somewhat snowy mountains near Enumclaw WA. At least 8 enthusiastic participants attended each of my classes.

In the Ottoman class we cooked
-- bulgur with chestnuts, a winter dish, suitable to the weather on site, based on palace kitchen account records;
and
-- dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with ground lamb and sour yellow plums)
-- gourds stuffed with ground lamb topped with garlic-yogurt sauce
both based on Hans Dernschwam's detailed descriptions from the mid-16th c.

In the other class we cooked the Safavid Persian dish "morassa'-polāw (Jeweled polāw) which is also called molamma'-polāw (Glittering polāw)", which involved partially cooking rice in chicken broth and butter, then adding cut up chicken, along with green raisins and barberries, pistachios and almonds, figs and dates, chestnuts and chickpeas, and more butter. It was extraordinarily delicious, if i do say so myself.

----- recipes not yet on the website -----

late 16th century Safavid Persian cuisine

From summer 2010 to spring 2011, i translated 66 polāw recipes into English from modern German, alone with a very rough translation of the long article which included them. The recipes had been translated into German by scholar Bert Fragner from the unique manuscript, Māddat al-hayāt, resāla dar 'elm-e tabbākī ("The substance of life, a treatise on the art of cooking"), written in AH 1003 (1594-95 CE) by Nūr-Allāh, a chef to the first Shah 'Abbas.

I have a copy of the only known SCA-period Persian cookbooks, both from the 16th c., edited and published together by Iraj Afshar in AH 1360 (1941 CE), re-published in Tehran in 1984, so i will be working on translating some recipes from the 16th c. Persian...

Cooking in 2010

AnTir-West War Cooks Camp

It was great to camp with all the inspirational cooks, cooking nothing but SCA-period food on live charcoal for several days. And who can forget those fabulous grilled oysters!

During the day i got to test out several recipes for simple but popular Ottoman dishes, such as Cilbir, a favorite of several sultans, which is merely poached eggs served on caramelized onions with yogurt sauce, and Lalanga / Lalangede, which are sort of like small, very eggy pancakes layered with chopped or crushed hazelnuts and/or walnuts, drizzled with honey, a hold-over from the Byzantines, and still eaten today in modern Turkey in some form, and likely related to much older Roman lagana.

----- recipes not yet on the website -----

For dinner i prepared Lamtûniyya, Magribi fowl well-dressed with a creamy spiced nut sauce and many garnishes, a recipe in the anonymous Andalusian cookbook.

----- recipe is on the website -----

Teaching 15th and 16th century Ottoman cuisine

* Kingdom A&S, June 11-13

In class we cooked a full meal, consisting of:
-- Bademli Terbiyeli Tavuk Chorbasi, the delicious Chicken Soup we had cooked in AnTir;
-- Tavuk chevermesi I Kavurma (Batter Fried Chicken in Sweet and Sour Sauce);
-- Dane-i Saru or Safranli Pilav, the rice dish we had cooked in AnTir;
-- Kâchkül-i kabak (gourd stew with lamb, chickpeas, carrot jam, & spices);
and
-- Silk bi-Laban (Chard with Yogurt, from al-Baghdâdî, which appears in 16th c. Ottoman palace menus).

----- not all recipes on the website yet -----

* Gulf Wars, March 14-21

I was on the road to Gulf Wars where i was going to teach a couple classes, but got caught in a terrible white-out blizzard in New Mexico on I-40 east of Albuquerque, which completely closed the highway with no idea when it would re-open. Given the situation, i could not make it to the War until it was well over half over. So, i eventually found an open road and headed south... where i got caught in another blizzard.

Cooking in 2008

Teaching 15th and 16th century Ottoman cuisine

* Kingdom of An Tir Culinary Symposium, November 14-16:  I taught 2 classes - one history and one hands-on. The event was held in the Barony of Dragon's Laire at a lovely rustic camp on a lovely misty lake outside Belfair WA. I had a large attendence of enthusiastic participants, more than i had anticipated.

In the hands-on class, over 12 students and i cooked
-- Bademli Terbiyeli Tavuk Chorbasi (chicken soup with almonds and egg-lemon sauce)
-- Dane-i Saru or Safranli Pilav (Ottoman palace style saffron rice)
and
-- Seferçeliyya (lamb with fresh quinces, dried apricots, and almonds).

----- recipes not yet on the website -----

* Kingdom of the West Cooks Collegium, September 20:  I taught 2 classes - one history and one hands-on.

In the hands-on class, 3 students and i cooked Chicken soup with white flower gourds and egg-lemon sauce, and Salma, stewed lamb with freshly made pasta coins and honey-mint-vinegar sauce. Because of limitations of stove space, we did not make as many dishes as i had originally planned.

