Going to Morocco (again)

After a couple of years full of stress, moving, and taking care of the kids, I am finally catching my breath. So I am taking some down time and traveling to Morocco by myself -- just myself. It is going to be awesome. I went there about a year and a half ago with the family, so it isn't completely new, but I've wanted to go back. I think I am going to take some cooking classes in Fez. They have a couscous rolling class and some other cooking programs.

Anybody have some Moroccan inspiration? I leave in two weeks.

Here was my last thread.

k.

Nice. As being of middle eastern decent myself. Morocco is one of the places I would like to visit some day. Would be interested in your experiences.

such a bastard! Why can't you take me too. I'll stay out of the way, you can sneak me in a suitcase or something. Just drop me off, cause this life I got ain't workin.lol

rami_m said:

Nice. As being of middle eastern decent myself. Morocco is one of the places I would like to visit some day. Would be interested in your experiences.

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I've been to quite a bit of the Middle East and have lived/worked/studied in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. It breaks my heart with what is happening in Syria. Without thinking for a second, I always say that Syria was one of my favorite places in the world. You don't hear that very often -- especially now.

Yemen was amazing too. I lived in a 500-year-old tower house in Old Sana'a. Chewing qat, beautiful weather, and some of the most astounding landscape in the world. I should scan some photos of my old place. Beit al-Shawkani near the gold souk. I'll never forget it.

k.

Very cool memories and experiences, K. I was in Morocco twice as a teenager with a Eurail Pass, always wanted to go back as an adult with a better appreciation of the culture & cuisine but never made it. Definitely a beautiful destination. I loved Marrakech (not sure how to spell in English), getting lost and drifting around in the Medinas of Marrakech and Fez. So colorful. I hope there is still a lot of that athmosphere left these days. Friendly people, too. While traveling, we got invited by a family and spent a few days with them in Casablanca. Great experience. So, go take some pics and have a mint tea on us

As for the other places, I feel such a loss for not having been there before everything got destroyed and, of course, it's a shame so many people lost their lives and livelihoods. Just thinking about the history and art of some of the places in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq can make you filled with awe.

Stefan

I would love to go to the Middle East. Tried learning Arabic for a bit.

Now I am trying to determine which (if any) knives I should bring. I am also considering taking a cous cous making course and bringing back a couscousier.

k.

mr drinky said:

... I am also considering taking a cous cous making course and bringing back a couscousier.

k.

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Some food items are worth making from scratch. There are two that I can thing of right off the top of my head that aren't, gnocchi and couscous. But hey, if someone wants to invite me over to eat homemade gnocchi or couscous, I'm not going to say "No thank you". I have to say, I'm slightly envious of you going to Morocco.

Just a short video of a sharpening shop in Fes, Morocco. The guy on the right was working on a chisel. The guy on the left a pair of scissors, and the two guys in back were banging on knives.

[video=youtube_share;FfmA920kPMs]http://youtu.be/FfmA920kPMs[/video]

k.

Found this fruit that I have never seen before. They call it Strawberry Tree Fruit in English. There is even a honey that is sourced from bees exclusively pollinating the strawberry trees, which was extremely dark in color.

I also found the sharpening souk where there were around 8-10 smiths fabricating knives in tiny blackened stalls all with leg-powered sharpening wheels. I so wanted to find one that made even a moderately high quality knife and looked for about 30 minutes, but the craftsmanship was just too poor. With that said, they were grinding down ram horns to make handles which was kind of interesting, but even these were of an absurdly low quality. Essentially, they took crap steel from flimsy chinese knives and added a weird horn handle.

I also hired someone to take me around and give me the low down on Fez food. There were a number of items that were intriguing. Camel spleen sausage (which is as big as it sounds), stuffed with spiced lamb. They cut it into large rounds and sauté it. Camel milk was amazing. The sheep head sandwich was also quite nice. I also really enjoyed the tea made from Artemisia absinthium. Rosemary honey was also a nice find.

k.

99Limited said:

Some food items are worth making from scratch. There are two that I can thing of right off the top of my head that aren't, gnocchi and couscous. But hey, if someone wants to invite me over to eat homemade gnocchi or couscous, I'm not going to say "No thank you". I have to say, I'm slightly envious of you going to Morocco.

