Algerian Cuisine Cuisine Algerienne by Farid ZADI

The Process of Writing Algerian Menus and Recipes for Different Contexts

My wife and I have been discussing Algerian menus from casual to fine dining for a work related project. Sometimes it's easier to first figure out what we don't want, before we have a grasp on what it is we do want.

Of course, it's always fun to make up parodies such as-

Amuse gueule
Single grain of couscous, speck of cinnamon, cilantro micro-green served in a Chinese soup spoon on a doily on a small plate stacked on an oversized plate

First course
Deconstructed merguez served in a shot glass- dehydrated lamb casing, spiced hard fat gelee, tea smoked ground lamb, ras el hanout "vitamin pill", harissa emulsion and housemade smen foam.

Second Course
Trio of Couscous or Couscous Tour de Force (!)- instant couscous, boil in bag couscous sous vide, and triple steamed couscous
$450 supplement for white truffles
$250 supplement for foie gras
$645.99 supplement for golden ossetra

Third Course
Wok cooked vegetable tagine- seasonal baby vegetables (leave the stems on) from my personal garden
$75 supplement for seasonal and spontaneous

Fourth Course
Molecular kebab quatro skewered four ways, suspended from "wire"

Dessert
Pastilla macaroons with chocolate veil, ghribia "dust" and cardamom fragrance

Another parody we came up with was "road map" dishes with suppliers and origins of ingredients noted on the menu. "Biskra Dates, Hand rolled Aures Mountain Couscous, Herbs from Khaled farms picked in the wild by Nesrine and delivered on a camel by Hamed".

In all seriousness the elements for various menus already exist in Algerian cuisine. There's no need to re-invent anything here when the food speaks for itself. No gimmicks or wordplay- simply delicious real food and real cooking.

 

Requests for Recipes

I receive requests for recipes quite often. When requesting a recipe it's important to keep in mind a few things.

1. Algerian cuisine has never been codified by self-styled food authorities, chefs or a royal court. There are very few "standard" recipes in Algerian cooking.
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2. Regional variations abound for recipes with the same name. Variations also occur within regions, family to family and within families. Even a simple thing like semolina dumplings have quite a few variations. There are easily at least a dozen variations of chermoula as well. Please respect my time (or lack of) when requesting recipes and be as detailed as possible in your description of the ingredients, taste and appearance of the particular version of a dish you are requesting a recipe for.

3. I simply cannot recreate a version of a dish that I have never  tasted or seen. It's that simple. I can create a recipe for dishes that I have tasted and seen based on my knowledge of cooking techniques and ingredients. But If I've never tasted your mom's or best friends version of something and you don't know what the ingredients are and you don't even remember what it really looked like- then it is simply impossible for me to give you a recipe for it.

My recipes are my versions of Algerian dishes from different regions. But they are still recipes of the land, the people, and our history. Any Algerian who has traveled in Algeria and eaten extensively would recognize them as being Algerian. I'm not talking about your next door neighbor Algerian, I mean someone who knows a lot about Algerian cuisine.

Algerian Cuisine in Fine Dining Contexts

The school I teach at will present a series of my Algerian dishes at the school's fine dining restaurant. I'll post details as ready. The idea came about because so many people ask me if I have my own restaurant or if the school I teach at serves Algerian dishes at it's restaurant or cafe. The demand had to be met.

For the most part I've only posted about simple, home cooking style dishes on this blog. And I've presented them like a more typical home cook would. I've kept my chef's mouth shut here for the most part. Neither have I even begun to delve into historical high end Algerian recipes.

It's very apparent that Algerian and North African dishes have entered the fine dining mainstream not just as a few dishes here and there but with entire restaurants dedicated to them. Franco-North African is another genre that's continuing to evolve. I hesitate to be critical here, but mostly what I see with these places is emphasis on decor and marketing concepts with menus that are cobbled together without a vision.

As my schedule permits and this stuff actually begins to happen I'll post Algerian menus, plating techniques and recipes for catering, buffet, casual/family, mid-tier (bistro type) and high end restaurant contexts. Many of the dishes will be traditional, some will be my take on them, and others will incorporate Algerian flavors into international style recipes.

What is Algerian Cuisine?

What is Algerian cuisine? This is a question that I am asked often, but never really gave a clear answer for on this blog. I wanted to wait until I had a body of recipes posted. For now I'll offer an extremely condensed version of Algeria's food history.

Algerian cuisine is the most varied and diverse of North African cuisines.
It is a Mediterranean mix overlaid on a Northwest African Berber foundation.

Algerian cuisine is the most varied in terms of range of dishes and seasonings than Moroccan and Tunisian cuisines.  Algeria has more Spanish, Andalusian and West African influences than Tunisia to the east. Algeria has more Ottoman, Italian, French and contemporary Arabic influences than Morocco to the west. Mauritania obviously doesn't have a Mediterranean border.

