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Couscous ©

SHORT VERSION OF - VERSION MODIFICADA DE: Teresa de Castro, «Couscous», Encyclopaedia of Food. New York, USA. Scribner and Sons. 2003, vol. 1, pp. 465-466. (Cuscús)
Teresa de Castro © 2005-2008. This paper is protected by the Copyright Laws

INDEX
The Word
Couscous as an icon food
Preparation
The grain
The dish
Couscous in historic prospective
Origin
Spain and Portugal
Italy
Brazil
Couscous in the Modern World
Works Mentioned

COUSCOUS

Couscous (from the Berber word k'seksu) is the staple product of North Africa and the national dish of the countries of Maghrib, that is, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Couscous spread from this area, where it originated, to Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, and to sub-Saharan countries. Couscous is also consumed in the Middle East, where it is called mughrabiyya

COUSCOUS AS AN ICON FOOD

Couscous is an icon food in northern Africa because of dietary and cultural reasons. Similar to rice, pasta, or bread, couscous is an inexpensive and highly nutritive product made from wheat or other cereals (barley, sorghum, corn, millet, or minor grains) with the capacity for long-term preservation. With a basic cooking system it is possible to prepare an everyday meal or a luxury feast, a main course or a dessert. A versatile dish, couscous can be mixed with vegetables, legumes, meat, or fish, or it can be eaten only with butter or fresh fruit.

Couscous also is an icon also because it permits the expression of national identities and ways of life, and it has religious and symbolic meanings. Women usually prepare the grain known as couscous during a family celebration and the dish named couscous is eaten during a family feast, thereby associating both the product and the dish with solidarity. Couscous accompanies Friday and end of Ramadan celebrations and also birth and wedding feasts. The association of couscous with these festivities also attaches it to the concepts of abundance, fertility, fidelity, and Barakah (God’s blessing). For example, while preparing couscous, women have to make an invocation and to converse about religious facts, prosperity, and positive feelings.

PREPARATION

1. The grain

 Although the use of precooked couscous has spread widely, traditionally making couscous is a female activity that involves much work. On a big flat plate the woman in charge puts a handful of freshly ground hard wheat, sprinkles on salted water and a bit of flour, and with her palms treats the grain with rolling movements until the couscous granules appear. Later she sifts the grain with sieves of different diameter to obtain granules of similar size. Finally, couscous is sun-dried and stored or cooked.

2. The dish.


Couscous is cooked in a special pot (a couscous steamer), usually earthen, which has two components: a bottom-perforated deep pan, which contains the grain, and a globular pot over which stands the pan which contains water or a boiling stew whose steam cooks the granules.

Couscous is moistened with water and oil before cooking and then it is placed in the pan. Every ten or fifteen minutes the couscous is taken out of the pan to add oil or butter and to work it by hand to avoid the formation of curds. Couscous is ready when the granules are cooked, separated, soft, and moist.

The basic ingredients of the couscous stew are seasonal vegetables and legumes (usually chickpeas), fish or meat (chicken, lamb, beef, rabbit, hare, and even camel), and spices. There are regional preferences regarding couscous. Algerian couscous includes tomatoes and a great variety of legumes and vegetables, and the Moroccan couscous uses saffron. Tunisian couscous includes fish and dried fruit recipes, and always contains chickpeas and a hot salsa (harissa). Finally, Saharan couscous is served without legumes and without broth.

After the grain is cooked, a pile of couscous is placed in a big platter topped with the stew's meat or fish and vegetables. The couscous broth is put in a side and optionally mixed with hot sauce.

COUSCOUS IN HISTORIC PROSPECTIVE

1. Origin.
The origin of couscous is uncertain. Lucie Bolens affirms that Berbers were preparing couscous as early as 238 to 149 bc (Bolens, 1989, p. 61). Nevertheless, Charles Perry states that couscous originated between the end of the Zirid dynasty and the rise of the Almohadian one dynasty, that is between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries (Perry, 1990, p. 177).

2. Spain and Portugal.

Lucie Bolens dates the introduction of couscous in into the Iberian Peninsula during the Berber dynasties period, in the thirteenth century (Bolens, 1989, p. 62). The popularity of couscous spread quickly among the Moors, and so there are couscous recipes in the two Arab cookbooks available from that time, the anonymous Kitâb al Tabij and the Fadalat al Jiwan by Ibn Razîn al Tujibî, (13th century). Sephardim incorporated couscous into their cuisine because of the Moorish influence and carried it to their asylum countries after their expulsion from Iberian lands (1492). It is still popularly consumed in Israel.

Couscous also was a staple for the Moriscos, who ate it during secular and religious celebrations. Consequently the Inquisition prosecuted its consumption. The hostility toward Morisco culture and foodways led to the disappearance of alcuzcuz from Spain and to the development of a derivative, migas. (See IBERIAN PENINSULA: OVERVIEW). In Portugal the gentry and nobility still consumed couscous during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, the cozido à Madeirense (a couscous dish) has its origin in African influences. According to Francisco Abad, the couscous recipes included in the Spanish court cookbook by Martínez de Montiño (seventeenth century) are related to the author’s Portuguese origin (Abad, 2000, pp. 23–24).

 A link between Migas and Couscous

Recipe from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century.
I Have Seen a Couscous Made with Crumbs of the Finest White Bread
For this one you take crumbs and rub with the palm on the platter, as one rubs the soup, and let the bread be neither cold nor very hot; put it in a pierced pot and when it's steam has left, throw it on the platter and rub with fat or moisten with the broth of the meat prepared for it.

3. Italy

Cùscusu is a typical dish of western Sicily, especially of Trapani, where it is eaten with a fish stew or in a sweet recipe. There is no agreement about the date of the introduction of couscous into Sicily. Some writers claim that couscous was introduced during the Muslim period (827–1063), while others state that it was introduced after the settlement of Sephardim in the island at the end of the fifteenth century.

      4. Brazil.

The introduction of couscous into Brazil in the 16th sixteenth century, according to Luis da Cámara Cascudo was a result of the culinary influences of both Portugal and of African slaves cultures (Cascudo, 1983, pp. 207–211). There are two varieties. Southern couscous (Cuscuz paulista) is a steamed cake made from corn flour, vegetables, spices, chicken, or fish (prawns and sardines). The northern variety (cuscuz nordestino) is a steamed pudding made from tapioca flour and sugar and moistened with coconut milk. This is a popular Brazilian breakfast.

COUSCOUS IN THE WESTERN WORLD NOWADAYS

The increasing importance of vegetarianism, the option for healthy foods aesthetically attractive, the trendy fascination regarding Mediterranean cuisine, and the culinary influence of Maghribian immigrants in Western countries are some of the reasons that explain the success of couscous in modern world-wide cuisine.

However, this introduction is devoid of cultural implications and couscous is many times used as a complement and not as a staple, and even is boiled (especially when pre-cooked ready-in-a-minute couscous is used) and not steamed.

WORKS MENTIONED

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  Revisado - Updated: 09/08/2009
 

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