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99, I listend to your advice and did not take the cous cous class. But I did go to the copper pan making souk (for lack of a better description) and picked out a piece of copper cookware and asked the guy to custom make a cous cousier steamer for the pan. And this is the awesome part about morocco: He says, "Can you come back after 4 tomorrow?" Hell yes. So I get a nice 1-chicken copper pot (that is how they described volume -- by number of chickens) and a cous cous attachment for probably too much, but still a very reasonable price ($115). I need to post some pictures of this place. It was pretty cool. One guy offered me a whole set of copper cookware (though only mid-level thickness) for $130. Five French-style copper sauce pans with medium thickness for that still seemed pretty good to me.

k.

They look like lychee.

Eric said:

They look like lychee.

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That is what I thought at first too.

k.

As a reminder that some things really are the same (just with crappier knives), here is a guy chopping onions in the souk in Fez.

[video=youtube_share;HAKLLeTWBcs]http://youtu.be/HAKLLeTWBcs[/video]

k.

How about a tagine to make what else, Tagine. Maybe you could pick up a highly decorated one. If you're able to check these out, see if you can pick up any tips on using them. I bought a Le Creuset tagine and all it was good for is making a mess on the stove. Highly efficient at extracting moisture from what ever you stick in it. You definitely don't add any additional liquid.

Btw, tonight I ate at this restaurant, Numero 7, and it was effen fabulous. It was extremely tasty, and it just got me thinking how many KKF chefs would probably love to take a couple of months off in Morocco and run a pop-up -- though a daily changing meal seems daunting to me.

Here is another article on the chef.

And on another note, today I had a camel burger. It was respectably good. So many places in the world mess up the coarseness of meat grind and fat content, and they also did mess it up to some extent, but they also got it pretty much right.

One picture for now. Here is ras el hanout before it is ground up. For some reason I just thought they ground it, and then mixed it. It never crossed my mind that the mixture was an articulated pile of bark, pods, and other objects before it went into the grinder.

k.

Mate, proper middle eastern spices are hard to find. I can't find anything close to the quality, here at the moment. Enjoy.

Bought some Argan oil, yet? I would ask to source a thuya burl exporter, but I think export has been stopped completely at this time. Have fun!

Stefan

apicius9 said:

Bought some Argan oil, yet? I would ask to source a thuya burl exporter, but I think export has been stopped completely at this time. Have fun!

Stefan

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I do have argon oil and a few packets of spices -- maybe I should get more. I also got my couscousier that was handmade by the coppersmiths. I have some video of them hammering it out and tinning the pan. I'll post that later. The upload speeds are horrible here in morocco -- and I have to finish my wine and go to bed

k.

You truly know how to make people envious.

Lucky bugger

One picture for now. Here is ras el hanout before it is ground up. For some reason I just thought they ground it, and then mixed it. It never crossed my mind that the mixture was an articulated pile of bark, pods, and other objects before it went into the grinder[/QUOTE]


This is probably haram but I like adding a pinch of ras el hanout when I make foul.

Clarence said:

One picture for now. Here is ras el hanout before it is ground up. For some reason I just thought they ground it, and then mixed it. It never crossed my mind that the mixture was an articulated pile of bark, pods, and other objects before it went into the grinder

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This is probably haram but I like adding a pinch of ras el hanout when I make foul.[/QUOTE]

You can't make foul at home. No one I know can replicate genuine middle eastern foul anywhere. I miss the stuff.

rami_m said:

You can't make foul at home. No one I know can replicate genuine middle eastern foul anywhere. I miss the stuff.

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You need to expand your circle of friends. Making foul is no big deal. Maybe you just miss your mother's or grandmother's foul.

99Limited said:

You need to expand your circle of friends. Making foul is no big deal. Maybe you just miss your mother's or grandmother's foul.

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maybe, my family never made the stuff. its always easier to get it from the shop. they make it in those big foul pots cooked overnight. the stuff we have here is meh at best.

I took a cooking class while in Fez and we made foul, but it was more watery than I tasted in the souk, probably b/c of the time constraint. It was still very good though. The biggest PITA was shelling the dried fava beans. When I lived in Yemen, I think they made foul from another bean or seasoned it differently because it was a different color and texture. I imagine a lot of different Arab countries have their own version. I am still particular to the Yemeni version because I had it so much, but I could definitely get used to Moroccan foul.

k.

I'm off on my second trip to morocco next sunday. Marrakech, Ait Ben Haddou, Mergouza, Chefchaouen then over night train to marrackech from tangier.

http://www.kasbah-tebi.com/?lang=en Looking forward to staying here, the family cook the evening meal incl in price. No electric in Kasbah so stars and candles after dark.

Very little booze last time I was there so a good bottle of bourbon going in the bag.

So you've got to be back by now. Let's have some show and tell.