by Gil Marks
At the end of the symposium, however, followed a komos (later comissatio in Rome), named after an intoxicated reveling group of satyrs who followed around the Greek god of wine and fertility, Dionysus. (The word comedy also comes from the komos.) The end of the symposium, living up to the namesake komos, consisted of a drinking party accompanied with revelry, music, and song. The host always provided various tidbits—most notably fruits, roasted grains, and nuts—similar to the modern beer nuts—to nosh on with the wine to induce the consumption of alcohol. (A komos also frequently featured masks and costumes, a practice, which around the seventeenth century, through the Italian commedia dell'arte, found its way into Purim festivities.) The komos served as a ritualistic transition from the intellectual and gastronomic parts of the symposium to its sensual, decadent side, inevitably and intentionally leading to lewdness. As part of the komos, the inebriated participants would then proceed (komatsain) from house to house, laughing and singing, to persuade others to join them in their drinking, carousing, and orgies. The Sages, not wanting the aftermath of the Seder to degenerate into the bawdy and lascivious behavior of the komos, realized that it was necessary to avoid the excesses of the symposium. Consequently, afikomen originally meant in Greek epi komos/epikomion (upon the revelry). The meaning of the Mishnah is that one may not add after the seder meal any of the activities associated with the komos.
Initially, the final matza had no specific name. Amram Gaon, author of the first recorded Haggadah (857 CE), simply states, "After eating [the meal], everyone eats an olive size portion of matza." Saadia Gaon (tenth century), in his siddur containing another early version of the Haggadah, refers to the final matza as keenuach seudah (wiping of the meal), a Talmudic euphemism for dessert. However, despite a common misconception, the word afikomen does not mean dessert in Greek or Aramaic. By at least the late twelfth century, the term tzafun (hidden) became prevalent among Ashkenazim for the final matza. The Sefer ha-Rokeach (c. 1200) proposed that the name of this custom derives from a verse in Psalms: "How abundant is Your goodness, which tzafanta [You have hidden away] for those who fear You."
Illustrations in early Ashkenazic Haggadahs reveal the practice of hiding the larger piece of the middle matza under or in a cloth, an act intended to peak the interest of the children. After dinner, the Seder leader redeems the matza in time to be consumed. Like other parts of the Seder, the acts of hiding and finding the matza developed various symbolic meanings, such as pointing to the unknown future redemption. Wrapping matza in a cloth is also reminiscent of the Israelites leaving Egypt. Although some Sephardim and Mizrachim have recently adopted the practice of tzafun (hiding the matza), it was not their tradition. Rather at a Sephardic and Mizrachi Seder, the final matza is wrapped in a special cloth bag, frequently embroidered, and the leader conducts a dramatic reenactment of the Exodus from Egypt.
The first record of the word afikomen employed in reference to the final matza, and no longer something forbidden, occurred in the Responsa of Rashi, a collection of Rashi's writings chronicled by his students (c. twelfth century). By the time of the Shulchan Arukh (c. 1555), the term afikomen was firmly entrenched among both Ashkenazim and Sephardim as the name of the final portion of matza at the Seder. The Shulchan Arukh also advised, "One should be careful to eat the Afikomen before midnight."
Agraz
Agraz refers to sour unripe grapes, the juice expressed from them (verjuice), and a sauce made from the grapes themselves.
Origin: Spain, Provence
Other names: Italian: agresta, agresto; Ladino: agra.
Verjuice or verjus (from the Old French vertjus, "green juice") is the light green unfermented juice of unripe grapes. The Spanish and Ladino equivalent is agraz. However, agraz also denotes the unripe grapes (agraz entero) as well as a sauce made from the grapes themselves (salsa agraz).