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue
1492 was the same year the Christians recaptured Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Al-Andalus. After more than 700 years of rule on the Iberian peninsula the Moors were expelled back to their North African homeland taking with them an Andalusian Hispano-Muslim cuisine. They settled largely in what is now Morocco and Western Algeria (formerly Mauretania, not to be confused with the current country of Mauritania), but made it as far as Tunisia.

Tlemcen

Tlemcen has been described as strongly resembling Granada with lots of water and lush with vegetation. Situated in Northwestern Algeria it is very close to the Moroccan border. Historically it was an important crossroads city for Mediterranean and Saharan trade. At various points in history the city was quite wealthy and like so many other major Algerian cities it was a cosmopolitan potpourri of peoples. For Jews it was the "Jerusalem of the West".

The cooking here is still very Andalusian and Medieval Arab-Persian inspired, similar to Moroccan palace cooking. Fragrant meat tagines with fruits, nuts and sweeter spices dotted with almond lozenges exemplify Tlemcenaise cuisine- the sort of labor intensive, extravagantly spiced recipes that North African cooking is renowned for.

Oran

It's just a 9 hour ferry ride from Alicante, Spain to Oran, Algeria. They say that on a clear day you can see Spain from Oran. In 1509 the Spanish captured the port of Oran. For the next 300 years Oran would change hands back and forth from the Spanish to Barbary pirates to the Ottomans.

Oran was also where Spanish settlers came with the French invasion of Algeria in 1830. The Spanish were mostly poorer peasants from the South and Catalan.

Just as any number of Spanish cookbooks are liberally sprinkled with references to Moorish influences in Andalusian cooking, Oranaise style cooking makes heavy references to Spanish influences. Andalusian and Spanish dishes such as cocas, paella, pastilla, fidwash (fideos), migas, skabetch (escabeche) and gazpacho are very Wahrani (Oran style).

Algiers The Capital

Le Corbusier's Plan for Algiers

Algiers.  [Photograph]. Retrieved  June 23, 2007,  from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:           http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-90781

In 1453 while the Moorish hold on the Iberian peninsula was on it's final legs- the Ottomans conquered Christian Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul signaling a shift in Islamic seats of power. The Ottoman westward expansion into North Africa actually began by invitation from Barbary pirates to form an alliance against the Spanish for control of shipments and ports.

Algeria recognizes Ottoman suzerainty from 1555 until the French invasion in 1830. At the time France was well behind in repaying a huge grain debt to Algeria. From it's inception the French invasion of Algeria was propelled by contradictory impulses and ambivalence.

The cooking of Algiers shows Ottoman and French influences. Dolmas, doner kebab, bechamel sauce, beignets and croquettes are some of the influences that make their way into traditional Algerian recipes. Algiers is also the capital of Algeria so there is a lot of regional blending with modern influences.

Algiers really comes into it's own with their range of pastries. Here North African pastries incorporated  Turkish and French inlfuences to create another world class style. The owners of the famous Algerian pastry shop La Bague de Kenza in Paris are from Algiers.

Coffee is served Arab, Turkish or French style. Another example of how ingredients and methods were introduced in several waves by different peoples into Algeria.

The pieds noirs of Algeria created their own particular Mediterranean mix of cuisines. For example a family with a Spanish father and an Italian mother with French citizenship on Algerian soil would incorporate all these different cultural elements into their daily cooking. Cuisine Pied-Noir website

Pieds-noirs exiled to France after Algerian independence and Algerian immigrants to France would transport Algerian dishes to France. Paris and Marseille in particular have the most North African influences.

Annaba

Photo retrieved from Annaba Photos

The history of Mediterranean basin trade in North Africa begins with the Phoenicians who arrived in the first millennium BC. They weren't looking to colonize land as much as they were interested in setting up trading posts. They established anchorages along the North African coast, most notably Carthage. Carthage grew into a powerful and wealthy city state but was destroyed during the third and final Punic war against Rome. Because of it's strategic location the Romans would rebuild what they ruined, by 150 AD Carthage would once again be a populous and thriving city.

Annaba (Hippo Regius or Bone) is in the Northeastern corner of Algeria near Tunisia. The ancient empire of Numidia (202 BC - 25 BC) was west of Carthage (Tunis) and east of Mauretania (Northern Morocco and Western Algeria). The parenthetical notes refer to seats of power and not the geographic reach of empires.

Numidia was an ancient North African kingdom that eventually became at turns a client state and Roman province, the eastern Maghreb was a prosperous and fairly stable branch of the Roman empire between 1-500 AD. It's well known that North Africa was the bread basket to the Roman empire, perhaps it's lesser known that there was also a rich artistic and intellectual life during this period. This was the era of the great Saint Augustine who was born in Tagaste, Numidia (present day Souk Ahras, Algeria) and educated in Roman Carthage.

The Vandals brought an end to Roman rule in Numidia and Carthage. But they made no culinary or cultural contribution to North Africa that we know of. Neither did the Byzantines who came after.

The prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) was born in 570. Islam's swift spread is attributed to two primary methods- conquest through war and the spice trade. Why spices? The Islamic heartland straddles three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe making it central to all trade routes connecting these continents. Along with the spice trade Arabs spread their agricultural methods to North Africa, the Iberian peninsula and Sicily.

The Aghlabid dynasty that ruled (Ifriqiyah or the previous Berber dynasties of Numidia and Carthage) Tunisia and Eastern Algeria would conquer Sicily in the 800's and remain there for two centuries. To this day in Sicily the Arab/North African culinary contributions are remembered in a tradition called "cucina arabo-sicula". Sicily's annual couscous festival is a celebration of this legacy where it is also called a dish of peace and understanding bringing together peoples from the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe.

During French colonial times Italians from the Southern part of the country largely settled in Annaba and the surrounding region introducing another wave of Italian influences into the Algerian culinary lexicon.

The cooking of Annaba is influenced by Sicilian, Southern Italian and Middle Eastern Arab cuisines. The earthy, hot spicing is similar to Tunisian. The noodle and pasta dishes here run the gamut from ancient whole wheat noodles, Berber steamed semolina pasta to newer Italian commercial varieties.

It is widely accepted that semolina pasta, a cousin to couscous, is a Saracen or Berber invention. I'm making a distinction here between semolina durum wheat pasta and other types of wheat noodles that were previously known . Clifford Wright, History of Macaroni .

Algerian Cooking in International Contexts

Making harissa with Chef Boyd at school. I prefer a smooth harissa so I pass it through a sieve or a food mill.

I'm often asked if I teach Algerian recipes at school. Yes, I do. I take my couscousier with me at least once every 6 weeks to demonstrate the proper method of steaming.

Preserved lemons have been integrated into the International portion of the courses.

Culinary School Photos

These are photos from the culinary school I teach at. Except for the first photo which is from Central Market.

I'm the one with the big tall hat. A chef instructor is the "chief" or lead in the kitchen, hence the big hat.

The other chef instructor Michael is the one drinking coffee in the photo to the right. I have to taste and critique everything the students prepare. You can imagine how many bites of food I take on days I teach double shifts. 17 students x 3 plates with 3 components on each plate, now double all that!

Pasadena is a terrific location for a professional school. The diverse student body reflects the general demographics of Southern California. We also have international students for allover the world. A wide variety of produce is available in the San Gabriel Valley, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, local farmer's markets, Little Armenia, Thai town, and so on.

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So, You Want to Write a Cookbook?

The burning question that I am asked these days is, "How did you do it? How did you get to the point where an agency like Endeavor would call you?"

People tell success stories selectively, but even more importantly people listen to them even more selectively.

I can tell a short version or a long version, either way what filters through usually is, "I started a food blog, Charles Perry wrote an article about me that made the cover of the Los Angeles Times Food Section, ten days later I got a call from Endeavor. Two months later I whipped a book out of thin air, Oprah discovered me and I made millions."

So, what did the agents at Endeavor see in the article about me?

Platform, platform, platform.

They saw the platform that I had built for myself. They saw who I am in relation to the topics I want to write about: Algerian, French, Mediterranean and general cooking.

I'll focus on the Algerian angle for now since since that will be my first cookbook. If I can build a platform so can you. Every writer has his own path. I am simply sharing mine with you, but it is not the only path. Many people have said to me, "it was easy for you because you're a fancy French chef and work at a fancy culinary school." The truth of the matter is that I was born into a big, working class immigrant family. My parents were illiterate and my dad died in a motorcycle crash when I was 7 years old. A few years later my brother Karim, who was 14 years older than me and became the man of the family, died of heart problems. My mother raised 6 children on her own. I am a middle child, so maybe that's why I like attention. This isn't a sob story, all this is to say that I am not a candy assed college boy with rich parents who hired a PR firm for me right out of culinary school. If I can do it, you can to.

Good News!

Dear readers 10 days after Charles Perry Los Angeles Times article about me came out (Tagine Dreams, January 2007) I was contacted by Endeavor Talent and Literary Agency. Shortly after I met with them and it was a wonderful meeting. Ivo Fischer and Brian Lipton were incredibly smart and they had spent time really thinking about my platform. They completely understood who I was and what I've been trying to accomplish. I was on cloud nine after I met with them. Those of you who keep up with Publishing news know that Richard Abate, formerly of International Creative Management, is now the head of the literary department at Endeavor. I spoke with him last week and he told me my book proposal got it exactly right. So I'm really happy about that. I'll keep you posted. And apologies once again for the delay in getting back to those who offered to test recipes or be test readers. Thank you again. Wiki entry for Endeavor Agency. Fans of HBO's Entourage have heard references to them. They are considered to be in the top 5 (some say 3) agencies in Hollywood (some say the world). They are considered the most innovative, progressive agencies out there. I was considering other agencies, but they really blew me away during our first meeting. They were sharp. My friends who are with ICM or William Morris even told me that Endeavor was the best choice for me.