Hélène Jawhara Piñer holds a doctoral degree in Medieval History and the History of Food. In 2018, she was awarded the Broome & Allen Fellowship of the American Sephardi Federation (asf), dedicated to recognizing outstanding academic accomplishments and services to the Sephardic community, as well as encouraging continued excellence in the field of Sephardi studies. As a research associate of the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance(CESR) and of the Cooking of Recipes of the Middle Ages (CoReMa) research program in Tours, Dr. Jawhara-Piñer's main research interest is the medieval culinary history of Spain through inter- and multiculturalism, with a special focus on the Jewish culinary heritage in Arabic.

Her recipes have appeared in Sephardi World Weekly, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, and S&P Central's Newsletter. She attended The Great Big Jewish Food Fest (May 2020) as a presenter for an historical-cooking demonstration. With the collaboration of the ASF, she gives live historical cooking classes for the show "Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara Piñer," available on Chaiflix.

Table of Contents

Preface by David Gitlitz

Introduction

Bread and Snacks

El Pan de los Siete Cielos: The Bread of the Seven Heavens

Mufakhkhar: The bagel from Syria

Empanaditas with spinach and cheese

Empanaditas with eggplant

The making of peot: The challah of Spain in the thirteenth century

Baked mugabbana: Cheese pies

Falafel: Simple chickpea croquettes

Matza: Unleavened bread

Calentita: Chickpea flour cake

Corn tortillas: A Passover Mexican crypto-Jewish dish

Vegetables and Eggs

Güesmo: A Swiss chard dish

Huebos hammados: Red hard-boiled eggs

Eggplant almodrote: Eggplant, garlic and cheese dip

Acelgas con garbanzos: Swiss chard stew with chickpeas

Eggplants

Eggplant isfiriya croquettes

Almoronía: Eggplant and meatballs

Sweet fried eggplants to break the fast

Caçuelas: Eggplants with saffron and Swiss chard for a converso wedding

The Explicitly Jewish Dishes

"A Jewish dish of chicken" with stuffing

"A Jewish dish of chicken"

"Jewish partridge," stuffed

"A Jewish dish of partridge"

"A stuffed buried Jewish dish"

"A Jewish dish of eggplants stuffed with meat"

Makabib la'nuha al-yahud: Meatballs cursed by the Jews

Meat and Fish

Adefina: The iconic slow-cooked chickpea and beef stew

Cecina and namkasud: Dried meat

Tharid: Thick soup with unleavened bread and chicken

Oriza: Wheat grain and chicken stew

Meat pie of the Fernandes conversos from Bahia

Converso fish stew

Converso fish pie

The Yom Kippur "Menu" of the Conversos from Mexico

Gaspar Váez, 1640

Salomón Machorro, 1650

Soups

Fidawish: Short vermicelli noodles with tuna, saffron, and mint

Puchero: Maimonides' Chicken Soup

Maimonides' Regimen of Health Menu

Green vegetables sauté

Gazpachuelo: Lemon broth

Quince, Pear, Apple and Pomegranate Juice

Desserts and Pastries

Murakkaba: The Moroccan mufleta

Muhallabiyye: Almond rice pudding

Nuegados: Orange and honey fried dough

Isfeng: The Andalusian donut

Maqrü: Fried diamonds with dates and walnuts

Hojuelas, fazuelos or fijuelas

Rice and honey pudding

Berenjenas confitadas con canela: Candied eggplants with cinnamon

Neulas encanonadas: Brik pastry rolls with almonds and honey

Maimonides Cake

Own Creations Based on Historical Sources

Manioc cheese balls with candied pimentas biquinho vermelhas

Cottage cheesecake

Batbot: Flat and chewy Moroccan bread

Tortitas de acelga: Chickpea flour croquettes with Swiss chard

Pão de queijo: Tapioca cheese balls

Rose apple tart

Spinach mina

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Index

List of Illustrations