Food binds geographically and linguistically diverse Morocco together. Moroccan cooking reflects the influence of indigenous peoples, traders, invaders, immigrants and colonizers, each of whom, over centuries, played a role in the development of local culture and dietary habits with new ingredients and cooking techniques that remain influential today. Today’s Moroccan cuisine is a blend of Berber, Arab, Moorish, Middle Eastern, sub-Saharan African, Iberian, Sephardic Jewish and French influences.
It all started with the Arabs. Spices were an important part of Moroccan cooking culture prior to the arrival of Silk Road caravans. But the Arab invasion in the 7th century enhanced the diet of early Berber inhabitants with new cereals, grains, Chinese, Indian and Malaysian spices (cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, dried ginger, pepper, paprika, anise, sesame seed, cardamom, cloves and coriander) and Persian cooking techniques with nuts (pine nuts, almonds, walnuts and pistachios) and dried fruits (apricots, dates, figs and raisins). Olives, olive oil, orange, lemon and other fruit-bearing trees were contributed by the Moors from southern Spain. Sephardic Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition added their sophisticated preserving techniques for lemons and other vegetables as well as sweet-sour meat-fruit dishes. Grilled meats, kebabs and development of a local taste for yogurt and lamb are the legacy of the Ottoman Empire. The French, the most recent colonizers, added a culture of cafés, ice cream, pastries, and even wine. These imported raw ingredients and cooking techniques supplemented the native bounty of Morocco’s fertile valleys. And innovative cooks in royal kitchens of the Almoravide, Almohade, Merinide, Saadian and Alaouite dynasties, and later home cooks, combined these ingredients with natively grown produce into dishes which give Morocco’s cuisine a distinctive taste.
Having read Paula Wolfert’s classic works The Food of Morocco and Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco I realized that a ten-day trip was insufficient to explore Moroccan cooking fully, but we planned our meals to sample many classic Moroccan dishes as we traveled through Morocco.
Breakfasts at our Marrakech riad were simple: bread from a local bakery, cheese, fruit, yogurt and coffee. Or fried breads such as msemmen, a delicious Moroccan crepe served with honey or baghrir (a pancake made with semolina and flour) and eggs.
Lunches and dinners in restaurants in various cities, however, were more elaborate and followed Moroccan tradition as to the order of serving. As tourists, we were provided eating utensils and did not follow the Moroccan custom of eating with our hands.
Each meal started with salads and assorted other of dishes and tastes resembling an Italian antipasto or a Middle Eastern mezze. Moroccan salads include a mixture of raw, cooked and pickled vegetables, such as beetroots, carrots, cucumber with orange-blossom water, lemon, sugar, olives and olive oil. We were often served a salad of finely diced tomatoes, cucumber, onions, green pepper and cilantro topped with a dressing of olive oil and vinegar
and cooked salads, such as zaalouk, a Moroccan version of ratatouille, made from eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and spices,
bakoula, made from mallow or other spinach-like greens, preserved lemons, olives and spices,
and choukchouka, a blend of roasted tomatoes and peppers, flavored with cumin.
Salads were often complemented by briouat (or briwat), variously-shaped pastries filled with meat or chicken mixed with cheese, pepper and lemon with an assortment of savory dipping sauces such as harissa and honey.
Occasionally, a soup would be included in the starters such as harira, a thick soup made with tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas and lamb was included as a starter or a silky lentil soup. Harira, we were informed by a attentive waiter, is usually served at dusk each day to break the fast during Ramadan.
Tagine (Tajine): There was always an assortment of main dishes, usually starting with a tagine, a Berber slow-cooked stew, braised at low temperatures, resulting in falling-of-the-bone tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce. A tagine is cooked over hot coals which add a wonderful smoky flavor and served directly from a special conical-chimneyed earthenware pot of the same name.
Practically anything can be turned into a tagine: meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit. Tagines often combine lamb, chicken or meatballs with a medley of ingredients or seasonings: olives, quince, apples, pears, apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, nuts, with fresh or preserved lemons, with or without honey, with or without a complexity of spices. Tagines are traditionally flavored with ground cinnamon, saffron, ginger, turmeric, cumin, paprika, pepper, as well as the famous spice blend ras el hanout (meaning “top of the shop”), a special spice mix of 20-40 different spices concocted by each spice merchant.
We sampled several chicken-olive-citrus tagine preparations, in each, the tender chicken was invigorated with the flavor of preserved lemons, salty olives and special spices: In mquall, braised and baked chicken was flavored with green olives and preserved lemons in an aromatic sauce of ginger and coriander. And in emshmel, the chicken was in a intensely spiced, creamy lemon and green olive sauce.