Verjuice is acidic and has a distinct grape flavor, but is less acidic tasting than lemon juice or vinegar, and grows milder as it ages. The grapes are picked before maturing at a period when they begin to change color and start to soften, around late July or August. Thinning grapes at this time is a natural aspect of viticulture and the immature portion are not wasted. As with wine, different varieties of grapes yield different qualities of verjuice. Salt is commonly added as a preservative and to prevent fermentation into vinegar, but preferably not enough to be detected. When the yearly stock of verjuice ran out, typically by spring, faux verjuices, with a much sharper taste, were made from sorrel, gooseberries, and crabapples until new sour grapes emerged each season.
The first recorded use of verjuice in cooking was by the ancient Romans, but it was most probably used in every ancient grape-growing society, as people were not wont to waste. During the medieval period, verjuice was the principal souring agent of the grape-growing regions of Europe—France, Italy, Spain, and Greece—as well as a common condiment in Turkey, Syria, and Persia. Throughout the medieval period, cooks used verjuice in a myriad of stews, sauces, pickles, condiments, and salad dressings, its intriguing flavor complementing wines served with foods and not overpowering or altering them as does vinegar. Taillevent in his influential late fourteenth-century cookbook, Le Viander, called for verjuice in more than 40 percent of the recipes. In Dijon, it was incorporated into the local mustard.
Verjuice was one of the paramount flavorings of early Ashkenazic cooking, but during the late medieval period, as most Ashkenazim relocated farther east from France and the Rhine River Valley and the grape-growing areas, they no longer had access to it. Verjuice remained essential to Sephardim through the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and was subsequently used in the eastern Mediterranean. Then in the seventeenth century, with the popularization of the lemon and tomato, as well as the emergence of better-quality wines, verjuice increasingly fell into disfavor throughout most of Europe. Today, it is practically unknown to Ashkenazim, but still occasionally found among some Sephardim, Greeks, Lebanese, Syrians, Turks, and Persians. The classic Sephardic sauce agristada is now made principally with lemon juice rather than its namesake agraz.
Sephardim make a simple sauce called salsa agraz by simmering sour grapes with water and a little honey or sugar until the fruit breaks down. The sauce is served with roasted lamb, poultry, and fish to counteract their heat. Although many newer sauces now enjoy greater popularity, salsa agraz, sometimes now with a little tomato sauce added, is still beloved in some Greek, Turkish, and Levantine households.
For Sephardim, there was an added significance to agraz, for it sounds like the Hebrew word meaning reward, as in Ethics of the Fathers, "According to the effort is the agra [reward]."
Sephardic Sour Grape Sauce (Agraz)
about 1¼ cups
[PAREVE]
1 cup unripe grapes, seeded
1 cup water
¼ cup tomato sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
Salt to taste
In a medium saucepan, simmer all the ingredients over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the grapes break down into a sauce, about 1 hour.
Agristada
Agristada is a thick, lemony, egg-based sauce served over vegetables and fish and used to thicken soups and stews.
Origin: Spain
Other names: Arabic: beda b'lemune, tarbiya; Greek: avgolemono; Italian: bagna brusca, brodettato, brodo brusca; Ladino: salsa blanco; Turkish: terbiye.
Among the foods prevalent with Sephardim in Iberia before the expulsion was the sauce agristada, which was used instead of cream and butter. Although sometimes described as "boiled mayonnaise," the emulsification does not derive by beating oil into eggs, but through cooking the egg yolks in a liquid. Originally, this sauce was flavored with agraz (verjuice), an acidic, fruity juice made from unripe grapes. Pomegranate juice or bitter orange juice was sometimes substituted, but vinegar was considered too sharp. After lemons became prevalent in the West during the late medieval period, they generally replaced agraz as the souring agent in this sauce, transform
ing it from a light grape flavor to citrus.
Since Sephardim were at the forefront of medieval citrus cultivation and growing citrons for the Sukkot festival, the practice of using lemons in sauces first became widespread among them. The cooking liquid from the respective vegetable, chicken, or fish with which the sauce is to be served is typically used to make the sauce, sometimes with the addition of dry white wine. Flour or matza meal is frequently added for extra thickening and to help prevent the sauce from separating. The color of the sauce depends on the intensity of the yellow of the yolks. For a brighter color, a pinch of turmeric may be added. Syrians frequently include a dash of cinnamon. In Modena, Italy, it is enhanced with garlic and anchovies. A related Greek soup known as avgolemono contains much more liquid.