----- recipes not yet on the website -----

12. Mists Spring Investiture Middle Eastern Sweets Table

----- all recipes included -----

Cooking in 2007

11. Mists Fall Investiture Ottoman Feast using 15th & 16th century recipes

----- all recipes included -----

10. Pennsic 36 Feast for King Jade and Queen Kaaren of the West Kingdom and Their Royal Guests

----- all recipes included -----

Cooking in 2004-2006

I was concerned that perhaps i was cooking too many feasts and not giving other cooks a chance to show their stuff, so i decided to take a break in 2004.

In 2005 and 2006 i offered to cook some feasts, but did not have the opportunity. Additionally i had assumed in error that a branch feast would want a head cook from their own branch. So i did not volunteer to cook for as many events as i could have.

During that time, i remained active, helping to cook and serve feasts for other head cooks. Additionally Anna de Serre (now Maestra) and i prepared and presented day boards at the Mists-Cynagua wars every spring and fall of 2005 and 2006, as well as at Kingdom June Crown 2006. The day boards were by donation - we had no set prices, and we donated what we raised over our expenses to various officers, such as the waterbearers and the youth marshalls of both Principalities.

Further, in 2006 i translated "À la table du Grand Turc" by Stephane Yerasimos, a book about Ottoman cuisine of the 15th and 16th centuries, from French into English. I have since refined the translation, and am working on translating passages in the modern Turkish edition not in the French edition into English.

Cooking in 2003

9. October - Iron Chef Competition - Great Western War - Winning Team!

the "secret ingredient" was apples
----- recipes not included -----

8. September - Mists Principality Bardic Greco-Roman Feast

----- all recipes included -----

7. January - Private Feast for the incoming and outgoing Royalty of the Principality of Cynagua

Medieval Andalusian and modern Moroccan
----- recipes not included -----

Cooking in 2002

6. September - Mists Principality Bardic Mediterranean Tour Feast

----- all recipes included -----

5. August - Casbah! Middle Eastern Feast at Purgatorio

----- all recipes included -----

4. April - Mists Principality Spring Coronet Iron Chef Cook-Off

Thumiyya, "Garlicy", a 13th century Andalusian dish of chicken, garlic, spices, and lavender flowers, the winning recipe

Cooking in 2001

3. December - My Second Province of the Mists Boar Hunt Feast

----- all recipes included -----

2. November - Iron Chef Persian at The Principality of the Mists Fall Investiture Iron Chef Feast

----- all recipes included -----

Cooking in 2000

1. December - Province of the Mists Boar Hunt Feast

My first SCA feast as Head Cook was rather mixed in both time and place.
----- all recipes included -----

Historical Near and Middle Eastern Recipes and Research

Recipes

A White Tharid of al-Rachid

a 9th 0r 10th century Abbasid dish

Isfanakh Mutajjan

a tasty spinach dish (more oil (as is typical of Near Eastern dishes) and more spices than Cariadoc's version)
from al-Baghdadi's 13th century Book of Dishes

A Recipe for a Dish of Chicken or Partridge with Quince or Apple

from the 13th century Andalusian cook book

Chicken with Walnuts & Saffron

from the 13th century Andalusian cook book
Cut-up chicken and chicken meat balls in a rich savory sauce

23 German Mushroom Recipes

which i translated myself from several dialects of Medieval German

Research

Comparing The Use of Spices in Two 13th Century Near Eastern Cookbooks

The Fragrant Spicebox of 13th Century Andalusia
The Fragrant Spicebox of 13th Century Kitab al-Tabikh by Baghdadi
The Two Spiceboxes Compared

Eight Fine Spice Powders Described and Compared

from 14th century Catalunya to 16th century France, plus blends from mid-17th France

Some Extant Medieval Near and Middle Eastern Cookbooks

Descriptions of ten surviving SCA-period cookbooks, all but one translated into English, as well as links to good on-line sources of SCA-period Near and Middle Eastern recipes.

Modern Moroccan Food

an index of recipes and descriptions of basic ingredients

• Essentials: some basic recipes, such as salted preserved lemons, har or harissa - hot sauce, smen - herbed preserved butter, and ras al-hanout - a complex spice blend
• Several distinctive salads featuring carrots, oranges, and even radishes
• Tagines: a Selection of Seven Savory "Stews": three vegetarian, one with egg, and three with meats
• Traditional Moroccan Beverages: Spiced coffee, mint tea, almond milk, and more

has walls lined with elaborately carved and painted shelves and cupboards filled with books, scrolls, papers. Under the windows are divans and cushions on which to sit, in front of which are round, shell inlaid, wooden tables... Pull down some reading matter and get cozy...

Here there is information about The Travelling Moorish Reading Room, my personal commentaries on being Near or Middle Eastern in the SCA, brief histories of al-Maghreb and al-Andalus, and links to other websites about Near and Middle Eastern cultures and names.