The chicken-potato-quince tagine we sampled at the Berber village in the High Atlas Mountains was a divine sweet-savory combination. The addition of the sweet and fragrant quince, a fruit not often used in American cooking, was a wonderful complement to the other ingredients. This tagine was, by far, the best chicken tagine we tasted, confirming the claim that the finest Moroccan food is prepared at home.
Several lamb tagines were notable and illustrated that braising an inexpensive cut like lamb shoulder with preserved lemon, various vegetables and aromatic spices can produce delectable results. Adding raisins or dried or fresh fruit to a lamb tagine creates a different savory-sweet profile; while an addition of nuts adds a lovely crunchy contrast to the tender meat.
Vegetarian tagines, although flavorful, were often less impressive because the vegetables were overcooked.
While there are regional differences in what spices, fats and seasonal vegetables are used in a tagine, thick slices of bread are served to scoop up the meat, vegetables and sauce.
Couscous: Another Berber staple is couscous, the national dish of Morocco, usually served second at lunch or dinner. Couscous, considered to be one of a dozen greatest dishes in the world by the late NY Times’ food editor, Craig Claiborne, consists of tiny steamed grains of semolina and flour. Traditionally, specially-trained women, the hidden faces of Morocco, made the best couscous by rolling by hand finely milled wheat with the addition of semolina seeds and regular flour moistened by cold salt water into tiny balls.
The origins of couscous’ name is attributed by some to the hissing sound of steam as it escapes through the holes of the couscoussière (a special steamer) and by others to the Berber words seksu or k’esksu, meaning well-rounded or well-formed.
Since authentic couscous can take up to five hours to cook but factory-prepared couscous is now available. Some cooks have succumbed to this purchased shortcut. But we were told by guides that many family cooks still prepare this rolled semolina cereal by hand, steam and serve it a few times a week or at least on Fridays, a day of prayer when cooking is forbidden.
Although Paula Wolfert states that couscous can be savory or sweet, plain, warm or cold, we were served light and fluffy couscous at lunch and dinner, topped either with a meat or vegetable stew.
Bisteeya (B’steeya or Pastilla): Food historians confirm that bisteeya, as apparent from its Spanish-sounding alternative name, pastilla, is an Andalusian dish brought to Morocco by the Moors after banishment from southern Spain in the 15th century. It has since become a classic Moroccan dish that many Moroccans proudly claim was “perfected” in Fez. Traditionally, bisteeya is a large (about 14-inch diameter, 35.5 cm) chicken or pigeon pie spiced with garlic, onion, saffron or turmeric and ginger, wrapped in a very thin, crispy pastry crust sprinkled with cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar which give the dish a unique sweet-savory taste. Although the individual steps for making bisteeya are simple, assembling a bisteeya takes time. Thus, it usually served at weddings or other special occasions.
We were fortunate, however, to enjoy two bisteeyas. It was usually unavailable on most restaurant menus and, if it was, it was a huge pie, wasteful to order for just a few diners. The chef at a café near the Saadian Tombs in Marrakech, recognizing that tourists would rarely have a chance to taste this Moroccan delicacy, made small versions of this unique chicken pie. This café’s beautifully flavored bisteeya contained a flavorsome sweet-savory chicken and almond mixture. We relished each delightful morsel of the almost transparent pastry encasing the soft chicken and crunchy almond filling. This is definitely a recipe that I have to replicate at home.
For our last dessert in Marrakech, we were served a sweet bisteeya that consisted of flaky layers of warka (a Moroccan version of thicker phyllo-like pastry) filled with sweet almond cream flavored with rose water and almonds. This sweet bisteeya was a light finish and a fitting end to an elaborate traditional dinner.
Marrakech’s world famous night market at Jemaa El Fna was a riotous food fest attended by hundreds of Moroccans and tourists with countless stands offering grilled meats and sausages, whole lamb heads, gigantic bowls of olives, salads, kebabs, fruit and juices. Moroccans cautioned us not to eat at Jemaa as hygienic conditions were questionable.
As we ventured out of the traditionally Berber regions of central Morocco, other ingredients became plentiful and restaurant menus provided other local dishes.
By the time we arrived in Essaouria, having eaten our fill of delicious tagines and couscous, we were ready for lighter meals. Here we opted for a seafood lunch of a tangy fish soup, much like a puréed bouillabaisse without fish bones and shells, and a grilled dorado preceded as usual with an assortment of salads, olives and breads. The light preparation and freshness of this meal was satisfying and palate-restoring.