In the Balkans and the Levant, agristada is used like mayonnaise is in the West, accompanying mild- flavored foods, such as fried or poached fish, veal, poached chicken, meatballs, rice, pasta, stuffed vegetables, artichokes, and fried cauliflower. Among some Greek Jews, fried fish with agristada is served cold after a bar mitzvah, as well as for Sabbath lunch. Romans like it with roast lamb. Artichokes or asparagus with bagna brusca is a traditional Italian Passover dish. In the ghetto of Pitigliano in southern Tuscany, established by Cosimo de' Medici in 1608, the sauce was commonly tossed with egg tagliatelle or drizzled over cooked vegetables. Agristada can be substituted for hollandaise sauce in most dishes.
Sephardic Egg-Lemon Sauce (Agristada)
about 1 1/3 cups/3 to 5 servings
[PAREVE or MEAT]
2 large eggs, or 1 large egg and 2 large egg yolks
1 cup vegetable, chicken, beef, or fish broth
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour or matza cake meal or 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
About 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice or verjuice (unripe grape juice)
About ¼ teaspoon table salt or ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1. In a 1-quart saucepan, whisk the eggs until smooth. In a small bowl, gradually stir the broth into the flour to dissolve. Whisk the mixture into the eggs. Add the lemon juice and salt. The ingredients can also be mixed in a blender.
2. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk, until smooth and thickened, about 3 minutes. Do not boil. Serve warm or pour into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface, and let cool. Store agristada in the refrigerator.
Variation
Mayonnaise-Like Agristada:
Reduce the flour to 2 teaspoons and add 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil.
Ahilado
Ahilado is a tomato sauce with onions, parsley, and olive oil in which fish is cooked.
Origin: Turkey
Other names: Greek: salsa tomata, plaki.
Ahilado, the past participle of the Ladino verb ahilar (to turn sour), technically refers to tart sauces. Cooking fish in a thick, tart sauce is an ancient method for producing a moist, flavorful dish. Salsa agraz (sour grape sauce), the most ancient of these sauces, is rarely used today. Plums are popular, coming into season in the fall, and rhubarb, appearing in the spring. The arrival of tomatoes from the New World brought an additional flavor dimension and became the most popular variation of this sauce.
Ahilado stands up to strong-flavored fish, such as carp, mackerel, and tuna, but does not overpower milder ones. Chicory or endive (indivia) is sometimes added to bring out the flavor of the fish, while fennel (hinojo) contributes a softer note. Fish with tomato sauce is traditional among Turkish and Greek Jews on Friday night, Rosh Hashanah, and festivals, and at the meal preceding the fast of Tisha b'Av. Peshkado ahilado is typically accompanied with rice.
Ajada
Ajada is Sephardic garlic mayonnaise and an earlier garlic sauce.
Origin: Greece
Other names: Greek: skordalia, skorodalmi; Italian: agliata; Turkish: tarator.
A popular condiment enjoyed in ancient Greece, skordalia consisted of raw garlic, vinegar, and salt; the name derived from the Greek word for garlic (skorda). The sauce was commonly served with fried and poached fish and meat. A medieval Mediterranean adaptation added a paste of bread, vinegar, and sometimes walnuts or almonds, and was called ajada by Sephardim, from the Ladino for garlic (ajo). Bartolomeo Scappi in Dell'Arte Cucinare (1570) included the Italian version, agliata, containing walnuts, almonds, and bread soaked in broth. The nuts produce a thicker, creamier texture.
