Algerian ingredients

These are some of the ingredients I cooked with today. I bought them at a local Middle Eastern market. The prices are very good. Sometimes I get a great deal, other times I'm reminded "you get what you pay for". The store occasionally carries produce from smaller farmers.

I also try to purchase vegetables and fruits at the local farmer's market. There are many in Los Angeles County, one that is only about 2 miles away from where I live.

The game plan for cooking alot of Algerian dishes  is to go to the market and see what's available. High quality ingredients are still only as good as the cook. Common ingredients can be elevated by a very good cook. I know the trend in professional cooking is using the best available ingredients, but if you plan on being a professional you have to know how to cook poor ingredients as well. Otherwise you will be a slave to your ingredients and when they are sub-par you will be too.

Algerian cooking is all about depth of flavor. It may comes as a surprise to some, but the cooking in the Sahara and the bled (countryside) of Algeria are more than just meat on sticks. Okay, sometimes it is a whole lamb on a stick for a mechoui.

I wrote a little bit about the sort of ingredients we have on our family farm in Setif. It's beyond free range or organic. It is whole, pure food, wild ingredients that speak of the earth and the whims of nature. For those blown away by pre sale lamb from Brittany, a lamb from my family farm in setif that's grazed on the wild greens of the mountains is a whole other experience.

I washed and trimmed all of my vegetables first. Afterwards I decided what to make. It's difficult to do alot of cooking during the day and then sit down to post about it in a timely manner, especially during this month. Stay tune for more...

Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes  Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine

Halal recipes Ramadan recipes Arab recipes African recipes Berber recipes Amazigh  recipes Moroccan recipes Tunisian  recipes

Comments

[Paz]

I would like to learn to cook with good and so-called poor ingredients. Especially when I know that I can't afford to buy the "best" ingredients all the time. Thanks for another interesing post, Farid.

Paz