Because of its imperial history, Fez is thought to have an excellent culinary tradition developed over centuries by royal cooks. Here we skipped lunch and returned to a traditional Moroccan meal for early dinner with an elaborate assortment of salads, olives and assorted breads followed by grilled kebabs, kefta and a lamb-raisin, preserved lemon tagine. This was our last traditional Moroccan meal.
In Casablanca, the restaurants we selected on La Corniche had cosmopolitan, typically French and Mediterranean menus with few traditional Moroccan dishes. Here we indulged in exceptionally fresh and plentiful seafood. Oysters, shrimp, grilled fish and paella were the stars of our meals.
Notes on other components of Moroccan meals:
Breads: Moroccan breads are noteworthy. Historically, bread played an important role in the life of Moroccans. Bread, or khubz is sacred in Morocco as in other agrarian countries. If a piece of bread from the dinner table falls on the ground, Moroccan children are taught to pick it up and kiss it. A cultural norm also forbids throwing bread away, so families keep their leftover bread to give to the poor or to livestock. Although breads can be bought at markets, Moroccan women still bake. But since very few Moroccan households have an oven, almost every urban neighborhood has a community oven (called frans) where women take their bread dough to be baked for a small fee. In villages, however, each family has its own traditional oven made of mud.
Bread, usually soft crusted and highly absorbent, is an essential component and plentiful at every meal since Moroccans use a small piece of bread instead of a fork and knife to pick up food. Wheat, barley, millet flours, sorghum and semolina in various proportions are the basis of many Moroccan breads. Many rural Berber families sustain themselves with bread made from barley.
Breads come in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Some breads are leavened and others are flat and thin, crispy fried donuts or unleavened bread in sheets.
Sweets: Morocco is a country passionate about sweets, both Moroccan as well as French.
At the end of a meal plates of fresh fruits and a cup of fresh mint tea is usually served, along with French pastries and Moroccan sweets such as kaab al ghazal (gazelle horn, or cornes de gazelle), a crescent-shaped cookie made of sweet-almond paste, orange blossom water and cinnamon)
and honey and sesame-coated briouate, triangular or cigar-shaped, filled with pistachios or marzipan or dried fruit. At Jemaa el Fna, I was reluctant to try this sesame seed, almond and honey cone sold at a stall eaten with a communal spoon.
According to Paula Wolfert, this cone is often served at weddings. In Fez, colorful nougat sold by street vendors satisfied Moroccans’ craving for sugar.
Drinks: Moroccan mint tea is the national icon of hospitality. People drink tea informally all day between meals. But any time a visitor enters a house or business, the first thing that he or she must be offered is tea. Mint tea is traditionally served in small glasses, although some tea shops serve it in tall glasses with the mint inside. The recipe for the tea is simple: several teaspoons of gunpowder tea and a sprig or two of mint with sugar. Moroccans like their tea extremely sweet, but guests may choose to use less sugar.
There often is a little ceremony when the tea is served. The person pouring the tea holds the teapot high above the glasses so as to create a little foam in each person’s glass. Some Moroccans claim that pouring from a height aerates the tea enhancing its flavor. However, a guide explained that pouring from height is merely an exhibition, showing off the skill of the pourer, and did not alter the taste of the tea!
Coffee: Moroccans like their coffee black (qahwa kahla) and strong like espresso. But many also take their coffee with milk in varying proportions: coffee with a dab of milk (qahwa meherris); milk with a dab of coffee (helib meherri). In between these two are half coffee, half milk (qahwa nus-nus); and of course, café au lait (qahwa helib). It is not unusual to walk down back streets and see dozens of men sitting in local cafes at all hours of the day.
Cafés in small towns are mostly for men only, but in bigger cities where French influence was well-established, women are seen in cafés.
Alcoholic drinks: Islam forbids drinking alcohol. Instead, fresh juices from oranges, pomegranates and sugar cane are common drinks readily available in souks and restaurants. But Moroccan men do buy alcoholic beverages in bars and grocery stores. Some restaurants adhere to the Islamic prohibition; others that cater to tourists include alcoholic drinks on their menus. The French introduced winemaking to the country and there is still a significant industry producing excellent wines.
Although this description of the Moroccan foods we enjoyed suggests we indulged extensively during our Moroccan odyssey, we barely scratched the surface of Moroccan cuisine and tasted only a small number of the dishes described in Paula Wolfert’s The Food of Morocco. Another exploratory trip to further delve into Moroccan cookery is mandatory!
For those interested in trying their hand in preparing tagines, couscous and other classics of the Moroccan kitchen, Ms. Wolfert’s recipes are well-researched, tested and produce great results.
One year ago:http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/reindeer-stew/|
Two years ago:http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/swiss-dried-pear-bread/
Three years ago:http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/cuba-restarting-the-clock/