Black Appetizer

Black Appetizer

From Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, Pg 64.
This dish is called black barida for the color of the pulp of a dark raisin variety. It is very similar to the sauce today to season cold fish in Bizerete and salted fish in Sfax. Both cities in Tunisia (see recipes 160 and 161.) I looked at these recipes and saw no real similarity between those recipes and this one so they were no help in doing this redaction.
Carefully crush some black raisins, mix with a little vinegar, strain, and add [to the liquid thus
obtained] a little cinnamon, just enough galangal, and a little ginger, oil, and chopped rue. Pour {this
sauce} over the chicken.

I did a slightly different approach than the recipe because first of all it seemed like some of the liquid
may have been coming from the raisins as if they weren't as dry as what we buy these days, that is my
guess because it says “carefully crush some black raisins” and I'm not sure why you would need to do it carefully unless they might squirt out some juice, I am no authority in medieval cooking so it was just my guess. This is what I did.

2 c dark raisins
¾ c + 2 T red wine vinegar
2 pinches dried rue
¼ tsp galangal powder (I got it at The Herb Pantry, 1 oz for $1.67. It comes in chunks of dried root so I ground it to a powder in my spice grinder)
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
2 T extra virgin olive
enough water to thin to a pourable consistency (since I guessed the raisins in the medieval recipe may
not have been as dried as much as the raisins we buy today It seemed like adding a little water
was the way to go, plus I didn't strain it since I pureed it so there was extra fiber to dilute)
Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree. Add water little by little until you reach a pourable consistency. Making the sauce is as easy as that. At first I didn’t want to try this sauce.
For months each time I saw it I would think, “a sauce of vinegar and raisins, yuck!” But then looking
for different sauces I realized that the raisins are sweet and the vinegar is sour so this would be a sweet and sour sauce, and it is not yuck! Many of us at the June Cooks Guild meeting, if not all of us, really enjoyed it. I'm still eating it.
This is one of the sauces I made for the June Cooks Guild meeting on Sauces and Condiments. Since we weren't able to do outdoor cooking for our July subject because of the Outdoor Burn Ban we chose to go with Cold Dishes for both July and August. I took the sauce that I had left from the June meeting since most of it was left and thinned it a little more with some Apple Cider Vinegar. Since I couldn't grill a chicken I cooked 5 chicken leg quarters under the oven broiler and then finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven, cooled them and tore them into smaller pieces and refrigerated them until the next day. At the Cooks Guild meeting I piled them on a serving plate and poured the sauce over them. The recipe just appears to have the chicken served whole but I thought it would be easier served in pieces.

8/5/12 My guess about the “black raisins not being fully dried may have some confirmation. Last week

we went to the grocery store and I was looking at their different varieties of grapes and I noticed the

black grapes had a Spanish labeling below the main label “(Raisins Negro)”, so it looks like the term

“raisins” and grapes can be somewhat interchangeable in Spanish and let's not forget that Andalusia

was one place where Spanish speaking people and the Islamic peoples intermingled.

Since I had some lamb meatballs and Rummaniyya Sauce in the freezer left over from the June meeting

I cooked the meatballs in beef broth and warmed the sauce. I took them in a cooler to keep them warm

and served them at the July meeting. As you can see I forgot to take photos until after people started

digging in.