In the late eighteenth century, after the invention of mayonnaise—a mixture of eggs emulsified with oil—ajada among Greek Jews evolved into a garlic mayonnaise, akin to the Provençal aioli. A modern Greek version containing bread or mashed potatoes is called skordalia. Ajada is served with fish, boiled potatoes, fried eggplant, cooked beets, and other vegetables and as a dip for crudités or bread. In some Greek households, fried fish with ajada is traditional for Hanukkah.
Sephardic Garlic Mayonnaise (Ajada)
about 1¼ cups
[PAREVE]
5 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
About ½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg yolk
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or white or red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
About 1 cup vegetable oil, or 2/3 cup vegetable oil and 1/3 cup olive oil
1. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt. Or place the garlic on a cutting board, sprinkle with the salt, and, using the side of a knife blade, mash into a paste.
2. Transfer the garlic to a blender or food processor. Add the egg yolk and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice and, if using, mustard. With the machine on, gradually add the oil in a slow, steady stream. The ajada can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Ajin (Middle Eastern Dough)
Ajin is the Arabic word for dough.
Origin: Middle East
Other names: ajeen, agine.
The Romans spread durum and common wheat throughout their Empire, the source of the famous "bread and circuses" that sustained their power, much of it grown in North Africa and Sicily. After the Romans, wheat remained the chief grain in medieval Arab lands, used to make a variety of breads and other baked goods. Middle Eastern Jews use a basic lean yeast ajin to make an array of flatbreads for both their weekday and Sabbath loaves. The most common ajin for making pastries is an unleavened one rich in butter or oil and made with part or all semolina (smead). Middle Eastern Jews enjoy these various pastries at all special occasions.
(See also Bread)
Middle Eastern Yeast Dough (Ajin)
about 50 large rings or turnovers or 2 medium loaves
[PAREVE]
1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast or 1 (0.6-ounce) cake fresh yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water (105 to 115°F for dry yeast; 80 to 85°F for fresh yeast)
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
2 teaspoons table salt or 3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (optional)
About 4 cups (20 ounces) bread or unbleached all-purpose flour, or 2 cups white flour and 2 cups whole-wheat flour
1. Dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup water. Stir in the sugar and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture, remaining water, salt, optional oil, and 2 cups flour. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to make a mixture that holds together. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. Punch down the dough.
Middle Eastern Semolina Dough (Ajin Smead)
about 40 3-inch turnovers
[DAIRY or PAREVE]
¾ teaspoon table salt or 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
About ½ cup lukewarm water
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (6 ounces) fine semolina or far
ina
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, melted
In a small bowl, stir the salt into the water until it dissolves. In a large bowl, combine the flour and semolina. Stir the melted butter into the flour mixture until little clumps form. Add enough water to make a smooth, soft but not sticky dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough firms as it rests.
Ajin Taimani
Ajin Taimani is an enriched, flaky dough, similar to puff pastry.
Origin: Yemen
Other names: ajin.
Taimani (Yemenite) Jewish cookery is remarkable as it developed in spite of a long history of oppression and poverty. Working with few resources, cooks had to be creative, developing an assortment of humble flatbreads that, along with various inexpensive legumes, formed the basis of almost every meal. For special occasions, notably the Sabbath, Taimanim prepare breads and pastries from an ajin enriched with clarified butter and made enticingly flaky by repeatedly folding and rolling in a manner similar to puff pastry.
Flaky ajin is very uncharacteristic of Yemenite food and was probably adapted from the similar Sephardic ojaldre (rudimentary puff pastry) after Iberian exiles arrived in the Ottoman Empire. It is not made by non-Jewish Yemenites. However it migrated into the cuisine, ajin became the pinnacle of Yemenite pastry. Thin dough rounds are cooked in a hot skillet to make a soft, flat bread (melawah), or the dough is rolled into cylinders (jachnun) or layered with a little egg (subya) and baked overnight for Sabbath lunch, the pastry caramelizing and crisping. These flaky pastries are commonly accompanied with s'chug (chili paste), hilbeh (fenugreek relish), cold chopped or pureed tomatoes, and baked eggs, or they are drizzled with a little honey.