cinnamon with meat

yo'ma

Sun, May 06 2018, 6:05 am

On pesach, a sefardi, made chulent, but put cinnamon in instead of pepper. It was an accident. He thought it was pepper. I didn't care for it. The next week, he did it again because actually we didn't have any pepper, but this time he knew.

This past shabbos we had chulent with a sefardi couple, actually the dh is, and she put cinnamon in the chulent. She said it's a sefardi thing. Her chulent consist of meat and potatoes. She also put the pot on the hot plate on shabbos, not before. I have no idea if there was liquid in there or not.

Is cinnamon a common spice for meat in sefardi food? I know she says it is, but they refer to her dh as, Turko. I'm not sure exactly sure what that means, but general sefardi foods I'm asking.

Lizzie4

Sun, May 06 2018, 6:10 am

Some sephardim flavor their chamin with allspice, cinnamon, garlic powder and salt
It's delicious 😋

Iymnok

Sun, May 06 2018, 6:12 am

If it was not cooked, she could not put it on the hot plate and it could not be eaten if it was.

zaq

Sun, May 06 2018, 6:40 am

I have quite a few Sephardi recipes with cinnamon. I put cloves in my cholent and sometimes cinnamon. We're as Ashkentoozi as it gets but open to cuisines of all types. Food is an international language, and I’m persuaded that the way to world peace is to make a huge global potluck dinner attended by all the world nations.

etky ↓

Sun, May 06 2018, 7:09 am

Yes, people all around the Meditteranean Basin (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, North Africa etc.) and throughout the Middle East use cinnamon in certain savory meat dishes.
I use a hint of cinnamon in moussaka and sometimes in a spice rub for roast chicken.
I don't know if I would care for it in a typical Ashkenazi cholent, although I like to add a bit of cumin to it which is somewhat atypical.

cbg

Sun, May 06 2018, 8:02 am

yo'ma wrote:

Turka- hahaha.
I really am Turka, my husband is 1/2 Syrian 1/2 Egyptian, from Argentina.
In Argentina, most Sephardim are Syrian/Lebanese. When THEY say Turko, it’s meant derogitively that you did something dumb or socially awkward.
Depending where they are from it could be he is really Turkish background.
I use to get a little offended when they said things like “that’s so Turkish” (it sounds different in Spanish)
As far as food-I find that Turkish food has more lemon and rice. For example , every stewed veggie my grandma would make always had lemon and rice. Spinach with lemon and rice
Eggplant with tomato, lemon and rice.
Zucchini with tomato lemon and rice.
Okra, you guessed it tomato lemon and rice.

My MIL, Syrian, is the one who uses spices.
A lot of baharat, all spice, and a pinch, just a bare hint, of cinnamon, mixed into her ground beef. Not in everything, though, just ground beef.
She also used a lot of mint in her saucy dishes.

As far as putting things on the hot plate on Shabbat.
SOME Rabbis, in the Brooklyn Syrian community, do not consider sauce as liquid and allow this.
My rabbi(which is also DH) does not, but we do put meat or chicken on the hot plate as long as it’s dry, even though a little fat will heat up.
What I do is I take off all the sause, before Shabbat. I leave the sauce on the hot plate all of Shabbat. On Shabbat morning I put on the meat, chicken, etc. Then before serving I combine them.
Yes the meat has residue sauce, but according to DH that’s ok.
I know ashkenazim hold differently.

BTW- the meat and potato dish is probably something called Maude. Yes that goes with a lot of all spice and a little cinnamon.
The potatoes are fried (before Shabbat) and the meat is seared. It’s all mixed and then cooked on a low temp. At this point some take it off the fire and return it Shabbat morning.
What I do, is I mix it all in a Pyrex, I put a little water on the bottom and put it in the warming drawer before Shabbat. When it stews all night it tastes more like cholent.
The dish is pretty much dry and any liquid you see in the dish is juice from the meat that gave off while heating up, which according to MY RAV, DH, is ok.

FranticFrummie

Sun, May 06 2018, 8:29 am

I use a dry "pumpkin pie spice" mix to rub on lamb, and it is delicious. You wouldn't think that it would go together, but it really does.

I love looking at recipies from the middle ages. Sweet spices were preferred in cuisine, because they were expensive and imported. They were used for special occasions, and to impress guests.

Only the lower classes seasoned with garlic and onions, because any peasant could grow them in their back yard. A king wouldn't be caught dead with garlic in his kitchen! "Garlic eater" was a very derogatory term.

(Yes, I enjoy collecting obsucure and random factoids. Very Happy

)

Gerbera

Sun, May 06 2018, 11:38 am

Yup! I put cinnamon in my meat all the time! Dafina, meatballs, meatloaf, Beef stir fry etc

moonstone

Sun, May 06 2018, 11:47 am

I like cinammon on chicken (and Laura used to make cinammon chicken for Almanzo on "Little House on the Prairie" LOL) but I never thought to put it on meat. I don't know....

LisaS ↓

Sun, May 06 2018, 11:53 am

In our family recipes it's allspice rather than cinnamon. Just a hint gives it that special flavor.

↑ etky ↓

Sun, May 06 2018, 12:03 pm

A common 'finger food' served at celebrations here in Israel are mini-kebabs, lamb or beef, formed and grilled around cinnamon sticks. Sometimes there is cinnamon- as a component of the spice blend (Baharat) - in the actual meat mixture too.

↑ LisaS

Sun, May 06 2018, 12:08 pm

etky wrote:

A common 'finger food' served at celebrations here in Israel are mini-kebabs, lamb or beef, formed and grilled around cinnamon sticks.

Huh, I never heard of that. We'll try it.

↑ etky

Sun, May 06 2018, 12:13 pm

LisaS wrote:

Huh, I never heard of that. We'll try it.

Sometimes served in a small dish with techina inside, as a dip. Very yummy...

heidi

Sun, May 06 2018, 12:17 pm

Yemenites are halachically allowed to put food in sauce or even soup onto the plata on shabbat. If the Yemenite has done it for himself, anyone, including Ashkenazim are allowed to eat it. It's probably worth checking with a Rav familiar with the particular type of Sephardic minhagim of your friend.
A bit of cinnamon in ground meat, goulash or on lamb breast is really yummy.