earth food

Okay, for all those of you who, as I so often have wonder what carp is good for [human foodchain-wise], perhaps couching your wonder in some phrase resembling "How do you eat carp?" or "Is carp good to eat?" and something like that, here is the answer to that question that goes beyond the "boil it in a pot of water" answer we got from Korea in 2004.

This is from a news article about traditional [ethnic?] food once served in the waterfront districts of Baghdad [and, one presumes, more generally in the region we call "Iraq"] - this is a quote from the article, with HTML added:

National dish

Abu Ayyad’s masgouf recipe:

• Take large freshwater fish, preferably carp caught in Tigris or Euphrates
• Scale, gut and clean
• Cut along back and open up so that fish is flat and round
• Season with salt
• Place in barbecue grill
• Cook upright beside open wood fire
• Season with lemon
• Serve with bread and salads. Eat with fingers, ideally in the evening in the open air along river bank

The article goes on to point out that traditional preparations of this dish are no longer possible regionally due to the degradation fo living conditions in the city caused by internal combustion transportation technology, and the military occupation that currently places the Baghdad water-front areas "off-limits" to most locals.

Source: Imams put fatwa on carp caught in Tigris, Times Online (UK Edition), 2007-06-27

Labels: carp, cooking, fish, food, iraq, traditional

posted by pd wilson   #   21:31